VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P75
The ninth race of the year was the 20th at
the pocket-handkerchief Sachsenring, which
had been treated to a full resurfacing offer-
ing exceptional grip both wet and dry, with
new lap records in two out of three classes.
The race escaped the bad weather that had
Two races ago, the Repsol Honda rider
was 37 points adrift. Now he's on top of a
title sheet that after half the year has become
even closer, setting another new record: first
to fourth covered by just 10 points: Marquez,
Vinales, Dovizioso and Rossi.
a refinement not seen before, but still
within the rules that freeze fairing de-
sign. These specify that nothing can
be added to a homologated fairing,
but not that parts can be removed.
The Sachsenring version added a grid
of small holes to the sides of the fair-
ing, in addition to the six exit holes at
the rear of the swelling on the fairing
flanks.
In a sight seldom seen in MotoGP,
Valentino Rossi's Yamaha twice
switched itself off in free practice ses-
sions, on both Friday and Saturday,
leaving him to get back to the pits
and switch to his less-favored older
bike. On both occasions, it was the
bike's own fail-safe system stopping
the engine to avoid potential damage.
On Friday it had been an electronic
problem, on Saturday morning it was a
different problem: a faulty fuel pump.
The first half of the Sachsenring lap
is much too slow for MotoGP bikes,
but when it opens out it makes up for
it—with turn 11 one of the big challeng-
es of the year. This fast right-hander
onto the famous Waterfall downhill
plunge follows five left-handers and
some 30 seconds of turning left, al-
lowing the right side of the tire to cool.
In spite of the dual-compound tire with
a softer tread on the right, there were
still several victims, all but one in the
premier class. The first to fall on Friday
was Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, fol-
lowed by Alvaro Bautista and Scott
Redding (both Ducati). On Saturday,
Karel Abraham (Ducati) and Johann
Zarco (Yamaha) also crashed there.
All walked away without injury. Not
so for Axel Pons, who crashed there
in Moto2 morning warm-up and was
stretchered away. He suffered a con-
cussion, and was taken to hospital in
Chemnitz for examination.
Maverick
Vinales had to
fight his way
from 10th to
take a strong
fourth and stay
in the title hunt.
