ROUND 16/OCTOBER 20, 2013
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT/PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
MOTOGP
P64
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ALL CHANGE
Another emergency solution
yielded crowd-pleasing results in a
furious sprint with a worthy start to
finish winner in the Moto2 Grand Prix.
Tuenti Kalex's Pol Espargaro regained
the championship lead in the process,
after a fight back that lasted almost
the entire season.
The only dark shadow was the
absence of long-time points leader
Scott Redding. The Marc VDS Kalex
rider wasn't there to defend his shrinking lead, after undergoing surgery
the night before to repair the wrist he
fractured in a qualifying crash.
Espargaro had seized pole from
teammate Tito Rabat, who had also
fallen in that session, and seized
the lead off the line. He was never
headed, although under furious attack
for much of the way, and under severe
pressure for every inch of it.
His first assailant was Alex de Angelis with Rabat, Thomas Luthi, Jordi
Torres Mika Kallio and Dominique
Aegerter in hot pursuit. There was not
time for them to spread out, but more
than a little shuffling in the pack, as
Simone Corsi joined up from behind.
Then Rabat departed, running wide at
the first turn, saved by paved run-off,
and rejoining in ninth.
Luthi was on a charge, and his
attack on second place bought Espargaro a small breathing space for a few
laps. The Swiss former 125cc World
Champion was finally successful on
lap eight, and rapidly close up to take
his turn at harrying the leader. Until
he ran wide at Honda Hairpin, giving
Espargaro the chance to win by better
than half a second - a significant gap
in this company.
Luthi was himself under siege from
Torres, leading him over the line by
less than a tenth; while Corsi was
hardly further behind him, having
bullied his way past record-setter de
Angelis, just two tenths behind. First
to fifth was covered by just over one
second.
"It's the greatest day of my life,"
said a beaming Espargaro, who
expressed a regret for the absence of
Redding. "I prefer to beat him on the
track."
Aegerter and Kallio were a couple
of seconds adrift in that order, having
lost touch in a stirring battle of their
own; while Rabat had passed Nico
Terol's Aspar Suter and closed a gap
of more than two seconds to just
half-a-second over the line – a spirited
recovery.
