Crew On Two

12th August 2018

Bagnaia Storms to Austrian Moto2 Pole

After losing his championship lead last weekend in Brno, Francesco Bagnaia has hit back strongly today in the Austrian Grand Prix qualifying by dominating to take pole position by 0.310 seconds from main championship rival, and standings topper, Miguel Oliveira. It wasn’t all perfect for Bagnaia, he ran out of fuel at the very end of the session but he got his time in early, and from that point no one got near it. Typically, Bagnaia’s qualifying result is somewhat indicative of where he is on the race pace, like most Moto2 riders, and that has to be a worry for the rest of the pack ahead of tomorrow’s race.

Francesco Bagnaia at The Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

However, a second place in qualifying for Oliveira, his second decent qualifying in a row after fourth place last week, shows that KTM have definitely sorted the qualifying issues out, at least on the #44 side of the Red Bull KTM Ajo garage, that have been holding the Portuguese back in the first half of the season. From the front row of the grid, Oliveira can mount a serious victory challenge, and a win here would make him the clear favourite for the title.

The front row of the grid is rounded out by Fabio Quartararo, who is back on form this weekend at a track he has excelled at historically. If the tyre duration that the Speed Up of Quartararo has become known for over the past few races is there again tomorrow, he could be an outside shot of the podium, if not the win.

Fourth place represents Jorge Navarro’s best performance in Moto2 qualifying, a position from where he will be hoping to make the podium – which would also be a first for the Spaniard. Navarro is currently under pressure for his job for next year, with Fabio Di Giannantonio from Gresini Moto3 looking likely to slot into that squad, so a decent advert from Jorge wouldn’t go amiss in this moment.

Alex Marquez qualified fifth despite a crash towards the end of the session. With the championship basically over for Alex, his goal from here is just to win as many races as possible and, failing that, make the podium. However, he hasn’t looked particularly likely this weekend, but if it rains tomorrow, everything is out the window.

The final position on row two is taken by Mattia Pasini, which is quite impressive from the Italian on one of the more difficult circuits for his left-handed braking, no-clutch downshifting technique. The last races have been difficult for Pasini, so he will just hope for a race where he competes to the end with the front runners again.

Marcel Schrotter at The Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

Marcel Schrotter took seventh place for tomorrow’s grid, ahead of Brad Binder who might have hoped for more on his 23rd birthday. Lorenzo Baldassarri suffered a crash at the end of the session, and so could only manage the ninth fastest time. That said, Baldassarri has looked quite decent this weekend, and he always races better than he qualifies, so watch out for the #7 tomorrow.

There was a crash, also, for Luca Marini. It was a shame for the lanky Italian, as he had been having a solid weekend to that point. The fall left him unable to set a time at the end, so has to make do with tenth on the grid tomorrow, with race pace holding decent potential. Remy Gardner and Iker Lecuona complete the fourth row of the grid.

Augusto Fernandez continues to perform for the HP40 Pons team, this time taking thirteenth place in qualifying, ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Romano Fenati.

Sam Lowes could only manage 16th place on the grid, ahead of Danny Kent who is another in need of a good advert – however, unlike Navarro, it isn’t arriving for Kent. Simone Corsi completes row six.

19th place went to Domi Aegerter, whilst Joan Mir could only take 20th place. Even though Mir crashed, 20th is very disappointing, especially at a track where he went so well in Moto3. But, he is another who tends to race better than he qualifies, so watch for the #36 coming through the pack.

Tetsuta Nagashima was the subject of the ‘shot of the weekend’ (so far, at least) yesterday, when he was caught in slow motion surfing his Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex between turns nine and ten in the pouring rain. But, in qualifying it was only 21st for the Japanese rider.

Row eight is headed up tomorrow by Khairul Idham Pawi, who is ahead of Stefano Manzi and Joe Roberts.

Steven Odendaal at The Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

Roberts and NTS teammate Steven Odendaal produced a nice moment in free practice, when they were 1-2, Odendaal leading Roberts. It showed the potential of the NTS chassis, which hopefully has got some riders interested for next year, as they are after a top rider to pilot one of their bikes next season, believing that they can be at the front with an experienced, fast rider.

As it was, though, Odendaal could only manage 25th, one place behind Roberts, but ahead of Jules Danilo and Bo Bendsneyder on row nine.

Xavi Vierge set the 28th fastest time in the first minutes of the session. He sat the rest of qualifying out in the medical centre after a second flying lap crash with Odendaal, where Vierge squeezed the South African up onto the kerb on the outside of the entry to turn one. Vierge’s rear tyre got caught with Odendaal’s front mudguard, and the Spaniard went flying over the top of the bike, and broke his wrist. As a result, Vierge is out of the weekend, so 29th-fastest Niki Tuuli will start 28th tomorrow.

