MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / MARCH 26, 2017
LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / DOHA, QATAR
P58
thing big. But some riders went
faster, and they crashed and got
no points. I got five points."
Some way back Hector Bar-
bera (Avintia Ducati), Karel Abra-
ham (Aspar Ducati) and a close
Tito Rabat (EG-VDS Honda) took
the last points.
The two KTMs were an-
other four seconds behind, Pol
Espargaro six seconds clear of
Bradley Smith, with Sam Lowes
(Aprilia) a distant last.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda)
had a torrid afternoon, crashing
very early on, remounting, then
crashing again when the throttle
jammed open. Alvaro Bautista
(Aspar Ducati) also crashed out;
Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati)
retired.
ding (Pramac Ducati), Lorenzo
lagged. Then towards the end
he lost pace again.
Redding was seventh, having
finally outpaced Miller, who was
under threat from Rins at the
end. Eighth was still the Austra-
lian's best dry-weather finish.
By then, slow-starting Jonas
Folger (Tech3 Yamaha) had also
got going, and was 10th.
Another five seconds behind,
Lorenzo just managed to get
the better of Loris Baz (Avintia
Ducati) for 11th. At some points
of the race, he said, his pace
had been almost as good as
the leaders, but had gone away
badly as the rear tire dropped
off. "To be honest. I am not pre-
pared enough to fight for some-
ahead of the Honda; and Vinales
was shaving two or three tenths
off of the Ducati's lead every lap.
He was ahead for the first time
on lap 14, and the pair battled to
the end, Rossi with a grandstand
seat close behind.
Jorge Lorenzo's first Ducati
ride went wrong from the first
lap. He'd made a good start from
a lowly 12th on the grid, but ran
way wide to avoid a collision with
Pedrosa and dropped to 16th.
He wasn't able to follow Es-
pargaro as the Aprilia moved for-
ward, and it wasn't until lap nine
that he managed to get ahead of
Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki).
As Espargaro caught and
passed a battling Jack Miller
(VDS Honda) and Scott Red-
The KTM's finished way
down the order in a tough
MotoGP baptism.
