MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9/JULY 12, 2015
SACHSENRING CIRCUIT/SACHSENRING, GERMANY
P78
>>KENT SMOKES 'EM
Is it possible to be imperious on a
rowdy little Moto3 bike? Danny Kent
obviously thinks so, because it's the
best way to describe yet another run-
away into the distance, his third of the
season, and his fifth win of the year.
Likewise his championship lead,
now 66 points at the halfway mark.
It was another furiously close race,
but not for Kent and his Leopard
Honda teammate Efren Vazquez.
Penalties had slightly reshuffled
the grid (see Briefly), but left Kent on
pole alongside Red Bull KTM's Karel
Hanika and EG 0,0 Honda's Fabio
Quartararo. The Englishman was cau-
tious in the early laps, taking the lead
from fast-away Hanika on lap one then
ceding it to second Red Bull rider
Brad Binder on the second.
Then he took over again, and when
Vazquez claimed second from Enea
Bastianini on the Gresini Honda it
wasn't long before the pair were mov-
ing away together, and soon thereafter
Kent gapping Vazquez.
The usual furious gang was hard
at it in their wake; eleven-strong at
half distance, at which point Ongetta-
Rivacold Honda's Niccolo Antonelli
had taken over from Binder, with Bas-
tianini also ahead of the South African.
Hanika, Jorge Navarro on the EG 0,0
Honda and SaxoPrint Honda's Alexis
Masbou were also prominent; while
Romano Fenati on the Sky VR46 KTM
was coming through rapidly from 14th
on lap one.
They were swapping constantly,
then Fenati took over with four laps
to go. At the last gasp, Bastianini got
a better exit from the last corner, and
claimed third from Fenati by inches;
followed by Antonelli, Navarro, Binder,
Masbou, Gresini Honda's Andrea
Locatelli, RBA KTM's Niklas Ajo and
Schedl KTM's Phillip Oettl. A mere
two seconds spanned from third to
11th.
Rookie Jorge Martin on the Aspar
Mahindra had been running sixth in
the early stages, but lost touch with
the group and ultimately recovered
12th from Hanika on the final lap.
It was more heartache for Andrea Ducati as he suffered another uncharacteristic crash while his
teammate (not pictured) Andrea Iannone finished fifth.
