Moto2 : Bradl the man to beat

Stefan Bradl remains the man to catch in Moto2 as the intermediate category prepares for the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM this weekend, despite the German’s first DNF of the season at Assen in the previous round. A crash with four laps remaining at the Cathedral registered the first non-scoring round of the 2011 campaign for the Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider, who nevertheless holds a 57-point lead at the top of the standings going into Round 8 this weekend. His closest pursuant is Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol), race winner at Assen and leader of the closely-bunched chasing pack. One of a plethora of Italian riders in the class hoping for a strong home result (and still in search of his first Moto2 win) will be Simone Corsi, the Ioda Racing rider who sits just three points behind Márquez and who won the 125 Mugello race in 2008, whilst Bradley Smith (Tech 3) is a man in form. With third place at Assen – his second successive podium – Smith became the first British rider to take back-to-back podiums in the intermediate class since Tom Herron in 1978. Level on points in fifth and sixth positions respectively are Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) and Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), with Italians Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) and Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing) and San Marinese Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) all inside the top ten and hoping to capitalise on strong support this weekend. Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) became the first Turkish rider to stand on a Grand Prix podium at Assen and will expect the result to have laid the way for more of the sam