VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P63
as he ripped into the lead from
the second row of the grid in
sixth place, leading Vinales into
turn one.
Marini wouldn't make it
halfway around the first lap,
clattered into by Brad Binder
and out of the race. Seven laps
later, it was Marc Marquez's
turn to taste gravel, the eight-
time World Champion now
praying for the end of the year
when he can finally say good
-
bye to his recalcitrant Repsol
Honda.
As the race settled down,
Martin got into the business of
building his lead. By lap eight,
it was 1.8 seconds. Lap 10, 2.2
seconds. Lap 12, 3.0 seconds.
Lap 13, nothing. Martin ditched
the Ducati, handing the lead to
Vinales and Bagnaia with the
ultimate opportunity to correct
the title points race.
With eight laps remaining,
Bagnaia pounced on Vinales at
turn five and immediately put
the hammer down to stretch a
one-second gap by lap 26.
Vinales had his hands full
Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM)
and Miguel Oliveira (CryptoData
RNF MotoGP Aprilia Team)
rounded out the top 10.
SUNDAY GRAND PRIX
By all accounts, the Sunday
Grand Prix looked like it would
be another Jorge Martin benefit
VR46 DUCATI MEN
WALKING WOUNDED
The Sprint wasn't just remarkable for
Jorge Martin's feats; Luca Marini and
Marco Bezzecchi scored podiums
when far from healthy. Marini was
making his comeback after breaking
his left collarbone three weeks ago
in India. Bezzecchi was even more
impressive, after suffering the same
fate with his right last Saturday. He was
operated on a day later and decided
to fly to Indonesia on Wednesday. He
only arrived on the island of Lombok on
Friday morning, hours before FP1. "I
decided to start on Wednesday morn-
ing, so pretty cool," said the Italian. "Not
everyone agreed. I tried to convince
everyone, especially my mum! I came
here not to fight for the championship
but to keep myself in the game, close
to them, not too far from them."
PECCO INSISTS: NO
DUCATI TEAM ORDERS
Francesco Bagnaia was adamant
Ducati should not enforce team orders
even after teammate Enea Bastianini
was a thorn in his side through the day.
Bastianini's late time in Q1 knocked
Bagnaia out of the top two places, forc-
ing him to start from 13th. From there,
he could only manage eighth in the
Sprint, one place and 0.7 of a second
back from his compatriot. Asked if
Ducati should have intervened, the
World Champion said, "I will look
crazy to say it, but we didn't have team
orders last year, so we don't have this
year [either]. We are eight riders with
not the same packages but the same
possibility to fight for the positions. This
is the strategy from Ducati, and I ac-
cept it. Why block a rider coming back
from an injury and say, 'don't improve
your lap time because you have to let
Pecco through?'"
Briefly...
Sprint Race
