VOL. 53 ISSUE 28 JULY 19, 2016 P57
rider Stefan Bradl was out of the
race after suffering a concussion
in a morning warm-up spill).
This bolder decision proved
better as the track started to dry,
but it took a few laps to become
clear.
The first had been led by
Rossi from Andrea Dovizioso
(Ducati), with Petrucci already
moving past fast starter Marquez
into third.
Dovi took over on lap three;
but then frequent wet hero
Petrucci moved ahead one lap
later, and held on convincingly
until lap 11, when he slipped off.
Dovi and Rossi were still with
him, but things had changed a
lot in their wake. Marquez had
succumbed to Jack Miller—again
showing bounding speed and
confidence in the wet—on lap
six, and three laps later also to
Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati),
who had claimed a rare front-row
start at a favorite track.
Marquez had more trouble
ahead, narrowly surviving a high-
speed run-off into the gravel at
the fast turn eight, where he had
fallen heavily in the morning. Now
he was dropping back further,
while teammate Dani Pedrosa,
Ducati's Iannone and Redding
were now disputing fifth.
Petrucci remounted and pit-
ted for a bike change—not least
because his crashed bike was
on fire between his feet. Soon
afterwards he retired.
He was the first to change
bikes (discounting early crasher
Hernandez), but it would start
Ducati teammates Danilo Pe-
trucci and Scott Redding, and
Assen winner Jack Miller. His
EG-VDS teammate Tito Rabat
did the same as did Aprilia's
Alvaro Bautista (second Aprilia
in when conditions on Friday
proved colder than expected,
and a response to problems in
the wet at Assen. There were
six exceptions, most notably Cal
Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Pramac
