2009 Assen 125cc Qualifying Practice Result - Last Second Shake Up Sees Surprising Pole

Results and summary of 125cc Qualifying Practice:

Sandro Cortese took a surprise pole in the final seconds of qualifying for the 125cc class at Assen. The session had seen pole change hands almost continuously, with a host of riders topping the timesheets, including Danny Webb, Andrea Iannone, Bradley Smith, Stefan Bradl, Nicolas Terol, and Pol Espargaro.

Terol sat on pole with 1 minute to go, but as the flag fell, a host of riders were out on fast laps. Bradley Smith seemed to have the best cards, but lost out in traffic in the final sector, so it was left to his team mate Julian Simon to make a bid for pole, but Cortese crossed the line just seconds behind Simon, and a few thousandths faster. Nicolas Terol was left down in 3rd position, while Stefan Bradl just pipped Bradley Smith to 4th in the final seconds. Smith now heads up the second row on the grid in 5th spot, ahead of Andrea Iannone, Simone Corsi and Pol Espargaro.

British  riders Danny Webb and Scott Redding are much further down the field, Webb in 13th while Redding is in 17th. American rookie Cameron Beaubier is 20th fastest, nearly 2.3 seconds off Cortese's pole time.