VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P79
Rossi had finished lap one in
ninth, with the usual last-minute
"modify" this time not working,
"especially with a full tank and a
new tire." Balancing effort against
risk, he passed Espargaro, Smith
and then Crutchlow for sixth on
lap nine. The group ahead were
almost 2.5 seconds away, and
Lorenzo had disappeared. "I was
very behind," the Italian acknowl-
edged.
But if he was having front grip
problems, it became clear that
Sky KTM to get his draft, and lead over the line by three
thousandths, confirmed as barely a tire's width by a
photo-finish.
Gresini Honda's Enea Bastianini was hardly further
behind in fifth, Ongetta Rivacold Honda's Niccolo An-
tonelli almost alongside. First to sixth spanned just .381
of a second.
The next quartet, a second down, were only a little
more spaced out: Estrella Honda's Jorge Navarro from
Husqvarna's Isaac Vinales, SaxoPrint Honda's Alexi Mas-
bou and lap-record setter Red Bull KTM's Brad Binder,
making up a breathless top 10.
Top rookie Fabio Quartararo on the Estrella Honda
crashed out for a second race in succession; one-time
short-lived leader Karel Hanika on the Red Bull KTM
crashed and took Leopard Honda's Efren Vazquez out of
the lead pack on the last lap.
Kent extended his lead yet again, approaching 50 points,
with 124 to Bastianini's 78. Then Fenati (67), and Oliveira
(66) displacing Vazquez (60) in the battle for second.
>>HANGIN' TOUGH
A third of the way into the
season, and time for heroic
return-from-injury stories to
the kicking in. The Mugello
MotoGP grid brought out the
painkillers for a number of rid-
ers, with more recruits during
the weekend.
None more heroic than An-
drea Iannone, who dislocated
his shoulder in private Ducati
tests here barely three weeks
ago. His fighting fifth at Le
Mans had already impressed.
"In France, my performance
improved during the weekend,
but when I got home… so
much pain," Iannone said.
Further X-rays revealed an
undiscovered hairline crack at
the top of the humerus.
"The principal issue," he
said after an even more amaz-
ing race performance, "is not
pain, but my energy." Riding
to protect the injury imposed
major physical strain on the rest
of his body.
A special pain-killing injec-
tion from the Clinica Mobile
staff carried him through the
race to a career-best second
place, after he'd claimed his
first MotoGP pole, and set a
new speed record in practice.
The scent of medication
hung round other MotoGP rid-
ers, notably:
• Dani Pedrosa, still
recuperating from radical
arm-pump surgery
• Aleix Espargaro, whose
heavy crash at Le Mans
required post-race surgery
to fix a torn ligament in his
right thumb
• Brother Pol, who joined
his sibling in hospital with his
own arm-pump operation,
after worsening problems at
Jerez and Le Mans
• Cal Crutchlow, who ar-
rived in good condition then
severely battered his right
thumb in a morning warm-up
crash. Sadly the CWM Honda
rider fell again in the race at
high speed, this time dislo-
cating his ankle which was
caught up by the bike
It was another knockdown drag out fight in the
Moto3 class with Miguel Oliveira (44) coming out
on top this time around.
Loris Baz
celebrates his
top Open Class
finish with
Forward Racing
boss.
