MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 6 / JUNE 15-17, 2018
CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / MONTMELÓ, SPAIN
P68
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
H
ead and shoulders. That's
what Jorge Lorenzo had
over the rest of a scat-
tered GP field in Catalunya. After
23 difficult races with Ducati,
the 24th and 25th have been a
revelation. Or perhaps better to
say a confirmation. He's one of
the greatest riders of all time. His
talent has just been obscured
for a while. Even from his Italian
employers.
And now, coincidental with
being dropped by the team and
signing up with their greatest
rivals at Honda, he's won two in
a row.
Only one rider could run him
close and keep the pressure on
for the first nine of 24 laps of
the slightly re-profiled and fully
resurfaced Circuit de Barcelona-
Catalunya outside the Catalan
capital city. That was Marc
Marquez, the culmination of a
weekend of spectacular brink-
manship for the Repsol Honda
rider and future teammate.
Marquez not only crashed
twice, he also accomplished the
best-ever save of a career where
they have become a specialty.
That was on Saturday, when, for
only the second time in four-and-
a-half MotoGP years, he had to
go through Q1, before qualifying
on his usual front row, alongside
Lorenzo, on his first pole on a
Ducati.
For the rest, second Ducati
rider Andrea Dovizioso looked as
though he might at least share
the podium. Until the hitherto
achingly consistent rider made
a second unforced error for a
third costly crash in the last four
races, putting a considerable
dent in his hopes of a second
consecutive title challenge.
Instead it was Mr. Everlast-
ing, Valentino Rossi (Movistar
Yamaha), who took a strong, if
lonely, third, his third successive
podium, once again confound-
ing his critics and exceeding
expectations. He complained
that he hasn't been able to do
