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/979046
VOL. 55 ISSUE 18 MAY 8, 2018 P97 BY MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE C lose racing is good racing, right? There's just one problem. Close racing is also dangerous. If one rider crashes, there is a good chance he'll take a number of others with him. It happened twice at the resurfaced and renamed Jerez-Angel Nieto circuit, in the smallest and the largest classes, both times at the far-away Dry Sack hairpin. Mercifully, there were no serious inju- ries. But in both cases, the crashes had a major impact on the championship. First, MotoGP. Marc Marquez was the big winner, and Ducati the big loser. In fact, Mar- quez had already escaped, successfully fleeing not only the threat of his expect- ed title rival and an amazingly revived early leader Jorge Lorenzo, but also his own Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, who had started from second on the grid. The crash that took all three out wasn't really anybody's fault—a racing incident. Dovi went inside Lorenzo at the hairpin, but ran wide. Lorenzo cut back just as Pedrosa was diving up the inside. They touched, and all three went looping and tumbling. It was spectacular. Marquez only found out when he saw the gap on his pit board had gone from two seconds to six. It reinforced what he already knew from yesterday, in spite of qualifying only fifth, "that I could win this race. "On this track, anyone can do one quick lap," Marquez said. "But the race is long, and you have to manage many things—your tires, and the way the bike changes through the race." Lorenzo had seized the lead off the line from the second row, and held it for the first seven of 25 laps. Pedrosa, Zarco, Marquez and pole qualifier Cal Crutchlow chased him away, but Crutchlow lasted only seven laps before losing the front at turn one. Marquez, starting from the middle of row two after twice falling in practice and again in morning warm-up, had finished lap one fourth. He took two laps to dis- pose of Zarco and Pedrosa, but then "it was almost impossible to pass Lorenzo. He was like the old Lorenzo, really late on the brakes and fast out of the cor- ners. Then I saw his tires were going a bit, and it was the time to attack." Marquez drew steadily clear, his only big scare coming after Tom Luthi crashed and scattered gravel on the ultra-fast turn 11. "When I saw the stones I was too late. So I said: 'We'll see what happens.' I don't know how I stayed on the bike," he laughed. "After that, I thought I would have to win, because somebody was looking after me." Lorenzo was playing something of a blocking role. He was the only rider to choose the soft front tire, and it meant he was getting slower mid-corner. But his braking and acceleration made him hard to pass, as Dovizioso also complained, which helped Marquez to get away. This indirectly caused the crucial crash, he thought, blaming both Pe- drosa and Lorenzo. "Somebody made a mistake." But although he was the most innocent victim, he didn't call for any penalties. If there was anything funny about the situation, it was that Dovi tried to get go- ing again, on the wrong bike—Lorenzo's. Johann Zarco at this point was less EFFECT Marquez was going to win But his title were given a boost when championship rival Dovizioso clattered out of the race