MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9 / AUGUST 3-5, 2018
BRNO CIRCUIT/ OSTROVAICE, CZECH REPUBLIC
P66
Moto3
Fabio Di Giannantonio had a
maiden win snatched away at
the French GP in spite of cross-
ing the line first, thanks to a pen-
alty. There was no denying the
Del Conca Honda rider at Brno,
in spite of a fearsome race-long
brawl and a desperate closing
attack by Spanish EG-Honda
rider Aron Canet.
The long track and fast
corners kept the field packed
up close throughout. The top
15 points-scorers were over the
line in 2.77 seconds, the top
eight in 1.097. Tactics (and sharp
elbows) were everything.
The two Honda riders took fi-
A second behind, Pasini com-
pleted the top ten.
Super-strong rookie Joan Mir
(EG-VDS Kalex) was a victim of
a scary-looking three-bike crash
on the first lap, when he and
Remy Gardner touched, and
both brought down Gardner's
Tech3 teammate Bo Bendsney-
der. Mir's bike bounced off the
air-fence to land on Bendsney-
der, but he escaped serious
injury.
A second victory gave Oliveira
the championship lead by two
points from Bagnaia; but erst-
while challenger Marquez is now
lagging on 113 points, under
threat from Baldassarri (106) and
Binder (101).
touch with the front four.
They started the last lap with
Oliveira in front of Marini, then
Baldassarri heading Bagnaia
close behind.
The front two swapped at al-
most every corner, and it looked
as though Marini's final lunge
through the last right-left com-
bination had been enough. But
Oliveira got a better drive for the
narrowest of wins.
Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Kalex)
managed to hang on to fifth
from Binder, who in turn had his
hands full fighting Marcel Schrot-
ter (Dynavolt Kalex) and late
arrivals Jorge Navarro (Federal
Oils Kalex) and Sam Lowes (SII
KTM).
Miguel Oliveira (44) denied Luca
Marini (10) a dream first win by
out-dragging the young Italian
to the line. The KTM man now
leads the points heading into the
Austrian Moto2 weekend.
