VOL. 55 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 20, 2018 P59
Something
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
D
ramatic weather made for
a dramatic—even his-
toric—final grand prix of a
fine season at Valencia, where
Andrea Dovizioso took Ducati's
50th win and his fourth this
year, though first at the Ricardo
Tormo circuit. And Ecstar Su-
zuki's Alex Rins took a second
successive second place.
And one of the bits of history
was about absences. This was
the first podium in more than
10 years with not one Honda
or Yamaha rider on it. The last
was in Misano in 2007, when
Stoner's Ducati led the Suzukis
of Vermeulen and Hopkins.
On the flip side, on a day
when KTM won both other rac-
es, it was the Austrian marque's
first MotoGP podium, thanks to
an extraordinary performance
by Pol Espargaro, who had
crashed and remounted in the
first running of the MotoGP
race, then made it to third at the
second attempt.
Second attempt? Some
97,000 drenched fans were
rewarded with not one but two
premier-class races, after a
deluge at around half-distance
of the first running brought out
the red flags.
By then, the field had been
radically cut by a spate of
crashes. Not only was pole
starter Maverick Vinales (Mo-
vistar Yamaha) down and out,
but also 2018 champion Marc
Marquez (Repsol Honda)—just
two of eight riders not able to
restart, along with both Alma
Pramac Ducati riders Danilo
Petrucci and Jack Miller, Ecstar
Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, Aleix
Espargaro (Aprilia) and EG-VDS
Honda teammates Franco Mor-
bidelli and Thomas Luthi.
Bradley Smith (Red Bull
KTM) also crashed on lap 14
of the scheduled 27—but with
results to determine grid order
for the restart taken back one
lap, he was able to rejoin when
the race was restarted some 40
minutes later.
2018
SEASON
ON
HISTORICAL
NOTE
Different
Andrea Dovizioso
(04) held firm in
the chaos to take
the final win of
the year.
