MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 7 / JUNE 9-11, 2017
CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / CATALONIA, SPAIN
P72
me," Pedrosa commented.
For his part, Dovi was watch-
ing how well Dani was saving his
tires, but understood "I could
save my front better, because
I never braked hard, because I
had the good acceleration."
His overtake on lap 17 was a
simple one down the straight.
Next time around Marquez
pushed past Pedrosa to give
chase, but after three laps was
unable to close the gap, "I
said—'okay, if I push more I will
crash again.'" It would have been
his sixth of the weekend. "We
were losing on the straight, but
Dovizioso had finished the first
lap fifth, behind Aleix Espargaro
whose Aprilia would drop back
to 10th before a smoky mechani-
cal failure on lap eight. Now
with Lorenzo gone, Dovi put the
Ducati between the Hondas.
By now, fast-starting Folger
was on his tail in his best ride yet
in his rookie season, making it
four up front.
All were concentrating on
saving tires. Pedrosa led from
lap eight to lap 16, but knew he
couldn't escape as he had at
Jerez. "Many times Dovi came
by but shut the gas, not to pass
advantage, dropping to ninth.
For the first five laps it was
Lorenzo making the running,
confounding critics of his hard
tire choice. But then he dropped
to fourth in one lap, and steadily
back to eighth for the middle of
the race. It seemed his race was
run.
It was Marquez who took over,
and two laps later Pedrosa went
to the front.
Danilo Petrucci (9) nearly
knocked Marquez off at the
start. He would climb back
through the field but eventually
crash out at Turn 5.
