Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 52 ISSUE 28 JULY 18, 2015 P79 start, but got pushed out at turn one. After one lap I was only in front of one guy. I had a good feeling the first few laps, so I was picking off one guy a lap, and moved up to 17th. I got in front of Barbera and was chasing the group in front, but then I picked up a lot of spin, like we lost some weight off the rear, so I lost for- ward grip and Barbera came by and pulled away. From then on it was a bit of a lonely race." Teammate Eugene Laverty, finally prevailed in a long battle with Alex de Angelis on the Ioda- ART for 17th, the San Marino rider benefitting from a chassis upgrade. Then Athina Yamaha's Loris Baz and Bautista's new teammate Michael Laverty. Bradl's Athina Yamaha replace- ment Claudio Corti retired with handling problems; Abraham's substitute, Hiro Aoyama on the AB Honda crashed out, likewise Mike di Meglio on the Avintia Ducati; while a hitherto slightly more promising weekend for Scott Redding on the EG-VDS Honda ended abruptly when he crashed on the first lap. Halfway through the champi- onship, and Rossi leads Lo- renzo 179 points to 166. Iannone (118) is threatened by Marquez (114); Dovizioso and Smith are equal on 87. CN MotoGP 1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 5. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 6. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 7. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 8. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 9. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) 10. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) Briefly... Isaac Vinales, Enea Bastianini, Andrea Locatelli, Jakub Kornfeil and Hiroki Ono; the biggest losers Bastianini— bumped from the first row to the sec- ond; Locatelli (second to third), Na- varro (third to fourth) and Ajo (fourth to fifth). However, as Danny Kent proved at Le Mans, starting last and finish- ing fourth, this may not be sufficient punishment, without penalty points as well. Points were handed out for a similar offence in Moto2 to Simone Corsi, Sandro Cortese, Thomas Luthi and race winner Xavier Simeon; and in MotoGP to Mike di Meglio and Hector Barbera, the latter actually getting two points because he is a serial offender. Finally, Moto3's Ajo was also docked a point after colliding with teammate Anna Carrasco in practice, causing both to crash. Eugene Laverty raced in a bright red helmet in Germany—a tribute to Dr. John Hinds, one of two "flying doc- tors" of Irish road-racing. Hinds was killed in a crash at the Skerries 100 road race last weekend, where he was, as usual, proving medical cover. Riders generally use doubled-up knee-sliders in the wet, to take ac- count of reduced lean angles, but they were a popular if one-sided choice at the Sachsenring because of the preponderance of left-hand corners—10 to only three right- handers. This was not because of reduced lean angles (60 degrees remains the norm), but because of rapid wear. One rider not to follow the trend was Bradley Smith, and he lived to regret it. "In the last laps I couldn't get my left knee down be- cause I'd completely worn down my knee slider," he said. "It was a bit scary." Almost 10 seconds away, Drive M7 KTM's Jakub Kornfeil and Ongetta Rivacold Honda's Jules Danilo headed the next gang to claim the last points. Quartararo was an early victim, crashing out of ninth on lap six. Oth- ers to crash included both girl racers Maria Herrera and Anna Carrasco. With Kent at 190 points, Bastianini strengthened his second place at 124, ahead of the absent-injured two-times winner Miguel Oliveira at 102. Fenati has 99, Vazquez 96. Brit Danny Kent returned to dominance in the Moto3 class, earning his fifth win of the season at Sachsenring.