MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1/MARCH 29, 2015
LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT/LOSAIL QATAR
P60
MASBOU TOPS MOTO3 MELEE
With the top 20 riders all quali-
fied within a shade over one second
of Alexis Masbou's pole time on the
SaxoPrint Honda, this was always go-
ing to be close.
So it proved, in spades.
It was also something of a Honda
whitewash. Numbers on the NS-
F250RW had swelled to 12 after last
year's title win, and the Japanese bikes
took the top five positions, plus seventh
and eighth, with only three of them fail-
ing to make points in the top 15.
Masbou led away, but there would
be a hatful of different leaders, with
Ongetta-Rivacold Honda's Niccolo
Antonelli in front at the end of lap one.
Then it was Brad Binder's turn on the
Red Bull KTM for a couple of laps;
then Leopard Honda rider Danny Kent
for three more.
Masbou led again; then Efren
Vazquez on the Leopard Honda for a
spell; Kent once more; and under-age
rookie Fabio Quartararo on the EG
0,0 Honda. Plus, with four laps left, a
flying Pecco Bagnaia on the Mapfre
Mahindra.
It was all somewhat notional, how-
ever, with at half distance a lead pack of
18 within just over two seconds, and the
usual Moto3 reshuffle at every corner.
The last lap was going to be des-
perate, and so it was.
Vazquez led at the start of it. Then
came Quartararo and Bagnaia, but
the pair would collide halfway round,
sending the Mahindra rider onto the
Astroturf, only narrowly maintaining
control.
And in the final shuffle and gallop
to the line, pole man Masbou timed it
perfectly to sneak ahead for the vet-
eran's second GP victory, by just .027
of a second from Gresini Honda's
Enea Bastianini and Kent.
Vazquez was fourth, while a canny
John McPhee on the SaxoPrint Honda
had played a waiting game, and came
through for fifth four tenths behind.
Husqvarna's Isaac Vinales was the
first non-Honda, from Quartararo and
Antonelli, the position decided by a
video finish, and by one thousandth of
Marquez (93)
worked his way up
from last to fifth,
passing teammate
Dani Pedrosa
(hidden) around
the halfway mark.
