Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1151987
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 / AUGUST 2-4, 2019 AUTOMOTODROM BRNO / BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC P68 Moto2 The Marquez family domination continued in the intermediate class. Younger brother Alex's pole was only his second this year but the second in a row. His victory, from early on lap one to the flag, how- ever, was his fifth in the past six races, a run only interrupted when he was knocked down at Assen. The EG-VDS Kalex rider's cham- pionship lead isn't quite as impres- sive as Marc's, but it got a handy boost to 33 points, more than a single-race cushion when his clos- est rival Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex) succumbed to sketchy front-wheel grip after only four laps. Fellow front-row starter Sam Lowes (Federal Oils Kalex) led off the line, while third qualifier Lo- renzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP40 Kalex) immediately started to slip away down to an eventual 11th place. Marquez was better than a sec- ond clear after two laps, by when Lowes had already lost his place to rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up). The English rider would continue to lose positions as he lost grip, and would eventually tumble out of 10th on lap nine. Di Giannantonio, a Moto3 winner here, couldn't match Marquez's pace—the Spaniard set a new lap record on the second tour. But nobody could match the Speed Up rider either, and he was unmo- lested until the end. It was a slightly disappointing re- turn to processional Moto2 racing, or would have been, but for a lively battle behind the leading pair. Mar- cel Schrotter (Dynavolt Kalex) had been the first to take over from the fading Lowes and was soon joined by Luca Marini's SKY VR46 Kalex. Marini got ahead of fast-starting team- mate Nicolo Bulega on lap two and brought him with him. Before half distance, as Marini took over the group, they were joined by second Speed Up rider Jorge Navarro, who managed to get to the head of the gang over the next five or six laps. But there was another rider going even faster. Rookie Enea Bastianini had qualified 18th but finished a storming first lap eighth. He was de- layed for a while in a skirmish with Brad Binder on the all-new Red Bull KTM but was past and clear when the South Afri- can tumbled out on lap 13. Now he closed rapidly on the gang of four, picked his way through, and started the last lap fourth, just half- a-second behind Navarro, now struggling with grip, and pounced at the bottom of the hill for his first podium in his first year in the class. Assen winner Augusto Fer- nandez (Flexbox HP40 Kalex) was alone in eighth, with ONEXOX Kalex rider Tetsuta Nagashima a second behind in ninth. Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) was six seconds away in 10th. Then came Bal- dassarri, who held off rookie Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM). A group of three disput- ed the final points, with An- drea Locatelli (Italtrans Kalex) and rookie Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Kalex) taking them, and a disgruntled Remy