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/1501730
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P87 Miller rocketed into the lead at turn one from Bagnaia and Marini with Martin in fourth, but as they crested the Waterfall corner, the Aussie lost the rear of his KTM and slid from second to fourth. Bagnaia now took over at the front and Martin was up to sec - ond with Marini third, and that trio began to immediately build a gap to Miller, Binder and Espargaro. A lap later, Martin made the move on Bagnaia at the penulti- mate corner and it looked like he was in a mood to check out as the gap to Bagnaia grew slowly but steadily. With 18 laps left, there were three seconds covering the top three with Binder occupying third from Zarco and Marini, but with 19 laps of 30 completed, the South African crashed out at the second of the quadruple lefts that lead to the Waterfall corner. That promoted Zarco onto the podium and the possi - bility of Ducati filling the first five places in the GP, a feat not seen since Honda did it in 2003. stretching a 1.4-second gap over Bagnaia as Miller held off a swarm of Ducatis in Marini, teammate Brad Binder, Zarco and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati). Further down the field, Maver- ick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) bit the dust at turn one on lap 12. It was a sign of things to come as he blew a motor in the Sunday GP for a zero-score haul from Germany. With two laps to go, Martin was very much in cruise control, 2.4 seconds up on Bagnaia as Miller broke clear of the chas- ing pack for a safe third. That's how they finished with Marini holding on for fourth from Zarco, Binder, Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Enea Bas- tianini (Ducati Lenovo) rounding out the top 10. Sunday Grand Prix With the King of The Ring, Marc Marquez, now out of conten- tion following his withdrawal, all eyes were on Martin to see if his Sprint race win was a fluke. HONDA IN DIRE STRAITS If Honda was in any doubt of the extent of its issues, it just had to follow Marc Marquez's dra- matic Saturday. The 30-year-old crashed three times in 28 minutes in qualifying, before admitting to throttling off during the race because of the bike's deficien- cies. Eleventh place in the Sprint represented a total disaster for the former champ. Takaaki Nakagami, Honda's only other rider present, as Joan Mir (finger fracture) and Alex Rins (double leg break) recover from their respec- tive injuries, explained, "Perfor- mance was pretty poor. Even the half-distance Sprint race, we had an unstable bike. There is no grip, and the front end is always closing midcorner. And exit, the rear grip is really bad. So, the bike is mov- ing a lot. We lose… mainly we're losing acceleration. In the traction area, the bike is shaking a lot. It's really difficult to keep the pace." RIDERS REMINDED OF PIT-LANE EXIT PROTOCOL Marc Marquez's collision with Johann Zarco on Friday wasn't the day's only lucky escape. On Saturday, drone footage emerged of Maverick Vinales narrowly missing Alex Marquez when the former crashed while the latter was exiting pit lane. IRTA sent out an email to the teams on Satur- day reminding riders that a pro- tocol when exiting pit lane must be followed. "The responsibility to make a safe pit exit rests with the rider exiting pit lane, and the blue flag must be respected," read the Briefly... Saturday Sprint Race Highlights