VOL. 55 ISSUE 24 JUNE 19, 2018 P75
around Quartararo also passed Marquez. When he also
passed Oliveira two laps later, it was for good, the gap
stretched to more than a second on lap 15.
Marquez soon had his hands full fending off fiercely chal-
lenging teammates Schrotter and Vierge, finishing in that order.
Binder was sixth, while Bagnaia faded throughout, blam-
ing a faulty rear tire. With two laps to go Lorenzo Baldassarri
(HP40 Kalex) had got past, and with another lap might have
taken Binder as well.
Only three seconds behind by the end, Sam Lowes (SII
KTM) stormed through to ninth, having started from the back
of the grid after fuel pump problems on the sighting lap.
His last victim was teammate Iker Lecuona, who rounded
out the top 10.
HARD MAN GARDNER
Australian Moto2 rider Remy Gardner made
his return to racing after recovering from two
broken legs—his first race back since the GP
of the Americas—and on Friday was still not
sure if he would be able to race. His father,
1987 World Champion Wayne Gardner, told
Dorna, "I didn't want him to ride, but he really
wanted to. So we're just taking it session by
session at the moment." Two days later, Gard-
ner not only raced, but finished in the points
after going from 23rd on the grid to 16th at
the end of the first lap. Gardner, who scored
a career-best sixth in Argentina, broke both
legs and one ankle in an awkward fall while
riding motocross in the break before the start
of the European season, and has now missed
three rounds. "I was struggling a lot with the
bike—the front closing everywhere, vibrating
and chattering—then in the last 10 laps I was
so out of breath and dizzy I didn't even know
where I was on the track," the 20-year-old
Australian said, adding, "but I'm disappointed,
because I lost 14th on the last lap."
NEW SURFACE
The Montmelo circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya
has been fully resurfaced, after bitter com-
plaints about bumps and rapidly deteriorating
grip by MotoGP riders last year. Most riders
had tested at the track, and given the new
asphalt the thumbs-up, although Marquez
did comment that there were already some
bumps coming up, thanks to the track's use
as a test and race venue by F1. With mas-
sive down-force and fat tires, the cars pull up
ripples under braking. Marquez also fingered
the F1-style slightly raised curbs, which
mean—on the inside of corners—a different
level of contact for riders' knee and elbow
sliders. The layout has also been revised for
a third time in three years, with the danger-
ous corner where Luis Salom crashed fatally
in 2016 not only given more run-off, but also
equipped with a gravel trap that might have
saved his life.
Briefly...
