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/990347
VOL. 55 ISSUE 22 JUNE 5, 2018 P69 closed last season with three in a row, after a blazing start from the fourth row of the grid, and a race- long battle with the cream of the crop. It was heartbreak, however, for pole starter Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex). He'd taken the lead on lap so (66), with Zarco (64) just one point ahead of Petrucci. Moto2 Was this the best-ever Moto2 race? It certainly was for Red Bull KTM's Miguel Oliveira who returned to the winning form that (Aprilia) retired on the 21st lap with a rear tire failure, after running in the points. No-score Marquez retained a slightly smaller title lead of 23 points, 95 to new second-placer Rossi on 72. Vinales dropped to third on 67, threatened by Dovizio- iii My Own Race: 99 JORGE LORENZO 1ST MOTOGP "I am very happy! Yesterday I said that winning at Mugello with Ducati was a dream for me and today this dream came true," said Jorge Lorenzo. "It's one of the most special wins of my entire career, probably on the same level as my first win in 125 in 2003 and in MotoGP in 2008. This morning I realized that we could do it, and even though I was worried about the performance of the tires, I decided to push right from the start in my usual style, and everything went perfectly. I couldn't ask for anything more and we will have to celebrate this win in a big way. I haven't managed to win a race for a long time and I did it my way. I've been through some difficult moments but I've always believed I could do it, I could see that every time we were closer and closer and in the end we did it!" 04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 2ND MOTOGP "To tell the truth I expected more than a second-place today, but in the end we found that the conditions were hotter in the race than yesterday and so we had a few doubts about the choice of front tire," Andrea Dovizioso said. "Rossi and I made a cautionary selection, opting to fit the harder tire, but unfortunately it didn't work well. Valentino almost crashed a couple of times in front of me and when I tried to push to catch Jorge, I wasn't fast enough in corner entry and as a result through the corners as well. In addition I used up the rear tire and at the end of the race I also had to manage this problem." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 3RD MOTOGP "It was a very tough race because we had to start with the harder front tire, which we knew wouldn't provide a lot of grip, so the race was very difficult. I tried not to make any mistakes, which was hard, and I also tried not to lose contact with the podium contenders. In my group the guys were riding on the softer tire, so I hoped I would have a little bit more grip than them at the end. In fact, it was exactly like this, so I'm very happy, because the podium was the target for me. It remained difficult to secure it until the very last lap, because Iannone didn't give up, but at the end it's a great feeling here in Mugello." 93 MARC MARQUEZ 16TH MOTOGP "We've been struggling the whole weekend to be perfectly comfortable with these particular spec tires, but I wasn't suffering that much in the race to- day," said points leader Marc Marquez who crashed out of the race. "Instead, the front folded quite unexpectedly, as I wasn't pushing that hard, and I crashed, though I almost saved it! When I re-joined the race, our pace wasn't bad at all, despite the bike being a bit damaged, so that's okay. Today also demonstrates what I've been saying for a while: things this year are pretty tight, the season is long, and anything can happen. That said, we'll keep working as usual at Montmelò, where we'll go back to the usual tyre spec, and we'll try and come back strong."