VOL. 53 ISSUE 11 MARCH 22, 2016 P43
There was no explanation forth-
coming after a worrying near-crash
by Marc Marquez, after his own
practice start went wrong. The bike
wheelied and when the front landed
the steering was slightly turned. In-
stead of simply kicking straight as
usual, he swerved violently off the
track and only narrowly saved the
fall. The most likely reason was a
binding front brake, the most worry-
ing implication that a swerve like that
after a front-row start would cause
mass carnage. "It is quite danger-
ous. We will have to investigate the
reason," was all he said.
Wings are set to be banned—or at
least heavily clipped—in the near fu-
ture, after growing controversy over
not only their efficacy, but more im-
portantly their safety. The matter was
raised at the GP Commission meet-
ing on race eve with a proposal to
ban them in Moto2 and Moto3, and
in MotoGP "as soon as possible,"
according to Race Director Mike
Webb. They continued to sprout at
the first race of the year. With the
factory Ducatis now in full biplane
mode, Honda's vestigial but steeply
angled winglets appearing now and
then, Lorenzo's Yamaha fitted with
large thrust-forward tea-trays and
Rossi's without, there was no real
consensus from the riders. On race
eve, Rossi said he would try them,
but "I don't like them because they
are ugly."
Danilo Petrucci's brave attempt not
to miss the first race of the season
after suffering serious right hand in-
juries at the Phillip Island preseason
Briefly...
tones], and you have to ride with
more precision on the throttle."
The tires were not better or
worse, said Dovizioso, who had
timed his last-laps attack on
Marquez perfectly. "You have
to manage them differently," he
said. "We have less electronics
at maximum lean, so you have to
use the tires more."
Marquez was much relieved to
be on the podium after troubled
testing. "Finally we found some
He and Marquez were both
booed by the Rossi-mad crowd
before the race. After it he made
the "zip-it" sign on the podium.
Not to the crowd, but for himself.
"One image is worth many
words. Today I spoke on the
track," Lorenzo said.
His lap record spoke vol-
umes about the tires. "The rear
dropped at the end, but you
could still do the lap times. You
slide more [than with Bridges-