Isaac Vinales will join Tuuli on the tenth row. The Spaniard is replacing Eric Granado, who was fired out of Forward Racing after Brno thanks to his other commitments in the Brazilian Superbike Championship. Vinales’ replacement at SAG, Alejandro Medina, will complete row ten.

Xavi Cardelus will start 31st, and Federico Fuligni will be 32nd and last on the grid.

12th August 2018

Austrian MotoGP Pole for Marquez as Yamaha Crumble

101 qualifying sessions, 49 poles. That is Marc Marquez’s qualifying record in MotoGP, an unrivalled record. Perhaps, though, today’s was one of his most impressive. At Ducati’s best circuit; the one most suited to the Desmosedici, and one where Honda should theoretically struggle, he snatched the top spot away from the GP18s by all of 0.002 seconds. Marquez also looks like he can be there in the race, although track temperature could play its part in that. Cal Crutchlow made the point in Brno that if the Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo is using a had front tyre, it is probably too soft for the Honda. In FP4 today, Jorge Lorenzo ran a hard front tyre, implying that if the temperature gets high enough tomorrow, Marquez could be walking away from the Red Bull Ring – the only circuit on the calendar that he has been raced at, but not seen a Marc Marquez victory – without a winners trophy.

The favourite to stop Marquez tomorrow is the rider who finished those two thousandths of a second behind the Spaniard: Andrea Dovizioso. The #04 rider won the Austrian Grand Prix last year, as well as the last race one week ago in Brno, and has looked good all weekend. He may have missed pole position, but that is no rarity for Dovi – he comes alive on race day, and it would be a major upset if he were to be absent from the lead battle in the closing stages tomorrow.

TOp 3 in Qualifying Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo – Austrian GP 2018. Image courtesy of Ducati

The same could be said for Jorge Lorenzo. Since Mugello, with the exceptions of Assen and Sachsenring, Lorenzo has been able to maintain the front running pace until the end. Being such a favourable circuit for the Ducati, and one that Lorenzo’s style suits quite well in theory, Jorge was always going to be one to watch coming into this weekend, and so it has proven. Like Dovizioso and Marquez, he looks like he can maintain a similar pace to the end of the race, and if he comes out firing with the aggression he showed in Brno last week, he is going to be tough to stop. That said, it’s not like he is going to be fighting a pair of mugs. Either way, a situation where Ducati do not have a 1-2 tomorrow would be something of a disaster for the Bologna factory, even if they fill the top step.

For the first time in their history, Ducati have three bikes in the top four positions on the grid, as Danilo Petrucci took fourth place on the grid to head up the second row. Petrucci might not be able to make the tyres last for a full race distance tomorrow in the dry, but should the rain arrive – like it has done regularly over the course of this weekend – the number 9 might just be in the mix for a first career race win.

Cal Crutchlow took the fifth fastest time, despite it being perhaps his least favourite circuit on the calendar. Crutchlow doesn’t have the pace of the front riders this weekend, a podium looks a big ask, but a ‘best of the rest’ would be a respectable result for the British rider on a track where he expected to suffer a lot.

Cal Crutchlow at the Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

Speaking of suffering, Yamaha did a lot of that on Saturday. Not only were the factory M1s desperately disappointing, but the satellite bike of the man they let walk away to KTM for 2019 was sixth fastest, and four tenths up on the top Movistar bike. It seems that the real Johann Zarco has stood back up, and that will sound alarm bells in the ears of all the front runners, because when Zarco is feeling good, he can cause a lot of problems for his rivals.

Tito Rabat was again very impressive, with the seventh fastest time in Q2, and he starts ahead of and alongside the factory bikes of Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone (2016 Austrian GP winner) and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

Tenth place went to Alex Rins, who had to come through Q1, but the big story starts when we reach the eleventh spot, and Maverick Vinales.

The #25 factory Yamaha was ahead only of 12th-placed Alvaro Bautista in the final qualifying session of the day, one second off the pole time. For reference, Vinales was 4th on the grid last year, 0.519 seconds off the pole time with a 1’23.754. Today, Vinales was 11th, 1.043 seconds off pole position with a time of 1’24.284. So, in one year Yamaha have gotten half a second slower. Okay, so, some of that can be put down to track development, since there had only been 75 minutes of slick running before qualifying, but in comparison Marquez’s time was only six thousandths of a second off his pole time of last year. To add to that, Valentino Rossi’s qualifying time last year was a 1’23.982, compared to his time this year of a 1’24.309. So, also, Rossi went four tenths slower this year. Of course, we have known for a while that Yamaha have had problems with acceleration, and they probably haven’t been helped this weekend by the changeable conditions, but to arrive at a circuit and go slower than they managed a year ago when the competitors are not really any slower at all is embarrassing, especially for a factory with the winning history of Yamaha. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Yamaha is that they have known about their issues probably for longer than the public have, and the public have been aware since Barcelona last year. It was so bad today, that the Yamaha MotoGP Project Leader, Kouji Tsuya, delayed the media debriefs of the two factory riders to publicly apologise to them in front of the media for the poor performance of the bike this weekend. Apologies aside, tomorrow is going to be just as embarrassing and disappointing, if not more so, as today, and the Iwata manufacturer will have to hope that this is the bottom of the pit they fell into last year, and that the bottom is elasticated, because they really need to bounce back.

