VOL. 54 ISSUE 23 JUNE 13, 2017 P79
pushed wide on Turn 1 to finish the first lap sixth.
He took Oliveira on lap six, and now was lean-
ing on Morbidelli to such effect that the Italian
succumbed not only to him but also Oliveira on
the sharp left Turn 5.
Luthi stayed third to the end, regretting his bad
first lap, because, "though Alex was too fast, I
think I could have fought with Pasini for second."
Oliveira likewise stayed fourth, just a second
adrift at the flag, but Morbidelli was unable to
keep up, while Baldassarri was gaining speed
after half distance to take over fifth. Class rookie
Jorge Navarro (Gresini Kalex) also closed on Mor-
bidelli, but had dropped away by the end, seventh
still an impressive finish.
The action was behind all this.
Nakagami had been unable to stay with Baldas-
sarri, and had succumbed to Navarro by lap five.
But he wasn't for giving up eighth in a hurry, and
a huge pack piled up behind him, demonstrating
how difficult overtaking can be in an intermediate
Australian Jack Miller was left with a red face
after being called into the pits with a black flag in
the morning session. The EG-VDS Honda rider
was using the wrong chicane at the end of the lap
and it put him fastest overall. The times were, of
course, not valid. Miller had missed an earlier test
session at the circuit after suffering hand injuries
at Le Mans, but while he had walked the circuit the
previous evening, once on his Honda he reverted
to last year's layout, using the F1 chicane. The
other riders were turning off some 50 metres ear-
lier. "Well, that's embarrassing," he tweeted, after
a laughing Dorna representative Loris Capirossi
had come to the pit for a word of caution.
One last kick from the temporary chicane saw
some big-name riders sanctioned, albeit in a
meaningless way. After Loris Baz's bike came to
rest in the track, those following had little chance
to do much about it, and pressed on through the
very slow corner. Marquez, Pedrosa, Vinales,
Zarco and Rabat were adjudged to have ignored
double yellow flags, for which they should have
slowed down even more. The punishment was to
have lap times for that lap canceled. But since the
track was changed the next day anyway, it was of
no consequence.
Thailand seems set to join the calendar next year,
with a possible 19 races, and 20 the following
season, when the new Finnish round will be ready
to run. While official Dorna sources told Crash.net
that "everything is still under negotiation" for the
2018 calendar; the Bangkok Post reported that
a date had been set, with the meeting to run from
October 5 to 7, at the Buriram circuit already used
by World Superbikes.
It would slot in before the three existing flyaway
races in Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
The Estrella Galicia/Marc VDS team assembled
a disparate group of riders on Sunday, with one
thing in common: all had ridden for the team
in Moto2 at one stage, and the team had now
amassed a landmark 250 starts in the intermediate
class. Backed by Belgian brewing heir and motor-
Briefly...
