VOL. 55 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 14, 2018 P75
Moto2
What happens when the irresist-
ible force meets the immovable
object?
You get a hell of a last lap.
Until then, Miguel Oliveira
(Red Bull KTM) had led every
time over the line, and when his
shadow Pecco Bagnaia (SKY
VR46 Kalex) nosed ahead three
or four times towards the end
he'd pass him straight back.
Then on the last lap, into the
last corner, Bagnaia managed
to get ahead again, then left the
door open for a final attack from
the Portuguese. In a replay of
last year's Dovizioso/Marquez
battle, Oliveira briefly saw the
lead again, but ran wide to hand
it back to Bagnaia on the exit.
The gap between them was a
quarter of a second; Bagnaia's
fifth win regained him the cham-
pionship lead by three points.
The fight for the next podium
position was hardly less fierce,
even after erstwhile combatant
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM)
none (Ecstar Suzuki), who had
been in the group chasing the
leaders until running off at turn
three. Bradley Smith (Red Bull
KTM) and Takaaki Nakagami
(LCR Idemitsu Honda) took the
last of the points; Hafizh Syah-
rin (Monster Yamaha) missed
out by less than half a second.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) fad-
ed badly to 17th after a strong
start well up in the top 10;
likewise 18th-placed Jack Miller
(Alma Pramac Ducati), with tire
overheating problems.
Marquez has won five of the
first ten races and been off the
podium only twice for a mas-
sive points lead—201 to 142 over
Rossi—whose second is com-
ing under threat. Lorenzo took
over third from Dovi, 130-129;
Vinales has 113.
Aleix Espargaro leads
Iannone and Rossi in
the early laps.