Back to qualifying, and it was a brilliant session for Bradley Smith, who nearly made Q2, missing out for all of 0.015 seconds.

Smith also beat Valentino Rossi by 0.064 seconds, a big scalp for the KTM-shod Brit. 14th represents Rossi’s worst qualifying since Australia 2016 when he was 15th. He finished Australia 2016 2nd, behind Cal Crutchlow, but a repeat of that in the race, in any condition, would be beyond miraculous, such is the hole both he and Yamaha have found themselves in, particularly this weekend. Rossi’s result, combined with Vinales’, meant that it was the first time since 2007 that both factory Yamahas had finished outside the top ten in a dry qualifying.

Aleix Espargaro has had a difficult weekend, presumably still suffering with the injury from Germany, but nonetheless managed to qualifying fifteenth.

Franco Morbidelli at Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProracing.

Sixteenth on the grid tomorrow should reserved for Franco Morbidelli, who would line up alongside Jack Miller and Hafizh Syahrin on the sixth row of the grid. However, the Italian picked up a grid penalty of three positions for cruising in free practice. So it’s nineteenth for the reigning Moto2 World Champion, and Miller heads up row six from Syahrin and Simeon.

Scott Redding will start twentieth tomorrow and Taka Nakagami completes the revised row seven that has Morbidelli at its head.

The eighth and final row only has two riders this weekend, because Pol Espargaro is recovering from his nasty high side in Brno last week. It’s Tom Luthi and Karel Abraham who complete the 23-rider grid, in 22nd and 23rd respectively.

10th August 201818th August 2018

Haslam, Brookes Master Tyre Management for Thruxton BSB Wins

The two British Superbike races in Thruxton were of course always going to be entirely about tyres, the rider that could manage their Pirelli rear slick the best would inevitably come out on top.

In race one, that rider was, somewhat surprisingly, Leon Haslam. It was a disappointing qualifying for the championship leader, making only the fourth row and going out of Q2, but he made a strong start, and made good progress in the early laps to give himself a good position to allow himself to save the tyre. Whilst Haslam had been fighting through, Luke Mossey had taken off at the front, but Haslam ensure that it was he who claimed the lead when Mossey came back to the pack. From there, he battled with Jake Dixon for the win in the final laps, and had enough tyre at the end to not allow Jake to get close enough to make a move on the final lap. It was Haslam’s first ever win in Thruxton, and a well-deserved one after such a tough battle through the pack.

As such, Jake Dixon’s second place was an important one, as he only lost two points (in podium credits) to Haslam in the championship, and stay within reach as the Showdown draws closer – just two rounds left before the final three championship-deciding rounds.

The two championship leaders were again fighting in race two, this time Dixon coming out on top as he took the final podium spot from Haslam on the final lap, another important result for Dixon as he took a point out of Haslam’s podium credit advantage. Haslam’s fourth place marked the first race since race one in Brands Indy that he had not made the podium.

Josh Brookes also had a mixed day in Thruxton, with a fourth in race one and a win in the second outing. His race one result was mainly down to a short gearing on the McAMS Yamaha, which was hitting the limiter on the run down to the final chicane, which made him vulnerable to attacks as well as making it difficult for the Aussie to make passes. The first race also had a hint of controversy for Brookes, as he put a seriously on-the-limit move on Jason O’Halloran for third place at the final chicane, but ran the pair of them wide, and allowed Peter Hickman onto the podium in third place. Race two went much better for Brookes, as he took the lead early on, and as the pack battled behind he duly cleared off, building a lead of over one second, which he then managed to the flag. That’s three wins in four races for Brookes, and he will be hoping to add to that in Cadwell Park in two weeks’ time.

Glenn Irwin at Thruxton 2018. Image courtesy of Ducati

It wasn’t such a good weekend for Glenn Irwin. Whilst he was able to snag pole position on Saturday, his and the PBM Ducati’s tyre management wasn’t up to a podium challenge, as he went 5-9. Whilst Irwin admitted that he was disappointed to have not been able to challenge for the podium, or the win, he was pleased with the speed that he and the team had showed over the course of the weekend. It’s worth remembering that Thruxton is a very unique round with such a large emphasis on tyre management, and as such form is somewhat thrown out. Expect Irwin to be back at the sharp end in Cadwell, a favourite circuit of the Northern Irishman.

