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/809757
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 / APRIL 10, 2017 TERMAS DE RIO HONDO / SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA P74 Moto2 The first five positions barely changed after the first couple of laps, but nobody could say the Moto2 race wasn't a thriller, with escalating tension in a bitter battle between teammates, resolved by a spectacular crash on the final lap. The teammates were Franco Morbidelli and EG-VDS Kalex col- league Alex Marquez; the loser was the latter, who had shadowed the Italian constantly, and briefly got ahead the lap before. Mar- quez could almost have reached out and touched the VDS Kalex when he finally asked too much of the rear tire and went looping into the gravel. At the same time, first-time pole starter Miguel Oliveira on the all-new Red Bull KTM had been closing on the pair, cutting a gap of more than two seconds on lap eight down to some seven tenths with five laps to go. At the finish, he'd barely dropped away, just 1.7 seconds behind. It was Morbidelli's second straight win, and a second po- dium in succession for Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Kalex), almost 10 seconds down in third. Morbidelli led into the first cor- ner, Oliveira pushed past him, but the Italian regained the lead with a forceful move that dropped the KTM to fourth, behind Marquez and Luthi. As they started lap two Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex) also pushed past, but fell off shortly afterwards. By the end of lap two Oliveira was again ahead of Luthi, and the order was set, the only change coming when Marquez crashed out. The next two places were also settled early; Forward Kalex rider Lorenzo Baldassarri was fifth, promoted to fourth; Xavi Vierge (Tech3) an eventual fifth. But the latter had to fight for it, at the head of a big and fluid gang. San- dro Cortese (Dynavolt Suter) was the first to get ahead and then for a while also Simone Corsi (Speed Up). Prominent also in the group, Moto3 Champion Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Hafizh Syah- rin (Petronas Kalex), and also rookie Francesco Bagnaia (SKY VR46 Kalex) and Luca Marini (Forward Kalex). They finished Vierge, Corsi, Bagnaia, Cortese, Binder, Syah- rin, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Kalex), Marini and Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Kalex), fifth to 13th within 1.2 seconds. Binder's ride was all the more remarkable when he revealed after the race he'd re-broken his left arm in a tank-slapper on Saturday. He decided to race on Sunday in an effort to grab what- ever points he could, but will be heading in for surgery this week and will likely miss at least the Franco Morbidelli (21) had his hands full with teammate Alex Marquez (73) all race, until the latter threw himself over the highside with half a lap to go.