Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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MOTOGP 2017 FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 13 / SEPTEMBER 8-10, 2017 MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI / RIVIERA DI RIMINI, ITALY P80 Conca Honda) had survived his own lap-one moment, and was now holding off Philipp Oettl (Schedl KTM) and Sil- verstone winner Aron Canet (EG Honda). Oettl would drop back; Canet got briefly ahead of the Italian, only to fall off directly on lap 21. Thus the front men were widely spaced out; Nicolo Bulega (Sky VR46 KTM) in fifth more than a minute adrift. Mir's championship lead shrank marginally as Fenati moved back into second, 246 to 185; then Canet (162), Mar- tin (121) and Di Giannantonio (117). CN MotoGP 1. Marc Marquez (Hon) 2. Danilo Petrucci (Duc) 3. Andrea Dovizioso (Duc) 4. Maverick Vinales (Yam) 5. Michele Pirro (Duc) Moto2 1. Dominique Aegerter (Sut) 2. Thomas Luthi (Kal) 3. Hafizh Syahrin (Kal) 4. Pecco Bagnaia (Kal) 5. Brad Binder (KTM) Moto3 1. Romano Fenati (Hon) 2. Joan Mir (Hon) 3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Hon) 4. Philipp Oettl (KTM) 5. Niccolo Bulega (KTM) An accident for Cal Crutchlow put a slightly different focus on injuries sustained in between races affect- ing championship contenders. The British former Supersport World Champion was cutting parmesan cheese when he sliced a left-hand finger so badly that he severed a tendon. He only discovered this the next morning, after seeing a doctor because the injury would not stop bleeding. The Italian doctors, he joked, "were savage;" but they reattached the tendon, and he was ready to try his best to ride. At the pre-event conference, a slightly red- faced Crutchlow said "I wish I could tell you a story, like I was wrestling a bear or something." Erstwhile Moto2 title contender and full-time younger brother Alex Marquez was ruled out of the San Marino GP after a heavy fall at the end of the first free practice left him with painful injuries to his left hip. Marquez, who has won two races and claimed three further podi- ums this season, headed the time sheets, but was stretchered away af- ter a big high-side dumped him from a height, landing on his left side. On Saturday, former Moto3 former race winner Livio Loi was an inno- cent victim, also out of the race. The Belgian racer was sent looping high in the air after his Leopard Honda hit the sliding KTM of faller Ga- briel Rodrigo at the end of Moto3 qualifying. Rodrigo seemed set for another pole position before slipping off on the exit from the last corner, but his bike gripped and speared back across the track, right under Loi's wheels. Blame the bike? Marc Marquez shouldered most of the respon- sibility for having already broken his own crash record this year, but allowed that this year's Honda might be particularly crash-prone, compared with its rivals. "Of course I don't want to crash, but it is a bit my style, and I always like to find the limit in practice," he said after two more crashes so far this weekend brought his season total to 19, two more than his personal record of 17 last season. "I think there is also something on our bike—it is more unstable. I think it is harder to crash on the Yamaha or the Ducati." Only the misfortunate Aprilia rider Sam Lowes had crashed more often, with four more this weekend bringing his season total to 24. The well-respected Interwetten Moto2 team will switch from Kalex to KTM next season, when their current star rider Thomas Luthi will be replaced by former Moto2 title challenger Sam Lowes. The Swiss- based team currently runs three riders—Luthi, plus Iker Lecuona and Jesko Raffin—on Kalex chassis, having switched from Suter in 2014. They will become the first satellite team to use the heretical steel-tube Kalex chassis, with the Austrian marque already challenging for top positions with rider Miguel Oliveira in 2017, its first season. Light-fingered fans at Misano did nothing to enhance their national reputation, after a casual thief struck the Kiefer Racing Moto2 pit. Both riders, Dominique Aegerter and Tarran Mackenzie, lost their hel- mets in the theft. Briefly...