Bradley Ray had another difficult weekend, crashing out of the first race, taking two others with him, and only taking four points from race two with a twelfth place. This was especially disappointing after it seemed that Ray had rediscovered his early-season feeling and form in qualifying, after some positive findings in testing prior to the weekend with regards to the front end. Since Brands Indy, Ray’s form has been abysmal, falling as often as he has scored. The next two rounds, in Cadwell and Silverstone, will be critical for the Suzuki rider, as he looks to return to the front before the Showdown begins.

Danny Buchan could only manage two DNFs in Thruxton, but still maintained his final Showdown spot in the championship. His first race retirement was due to being caught up in Brad Ray’s crash. Ray lost the front on the change of direction in the final chicane whilst trying to pass Buchan round the outside. Unfortunately, Buchan had nowhere to go so was left on the floor, and it was a similar story in race two, as he went down in an incident with Shaun Winfield.

Peter Hickman’s double podium came just a few hours after he was discharged from hospital. The 2018 Senior TT winner was hospitalised on Saturday night with what turned out to be a kidney infection, but was discharged just before noon on Sunday, giving him just enough time to get to the track in time for the first race. He somewhat lucked in to the first rostrum, benefiting from the incident between Brookes and O’Halloran, but in race two he was superb, managing the tyre better than almost anyone, but he was just too late to catch Brookes despite lapping significantly faster at the end. Either way, and despite the illness, this was Hickman’s best event of the year, at least in BSB, and he took his first two podiums of the season. Afterwards he admitted that the second half of the season is his better portion, and he will be aiming to continue to take lumps out of the advantage of Buchan in the championship – which currently stands at seven points – as he looks to make the Showdown.

Christian Iddon had something of a nightmare on Thruxton race day. Unfortunately, he was unable to achieve the distance on the tyre that he needed through the weekend, and it showed in the races. He took thirteenth in race one, and after softening everything up in race two, destroyed the tyre still, to the extent that he flicked himself over the high side coming out of the chicane on lap fourteen. He hit the barrier but was okay.

Jason O’Halloran enjoyed a return to form in Thruxton. He got unlucky in race one with Brookes’ move, but was running at the front, which was an improvement on Brands Hatch. In race two he received a 2.1 second penalty for cutting the final chicane, but fortunately for the Aussie he had enough of a gap over seventh place to not lose a spot. O’Halloran is not yet out of the Showdown, only 25 points behind Buchan in that sixth spot, and had five races to make up that difference to get himself into championship contention.

Michael Laverty had a disaster in qualifying, making only nineteenth spot. He came through to ninth on the first lap of race one but was the third rider involved in Brad Ray’s lap two crash. Without that, his day could have been entirely different, with a good result in race one and a decent grid spot in the second race. As it was, he took no points from the first race and had a bad grid spot for race two, in which he finished thirteenth. A case of ‘what could have been’ for Laverty.

Sunday was fantastic for Tarran Mackenzie. Qualifying was a disaster for him, as bike issues prevented him from even setting a lap in Q1, meaning he had to start last for race one, in which he finished ninth, only 9 seconds off the win. He got a better grid for race two, and fought for the podium until the end, but was unable to pass, so could ‘only’ manage fifth. Anyway, it was another very impressive meeting for Mackenzie, and proved that Brands Hatch was no fluke for his results. That first podium isn’t too far away now.

It was another disappointing weekend for James Ellison. A tough qualifying meant his race day was always going to be a tough one, and so it proved as he went 12-15.

It wasn’t a much better day for Richard Cooper who didn’t finish the first race, and could only manage 14th in race two.

Tommy Bridewell continued his good form with the Moto Rapido Ducati, though, going 11-7, although he was closed down in the championship by Luke Mossey who went 7-8.

Dan Linfoot, of course, was absent after his Brands Hatch crash and resulting injury, but Andrew Irwin had another impressive weekend, despite a crash in race one. Race two went better for the rookie, finishing ninth. But Andrew didn’t completely destroy his tyre, and he set the fastest time of the weekend in Q2. His learning curve isn’t getting much shallower, his progress is really impressive.

8th in race one and 10th in race two represent Mason Law’s best weekend of the season in his rookie year, and he put some big moves down too. Mason’s talent has never been in doubt, but a performance like this is testament to that; a double top ten from a rookie in Thruxton is a very impressive scorecard.

Chrissy Rouse went very well in race one, but suffered a nasty crash on lap on in race two. Hopefully the youngster will be back strong in Cadwell Park.

For Gino Rea, it wasn’t such a brilliant weekend, with a DNF in race one and only a 17th in race two. Contrary to that, Sylvain Barrier had perhaps his best race of the season in the first outing, with fourteenth, but he could only manage eighteenth in the second race.

It was also Shaun Winfield’s best weekend of the season, as he made Q2. He then took sixteenth in race one, but dropped out of race two when he had contact with Danny Buchan.

Martin Jessopp picked up his second point of 2018 in race one with fifteenth, and came home sixteenth, two seconds off the final point in the second race.

