ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 15 / OCTOBER 16, 2016
TWIN RING MOTEGI / MOTEGI, JAPAN
P90
or feedback, and I crashed."
Had he chosen the soft front, he
thought, he might have been able
to challenge for victory.
Instead, like almost every-
body, he was on the medium
front. Of the fast riders, only Cal
Crutchlow (LCR Honda) had
a hard front, along with Avintia
Ducati's Loris Baz. A few others
changed, and he focused on
controlling the gap.
So did Lorenzo's, who knew
he couldn't catch him, but now
Dovizioso was closing and he
had to press on to try to preserve
second. On lap 20, it was his
turn to push harder into turn nine
than before, "…and the front
tire didn't give me any support
logically I made a mistake." With
the pack gone and his bike too
damaged, his afternoon was
over early, and with it his slen-
der hopes of catching Marquez
on points.
Marquez was untouchable;
two seconds clear of Lorenzo
by lap nine and better than three
on the 12th. Now his target
Andrea Dovizioso
was able to give
Ducati another
top finish.
