For the second title contend-
er, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, the
Spaniard didn't have the pace
in Thailand and had to endure
a long-lap penalty after clatter-
ing into the side of Brad Binder
(Red Bull KTM) early in the race.
Espargaro would eventually
finish 11th, right behind Binder,
gaining five points on Quartararo
to ensure 20 points cover the
top three.
A new rider is also now math-
ematically in with a title shot, and
that's Jack Miller. The Austra-
lian's 45-point haul from the last
two races sees him one point
behind Enea Bastianini (Gresini
Ducati, sixth in Thailand) in fifth,
40 points off Quartararo with 75
still to play for.
Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Ma-
laysia, Qatar and Valencia are held
in just 10 weeks. Of the current
calendar, Aragon—Fabio Quar-
tararo's bogey circuit—is set to be
dropped. "That's good! I'm happy.
I hope we never go back again,"
he quipped.
ALEIX: MISTAKES
HAPPEN
Less than a week on from the
devastating mistake which ended
his perfect point-scoring record in
2022, Aleix Espargaro explained
a dinner of reconciliation with his
Aprilia squad as they seek to main-
tain their slightly beleaguered title
hopes. In Japan, the Catalan was
forced to pit after the warm-up lap
as an engineer forgot to remove
the "Eco" fuel map—used by riders
to save fuel on their out-lap, which
means the bike doesn't rev above
5000 rpm—from his bike on the
grid. It deprived him of the chance
to fight for victory. Yet there was
no ill-feeling in the Aprilia box upon
arriving in Thailand. "I went to
Tokyo and on Monday I had dinner
with my team—everybody—I love
every single person on my team,
and they were even more down
than me. So, I'm the leader of this
team and I said to them, 'Head
up, it's a mistake, everybody can
make mistakes.' Now there is a
new scenario for us, and there is
always positive things when new
things are coming, so I will try to
recover the points here." Espar-
garo finished 11th in Thailand.
Briefly...
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 4, 2022 P63
Marco Bezzecchi charged off pole
position and into the lead but ran
wide at turn one and was forced to
drop a position. From there, he went
backwards while Johann Zarco (5)
went forwards. Bezzecchi finished
16th, Zarco came home fourth.
