Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1547449
ROUND 19 / OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 1, 2026 SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SELANGOR, MALAYSIA P62 MIR MAKES A COMEBACK Joan Mir showed his face at Sepang after missing four rounds with a mystery virus. The two-time champ revealed a stress-related virus was causing him to lose his vision before he stepped away after retiring out of the San Marino Grand Prix. "I simply needed to stop be- cause I had some vision problems. At the beginning, we didn't know what was happening; it was also related to tiredness—quite extreme. And it was a process that was getting worse and worse in the last races that I did in the first part of the season. Mentally, it was tough because it was not like a bone that you understand more or less the timings. The cause was related on one problem that I had in the past with the vision, that with the stress of the races was getting worse for this reason. And also, the tiredness was related on this thing." SEPANG TRACK SURFACE COPPING FLACK The Sepang International Circuit came under fire from riders on Fri- day with the general consensus be- ing it wasn't up to scratch for a Mo- toGP event. "Now it's a motocross track," said Fabio Di Giannantonio. Luca Marini added, "Everything apart from turns seven and eight is completely destroyed. Stones are coming from the bikes in front." The circuit had intended to resurface earlier this year. But Cycle News un- derstands delays due to the ongo- ing war in Ukraine meant the track couldn't get the right bitumen sent out to Malaysia. It preferred not to purchase a lower-quality alterna- tive. Plus, the Bahrain Formula One Briefly... ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Acosta (37) tried and tried and finally got through on Alex (73) at half race distance. Alex held on for third but, utterly exhausted and in serious pain, immediately pulled out of the upcoming Qatar round to have surgery on his still mangled right collarbone he injured in Catalunya. Team orders? What team orders? Ai Ogura (79) shoved Marco Bezzecchi out of the way late in the Sunday GP, damaging his aero in the process but eventually pulling clear for fourth.