Czech Lukas Pesek won a thrilling 125cc Australian Grand Prix in which the first five riders were separated by less than a second.

Pesek clocked a time of 38 minutes 3.020 seconds on his Derbi to edge out Spain's Joan Olive with Spaniard Hector Faubel third.

World championship leader Gabor Talmacsi of Hungary finished only eighth, allowing Faubel to close within one point of his fellow Aprilia rider at the top of the standings with two races left.

Result:

1. Lukas Pesek (Czech Republic) Derbi 38:03.020

2. Joan Olive (Spain) Aprilia 38:03.110

3. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 38:03.210

4. Simone Corsi (Italy) Aprilia 38:03.425

5. Esteve Rabat (Spain) Honda 38:03.935

6. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan) KTM 38:04.335

7. Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 38:04.336

8. Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) Aprilia 38:04.391

9. Sergio Gadea (Spain) Aprilia 38:04.477

10. Sandro Cortese (Germany) Aprilia 38:17.672

11. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 38:24.765

12. Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) KTM 38:25.707

13. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Derbi 38:29.511

14. Mike Di Meglio (France) Honda 38:29.583

15. Steve Bonsey (U.S.) KTM 38:40.843

World championship standings

1. Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) Aprilia 237

2. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 236

3. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan) KTM 166

4. Lukas Pesek (Czech Republic) Derbi 161

5. Simone Corsi (Italy) Aprilia 155

6. Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 153

7. Sergio Gadea (Spain) Aprilia 133

8. Joan Olive (Spain) Aprilia 118

9. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 104

10. Bradley Smith (Britain) Honda 86

11. Michael Ranseder (Austria) Derbi 70

12. Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) KTM 68

13. Sandro Cortese (Germany) Aprilia 66

14. Esteve Rabat (Spain) Honda 63

15. Raffaele De Rosa (Italy) Aprilia 56

16. Pablo Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 44

17. Mike Di Meglio (France) Honda 40

18. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Aprilia 36

19. Lorenzo Zanetti (Italy) Aprilia 30

20. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Aprilia 26

21. Alexis Masbou (France) Honda 17

22. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Derbi 9

23. Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Aprilia 7

23=. Stefano Bianco (Italy) Aprilia 7

25. Steve Bonsey (U.S.) KTM 4

Reuters