MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 18 / NOVEMBER 1-3, 2019
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / KUAL A LUMPUR, MAL AYSIA
P64
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
F
rom the front row to the
flag, Monster Yamaha rider
Maverick Vinales avenged
his defeat a week ago in Australia.
Buoyed with the knowledge from
Phillip Island that he had finally
got his M1 right, he took the lead
with a tighter corner line than
fast-starter Jack Miller, then made
himself untouchable throughout.
The man who pushed him to a
last-lap crash last weekend, Rep-
sol Honda's Marc Marquez, made
a blazing start from the fourth row
of the grid, and by the end of the
first lap was disputing second with
Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller.
Marquez finally prevailed for
good by lap three and was now
1.3 seconds behind the leader.
But he would never get closer,
and soon after half distance, Vina-
les had stretched it to two seconds
and to more than three seconds at
the flag.
Fellow front-row starters Franco
Morbidelli and Petronas Yamaha
teammate Fabio Quartararo, on
pole, were never in the action, run
in the blazing heat in front of more
than 103,000 highly vocal fans at
the Sepang circuit adjacent to the
Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
It was Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati)
chasing behind, after his own bril-
liant start from the fourth row of the
grid. Dovi had his hands very full
fending off a persistent Valentino
Rossi (Monster Yamaha), who got
ahead a couple of times, but never
for more than a few yards.
By the end, Alex Rins (Ecstar
Suzuki) had joined the pair, and
Top gun
Maverick
Vinales came
out guns
blazing in
Malaysia.
SWEET
REVENGE
LAST WEEK, MAVERICK VINALES LOST THE FIGHT
TO THE DEATH AGAINST MARC MARQUEZ. THIS
WEEK, HE MADE SURE TO RETURN SERVE
