me many times when I was fully
fit," he said. "In Q1, I needed to
know where I was losing and I fol-
lowed another bike, and I chose
the world champion." Then came
the jibe: "I could have chosen my
brother [Alex], too. And he would
have kept quiet." Surely the first
flashpoint of many to come.
JORGE MARTIN KO'D
The highs and lows of racing
were never more apparent in
Jorge Martin's recent fortunes.
Just under two weeks ago the
class rookie amazed onlookers
by setting pole position, lead-
ing 18 laps, and racking up a
debut podium in just his second
MotoGP appearance. But Satur-
day morning's FP3 session was
stopped after 40 minutes due to
a heavy crash for the 23-year-old.
Martin lost the front of his Pramac
Ducati on the run to turn nine on
an out lap. He was then clipped
by his bike and spun through the
gravel in a sickening fall. After
a long spell in the gravel trap,
Doctor Angel Charte confirmed
Martin had suffered a fractured
metacarpal, fractured malleolus
(ankle), and head trauma, putting
an end to his weekend. "He is
conscious," said Pramac team
boss Francesco Guidotti. "He
has pain everywhere. In the first
moment we were really scared
because he was in the gravel with
the medics for a long time. But
everything should be much better
than he could be."
POLE POLEMICS IN
PORTUGAL
The decisions of the FIM Stewards
and MotoGP's regulations were
once again in the spotlight on
Saturday when Pecco Bagnaia and
Maverick Vinales had laps good
enough for pole position chalked
off. Bagnaia set his fastest time
when riding through a yellow flag
shown for Miguel Oliveira's crash
on the outside of a turn. His lap
time was immediately canceled,
according to new regulations
designed to ensure safety of track
marshals attending stricken riders
or machines. The Italian protested
his innocence, saying, "It was
impossible to see the flag." Vinales'
case was tougher. The Catalan
was judged to have exceeded
track limits on his pole lap when his
rear tire appeared to just graze the
green asphalt beyond the curb. "I
didn't touch it," he said. But new
track sensors measuring move-
ment on the edge of the curb now
make that judgement, rather than
the opinion of a Steward.
STAND AND NOT
DELIVER
MotoAmerica Supersport racer
Sean Dylan Kelly traveled to Portu-
gal as a possible stand-in for Ameri-
can Racing's Marcos Ramirez, who
missed the first two rounds of the
season with a shoulder injury. The
23-year-old Spaniard, however,
determinedly participated in every
session while Kelly ended up spec-
tating the entire time.
Briefly...
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 16 APRIL 20, 2021 P91
