Pramac Ducati), Bezzecchi, Enea
Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) and
Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
rounding out the top 10.
MotoGP Sunday
Grand Prix
There's been many first-corner
incidents over the years at
Catalunya, the most famous
being when John Hopkins, Loris
Capirossi, Dani Pedrosa, Randy
de Puniet and Sete Gibernau all
tangled, going down in a flurry
of arms and legs. The crash is
noticeable because it ushered in
the mandatory front-brake lever
guard, which was the cause of
the carnage when Gibernau's
front lever was jammed on at
high speed after colliding with
teammate Capirossi.
Fast forward 17 years, and
there was another massive ac
-
cident at turn one, this one was
caused by another factory Ducati
rider, Bastianini.
The Italian got a rocket start
from 11th on the grid but left his
braking way too late, losing the
VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P67
ROBERTS TO
JOIN AMERICAN
RACING TEAM
Joe Roberts will return to the
American Racing Team in Moto2
for 2024 after a three-year stint
in the Italian Italtrans team. The
Californian enjoyed the best year
of his career riding for American
Racing in 2020, when he scored
his maiden podium at Brno and
finished seventh overall. Now
he's decided to reunite with
former personal manager Eitan
Butbul and Race Director John
Hopkins.
RIDERS CONVENING
BEYOND SAFETY
COMMISSION
The full MotoGP grid met on
Thursday evening at the Cir-
cuit of Barcelona-Catalunya to
discuss how they could work
together for common needs. The
meeting took place after many
were left unhappy by Race Direc-
tion's handling of a wet session
at Silverstone, which they felt
should have been red-flagged.
Riders were cautious when
discussing the meeting, but it
appears they wanted to present a
united front of certain issues that
aren't to their liking. "I think it was
necessary to have us all together
after Silverstone, in FP2 and the
[lack of] red flag, we were quite
angry," said Aleix Espargaro.
"Marc [Marquez] came to my
motorhome to speak and talk
a little bit, but it was difficult to
talk with the other riders to know
how they felt. So, I thought it
was necessary to have a group
together on WhatsApp and to do
the first meeting. There was no
Briefly...
Bagnaia had no answer to Espargaro
in the Sprint Race and only just held
off Maverick Vinales for second.
