ahead of the fading Oliveira, with
Alex Marquez getting the better
of a scrap between himself, Fa-
bio Quartararo (Monster Energy
Yamaha) and Jack Miller holding
up Red Bull KTM honors after
Binder retired early with a techni-
cal problem.
Augusto Fernandez (GasGas
Factory Racing Tech3) and Di Gi-
annantonio completed the top 10.
In the series points, Bagnaia
still holds a 50-point lead over
Martin with Bezzecchi 71 points
behind in third.
"The greatest day of my life, al
-
though not at all easy," Espargaro
said after the Sunday's race. "At
the second start, after seeing Ba
-
gnaia's bad crash, I was tense and
nervous, and I lost ground behind
By lap nine, Martin was back
through on Oliveira and the two
factory Aprilias were gradually
pulling away, Vinales still in the
lead over Espargaro.
As the laps wound down,
Espargaro gradually reeled his
teammate back in who was
struggling with a severely bat
-
tered front tire, and with four laps
to go, pulled the same move he
had on Bagnaia at turn one.
Through he went, but Vinales
didn't want to give it up easily
and ran off at turn one, rejoining
in second place ahead of Martin.
That's the way it would stay as
Espargaro led Vinales and Martin
home, the first Aprilia 1-2 in the
company's history. Zarco backed
up his teammate Martin in fourth
VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P69
Maverick. Then I decided to push
without thinking too much about
tire wear or the risks, because I
really wanted to battle for the win.
When I caught up with him, it was
rather clear that he was having
difficulty with grip and I overtook
him. It's incredible to see two
Aprilias ahead of everyone."
Moto2
Jake Dixon has signaled he won't
give up on the world title without
a fight by taking pole position and
the second Moto2 win of his 2023
season and career over Moto2's
perennial second-placed man,
Aron Canet and first-time Moto2
podium finisher, Albert Arenas.
In a dogfight of a race, Dixon
Canet, Arenas, Sergio Garcia
particular thing to talk about, but it
was necessary, and it was good.
The communication is the base of
everything."
MORBIDELLI POISED
FOR PRAMAC SEAT
After Marco Bezzecchi confirmed
he will be staying in the VR46
Ducati team next year, it appears
Franco Morbidelli will be the main
beneficiary; the Italian will move
from the ailing Yamaha squad to
ride a GP24 in the Pramac squad.
Ducati Corse Sporting Director
Paolo Ciabatti said, "There is
really only one person on the list
for Pramac: Franco Morbidelli.
We are in talks." The Italian
expressed disappointment that
Bezzecchi didn't want to move
up and said the two-time MotoGP
race winner will remain in their
thoughts for 2025.
Briefly...
(Above) At the restart, Jorge Martin took the advantage
but only for four corners as Vinales came past.
