Talmacsi promises competitive title battle after Misano victory

As the clock ticks away on the 2008 season, so it does on Gabor Talmacsi´s opportunity to retain his 125cc title. The Bancaja Aspar rider has just five races left in the lower cylinder category before moving up to 250cc –in a deal arranged at the end of 2007- but has shown that he still has the chance to go out with a bang.

The Hungarian was the winner of last weekend´s race at Misano, and two crashes from his rivals combined with the victory to provide Talmacsi with favourable circumstances in the World Championship standings. Stefan Bradl´s DNF allowed the 2007 titlist to move up to third in the classification, whilst a fall for series leader Mike di Meglio further tightened up the battle for 125cc supremacy.

`The bike was great (at Misano) and I was smiling under my helmet,´ said Talmacsi after his second triumph of the year, before promising to make a show of the last five rounds.

`I´m sorry for what happened to Di Meglio. I didn´t see what happened, but now it becomes more exciting for the spectators; Simone (Corsi, second in the standings) and myself can now fight for the title, which is an exciting situation and I will try my best.´

Talmacsi will not be able to lead the series until –at the earliest- September 28th, with the 39 points between himself and Di Meglio unable to be bridged at the upcoming Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. With the Frenchman in his sights, the reigning champ believes that he can be equally as dominant stateside if circumstances allow.

`I haven´t seen even a map of the track yet, but it will be the same for everybody. The important thing is that recently we have found a very good base setup; if we can use this in the next few races than I will be very competitive.´

Talmacsi has been on pole for the past three races in the class, and has picked up his form after a stuttering start to his title defence.