elsewhere. Just as well, as not
one person left the circuit on
Sunday night knowing when the
next track action would be.
Moto2
No one saw this coming. Yes,
Qatar has a habit of throwing up
a surprise or two. There's history
here, of course. Going all the
way back to the inaugural run-
ning of the Moto2 class that ran
in 2010, and then an unknown
teenager by the name of Shoya
Tomizawa ran away with the
spoils. But this year's event was
big on the shock factor from
start to end. The previously out-
gunned American Joe Roberts
(American Racing Kalex) carried
a wave of newfound confidence
from Friday's FP2, a session
in which he broke the outright
circuit record, through to this
action-packed opener.
For 12 laps, the 22-year-old
Californian, who grabbed a sen-
sational debut pole position on
Saturday, clung on to preseason
favorite Luca Marini (Sky Racing
VR46 Kalex) like a man pos-
sessed, running with the sport's
heavyweights with whom he had
only fought in his wildest dreams
before now.
There was never much in it.
And a fierce supporting cast
bit at their heels—namely Jorge
Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex),
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox
HP40 Kalex), Enea Bastianini
(Italtrans Kalex) and the ultra-ag-
gressive Tetsuta Nagashima (Red
Bull KTM Ajo Kalex)—in a lead
group that at one point stretched
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 10 MARCH 10, 2020 P49
to 10 riders.
Then the surprises really
came. Sole tire supplier Dunlop
had planned for the race to start
at 4 p.m. local time. MotoGP's
cancellation led organizers
Dorna to slot Moto2 where the
premier class should have been
at 6 p.m., a time when the sun
has gone down, temperatures
have dropped and humidity is on
the rise.
Now Dunlop's super-soft
front—the compound of choice
for all but five riders—was grain-
ing for some, who hadn't perfect-
ed setup for these very specific
conditions. From lap 15, Marini's
performance began to plum-
met. Martin's too. And others
sensed a chance, most notably
Nagashima. Sixth on lap 15, the
Japanese rider took just three
laps to move ahead, complet-
ing an expert two-in-one swoop
on Baldassarri and Bastianini to
lead into turn one. As the Italians
battled behind, he edged clear,
coming home 1.3 seconds ahead
for his debut grand prix victory, a
success made all the sweeter by
its echoes of old friend Tomiza-
wa's success here in 2010.
"Shoya was like my hero," said
American Joe
Roberts stunned
the paddock by
taking pole for
the Moto2 race.
No American had
sat on pole in any
MotoGP class
since 2010.
