Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1367911
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 18 MAY 4, 2021 P99 Espargaro taking Aprilia's best dry-weather MotoGP race result in sixth, 5.1 seconds off Miller. Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco, Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro completed the top 10. There were crashes for Alex Rins on the factory Suzuki and two for Brad Binder, the final one ruling him out of the race in a dismal Sunday ride. In the championship, Bagnaia now leads with 66 points over Quartararo at 64 with Vinales third at 50. Miller's win hoists the Australian up to sixth in the standings at 39. Round five of MotoGP 2021 will be at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix on May 16. VINALES TWITTER The perils of waging into a debate on social media are clear to anyone with an account on Facebook. Heated and hurting after a poor Portuguese GP, Maverick Vinales moved to clarify a report he felt was inaccurate on Twitter. Soon the abuse came his way. Before long, the Catalan had sent off a series of frustrated tweets. Then he closed his account completely. On a week- end when Premier League Soccer clubs are boycotting social media to protest the level of racial abuse di- rected toward its players, this was a major talking point. Vinales insisted his move wasn't due to the abuse hurled his way. "I'm more about Instagram and Tiktok, I'm more into videos and reels," he said. CAM'S LEGENDARY CREW CHIEF The American Racing Team has replaced Cameron Beaubier's crew chief Luca Capocchiano with the legendary Stuart Shenton. "Stuart was my crew chief throughout my entire career at Suzuki MotoGP," said ART's Race Director John Hopkins. "It is really cool having him back. It is a good feeling." Shenton began his career working with Kork Ballington. He won world championships working on Freddie Spencer's NSR250 in 1985 and was responsible for turning Suzuki's RG500 into a championship winner at the hands of Kevin Schwantz in 1993. After a tough opening day in Jerez, Beaubier posted a promising performance in qualifying and starts Sunday's race from 16th but crashed out of the race. MARQUEZ GETS OFF AGAIN "We know that sooner or later the first crash of the season will arrive," said Marc Marquez on Saturday. It's just he was hoping it wouldn't be at close to 140 mph. The returning for- mer champion crashed in the closing minutes of Saturday morning's FP3 at the fearsome turn seven and ended up in the air fence. First fears were for the right arm he injured so badly in a spill at this track last July. But with the joint fine, fears soon moved to his head when he returned to his motorhome after the session. "I sit and I was there for 10 minutes, I start to lose a bit the head." He went to the local hospital for precautions but was given the all-clear by doctors. Marquez went on to qualify 14th. Briefly... Franco Morbidelli once again performed miracles on a two-year-old bike to take his first podium of 2021.