MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 18 / NOVEMBER 17-18, 2018
RICARDO TORMO CIRCUIT / VALENCIA, SPAIN
P64
things were simpler.
Rins led away again, but
Dovizioso took over on the second
lap, and on the seventh lap, Rossi
moved into second. Dovi was now
almost two seconds clear, and he
would add another half-second
Rins ran wide and dropped
to third, while at the end of it
Rossi challenged Dovizioso for
the lead at the final corner. But
down the straight Dovi raised his
hand, revealing later that at Fri-
day's Safety Commission meet-
ing race direction had asked the
riders "for some feedback" if the
forecast of bad weather should
come to pass.
By then Jack Miller was
gesticulating angrily in pit lane,
saying later the race should have
been stopped earlier, and that
you could hear the bikes wheel-
spinning on the straight. "It was
like they were trying to make
two-thirds distance [to avoid a
restart]," he complained.
But now red flags came out
promptly, and results were taken
back to lap 13, when Rins had
still been leading.
Forty minutes later, the race
was restarted for a final 14 laps.
Ironically it started raining again
as they lined up, but it was not
as heavy as before, and this time
After six laps, Marquez had
finally prevailed after some hard
to-and-fro with the on-form Pol
Espargaro and was close to
Dovi, while Rossi was a couple
of seconds adrift of the KTM.
Then in short order, Espar-
garo fell, scrambling straight
back on, and then Marquez as
well. The champion was not
so lucky, clutching again at the
left shoulder he had dislocated
once more the day before, as he
limped out of the gravel trap.
There were more crashes to
come—Andrea Iannone (Ecstar
Suzuki) was out of fifth on lap
nine, and Morbidelli (EG-VDS)
was done three laps later, having
inherited the place from him.
Up front, Rins' pace was
dropping rapidly as conditions
worsened, with Dovi and Rossi
closing right up. Vinales had
recovered momentum and was
on Rossi's tail until he too went
looping over the high-side at the
track's fastest corner on lap 13.
As they started the 14th lap,
Jack Miller had a
seriously rough
weekend, his crash
tally reaching five
including this one in
the race.
Pol Espargaro
begins to clear
away from the
retiring Dani
Pedrosa.
