Cycle News

MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6 / JUNE 15-17, 2018 CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / MONTMELÓ, SPAIN P76 starter Ayumu Suzuki (Petronas Honda), and the pair rapidly put a big gap on a big brawl behind. By lap eight, it was still more than two seconds, but beginning to close. And then Martin fell off. Without his guide, Suzuki was soon swallowed up by a lively group, now 11 strong. Until crashes started to strip it back. First three riders fell together, after Le Mans winner Albert Are- nas tagged an on-form Nicolo Bulega (both KTM) and Honda- mounted Aron Canet. Arenas will be docked six grid positions at the next race as a consequence. Shortly afterwards, erstwhile leaders Jaume Masia and Andrea Migno (both KTM) also collided. 118. Marquez has 94, then Baldassarri 93 and Vierge 70, knocking Mir (64) to sixth. Moto3 Crashes and drama upset the form book in Moto3, with Leop- ard Honda's Enea Bastianini taking a first win of the year and second-placed Marco Bezzecchi (Redox Pruestel KTM) extend- ing his championship lead, after earlier title favorite Jorge Martin (Del Conca Honda) had crashed out of a commanding lead. Martin had crashed twice in practice, but only narrowly missed a fifth straight pole, with Bastianini quickest. Martin took off in the lead, shadowed by third front-row There were several crashes, starting with Bo Bendsneyder (Tech3), Niki Tuuli (Kalex) and Stefano Manzi (Suter) who tangled on lap one. They were followed by Jorge Navarro (Kal- ex); hot rookie Joan Mir (Kalex), for once nowhere near the front; Pasini, Fenati and Vinales. Potentially the worst came after the finish line. Oliveira had slowed and was waving to the crowd; Simone Corsi had finished 12th, and ran right up the back of him at speed. Miraculously neither was badly hurt, and Corsi will start the next race from the back of the grid as punishment. Bagnaia's title lead shrank to just one point, 119 to Oliveira's iii My Own Race: 99 JORGE LORENZO 1ST MOTOGP "Today's win was really fantastic!" said Lorenzo. "We showed that we can win not only by entering the first turn in first place, but also by recovering and overtaking the oth- ers. It was a complicated race because I got off to a bad start and lost a lot of meters to Marquez, but I told myself that the race was long and I had to keep calm. It wasn't too difficult to take Marc, because I had that little bit extra under braking, but he stayed pretty close to me right down to the flag. Now we've got a very competitive package and I think that this is the most complete Ducati bike of all time." 04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO DNF MOTOGP "The crash was my fault because I was pushing hard because I didn't want to lose contact with Jorge and Marc," said Dovizioso of his crash that put him out of the race. "Unfortunately, in the race there wasn't as much grip as in the morning and I wasn't able to ride in the same way. I didn't expect that; I came into the turn too quickly and crashed under braking. A real pity." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 3RD MOTOGP "Yesterday, after the practice sessions, I saw that my rivals were a bit faster than I was," Rossi said. "I was very close to the second group, but this morning we improved the settings with my team, together with Silvano, and then I had better turning and could go a bit faster. After that I wasn't far off, but unfortunately just not close enough. Later Dovi made a mistake and I arrived on the podium. I'm happy because last year at this racetrack we struggled a lot—it was a disaster—while this year I was able to keep up the pace until the last lap, in a good way."

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