VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P85
MOTOGP SPRINT RACE
Enea Bastianini firmly put the
gremlins of Portimao, where his
season was wrecked by a way-
ward Luca Marini last year, into
his past by grabbing the pole for
Ducati. He headed the resur-
gent Maverick Vinales (Aprilia
Racing) and Martin with World
Champion Francesco Bagnaia
(Ducati Lenovo Team) heading
up row two.
It would be Jack Miller (Red
Bull KTM) who would blast
through from a second row,
starting to lead into turn two af
-
ter passing a wide Vinales. The
Spaniard also lost second place
to Bagnaia.
Within four laps, Miller began
to drop down the field, with
Bagnaia, Marc Marquez (Gresini
Ducati), Maverick Vinales and
Jorge Martin all finding their
way past.
25 RAUL FERNANDEZ
10TH / DNF MOTOGP
"I'm lucky that I'm okay," Fernandez
said of his Sunday crash. "It was
honestly a very stupid crash, a rookie
mistake. During the track walk, I told
my crew chief that you need to be
calm in this corner when you get a bit
offline, and I actually didn't manage
to do that. Until then, I felt good with
the bike, I had a good pace, I did a
39.2 in one lap. But maybe I was a
bit too ambitious at the beginning of
the race."
Maverick Vinales (12)
was resurgent in Portugal,
taking the Sprint race win
and what should have
been second in the Sunday
GP until his gearbox
gave up the ghost.
(Left) Drama as Pecco
Bagnaia and Marc
Marquez go down with
three laps to go. Bagnaia
was out, Marquez
remounted for 16th but
still no points. (Right) In
this photo, there are 13
world championships! And
new boy Pedro Acosta
(31) made light work of
his highly regarded peers,
surging through for a first-
class podium.
MYOWNRACE
