MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 2 / APRIL 10, 2017
TERMAS DE RIO HONDO / SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA
P72
in and was harrying Pedrosa;
with Alvaro Bautista (Pull & Bear
Ducati) also mixing it, and Dovi in
close attendance.
The factory Honda rider
finally managed to make a pass
stick on lap 12, and was moving
quickly clear of Zarco and the
rest when on lap 14 he crashed
in the same way and in the same
place as Marquez. "There are
some bumps there and they
make it tricky, as the grip is kind
of on-off. It's a shame about the
crash, but I'm happy I felt good
enough to try and chase down
the front group," Pedrosa said.
Zarco held on for a couple of
laps as Petrucci dropped away,
but he was burning up his tires,
and with 10 laps to go Bautista
took over and soon escaped. He
was less than three seconds be-
hind Crutchlow at the end; Zarco
almost 10 behind him.
Petrucci, one of only four
riders to choose the hard rear
tire, had run out of grip by now,
and when he came under attack
by Jonas Folger in the dying
laps, try as he might, he couldn't
prevent the second Monster
Yamaha rookie from stealing an
excellent sixth.
Another lively group was only
five seconds behind, although
their positions remained set after
Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati)
took an eventual eighth off Jack
Miller's Marc VDS Honda on lap
12. Miller was less than three
tenths behind over the line;
first-time front-row starter Karel
Abraham (Pull & Bear Ducati)
less than a second behind,
narrowly holding off Loris Baz's
Avintia Ducati.
Almost 15 seconds behind,
Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Honda) fi-
nally prevailed after a long battle
with Hector Barbera (Avintia
Ducati) and Pol Espargaro (Red
Bull KTM), whose teammate,
Bradley Smith, had closed to
within half a second by the fin-
ish.
Iannone was 16th after a ride-
through penalty for a jumped
start; teammate Alex Rins had
joined the crash list and re-
mounted to retire. Sam Lowes
(Aprilia) retired with gearbox
problems.
Yamaha took over the top two
championship positions, Vinales
on a maxed out 50, Rossi at 36:
then Dovizioso 20, Redding 17
and Crutchlow 16.
Aleix Espargaro was catching the
group battling for fourth when he
lost the front, punting Dovizioso
out of the race.
