125: Pasini wins home grand prix by 0.001secs!

Mattia Pasini provided the Italian crowd with a perfect start to a spectacular Sunday raceday by beating Aspar team-mate Alvaro Bautista and Gilera's Lukas Pesek in a 125cc photo-finish thriller, with a winning margin of just one thousandth of a second!

The front three were out on their own by the end of the race, with both the Aprilia riders running wide twice in two laps to let Pesek pass before reclaiming the top spots. Pesek tried a number of unorthodox lines to try and take the win, but was held off masterfully.

"Alvaro and Lukas were very fast, and it was such a fun race, but right now I am so happy," grinned Pasini. "It was really fun, a fantastic race for me, and at home too! I tried to escape at the start but Lukas and Alvaro were too fast to manage that. I want to thank everybody who helped me to take my first victory since last year."

Sergio Gadea, Hector Faubel and Mika Kallio completed the top six, ahead of Julian Simon, Gabor Talmacsi and brave reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi, who was doubtful for the race after a repeat of his collarbone injury. Simone Corsi rounded off the first ten past the chequered flag.

With his second place and fifth podium of 2006, Bautista extends his lead to 31 points in the championship over Kallio, whilst Pasini jumps up to third.

125cc top ten - Italian Grand Prix:

1. Pasini (Aprilia)
2. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.001secs
3. Pesek (Derbi) +0.052secs
4. Gadea (Aprilia) +1.203secs
5. Faubel (Aprilia) +1.234secs
6. Kallio (KTM) +1.378secs
7. Simon (KTM) +2.303secs
8. Talmacsi (Honda) +13.320secs
9. Luthi (Honda) +13.337secs
10. Corsi (Gilera) +13.376secs

19. Smith (Honda) +51.225secs