VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P79
Pol Espargaro at bay as he again
came out top satellite-team rider,
there was an important factor
stirring behind.
Dani Pedrosa, on the second
Repsol Honda, was riding in-
jured after his freak Friday crash,
and had made an average start
from the third row of the grid,
but by lap three he was gaining
speed and positions, first past
the ever-improving Maverick Vi-
nales on the Ecstar Suzuki, and
one lap later also Pol Espargaro.
Now he closed on Smith,
nailed him by lap seven, and
started to work on a gap of some
2.5 seconds to the Ducatis. By
lap 15 he had closed up, mark-
ing the start of a long campaign,
with Dovizioso, who in turn
closed up again on Iannone.
It came to a head in the clos-
ing three laps. Several times he
Briefly...
crowds of almost 140,000, and
fans journeying to the fine sweep-
ing track's natural grandstands from
neighbouring countries like Poland,
Austria and Germany, the Brno GP
is an important championship round.
This year was the 50th anniversary
of racing at Brno, with the first races
on a public-roads circuit closer to the
city. The new purpose-built circuit
marked a return to the area of the
historic Masaryk road circuit used
between the two World Wars.
The scourge of the Moto3 slow
bicycle race in qualifying won't go
away, it seems, in spite of Race Di-
rection's threats and sanctions. Only
two people were punished at Brno,
which seemed generous, because
they were not the only ones crawling
around waiting for a tow. The victims
were Sky VR46 rider Romano Fenati
and Indianapolis winner Livio Loi,
both of whom were put back three
grid positions (to 22nd and 32nd re-
spectively); and had to sit out the first
half of the 20-minute race-morning
warm-up session.
Lowes finished the first lap 12th, but was soon moving
forward to an eventual fifth, his last victim Jonas Folger on
the AGR Kalex; the German staying on his back wheel to
finish two tenths behind.
Luthi was another two seconds adrift, fending off San-
dro Cortese's Dynavolt Kalex. Cortese had got past and
outpaced Luis Salom on the Paginas Amarillas Kalex, who
passed Morbidelli for ninth with two laps to go.
The next group was another five seconds away, led
by Simone Corsi's Forward Kalex from Taka Nakagami
Aegerter, Hafiz Syahrin and Mika Kallio, all covered by less
than two seconds.
As at every race so far, the seemingly flawless Zarco ex-
tended his points lead still further, and he's now ahead by
79 points. Rabat regained second by one point from Rins,
145 to 144, while Lowes and Luthi are equal on 118.
Danilo Petrucci bought home
another top 10, helping cement his
place at Pramac Ducati for next year.