10th August 2018

Oliveira and KTM in Front as Moto2 Hits Austria

The Moto2 Pack bunched up at Brno. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

Brno was probably the best Moto2 race of the season. In fact, it definitely was. For once, Miguel Oliveira qualified and fought at the front for the whole race. And what a fight it was. Between himself, Francesco Bagnaia, Luca Marini and later Lorenzo Baldassarri, there was some stunning action and, whilst it boiled down to what was ultimately a two-way scrap for the win between Miguel and Marini, that two-way scrap proved to be one of the highlights of the year.
Oliveira came out the victor of that battle against the comparatively inexperienced Marini, and with that he took the championship lead heading into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix – KTM’s home round, as well as that of the title sponsor. A win for Oliveira this weekend would not only strengthen his position atop the championship, it would also be perfectly timed from the point of view of his employer and their backers. Furthermore, KTM are currently on two consecutive wins and the last time they had two wins on the bounce, they went and took a third in succession too. That was in the last three races of last season, where both Oliveira and Brad Binder dominated the 2017 series champion, Franco Morbidelli. A repeat at this stage in the season could put Oliveira well in the driving seat for the 2018 Moto2 World Championship with just under half the season remaining.

That said, last year was not such a great round for the KTM Moto2 squad, and especially for Oliveira. The Portuguese crashed out of turn eight when closing down the leaders, with what was quite a big high side. Meanwhile, Brad Binder could only manage seventh place, nine seconds off the win. It would be a surprise to see them so far away this year, but if Oliveira has a return to his usual 2018 qualifying form, it could spell disaster for the championship hopeful, when you consider the pileup at turn one last year.

Miguel Oliveira at Brno 2018. Image courtesy of Marcin Kin/KTM

Pecco Bagnaia needs to hit back on Sunday. He looked good after Assen, and Sachsenring had shaped up well for him before Sunday, but with bad luck in the German GP and just losing out in the battle at the end of the Czech GP, ending up third, he is now on the back foot in the championship. On the positive side, Bagnaia still looks like one of two strongest riders in the last races, and ultimately it has been circumstance that has seen him lose his championship advantage. Also, the second Sky Racing Team VR46 rider, Luca Marini, has turned up in the last couple of weekends, so if it is needed Bagnaia has a rear gunner.

But Marini is also out for himself, obviously, and as he proved last week he has the potential to fight strongly for the win himself. Marini has come almost from nowhere in the last three races, but the short summer break worked perfectly for him, as he was able to keep the momentum he built in the Dutch and German GPs – taking his first front row in Assen and first podium in Germany – into Brno where he fought for the victory for the first time. Now, he has gone 3-2 in the last two races, leaving the first position as the next logical step, right?

With the improvement in the second side of the Sky VR46 squad, it is even more critical that Brad Binder becomes a consistent podium/victory contender. Other than his win in Sachsenring, Binde hasn’t really featured at the front all season, at least not for a full race. His Germany win proved that he has the potential to be there, he just needs to be there more often, and the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring would be the perfect time for him to return to the podium.

Lorenzo Baldassarri has had a few difficult races. Assen was positive, and he could have won until he suffered the puncture. In Germany he dropped out before it was possible to judge what his potential was. Brno went better, though with a fourth place which could have been a podium, or even a win, but his tyre was destroyed by the end of the race, so he had nothing to fight with for the podium. He has taken some criticism, because he basically cost Bagnaia – a fellow VR46 Riders’ Academy member, and flatmate – the chance to fight for the victory in the last lap by passing him in the middle of the turn 11/12 chicane but ultimately he is out on the track for himself and he thought he would have the chance for the win, but to pass three riders in one lap is almost impossible. For sure, he cost himself and Bagnaia the shot at the victory with the move he made, but he had to try, because if he didn’t try, for the sake of another rider, there is no point in being there – it’s mid-season, you wouldn’t expect team orders at this stage, so why he should be expected to help someone from another team is a little strange. Anyway, this weekend presents a fresh opportunity for Baldassarri, and with Lorenzo, you just don’t know what you are going to get.

The weather looks like it is going to play its part this weekend. Rain is predicted for the whole weekend, and last year, when it rained, the track was a disaster – riders were crashing almost by the second and reaching the barriers with regularity. Safety is definitely a weak point of the Red Bull Ring, and several riders have spoken of their worry ahead of the race weekend about the danger in wet conditions, so hopefully those concerns will be alleviated, either by fair weather or by decent track conditions, although both are unfortunately unlikely.

10th August 2018

Bezzecchi Leads Moto3 to Austria for KTM

For round eleven of the 2018 Moto3 World Championship, Marco Bezzecchi leads the lightweight field to Austria, and the Red Bull Ring (or, A1 Ring if you’re sponsored by another energy drinks company).

