Nico Terol crowned final 125cc champ

As MotoGP gave an emotional send-off to late Italian rider Marco Simoncelli at the last race meeting of the 2011 season in Valencia, Spaniard Nico Terol made motorcycling history by being crowned the very last 125cc world champion. The category is to be replaced by the new Moto3 championship from next season.

The Bankia Aspar rider only needed to finish 11th or better to clinch the championship but in the end the crown was handed to him on lap three as French challenger Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) crashed out. Terol went on to finish second as Spaniards swept the top four positions with Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing) first, Terol's teammate Héctor Faubel third and Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) fourth.

"At last I have made it, it has been many years of suffering and a lot of sacrifice but I have achieved my dream," the 23-year-old told TVE. "I am in the clouds, I still don't believe it. What's more I achieved it in front of all my family and the fans."

Australian world champion Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) earned a dramatic victory in the elite MotoGP category as he edged past race leader Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) on the finish line to win by just 0.015 seconds. With championship runner-up Jorge Lorenzo unable to compete because of an injured finger, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), in fifth, was Spain's highest finisher in the final race before the switch from 800cc to 1,000cc engines next season.

Earlier, riders from all three categories joined together for a lap of honor for Marco Simoncelli, who was killed at the Malaysian MotoGP two weeks ago. The parade was led by Simoncelli's boyhood hero, retired American rider Kevin Schwantz, who rode the Italian's number 58 bike.

And there was another fitting tribute in the Moto2 race where Simoncelli's Gresini Racing teammate Michele Pirro achieved his first win in the class - a result that left both rider and team boss Fausto Gresini, who had initially said the team would not to compete in Valencia, in floods of tears.

Germany's Stefan Bradl, who had been handed the Moto2 championship after injury prevented Spaniard Marc Márquez from competing, crashed out in the early stages of the race.