Cycle News

MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 / JUNE 9-11, 2017 CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / CATALONIA, SPAIN P80 sport benefactor Marc van der Straten, the team started in the 125 class in 2010, but now fields entries in all three classes. The riders on the roster for Sunday morning were: Mika Kallio (68 starts), Scott Redding (66), Alex Marquez (41), Tito Rabat (33), Franco Morbidelli (24) and Hector Faubel (17). The first European back-to-back race marked a certain injury toll, in two classes. In MotoGP, KTM rider Bradley Smith was ruled out after a crash in FP4, where his little finger was trapped under the sliding bike and badly mangled. Hector Barbera had a similar injury the day before, but was able to continue. Sylvain Guintoli, in probably his last outing as substitute for Alex Rins on the Ecstar Suzuki, was also a doubtful starter, after pulling out before qualifying, complaining of dizziness, possibly through dehy- dration in the very hot conditions. In Moto2, Luca Marini—Rossi's half-brother—had a heavy crash on Friday, doing further dam- age to his already badly beaten left shoulder and withdrew from the meeting, putting a pause on his impressive second season. Moto3 was minus Aspar Mahin- dra rider Albert Arenas, who sustained a broken collarbone and ligament injuries in a last-lap crash at Mugello last weekend. He was not replaced. On the bright side, Moto2 rider Iker Lecuona had returned, after missing three races, while Xavi Vierge—ruled out of the Mugello race—was back in action. KTM had new chassis in Moto3 and MotoGP, with mixed results. In the littlest class, both official Red Bull team riders liked it, but the MotoGP riders were less sure. After dominating last year, the Austrian company has been getting beaten up in Moto3 by Honda this year, and the solution, according to team sources, was to go back to last year's frame, but with enough changes to call it a new chassis. In its first MotoGP year, KTM has been bringing a constant stream of updates and modifications, including a torquier engine configuration and a be-winged "no-wing" fairing. All have been constructive more or less immediately, but they were waiting for post-Catalunya tests before pronouncing a final verdict on the new chassis. Plans were disrupted when Bradley Smith ruled himself out with a crash in FP4. The deteriorating surface at the Montmelo circuit, which joined the calendar in 1992, triggered complaints of bumps and low grip last year, and even more in 2017, with riders demanding a resur- face for next season. Introduced in 1992 to coincide with the Barcelona Olympics, the track was resurfaced after the turn of the century, but has deteriorated steadily over the ensuing 13 years. Making matters worse, as well as hosting a F1 GP earlier in the year, Montmelo is a popular testing circuit for the cars, whose massive downforce and brak- ing power causes ripples on the corner entries. Briefly... class traffic jam. On lap 15, for instance, eighth to 20th was cov- ered by less than four seconds. On lap 18 Xavi Vierge (Tech3) finally nosed ahead. Nakagami pushed straight back past again. Next to attack was class rookie Fabio Quartararo (Pons Kalex), with a fierce tussle over the next two laps finally going the way of the young Frenchman. On the last lap, both Vierge and Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Kalex— through from 25th on lap one) were ahead of the Japanese. Still close, Corsi (Speed Up), Isaac Vinales (SAG Kalex), Bagnaia (SKY Kalex) and Locatelli (Italtrans Kalex) wrapped up the rest of the points, with Hernandez and Aegerter missing out by a matter of tenths. With the season moving toward the summer break, the champion- ship has closed up intriguingly. Morbidelli with 123 points is just seven clear of Luthi (116); then Marquez (103), Oliveira (83) and Pasini (69). MOTO3 If results in this closest class are to be considered a lottery, what does it take to keep winning? Clearly something more than luck took Leopard Honda rider Joan Mir to his fourth win of the year, taking control with an incisive and unique last-lap move to displace pole starter and frequent leader Jorge Martin (Del Conca Honda). Martin has matched Mir's wins with pole positions, but then lost another place on the run to the

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