Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/704868
MOTOGP MOTOGP / FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 8 / JULY 16, 2016 SACHSENRING CIRCUIT / SAXONY, GERMANY P64 Moto 3 WALKING ON WATER Enea Bastianini was on pole for a second successive race, with Andrea Locatelli and rookie Aron Canet alongside. Brad Binder was on the far end of row two, one down on title rival Navarro, making an impressive return from injury. Then the weather came, and handed the advantage to a rookie on the middle of the seventh row of the grid. Bastianini (Gresini Honda) led away, then second-row starter Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM) took a lap up front. But Honda Team Asia's Khairul Idham Pawi, wet winner in Argen- tina, was already making his way through, and on lap four he led for the first time, and all the way to the end. His strongest chal- lenge came from teammate Hiroki Ono, until the Japanese rider fell, remounting only to fall again. As in Argentina, Pawi (17) took no notice of pit signals suggest- ing he should slow down, coming very close to falling several times as he kept on pulling out, better than 10 seconds clear by half distance. Eventually he took his second career win by 11 seconds. Locatelli (Leopard Honda) was embroiled with Bastianini and a very on-form John McPhee (Saxoprint Peugeot) in a three- way battle behind. Then, as he drew away for a safe second, Jakub Kornfeil (Drive M7 Honda) was closing from behind, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Honda) in close pursuit. At the same time, the main title men were close behind, a pru- dent Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) finally giving way to a very persis- tent Jorge Navarro (E-G Honda), in the knowledge that he would lose only one point of his signifi- cant lead over the Spaniard. Impressively Navarro, still limping badly from his double leg fracture, kept on pushing, and with three laps to go mounted a fierce but flawed challenge on Di Giannantonio and Kornfeil. This last reshuffle spaced them out, with Kornfeil safe in third, then Di Giannantonio and McPhee fighting back to take sixth ahead of Navarro. Binder was less than three seconds adrift; then Jules Danilo (Ongetta Rivacold Honda) led Pecco Bagnaia's Mahindra over the line, making up the top ten. Binder's points lead is still well over one race: 159 to Navarro's 112; than Fenati (93), Bagnaia (85) and Bulega (75). Sky VR 46 teammates Fenati and Bulega both non-scoring; the former an off-color 18th; the latter among eight to crash out. CN MotoGP 1. Marc Marquez (Hon) 2. Cal Crutchlow (Hon) 3. Andrea Dovizioso (Duc) 4. Scott Redding (Duc) 5. Andrea Iannone (Duc) Moto2 1. Johann Zarco (Kal) 2. Jonas Folger (Kal) 3. Julian Simon (Spe) 4. Mattia Pasini (Kal) 5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kal) Moto3 1. Khairul Pawi (Hon) 2. Andrea Locatelli (KTM) 3. Enea Bastianini (Hon) 4. Jakub Kornfeil (Hon) 5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Hon) Khairul Pawi may as well have ridden a Jet Ski in the pouring rain. He simply cleared off.