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/731940
ROAD RACE FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 14 / SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 MOTORLAND ARAGON / ARAGON, SPAIN P74 With Fabio Quartararo's Leopard Honda a lone 12th, Brno winner John McPhee (Peugeot/Mahindra) won a four-bike battle for the last points, from Antonelli (Hon- da), Bendsneyder (KTM) and the luckless Bagnaia (Ma- hindra), out of the points by mere inches. Binder's 249 points make him impregnable; the battle is for second between Na- varro (143), Bastianini (139), and rookie Mir (117); with Bulega (113), Di Giannantonio (111) and Bagnaia (110) close behind. CN MotoGP 1. Marc Marquez (Hon) 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yam) 3. Valentino Rossi (Yam) 4. Maverick Vinales (Suz) 5. Cal Crutchlow (Hon) Moto2 1. Sam Lowes (Kal) 2. Alex Marquez (Kal) 3. Franco Morbidelli (Kal) 4. Thomas Luthi (Kal) 5. Takaaki Nakagami (Kal) Moto3 1. Jorge Navarro (Hon) 2. Brad Binder (KTM) 3. Enea Bastianini (Hon) 4. Fabio De Giannantonio (Hon) 5. Joan Mir (KTM) EG machine—that took the lead from him on lap one, and the pair disputed the position at the head of the usual brawl. Binder was constantly near the front, but it was Philipp Oettl (Schedl KTM) who took over for two laps before Binder led over the line for the first time on lap nine. By now Joan Mir (Leopard KTM), one of the super- rookies, had come to join the front battle from 24th on the grid, while another of them, SKY VR46 rider Nicolo Bulega, had been the in- nocent victim of a three-bike crash (with Maria Herrera and Jakub Kornfeil) on lap one. Also prominent up front were Jorge Martin (Aspar Mahindra), and two more hot rookies, Aron Canet (EG Honda) and Fabio Di Gi- annantonio (Gresini Honda), who took the lead on lap 14. In the last four laps, Na- varro, Binder, Bastianini and Di Giannantonio broke free, still exchanging paint and places to the end, crossing the line in that order, within 0.162 of a second. Mir led the pursuit, 1.5 seconds behind, from Martin (carrying painful foot injuries from Misano), Gabriel Rodri- go, Juanfran Guevara (both RBA KTM), Oettl and Andrea Migno (SKY VR46 KTM), fifth to 11th all within 1.3 seconds. Marc Marquez smashed qualifying, taking his fourth successive pole at the Motorland Aragon circuit better than half a second after dominating all but one of the free practice sessions. His margin over late-coming second- placer Maverick Vinales's Suzuki was 0.631 seconds, the largest in a dry session since he took pole at Le Mans by 0.692 seconds in 2014, ahead of Pol Espargaro. The other rider to head free practice was Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa on Friday af- ternoon, underlining how well the long and undulating circuit suits the Honda. Jorge Lorenzo slotted into third at the last gasp, but only on the softer tire option that lasted, he said, no more than six laps. His pace on race-suited hard tires as used by Marquez was almost a second away. It was the Ya- maha's problems on the long corners to blame, in that it could not be steered with the rear like the Hondas. "When the rear slides, it pushed the front wide," he explained. Rossi was on the far end of row two, behind Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, and was denied his front-row hopes with a spill on his second run. Aragon is one of just three tracks where Valentino Rossi has never won, along with CotA in Texas and the Red Bull Ring. In Moto2, Gresini rider Sam Lowes claimed back some pride after drop- ping out of the championship battle with too many crashes, with his fifth pole of the season. Alex Marquez was second, his best-ever Moto2 qual- ifying, with Assen winner Takaaki Na- kagami alongside. Defending cham- pion Johann Zarco was in the middle of row two, his increasingly close chal- lenger Alex Rins down in 13th, after battling a bout of gastro-enteritis. Briefly... cont. on page 76