Pesek, 21, is a veteran of 62 grand prix starts, and leads this year’s 125cc championship; race winner Sergio Gadea, 22, was having his 56th race. Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi, who Bradley beat into fourth place, was having his 101st start and is a four-times winner.
"These guys ride fast all the way to the end," said Bradley, who was competing in his 19th grand prix. "I tried to do the same, but I didn’t have enough in the final few laps to hold onto Gadea and Pesek. But it’s a big confidence booster to be finally on the podium. I’m looking forward to the next race at Mugello now."
In last month’s column I reported that Bradley’s mentor Alberto Puig, who has guided
Dani Pedrosa to three world championships, had urged him to inject some Latin fire into his riding and marry it with his cool English thinking. The boy’s achieved just that.
Guard-rails and Broken Knuckles.
The delights of France: staying in a tranquil
chambre d’hôte just 10 minutes from the Le Mans circuit for €45 (£31) a night. And finding that your fellow guest at the dinner table is going to be Christian Sarron, the 1984 250cc world champion and twice third in the 500cc series with Gauloises Yamahas.
I’ve never heard a rider talk so openly about fear as Sarron. Active racers hesitate to go too near the subject in case it opens a can that can never be fully resealed, and even the retired ones are wary of straying too far into this un-macho zone.
But Sarron, who is now 52, relayed vividly how his guts would twist rigid with stress on race-day morning, and how he would experience total, absolute fear. He just didn’t know whether he would still be alive at the end of the afternoon.
If younger visitors to
Crash.net think that this is a bit over-played, remember that those were the days of guard-rails and highsides, when riders were treated with no more respect than a rag doll.
