VOL. 54 ISSUE 18 MAY 9, 2017 P81
GP17, of Pramac rider Danilo
Petrucci, but he was able to hold
him off narrowly over the line.
"A strange day," Vinales said,
having led morning warm-up.
"Then I was feeling good, and
so precise, but in the afternoon I
didn't have the same feeling—like
I was going to crash in nearly
every corner."
Rossi, however, was in all
kinds of trouble. With 10 laps to
go he was losing touch rapidly
with his erstwhile companions,
while the satellite Monster
Yamaha rider Jonas Folger was
closing fast. When the rookie
made his move under braking at
Dry Sack on lap 21, Rossi had
no defense, and little more than
a lap later, he had to give way
also to Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia.
He was seven seconds behind
him at the end, 10th, and almost
40 seconds away from winner
Pedrosa.
the two Yamahas.
The trio went back and forth
for a while, Dovizioso taking over
after Rossi ran wide as his tire
problems began, then Vinales
taking both of them on lap 14.
But the double race winner was
also running into serious grip
issues, and when Dovizioso got
back ahead on lap 17, he was
able to draw clear to finish a lone
fifth.
Vinales would have more trou-
ble from a second Desmosedici
By now, Jorge Lorenzo
had already disposed quite
easily of both factory Ya-
mahas, and was a second
behind Zarco, and riding
comfortably. "I knew I had
the pace to push for fifth or
sixth, but because of the
heat, the pace was quite
slow," he said later.
Before half distance, he
had closed up on the class
rookie, and sliced past eas-
ily under braking for the Dry
Sack hairpin. Zarco tried to
get back, but Lorenzo was
(Above) Jack
Miller got taken
down by Alvaro
Bautista. Miller
made sure
Bautista stayed
down with this
shove that cost
him $1100.
(Left) Another
race, another
crash for Andrea
Iannone on the
factory Suzuki.
steadfast, and in the last seven
laps he drew clear for an entirely
unexpected third.
"It feels better than a win on
the Yamaha. It's the best (birth-
day) present I could have," he
said. Lorenzo had turned 30 on
Thursday before the race.
Behind him, Iannone had also
fallen, while a slip put Rossi
ahead of teammate Vinales. But
now Andrea Dovizioso on the
second Ducati was up from his
dire fifth-row start and between
