VOL. 55 ISSUE 11 MARCH 20, 2018 P93
It took him time to notice what the
TV cameras had picked up: that his
rear brake disc was glowing red hot.
"I'd been saving the rear tire, every-
thing under control—then it felt like
the engine broke," he said. Whatever
had jammed it on (he suspected per-
haps a chunked piece of tire) meant
he was unable to use the rear brake
for the rest of the race, so it was a
good effort for him to stay just over a
second clear of the pursuing Mattia
Pasini's Italtrans Kalex.
Pasini, in turn, had outpaced a
gang of five; and by the end the Red
Bull KTMs had taken control of it,
Miguel Oliveira ahead of teammate
Brad Binder. Oliveira had been lucky
to survive a collision with Marquez's
back wheel as they accelerated off
the line, dropping him to eighth at
the end of lap one.
Marcel Schrotter's Kalex and Xavi
Vierge's Tech 3 were still close at the
finish.
Almost 10 seconds behind, Luca
Marini (SKY VR46 Kalex) finally won
out after a long battle with Jorge Na-
(KTM) wrapping up the last points,
ahead of Isaac Vinales (Kalex) and
Danny Kent (Speed Up).
American rookie Joe Roberts
(NTS) finished 25th.
MOTO3
The first race of the year was fought,
start-to-finish, between two of last
year's race winners, Spaniards Jorge
Martin (Del Conca Honda) and Aron
varro (Federal Oil Kalex), with rookie
Joan Mir (EG VDS Kalex) just losing
touch at the end. The Moto3 Cham-
pion had made a strong showing,
from 24th on the grid.
Another gap, then Remy Gardner
(Tech 3) prevailed for 12th over a
group that had become six-strong
by the finish, with returned MotoGP
rider Hector Barbera, Simone Corsi
(both Kalex) and Dominique Aegerter
Francesco Bagnaia
came away with the
Moto2 victory, the
first of his career.
Still getting dialed
in with the new
NTS RW Team,
American Joel
Roberts struggled
to find confidence
with the bike. He
was 25
th
in Moto2.
