IN
THE
WIND
P52
Marquez's Monster Crash
O
ne day after talking about
his best-yet MotoGP season
and with his sixth championship
all but tucked up in his back
pocket, Marc Marquez suffered
his first heavy crash of the sea-
son, and was stretchered away to
the hospital.
Unlike his usual harmless front-
wheel washouts, this was a vi-
cious high-side, occurring on his
out lap as he went out to secure
his position for tomorrow's quali-
fying. With bad weather forecast,
the morning times would poten-
tially decide candidates for the
top-ten Q2.
The crash was on Turn 7, the
first right-hander for a spell, The
champion-elect was at cruising
speed, but as he tipped into the
corner with the throttle closed,
the bike flipped sideways and
threw him high into the air, to
land heavily on his left-hand side.
His Repsol Honda was severe-
ly damaged: the back tire ripped
clean off; the rider stayed on all
fours, in obvious pain, for some
time, before gingerly limping off
with the help of marshals. He
walked from the ambulance to
the track medical center, but was
stretchered out soon afterwards
to be taken to hospital.
Early reports were of lower
back and left leg pain. An MRI
scan at hospital, according to
Repsol team manager Alberto
Puig, found no fractures, although
the rider had painful bruises. "We
were lucky today," said Puig.
Although the obvious culprit
would be his new rear soft tire,
fitted to set a good time, Puig
said that in fact it was up to
temperature. Rumor-mongers
speculated about a mechani-
cal failure, but Puig suggested
that the tire had picked up dust
during a run off the line on the
previous straight.
Observers suspected a
mechanical problem—possibly a
repeat of the engine-braking is-
sue that tipped him off at Austin,
but this was denied.
Compatriot Pol Espargaro was
injured in a similar off-throttle
high-side at the previous round in
Aragon, also on his out lap on the
Red Bull KTM. With the throttle
closed, electronics cannot help
save this type of crash, usually
blamed on a cold tire.
Michael Scott
