Bagnaia, sensing a golden
opportunity to stem the flow of
points that have been rapidly
stolen by Martin over the last
few months, put in a ride that
will have a huge impact on the
title by taking the win over a very
close Maverick Vinales (Aprilia
Racing) and Fabio Quartararo
(Monster Energy Yamaha), the
World Champion turning a sev
-
en-point deficit into an 18-point
advantage over Martin.
In Moto2, Pedro Acosta
(Red Bull KTM Ajo) once again
proved the class of the field as
he led a processional encounter
to win over Aron Canet (Pons
Wegow Los40) to mark Canet's
12th Moto2 second place with
-
out a win and Fermin Aldeguer
(GT Trevisan SpeedUp). Acosta
is now a massive 65 points in
front of Toni Arbolino (ELF Marc
VDS Racing Team).
Moto3 saw Brazil's Diogo
Moreira (MT Helmets MSI) hang
on for a narrow career-first win
over David Alonso (GasGas
Aspar Team) and David Munoz
(GasGas Aspar Team) with
world title leader Jaume Masia
(Leopard Honda) down in fifth
but increasing his lead to 16
points.
MOTOGP SPRINT RACE
Luca Marini (Mooney VR46
Ducati), fresh from breaking his
collarbone in India, took a sur-
prise pole position ahead of Vi-
nales and Aprilia teammate Aleix
Espargaro and would lead into
turn one. But it would only last
one corner as Vinales scythed
past into the chicane and imme
-
diately began to open a gap.
Marc Marquez's weekend got
off to an ominous start as he
dumped the Repsol Honda on
the opening lap, a feat he would
repeat in the Sunday Grand Prix
to follow.
A lap later, Espargaro made
a desperate lunge up the inside
of Brad Binder and his front
Michelin said, "No, sir," as the
Aprilia man tucked the front and
collected the Red Bull KTM rider
with him.
Martin gradually worked his
way up to second place, dispos-
ing of Marini and chasing after
Vinales. With five laps to go
and with Vinales struggling on
the soft compound tire, Martin
made light work of the pass for
the lead and cleared off to win
ahead of Marini and Bezzecchi,
the latter also with a broken col-
larbone following a crash while
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P61
93 MARC MARQUEZ
DNF/DNF MOTOGP
"The weekend started in a good way,
but then day by day, it became more
complicated," Marquez said. "Today
in the race, I kept calm, I was losing a
little bit of ground, but I was not pan-
icking. The aim was to finish the race,
and I was riding with this in mind.
Unfortunately, at one point in Turn 13
I lost the front, and I couldn't save it.
A tricky crash to understand."
MYOWNRACE
(Above) Jorge
Martin made it four
Sprint race wins in
a row on Saturday
from the broken
collarbone VR46
boys, Luca Marini
(left) and Marco
Bezzecchi. (Left)
Martin's crash is one
he will rue for many
a day to come.
