VOL. 53 ISSUE 14 APRIL 12, 2016 P57
He would fall back, but still lay
fourth behind Andrea Iannone's
Ducati when his teammate Maverick
Vinales arrived, after finishing lap
one in tenth. The two Suzukis fought
hard for team honors, but Vinales
had the harder front tire, and it paid
dividends to the finish. Fourth was a
career best, Espargaro was still just
two seconds behind at the end.
Redding had a strong if lonely
ride to sixth, the Pramac Ducati
rider managing to stay clear of a
somewhat distant late-race attack
from Pol Espargaro. By the end the
Spanish Monster Yamaha rider was
fending off Pramac Ducati substitute
Michele Pirro. On his first visit, Pirro
had got the better of Hector Barbera
(Avintia Ducati).
It was a good day for the all-new
Aprilia. Stefan Bradl had been tailing
the three ahead closely for a long
time. Teammate Alvaro Bautista was
11th, while a couple of seconds be-
hind Eugene Laverty (Aspar Ducati)
narrowly fended off improving rookie
Tito Rabat (EG-VDS Honda). Her-
nandez (Aspar Ducati) was drop-
ping away in 14th; the remounted
Baz (Avintia Ducati) was another
20 seconds away in 15th. And then
Crutchlow and Smith.
To echo Lorenzo, nobody's un-
beatable. But so far Marquez is the
only one of the top three to score
in every race. He now leads with
66 points over Lorenzo's 43, with
Rossi on 33. Pol Espargaro has 28;
Pedrosa 27. With a long way to go.
Aleix Espargaro (41) rounded out
the top five with a strong ride.