Of course, Bezzecchi leading the championship at this stage is important, since it is also KTM’s home race. It means that the 40,000 people populating the KTM stand on Sunday will be able to see one of their chosen factory’s riders fighting to maintain the lead of the championship. However, coming off such a difficult weekend in Brno last week Bezzecchi will be hoping to return to his form of the first half of the year, where he was on the podium in six out of the nine races. And, of course, KTM would love for their sole championship challenger to take the win at their home event.

Marco Bezzecchi at Brno 2018. Image courtesy of Marcin Kin/KTM

The person most likely to deny Bezzecchi the title, Jorge Martin, who is trying to come back this weekend. He broke his radius last weekend in Brno in the first practice session on Friday morning, putting him out of last weekend’s Czech GP. The doctors have allowed Martin to compete, it would really be little surprise to see him fighting at the front – remember last year, when he was in tears in parc ferme after making the podium with his 5-week-old broken leg.

Even if Bezzecchi can’t take full advantage of Martin’s broken radius for the second week running, the Spaniard’s Gresini Racing teammate, Fabio Di Giannantonio, may well make the number 88 pay. He took his first win last week, making up for the disappointment of Le Mans, and the feeling has been that one win would set the Italian up to become a regular Grand Prix winner. We will begin to find out whether Diggia will go the route of Jorge Martin, and become a serial victor, or the route of Enea Bastianini, and wait still for months before another victory.

Speaking of Bastianini; he is without a podium since he was third in Assen, at which point he was looking like someone who could come back into championship contention. Since then, though, he crashed in Germany and could only manage fourth in Brno, which in reality wasn’t such a bad result considering the weekend he had. Nonetheless, he benefited from Martin’s injury last week, and is still in the mix for the championship – if very much on the outside – but this weekend will require a big result for La Bestia if he wants to close more on the top.

Enea Bastianini at Brno 2018. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

The fifth and final realistic championship contender is Aron Canet, who has been completely under the radar this year, and is the only rider in the fight without a win. In fact, Brno was only Canet’s fourth podium of the year, but it’s been his finishing ratio that has helped Canet’s challenge, only crashing out of one race – Jerez. A win this weekend would make Canet an absolute contender, although he was only fifth last year, 3.5 seconds off the victorious Joan Mir.

This summer, Europe has been in the middle of a heatwave, and it has had a big impact on the World Championship, bringing higher-than-expected track temperatures which have especially affected MotoGP. However, this weekend, it looks like it will be wet throughout, which could have a big impact on the result, with perhaps some unlikely riders finding the podium. Of course, Moto3 is the only category in the World Championship to have had a wet race this year, back in Argentina when Bezzecchi won his one and only race. It could be bad for Martin, though, as he will be conscious of his injury, and may be very cautious so as to not worsen the damage to his wrist. On the other hand, it could be great for Martin, because the riders with nothing to lose – such as a John McPhee, a Jakub Kornfeil, or a Gabriel Rodrigo – could arrive and take points off his rivals, meaning he wouldn’t lose too many points to his competitors should he be ruled out through injury.

7th August 2018

No Martin, But Di Giannantonio’s Brilliant Debut Win Keeps Gresini on the Top Step

After scoring pole position on Saturday, his first in Moto3, Jakub Kornfeil went into Sunday’s Moto3 Czech Grand Prix with hopes of delivering his home crowd a top result.

From the off, it looked as though it would be on the cards, as the most experienced rider in the lightweight class field got to turn one first, and duly scarpered, pulling a second on the field in the first lap. Kornfeil managed to hold that gap, too, for a small while, but after a couple of laps, the pack pulled their respective fingers out, and quickly closed erased the advantage the pole sitter had built in the initial stages of the race.

Jakub Kornfeil falling back into the pack. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

At this point, it looked like a normal, chaotic, Moto3 race, with all fifteen points scoring positions, plus a few more, locked together in the fight for the win.
This was good for several people, especially the likes of Marco Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini who were looking to take advantage of Jorge Martin’s absence, but were having to do so from poor grid positions, fourteenth for Bezzecchi and tenth for Bastianini.

On the other hand, Aron Canet appeared at one stage as though he would have the pace to break the pack or at least split the group, setting several fastest laps on his early charge through the field to the front, but once he arrived at the head of the pack, he could do nothing about their attention.

It was a similar story for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who should have been on pole before all of the mistiming occurred on Saturday afternoon. The Italian was at the front for less than half a lap before he started to pull away, along with Gabriel Rodrigo, but a mistake for the number 21 Gresini rider at turn ten made all that work null and void, as he was sucked back into the group.

Further back through the field, but still in the front group, there were many changes of position, riders climbing up the rankings, only to steadily fall back again, whilst some hung around the same spot, unable to advance their standing. It was the most “Moto3” Moto3 race of the season, the group stayed together for almost the whole race, and when it split in the closing stages, there were still ten riders in victory contention.

