VOL. 55 ISSUE 20 MAY 22, 2018 P89
(Red Bull KTM) on the last lap.
Romano Fenati (Marinelli
Kalex), Fabio Quartararo (Speed
Up), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM)
and Stefano Manzi (Forward
Suter) completed the top ten.
American Joe Roberts (NTS)
had been in the gang for his first
dry points but fell in the closing
laps, rejoining to finish 19th, one
place down on Mattia Pasini,
who also remounted after an
early slip-off.
Jerez winner Lorenzo Baldas-
sarri (HP40 Kalex) crashed out
on lap eight.
Bagnaia extended his title lead
to 15 points over Oliveira, 98 to
73; then Marquez (67) overtook
Baldassarri (64) and Pasini (58).
Moto3
The race was close and exciting,
if slightly processional. Then it
all went properly mad, Moto3-
style. Crashes, lucky escapes
and post-race penalties shuffled
the results, leaving Del Conca
Honda rider Fabio Di Giannanto-
nio heartbroken after he crossed
the line first, only to be robbed
of a maiden victory, and yielding
a career-first win to Angel Nieto
Team's Albert Arenas, heading
the first all-KTM podium since
2016.
Jorge Martin (Del Conca
Honda) had qualified on an 11th
pole, and for most of the race it
was between him and Argentine
GP winner Marco Bezzecchi
(Redox KTM), with early leader
Jakub Kornfeil (Redox KTM)
breathing down their necks, until
prospect explained.
Maybe the best ride of the
race was to fifth by Xavi Vierge.
The second Dynavolt rider
had fuel pump trouble on the
warm-up, and had to start from
the back of the grid. He came
storming through, proving that
although it doesn't happen very
often with the bikes' identical
performance, overtaking is pos-
sible in Moto2 if you are aggres-
sive enough.
Vierge fended off a strong
fight-back by Miguel Oliveira
Claude Michy, who has turned the
event into a major success after it
had faltered at Paul Ricard. The first
race at Le Mans was in 1969, soon
after the Bugatti short circuit had
been built, using part of the famous
24-hour part-road circuit; and has
been held continuously at the here
since 2000.
BACKWARDS KTM
KTM's expected reverse-crank
engine will not be seen until after
the summer break, according to
sources close to the team. Although
it has not been officially admitted,
the backward-spinning crank in the
otherwise similar V4 engine was the
biggest difference in Mika Kallio's
"2018 prototype" that he rode to 10th
place at the previous round at Jerez,
beating both of the regular riders.
The gyroscopic results of crank-spin
confer different advantages, but the
common belief is that a reverse-spin
crank improves mechanical grip on
corner exit.
TUULI IN AT SIC
A midseason change of lineup in the
Malaysian-backed SIC Racing Team
in Moto2 sees 22-year-old Finn-
ish rider Niki Tuuli move over from
Supersport 600 to take the place of
Zulfahmi Khairuddin. The Malaysian
former 125 and Moto3 veteran had
been drafted in after the unexpected
departure of Hafizh Syahrin to Tech3
in MotoGP, but had told the team he
did not feel up to speed after two
years absence from the series.
Briefly...
