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/1170860
missing a little grip in the left-hand corners," he said. "Our pace was good but not quite good enough to stay with the guys in front." By the end, he was only 1.5 seconds clear of a duel for sixth, which was won by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Castrol Honda) from Aleix Espargaro, whose usually disad- vantaged Aprilia was able to sal- vage some pride for the marque, at a track where acceleration mat- ters less than a strong top speed. Valentino Rossi (Monster Yama- ha) had a disappointing race, drop- ping back throughout after starting well, in a lonely eighth. "I knew I didn't have podium pace, but then it got worse," Rossi said. "My rear tire had a big, big drop after five or six laps, and I had to slow down. But it is not a problem of the tire but of our settings. We always have problems with rear grip." Five seconds down, Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) had a battered bike, a long-lap penalty and an apology to make to Franco Mor- bidelli (Petronas Yamaha), after knocking him down on the first lap. He was trying to make up po- sitions after starting from 12th and had to come through again after running wide several times. He eventually outpaced a big fight for 10th, won at the last gasp by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda) from Andrea Iannone (Aprilia), Danilo Petrucci (Ducati), Miguel Oliveira, on the top Red Bull KTM, and Joan Mir, on a second battered Suzuki, who had caught up in the final laps after several early run-wides with trouble braking. Lorenzo's nightmare continued in his first Repsol Honda year, dropping throughout after a good start—up to 12th on lap three from 19th on the grid, but after that dropping rapidly, blaming a rear tire drop-off. "I'd rather start slowly and finish strongly," he said later. He was 20th, second-last, beating Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM) only because the Malaysian had run off with three laps to go. Marquez has a 98-point ad- vantage, 300 to Dovi's 202; then Rins taking third from Petrucci, 156 to 155, and Vinales fifth with 147 points. Moto2 On Saturday, Brad Binder forced one fast qualifying lap out of the reluctant Red Bull KTM to make IIIMY OWN RACE: 41 BRAD BINDER 1ST MOTO2 "The key to this race was making a strong start which allowed me to lead right from the first lap," Brad Binder said. "I decided it was be er not to check the board and just do my best. I was riding as hard as I could, and it wouldn't have helped me to see if my advantage had increased or decreased. I tried to be as smooth as possible. In the end, we crossed the finish line first, and that's what ma ers most." 87 REMY GARDNER 13TH MOTO2 "Qualifying was a disaster, and we were struggling all weekend, to be honest," said Remy Gardner. "The problem is grip. A er one lap I had nothing le . We planned to try some- thing in the warm-up, but there was overnight rain which compromised us a li le. The race itself was awful. Quali- fying ruined what we could do in the race and Friday ruined what we could do in quali, so that was the story of the weekend really! We made mistakes regards res and setup, but to be fair in the race the bike was the best it had been all weekend, I just lost too much me figh ng for the lower posi ons. The midrace pace was good, I just lost too much at the beginning. It was the first weekend that we haven't really been there." MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 16 / SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 MOTORL AND ARAGON / ARAGON, SPAIN P104 scaphoid in a training accident in the close season, then fractured ribs in a fall at Qatar. Then in practice at Assen, he sustained fractures to two vertebrae. "There have been four very important injures, and although the last was the worst, the others have also had an impact on results," he said. He returned at the British GP but finished a distant 14th and at the next round at Misano. The pain was steadily improving, he said, and he hoped to be significantly stronger for the forthcoming Asian campaign. "The enemy is the stopwatch," he said. Briefly...