VOL. 55 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 7, 2018 P51
resurgence, and you have the
recipe for a climactic finish.
It went to Dovi ahead of
Lorenzo, with Marquez claiming
that experience and an eye on
the championship helped him
to accept third place. But it was
still the closest podium since
the 2006 Portuguese GP, where
Toni Elias, Rossi and Kenny
Roberts Jr. were within 0.176 of
a second at the line. This time,
the spread was 0.368. If you
count it out loud, it's not very
long.
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
I
t was blazing hot all weekend
at Brno. On Friday and Satur-
day, most of that came from
the relentless sun. On Sunday,
the weather was marginally
milder. But the on-track action
kept almost 85,000 fans cook-
ing on the hillsides commanding
the fine, sweeping circuit. The
curtain-raising smaller classes
were thrillers. The premier class
was merely interesting, for the
first 18 or 19 of the 21 laps. There
were a few passes and even a
popular change of lead, when
Valentino Rossi's Monster Ya-
maha went ahead for three laps
before half-distance. But the
pace was slow and steady, as
all played at preserving tires and
strength.
But there were a couple of
century men up front: Andrea
Dovizioso in his hundredth
Ducati start and Marc Marquez
in his hundredth MotoGP. Add
in Jorge Lorenzo, resuming his
Andrea Dovizioso (04)
rode a perfect final lap to
hold of the advances off a
charging Lorenzo (99).