Di Giannantonio 1st and Canet 2nd in Brno 2018. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing

Especially, though, it was Di Giannantonio, Kornfeil and Canet who were looking likely to take the top step, all looking for firsts of some kind: both Di Giannantonio and Kornfeil were looking for their first Moto3 World Championship victories and Canet was in search of his first of 2018.

This doesn’t always happen – especially in races as frenetic, confusing and chaotic as Moto3 group races – but on this occasion it did, the fastest riders over the course of the race being the ones fighting it out for the victory.

Finally, it was the should-have-been pole sitter, Fabio Di Giannantonio who righted the wrongs of Le Mans – where the Race Direction committed daylight robbery – and took his first (official) Moto3 World Championship victory.

Twenty-two years on from Valentino Rossi’s first Grand Prix victory in Brno, back in 1996 in the 125cc class, there are of course many comparisons to make between the nine-times World Champion and Di Giannantonio – ironically one of the Italians not associated with the VR46 empire. However, on a weekend where the shadow cast by the biggest stars of Grand Prix motorcycle racing is under particular scrutiny, it seems like a bad moment and, after all, this is Fabio’s first win, perhaps he might even deserve all of the attention for this one.

Either way, Di Giannantonio’s ride was sublime, with some stunningly tough moves on both Kornfeil and Oettl in the middle of the stadium section. His confidence was immense, and ultimately undeniable. Furthermore, Di Giannantonio spent a lot of time in the front five positions, a crucial thing if you want to fight for the victory, and a sign of a rider with a good feeling, because it means they are always able to respond, even to their fastest rivals. Now we have to see whether this victory will act like Jorge Martin’s first win, and open the floodgates for Diggia, who moved to second in the championship and just 17 points off the top spot. All of a sudden he is right back in the championship hunt, and could prove to be Martin’s biggest threat for the title.

Aron Canet was second over the line, little over a tenth behind Di Giannantonio. It was a strong ride from the Spaniard, perhaps his best of the year and his strongest challenge for victory since Qatar. Like Diggia, he stayed pretty much in the top positions for the whole race, losing out only through the strength of Di Giannantonio, and no fault of his own, something from which he can take big motivation and confidence into the next races. Also, Canet is now only 21 points back on the championship lead, and like Di Giannantonio is still right in the title fight.

Whilst a dream would have been the dream of Kornfeil going into Sunday, he had to make do with third place, whish is still far beyond what probably anyone expected him to achieve. KTM had a new frame for this weekend, a softer one to try to negate a little bit the problem they have been having in trying to get the bike turned, especially mid-corner. It seemed to work a treat for Kornfeil, as he had his best weekend of the year, and fully deserved the podium position he walked away with, and no doubt he brought a lot of smiles to the faces of the Czech fans who were out in their droves to watch Sunday’s action.

Fourth over the line was Enea Bastianini, who passed Gabriel Rodrigo on the final lap to demote the Argentine to fifth, but was too late to mount an assault on the podium. Again, it was an important points haul for Bastianini who now lies 36 points off the championship lead, and is not entirely out of contention. But if he wants to take the lightweight class crown in what will probably be his final year in Moto3 he will need to have a strong run of races in the coming rounds.

Behind fifth-placed Rodriog was the new championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi, who recovered quite well from a poor weekend to take sixth spot. It was the first race in which Bezzecchi has finished, but not inside the podium places. However, he did perhaps more than was expected after Saturday, when he qualified fourteenth, and gave KTM the championship lead going into the Austrian manufacturer’s home race in a weeks’ time, a round where he will hope to return to the podium, and maybe even win at a track which on paper should suit his bike and style quite well.

Seventh place went to Marcos Ramirez, who continued his good form from Sachsenring; Philipp Oettl was eighth, ahead of Albert Arenas and Lorenzo Dalla Porta who rounded out the top ten.

Niccolo Antonelli had one of his best races in recent times, but in the end could only manage eleventh, ahead of compatriot and fellow VR46 academy rider, Dennis Foggia who was running strongly all race but dropped back in the final two laps. Thirteenth over the line was Kazuki Masaki, ahead of Tatsuki Suzuki and Tony Arbolino who was the final points scorer.

Nakarin Atiratphuvapat took sixteenth spot, whilst Jaume Masia was seventeenth, ahead of Alonso Lopez, Nicolo Bulega and Andrea Migno who completed the top twenty. Vicente Perez took twenty-first place, in front of Ayumu Sasaki, Darryn Binder and Filip Salac.

There were only four retirements: Kaito Toba, John McPhee, Stefano Nepa and Adam Norrodin.

