Britain's Bradley Smith had to settle for fourth place in this morning's 125GP at the Sachsenring after leading the race for nine laps - and making a last-ditch dive for third at the final corner.
The Oxfordshire teenager got away from line and held second into the first turn shadowing local hero Stefan Bradl with Simone Corsi in third and Joan Olive fourth.
Bradl took the lead on lap four while reigning world champion Gabor Talmasci caught the leading group, making it a 10-wheel dice. Smith went past Olive on lap five and a lap later, Talmacsi tried a hard move on the second from last corner but couldn't make it stick.
Smith took the lead with 19 laps to go and remained there while championsip leader Mike Di Meglio made his may into the leading trio. After eeking out a near one-second advanage over the field, Di Meglio managed to reel Smith in and went past him with ten laps remaining.
Bradl did the same thing a lap later, relegating Smith to third while Talmasci went past him with nine laps to go. It seemed that Smith had nothing left in the tank as Di Meglio pulled out a lead. However, on the penultimate lap, Smith found some pace in his Polaris World Aprilia and managed to catch third-placed Talmacsi again.
A last-lap, last-corner lunge saw Smith promoted to third briefly, but he ran wide and the Hungarian was able to push back past and crossed the line just a tenth ahead. Di Meglio won the race by more than two seconds with Bradl taking the second podium spot.
Scott Redding managed a creditable eighth place on a track he openly hates. The 16-year-old qualified in 16th but made steady progress up the field to get some useful points.
The injured Danny Webb got a terrible start and was running last at one point until the rode off the track. He retired on lap 22.
Results
1 25 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Ajo Motorsport Derbi 40'03.710 148.446
2 20 17 Stefan BRADL GER Grizzly Gas Kiefer Aprilia 40'05.720 148.321 2.010
3 16 1 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 40'06.443 148.277 2.733
4 13 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Polaris World Aprilia 40'06.557 148.270 2.847
5 11 24 Simone CORSI ITA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 40'12.827 147.885 9.117
6 10 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia 40'12.959 147.877 9.249
7 9 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 40'12.967 147.876 9.257
8 8 45 Scott REDDING GBR Blusens Aprilia Junior 40'34.488 146.569 30.778
9 7 12 Esteve RABAT SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 40'36.021 146.477 32.311
10 6 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 40'36.744 146.433 33.034
11 5 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Ajo Motorsport Derbi 40'36.831 146.428 33.121
12 4 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA I.C. Team Aprilia 40'36.844 146.427 33.134
13 3 30 Pere TUTUSAUS SPA Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 40'36.881 146.425 33.171
14 2 87 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Toni Mang Honda 40'36.918 146.423 33.208
15 1 22 Pablo NIETO SPA Onde 2000 KTM KTM 40'37.465 146.390 33.755
16 7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia Junior Aprilia 40'38.264 146.342 34.554
17 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Belson Derbi Derbi 40'41.486 146.149 37.776
18 51 Stevie BONSEY USA Degraaf Grand Prix Aprilia 40'41.582 146.143 37.872
19 73 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN I.C. Team Aprilia 40'57.950 145.170 54.240
20 85 Marvin FRITZ GER Kiefer Bos Sotin Jnr. Team Seel 41'01.959 144.933 58.249
21 5 Alexis MASBOU FRA Loncin Racing Loncin 41'17.912 144.000 1'14.202
22 69 Louis ROSSI FRA FFM Honda GP 125 Honda 41'18.965 143.939 1'15.255
23 95 Robert MURESAN ROU Grizzly Gas Kiefer Aprilia 41'20.066 143.875 1'16.356
24 72 Marco RAVAIOLI ITA Matteoni Racing Aprilia 41'20.564 143.846 1'16.854
25 41 Tobias SIEGERT GER Adac Nordbayern e.v. Aprilia 40'59.273 139.718 1 Lap
125cc World Championship points
1 Mike DI MEGLIO 63 Derbi FRA Ajo Motorsport 166
2 Simone CORSI 24 Aprilia ITA Jack & Jones WRB 136
3 Gabor TALMACSI 1 Aprilia HUN Bancaja Aspar Team 109
4 Stefan BRADL 17 Aprilia GER Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing 101
5 Joan OLIVE 6 Derbi SPA Belson Derbi 94
6 Nicolas TEROL 18 Aprilia SPA Jack & Jones WRB 91
7 Bradley SMITH 38 Aprilia GBR Polaris World 79
8 Pol ESPARGARO 44 Derbi SPA Belson Derbi 75
9 Sandro CORTESE 11 Aprilia GER Emmi - Caffe Latte 68
10 Scott REDDING 45 Aprilia GBR Blusens Aprilia Junior 65
11 Sergio GADEA 33 Aprilia SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 62
12 Andrea IANNONE 29 Aprilia ITA I.C. Team 59
13 Stevie BONSEY 51 Aprilia USA Degraaf Grand Prix 39
14 Marc MARQUEZ 93 KTM SPA Repsol KTM 125cc 32
15 Esteve RABAT 12 KTM SPA Repsol KTM 125cc 31
16 Raffaele DE ROSA 35 KTM ITA Onde 2000 KTM 30
17 Danny WEBB 99 Aprilia GBR Degraaf Grand Prix 26
18 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA 71 KTM JPN ISPA KTM Aran 22
19 Dominique AEGERTER 77 Derbi SWI Ajo Motorsport 21
20 Michael RANSEDER 60 Aprilia AUT I.C. Team 19
21 Efren VAZQUEZ 7 Aprilia SPA Blusens Aprilia Junior 14
22 Pablo NIETO 22 KTM SPA Onde 2000 KTM 12
23 Lorenzo ZANETTI 8 KTM ITA ISPA KTM Aran 10
24 Randy KRUMMENACHER 34 KTM SWI Red Bull KTM 125 10
25 Takaaki NAKAGAMI 73 Aprilia JPN I.C. Team 9
26 Stefano BIANCO 27 Aprilia ITA S3+ WTR San Marino Team 8
27 Pere TUTUSAUS 30 Aprilia SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 8
28 Marcel SCHROTTER 87 Honda GER Toni Mang Team 2
29 Hugo VAN DEN BERG 56 Aprilia NED Degraaf Grand Prix 1
30 Alexis MASBOU 5 Loncin FRA Loncin Racing 1