VOL. 53 ISSUE 18 MAY 10, 2016 P59
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
here were two different ways to
do the French GP. You could
start at the lights, ride around
for 28 laps of the tortuous stop-and-go
Bugatti circuit, and pass the checkered
flag. Or you could crash.
This year, in spite of ostensibly
perfect warm and dry conditions, eight
of 21 starters took the second option.
One of them was former points leader
Marc Marquez, along with both factory
Ducatis. Marquez was the only one
able to remount, finishing a lap down
but claiming three potentially valuable
points for 13th.
Not as valuable as the 25 taken by
Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo,
who had one of his ominous copybook
weekends. He started from pole, led
into the first corner, and sailed serenely
away to take his second win of the
season, and also the World Champion-
ship lead.
"Everything was almost perfect in
the race," Lorenzo said. "Now in the
championship three riders scored zero
or almost zero in one race, so in some
way we are starting the championship
again, but with us being five points
ahead."
Or the 20 earned by Jerez winner
Valentino Rossi who gave Yamaha a
confidence-boosting double podium
in spite of starting from the third row of
the grid, and picking his way through a
fierce brawl.
"I started quite badly, so at the begin-
ning it was very complicated," he said.
But his pace was good, and "step by
step I caught up," Rossi said. "When
you start from seventh and you take 20
Jorge Lorenzo
did as he's done
so many times
before: took pole
by miles, holeshot
turn one, and
cleared off. His
race consistency
was mesmerizing.
MACHINE
THE WORLD
SO ON POINT IT
MACHINE IN ACTION
