Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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attack from Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) on the final lap but man- aged to fight back and claim the last point available in the Sprint by finishing ninth. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Rac- ing) crashed at turn one on lap one, almost taking Fabio Di Gi- annantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) with him, although the Italian rider stayed upright. The race also saw crashes from Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) and Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR), who were uninjured. MOTOGP SUNDAY RACE At the start, Marc Marquez took the holeshot again, while Bagnaia struggled off the line, once more nearly colliding with Alex Marquez in a near-repeat of the Sprint's opening moments. Acosta moved up to second, with Martin slotting into third, leaving Bagnaia to work his way up from seventh. Binder, Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Ya- maha MotoGP) all locked horns with Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing Aprilia) taking advantage to pass all of them and secure fifth. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) then joined the fray, with Oliveira maintaining fifth, Binder defending sixth, and a duel unfolding between Quar - tararo and Bagnaia. Up front, Marc Marquez's dom- inant Sprint victory ended a win drought of more than 1000 days. Martin pulled away from Acosta by the finish, with the rookie keeping a comfortable gap ahead of Alex Marquez in fourth. Oliveira secured fifth place, while Binder held onto sixth, narrowly beating Bastianini. Further back, the battle between Bagnaia and Quar - tararo went down to the wire, with Quartararo making several moves before finally overtaking Bagnaia and sitting him up. Ba - gnaia then found himself under ROUND 12 / AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 ARAGON / ALCANIZ, SPAIN ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P86 TRACK RESURFACED On the one hand, Aragon's new track surface has been a success. Lap records were broken in all three classes on Friday. Yet the 3.15-mile layout was described as "The toughest asphalt of the whole season," by Pedro Acosta, with grip very much lacking. "Dif- ficult to say, but I think everything, it's quite fresh at the moment." While the speed was certainly there on Friday afternoon, condi- tions were complicated by rain on Friday night, which washed away the day's rubber. Saturday was slick and dirty. "The corkscrew is wet [in the dry], it's unreal," said Brad Binder on Friday. "The left there, is like ice. It's not wet, but it should be. So sketchy. In the morning, I was a bit sketched out by the patches, but in the afternoon it felt sweet. Turn nine: Jesus. Ice. Super-slippery." GRID NOT GOOD Track conditions were very much in focus after the Sprint race, with several riders incensed by the condition of the start-finish straight. It was clear to the naked eye, the inside of the track was dirtier than the outside. The riders, therefore, on the inside of the grid were at a disadvantage, with Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro spinning up dangerously. "When we arrived on the grid, we notified the Dorna guys that our left side, Maverick and I were together, was complete- ly brown," said an exasperated Espargaro. "This is unacceptable," said Alex Rins. "I spun the rear tire completely. You saw Pecco, Aleix, Morbidelli, myself—we were all on the dirty side. The Safety Commis- sion wasn't there yesterday, but it's Briefly... Pedro Acosta (31) walked away with two podiums as his form returned. He leads Brad Binder, who took fourth on Sunday.