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Pol Espargaro took his first Grand Prix win with a close victory over Bradley Smith in the 125cc Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The 2008 Indy winner Nicolas Terol shot from third to first at turn one and soon built a noticeable lead over Espargaro and Smith, prompting Smith to pass Espargaro at the end of the back straight on lap two of 23.

Smith bridged the gap to Terol within two laps - and pulled the rest of the pack with him, forming a close six-man lead group consisting of Terol, Smith, Simone Corsi, Espargaro, Julian Simon and Efren Vasquez (who was soon to be given a jump-start penalty).

World championship leader Simon, who began round eleven on pole and 54.5 points ahead of Terol, had slipped down to 10th through the opening turns before fighting his way forwards.

Terol continued to lead until Smith lunged inside the Jack and Jones Aprilia rider on lap eight, only to run wide over the kerbs on the exit of a turn and hand the advantage back to the Spaniard.

The Englishman made his second attempt at the lead with a slipstream pass along the home straight at the end of lap 10, but fell victim to both Terol and Espargaro when he failed to hold a tight line through turn one.

Another botched pass later in the lap saw the Aspar Aprilia rider slip to fourth behind Corsi.

All of which meant Terol maintained his position at the head of the pack until Espargaro took the lead into turn one on the penultimate lap.

Smith replicated the move to take second position from Terol at the start of the last lap, then piled pressure on Espargaro. But the 18-year-old Derbi rider - denied victory by the rain one year ago - held on by just 0.12sec. Pol's older brother Aleix will make his MotoGP debut later today.

Terol's victory hopes collapsed when a near highside dropped him to fifth, behind Simon. Terol got back past the number 60 by the flag, but only gained two points on the world championship leader. Smith remains third, just one point behind Terol.

Smith's second position for Aprilia means that the Italian brand has now won its ninth 125cc constructors' world championship, with five rounds still to go.

The 2008 Grand Prix winner Scott Redding expressed his frustration at more mechanical problems with his Blusens Aprilia by putting his fist through the screen as he cruised back to the pits with smoke billowing from the rear of his bike.

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Marco Simoncelli became the first and last winner of a 250cc Indianapolis Grand Prix, following last year"s storm-cancelled event and prior to the introduction of Moto2, with a 1.943sec victory over world championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama.

Simoncelli and Aoyama reached the front of the pack within four laps while Alvaro Bautista, who began round eleven 12 points behind Aoyama, once again made a sluggish start.

The Spaniard finished lap one in 10th place before rising to fourth - behind Simoncelli, Aoyama and pole sitter Mike di Meglio - on lap 8 of 26.

Aoyama continued to match Simoncelli's Metis Gilera through the middle stages, while Bautista took third from Aspar Aprilia team-mate Di Meglio with 10 laps to go. The 2010 Suzuki MotoGP rider then faced a 1.5sec gap to Aoyama, which he was unable to bridge.

A scare for Aoyama with five laps to go gave Simoncelli vital breathing room and the Italian won his fourth race of the year by just under two seconds from the Scot Honda rider.

Simoncelli thus became the first rider this season to take back-to-back wins, and has closed from 32 points to 27 points from Aoyama with five rounds to go. Bautista remains second, but is now 16 points adrift of the Japanese rider.

Class rookie Di Meglio, who survived a near highside and contact with Aoyama early in the race, confirmed fourth.

Jules Cluzel, fastest in the wet on Friday, produced a further surprise by leading the first three laps of the race before a spectacular fall from fourth on lap 8 left the Frenchman - second at the Qatar season opener - punching the grass in frustration.

Crash.net / Eurosport