VOL. 56 ISSUE 13 APRIL 2, 2019 P75
Cal Crutchlow (35)
got pinged for a
questionable jump
start and rode
through the field
like a champion,
taking 13th.
Moto2
Lorenzo Baldassarri made it two
in a row in a thrilling Moto2 race,
after a front-end fight of chang-
ing fortunes and fierce fighting
in the second race of the new
Triumph-powered era, on a day
when son-of-a-champion Remy
Gardner joined the small number
of father-son podium finishers
with a hard-fought second place.
Flex-Box HP40 rider Baldas-
sarri led a trio of Kalexes over
the line after patiently waiting in
fourth place until there were just
four laps to go to take the lead.
He picked his way through
a battling trio—Gardner, Marcel
Schrotter and Alex Marquez. A
collision under braking with his
last victim, Gardner, gave him
some breathing space, and he
rapidly escaped, to win by better
been tipped as a podium con-
tender after qualifying on row
two, but he was judged to have
jumped the start and was hit with
a ride-through penalty. He was
furious, for the offense was so
minor and the punishment so
severe; he charged through to
salvage three points for 13th.
Pecco Bagnaia (Pramac
Ducati) and Johann Zarco (Red
Bull KTM) took the final points,
with Syahrin losing touch by the
end, and last-placed Andrea Ian-
none (Aprilia) never in the hunt.
Marquez's text-book perfor-
mance gave him the champion-
ship lead as the circus looks
towards the next race at COTA
in Texas, a circuit where he has
been utterly dominant through-
out. He has 45 points to Dovi's
41; then Rossi (31), Rins (24) and
Petrucci (20).
This gave a handy seventh to
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda),
he had succumbed to Vinales
on lap 20 and lost touch with the
gang.
Three seconds back, Quar-
tararo was eighth; and four sec-
onds behind him Aleix Espargaro
prevailed on the final lap after a
long battle with his brother Pol
and class rookie Miguel Oliveira
(both Red Bull KTM).
Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol
Honda) had another downbeat
weekend, qualifying 12th but fin-
ishing the first lap second from
last after bogging down off the
line, narrowly escaping being
hit from behind by Hafizh Syah-
rin's KTM. He gradually moved
forward, and the last-lap crash
promoted him to 12th.
Last year's winner Cal
Crutchlow (LCR Honda) had
