Simon secures Valencia pole

Newly-crowned 125cc world champion Julian Simon will start tomorrow’s final race of the season in Valencia from pole position, his seventh of the year.

The Aspar Aprilia rider from Spain set his pole lap with a quarter of an hour to go in the 40-minute session with a 1m41.472s effort.

That lap time was almost matched by Italian Simone Corsi, who with a handful of minutes to go managed to get within a mere 0.004s. The Fontana Aprilia rider will start the race from second, ahead of Simon’s team-mate, Briton Bradley Smith. The front row will be completed by KTM’s Marc Marquez.

Joan Olive (Derbi) will head the second row, followed by Spanish compatriot Nicolas Terol (Jack&Jones Aprilia), Marcel Schrotter (Mang Honda) and Pol Espargaro (Derbi).

Scott Redding set the ninth quickest time before crashing with one minute remaining. while the Blusens Aprilia rider was getting back on his feet in the gravel trap, he was almost hit by Sturla Fagerhaug’s KTM, who had dropped his bike at the same spot.

Pos Rider Bike Time Laps 1. Julian Simon Aprilia 1m41.472s 18 2. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1m41.476s + 0.004s 20 3. Bradley Smith Aprilia 1m41.830s + 0.358s 21 4. Marc Marquez KTM 1m41.991s + 0.519s 19 5. Joan Olive Derbi 1m42.033s + 0.561s 21 6. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 1m42.092s + 0.620s 18 7. Marcel Schrotter Honda 1m42.111s + 0.639s 21 8. Pol Espargaro Derbi 1m42.162s + 0.690s 19 9. Scott Redding Aprilia 1m42.233s + 0.761s 1710. Sandro Cortese Derbi 1m42.246s + 0.774s 1911. Esteve Rabat Aprilia 1m42.307s + 0.835s 1912. Efren Vazquez Derbi 1m42.495s + 1.023s 1713. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1m42.556s + 1.084s 1714. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1m42.648s + 1.176s 1315. R.Krummenacher Aprilia 1m42.767s + 1.295s 1816. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1m42.769s + 1.297s 1817. Cameron Beaubier KTM 1m42.823s + 1.351s 2018. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 1m42.874s + 1.402s 1619. D.Agerter Derbi 1m42.913s + 1.441s 1920. Jonas Folger Aprilia 1m42.948s + 1.476s 1821. Johann Zarco Aprilia 1m43.176s + 1.704s 2022. Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia 1m43.441s + 1.969s 1923. Michael Ranseder Aprilia 1m43.691s + 2.219s 1924. Luis Salom Aprilia 1m44.081s + 2.609s 1525. Jasper Iwema Honda 1m44.247s + 2.775s 1926. Joan Perello Honda 1m44.264s + 2.792s 1927. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1m44.267s + 2.795s 1828. Daniel Webb Aprilia 1m44.284s + 2.812s 329. Tomoyoshi Koyama Loncin 1m44.326s + 2.854s 1830. Sturla Fagerhaug KTM 1m44.634s + 3.162s 1831. Jakub Kornfeil Loncin 1m44.979s + 3.507s 2132. Ivan Maestro Aprilia 1m45.136s + 3.664s 1933. Luca Marconi Aprilia 1m45.530s + 4.058s 1834. Alberto Moncayo Aprilia 1m45.575s + 4.103s 1935. Luca Vitali Aprilia 1m47.151s + 5.679s 19

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TEWKESBURY AC’s Carol Cowley (V55) celebrated yet another age category win at the Stroud Half Marathon.

In the V70 category Mike Ward came in as runner-up, highly creditable as the 73-year-old has been ill over the past few weeks.

Outside of the prizes, Tewkesbury had some real star performers in Ed Bishop, Steve Anderson, Mike Younger and Sharon Pates.

Another of Tewkesbury’s new female members Fran Osbourne, who suffered a terrible cycling accident this summer, showed tremendous determination to complete her first race.

The most exciting contest within the club, apart from Leigh Bichard and Carol Cowley, saw a string of six runners tussle for finishing places around the 90-minute mark.

It ended with Nigel Tillott holding off the strong running Ed Bishop.

Dan Webb, who only a week before ran an outstanding marathon with Jon Mansfield, was on Bishop’s tail.

Paul Lockyer ran through the pain barrier with a back injury which he received during his school’s cross-country.

Completing the line of six were Steve Anderson and Mungo Park, with the latter collecting more Gloucestershire County Series points in his V55 category.

Just off the six was another new club member Phil Miles, who more than achieved his goal with a great run.

Mike Younger’s club debut was impressive as he just finished ahead of improving Steve Wiggall, who in turn led Ali Parker and Paul Mason across the line.

Anne Robinson broke the two-hour mark for the second time over the Stroud course and Jonathan Teague, keen on dipping under the same mark, just missed out on this occasion.

STROUD HALF MARATHON: Jon Mansfield 1:20.21, Nigel Tillott 1:28.39, Ed Bishop 1:29.02, Daniel Webb 1:29.32, Paul Lockyer 1:29.46, Steve Anderson 1:32.21, Mungo Park 1:35.53, Phillip Miles 1:37.13, Leigh Bichard 1:41.01, Mike Younger 1:41.16, Carol Cowley 1:41.26, Steve Wiggall 1.41.45, Ali Parker 1:47.02, Paul Mason 1:49.04, Fran Osbourne 1:53.48, Sharon Pates 1:58.01, Anne Robinson 1:59.38, Jonathan Teague 2:02.56, Michael Ward 2:08.39.