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/827115
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 / MAY 15-17, 2017 BUGATTI CIRCUIT / LE MANS, FRANCE P114 five laps from the end to get past Marquez, who was riding injured having suffered a hairline foot fracture in a practice crash. Luthi narrowly managed to stay there over the line. Mattia Pasini had come though strongly from eighth on lap one. But the Italtrans Kalex rider had faded by the end, almost eight sec- onds away, and only 1.5 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Aegerter. Taka Nakagami (Idemitsu Kalex) was close, coming through steadily from 18th on the grid to take sev- enth off Simone Corsi (Speed Up) on the final lap. Xavi Vierge (Tech3) was half-a-second behind and Yonny Hernandez (AGR Kalex) was a similar distance behind to com- plete the top ten. Jerez podium finisher Miguel Oliveira (KTM) dropped away out of the points, 17th at the end. Luca Marini (Italtrans Kalex) had qualified a career-best fourth, but crashed out on the first lap after a tangle with Pasini. Other fallers included Navarro, Manzi, Baldassari, and with five laps left, new recruit Tarran Mack- enzie. Morbidelli is the first rider of the year to score a century, with 100 points to Luthi's 80, then Marquez (62), Oliveira (59) and Bagnaia (53). MOTO3 The first race of the day came to an abrupt end on the second of 24 scheduled laps after spilled oil triggered a potentially horrendous multiple crash, with all the leaders and at least half of the 31-strong field going down. Miraculously there were no seri- ous injuries, and 40 minutes later, after extensive cleaning on the track and frantic bike repairs in the pits, a shortened race restarted. It would see dramatic changes of fortunes. For the first half, it was going the way of Rivacold Honda's Romano Fenati, leading from the first lap, and with his closest pursuer Jorge Martin (Gresini Honda) crashing out on the fourth lap. This left Fenati with a one- second lead, but by now Joan Mir (Leopard Honda), winner of the first two races, had made his way into second and was gradually closing. The pressure proved too much for Fenati, who crashed out alone on lap eight at Museum curve. Now it was Mir with a massive lead, almost three seconds, and he would stretch it further, winning by better than 4.2 seconds. The battle for second was trademark Moto3. With four laps to go, less than 2.4 seconds covered from second to 12th, On the last lap, the gang hardly stretched out, podium contender Darren Binder crashed out, and both Aron Canet (EG Honda) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Honda) had got ahead of Binder's teammate Marco Ramirez (Platinum Bay KTM), making a fifth consecu- tive all-Honda podium. Enea Bastianini (EG Honda) had been close to the front of the gang, but a severe moment dropped him to sixth behind Juanfran Guevara's A familiar sight: Joan Mir won in commanding style and opens up a massive 34-point lead in the Moto3 standings.