MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 19 / NOVEMBER 15-17, 2019
RICARDO TORMO CIRCUIT / VALENCIA, SPAIN
P66
(Kalex) completed the top 10.
American Joe Roberts was
18th, barely a half-second out of
the points. Beginner/replace-
ment Sean Dylan Kelly crashed
out of his first GP.
Marquez's 262 points were just
enough, with Binder at 259 and
Luthi at 250. Navarro secured
fourth and Fernandez fifth.
Moto3
Sergio Garcia was too young
to race in the opening round in
Qatar. At the other end of the
season, the 16-year-old EG-Hon-
da rider claimed a brilliant first
race win at Valencia in a thrilling
five-bike battle that closed off a
shortened and incident-packed
race.
A horrendous multi-bike crash
on the third lap of the first attempt
caused a long delay, a depleted
managed to fight back into the
final corner.
Just after half distance, Mar-
quez had overtaken teammate
Xavi Vierge to lead the pursuit. He
had escaped over the next four
laps, although with little prospect
of catching the leaders, only to
slip off and out of the action.
By this point, front-row starter
Jorge Martin on the second Red
Bull KTM, who had led the first
couple of laps only to run wide and
be overwhelmed, had fought back
to the front of the gang, and he
stayed there to finish some seven
seconds behind. Close at the end
was Augusto Fernandez, whose
sixth-place secured the teams'
prize for Sito Pons's Flexbox HP40
Kalex squad, four points clear of
the Dynavolt Kalex squad.
Vierge, Luca Marini (Kalex), Di Gi-
annantonio (Speed Up), and Lowes
South African, who finished a
mere three points adrift in the
final standings.
There were four riders in the
front battle, with Dynavolt Kalex
rider Luthi taking the lead off the
line and holding it until the last
two of 16 laps of a race belated
and shortened from a planned
25, because of the truncated
time schedule following the
Moto3 carnage.
Binder twice nosed ahead only
to run wide directly each time,
giving him back the lead.
Inches behind, Stefano Manzi
was narrowly denied a first
podium in 40 years for the MV
Agusta marque, after a strong fin-
ish to the bike's first season. He'd
closed up for a final attack on
pole starter Navarro (Speed Up),
and they changed places twice
on the last lap, but the Spaniard
Sergio Garcia rode to a stunning first win at just 16 years of age in Moto3.
