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/844701
VOL. 54 ISSUE 26 JULY 4, 2017 P85 serious injury, although he did suffer a blow to his champion- ship chances. Now Morbidelli closed up with Cortese dropping away. It was between the two top title rivals, or seemed to be, and when Morbidelli took over the lead on lap eight, he couldn't get away. Luthi all but regained the lead outbraking him at the bottom of the Waterfall, but he was too fast, lost the front, and he too was out. But it would not be a cake- walk for Morbidelli. Four pursuers had by now got past Cortese, and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) had escaped. The Portuguese was two seconds adrift, but directly started to take chunks out of it. By lap 17, he was on Morbidelli's back wheel. "I was struggling and Miguel caught me really fast," said Mor- bidelli. "But then he didn't over- take me, so I thought maybe he was struggling as well." Oliveira was clearly quicker through the faster corners, but said that Franco was reliably too late on the brakes for him to attack. "Finally, I had to try it at least once," he said. He did it, at Turn 12, before the start of the penultimate lap, and led over the line with two to go. Morbidelli took it straight back as they started lap 28, and held on to the end by 0.066 of a second. "I'm living in a dream," he said, "and I don't want to wake up." The chasers were close. On lap 17 class rookie Pecco Bagnaia (SKY VR46 Kalex) had fought his way through to third, pressed hard by veterans Simone Corsi (Speed Up) and Mugello winner Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex). Bagnaia was barely half a second off Oliveira, having been two seconds away five laps earlier, and Pasini less than a second behind him, Corsi in between. Class rookie Jorge Navarro (Gresini Kalex) took a career- best sixth narrowly ahead of fellow-rookie Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM). Both had overtaken Cortese with six laps to go, and had passed and outpaced Mar- cel Schrotter (Dynavolt Suter). He, in turn, held off Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Kalex), through from 25th on the grid. Remy Gardner (Tech3) had a strong race to a career-best 12th, closing up again on Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Kalex). An- other rookie, Fabio Quartararo (Pons Kalex) managed to get clear of the trio disputing the last points, with Xavier Simeon (Tasca Kalex) 14th and Stefano Manzi (SKY VR46 Kalex). GP novice Hector Garzo, subbing for injured Tech3 rider Xavi Vierge, was on row two after wet qualifying, but crashed out early. So too Dominique Ae- gerter (Kiefer Suter) and Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Kalex); while second Speed Up rider Augusto Fernandez was disqualified for a technical infringement in a pit stop. With his two closest rivals not scoring, Morbidelli now leads Luthi 173 points to 136. Oliveira (114) moved to third ahead of Marquez (113). Pasini has 93. MOTO3 Not a single race has been won from pole this year. So it was again. Aron Canet (EG Honda) snatched the position from Joan Mir (Leopard Honda) at the end of qualifying. It would prove a poison chalice, with Canet bat- tling to stay in the top 10 before falling off with 11 laps to go. Canet finished the first lap fifth but immediately dropped out of a five-strong group that took early control—Mir joined by Romano Fenati (Rivacold Honda), Marcos Ramirez (Plati- num Bay KTM), Nicolo Bulega (SKY VR46 KTM) and 16-year- old rookie Tony Arbolino (SIC58 Honda). The quintet pulled clear from the second lap, and while neither Arbolino nor Bulega would ever lead, the other three swapped it back and forth, the lion's share going to runaway title leader Mir. Arbolino paid the price of inexperience after a highly im- pressive 19 laps, crashing heav- ily. At this stage, he had just lost touch with the front three, and his crash delayed Bulega behind him.