5th August 2018

Glenn Irwin Takes Second Consecutive BSB Pole

In Brands Hatch, two weeks ago, Glenn Irwin took his first British Superbike Championship pole position, and backed it up with two second places, narrowly missing out on both race victories. Coming into this weekend, his intentions were always going to be to right the wrongs of round six, and take his first victory. He provided himself with a good opportunity to do that in race one tomorrow, as in Saturday’s qualifying session he managed to take his second career pole, and second in succession. He couldn’t be in a better position to try to take his first win, but the race is very different to qualifying – especially in Thruxton – and managing the tyre will be the critical element.
Before we discuss that more, it is important to speak about the riders also on the front row: Luke Mossey and Glenn’s brother and teammate Andrew Irwin.

Firstly, Mossey. His 2017 season was ruined by a crash in Thruxton last year, before which he looked like a genuine championship contender and after which he looked like what he was: a rider recovering from a big injury sustained in a big, fast crash. It was a big moment in Mossey’s career and it has affected him until, well, today. Of course, he was not helped by the change in tyre spec for this year, which ruined his preseason, but the after effects of the injury from last year have been a factor, too. So, what does he do when he returns to the scene of the accident that has lingered for the past twelve months? Well, he sticks it on the front row. This, from Mossey, is another one of those insane moments in motorcycle racing that are difficult for us mere mortals to comprehend, in a similar vein to, for example, the feat of Jorge Lorenzo in Assen 2013. Returning to something which has caused so much long term pain is a tough thing to do, for anyone, and what Mossey did in qualifying today deserves tremendous respect.

Now, Andrew Irwin. It’s his fourth British Superbike meeting after returning to the British championship from a half-season in the World Supersport Championship. Superbikes are incredibly complex and, ultimately, alarming. They have more power than they can deal with, and with no electronic assistance the confidence of the rider is critical, and fragile. The McAMS Yamaha pair for this year are good comparisons. Josh Brookes, one of the most experienced riders on the grid, entered this year with no speed, because he had a poor feeling and thus no confidence. The take Tarran Mackenzie. He has been riding the Yamaha R1 since last winter, and only at the last round in Brands Hatch was he able to make the top ten. In comparison, Andy Irwin has come in has immediately been fast. In every circuit he has visited with the superbike, he has been up in the top ten in practice, but in Thruxton there is always a question mark, because if you feel a little bit off it costs you more than usual because the speeds are so high. But he arrived, and he was fast immediately. In Q2, he was the fastest rider, and that time stood as the fastest time of the weekend even after Q3, when he qualified third for his first front row in BSB, in just his fourth round in the championship. Irwin has been incredibly impressive, but I think I echo the feelings of everyone when I say that I hope he doesn’t make a mistake soon, because whilst confidence takes a long time to build, it can be completely destroyed in ten seconds. A mistake now could have career-defining consequences, which Irwin doesn’t deserve to have to endure.

Josh Brookes took fourth place, which he wasn’t overly impressed with, but his race pace is demonic; beating the Aussie over race distance tomorrow will be a challenge for anybody and everybody.

Bradley Ray. Image courtesy of Suzuki racing

Bradley Ray discovered something to fix the front end issues he has suffered with the front end of the Suzuki in the last few rounds. It seems the opening round double winner is back to something like his giant-killing best. The podium has to be the aim for Ray tomorrow, it would be his first since race one at Brands Indy.

Jake Dixon has looked quite strong this weekend, and qualified decently in sixth place. He has a good chance to make the podium tomorrow from the back of the second row, but the most important thing for Jake tomorrow is to take points out of the podium credits lead of Leon Haslam.

Speaking of Haslam, he only managed to qualify eighth, behind Christian Iddon and ahead of Danny Buchan. The championship leader has a job on tomorrow to extend his advantage over Dixon, but he can take some steps closer to confirming his spot in the Showdown.

Jason O’Halloran qualified tenth, ahead of Friday’s fastest man, Peter Hickman, who was ill today. Richard Cooper completes row four.

Tommy Bridewell was thirteenth for Moto Rapido Ducati, ahead of an impressive Martin Jessopp and equally impressive Chrissy Rouse. James Ellison was sixteenth, a surprising Shaun Winfield seventeenth and Mason Law was the last of the Q2 contenders in 18th.

Michael Laverty made the mistake of only using one tyre in Q1, which means he only starts 19th for tomorrow’s first race, whilst Gino Rea rounds out the top twenty and Fraser Rogers completes the seventh row.

Dan Linfoot’s replacement, Tom Neave, qualified 22nd for his first BSB, ahead of Sylvain Barrier, Luke Hedger and Aaron Zanotti.
Tarran Mackenzie had a bike issue on his out lap in Q1 which means he starts from the very back of the grid in 26th for tomorrow’s first race.

5th August 2018

Kornfeil Takes First Moto3 Pole

Brno qualifying was just like any other for Moto3, at least it was for thirty-seven minutes. Everyone went out, set some laps at a reasonable pace, and then came in. Then they waited, and they waited, looked at the clock, waited some more, and finally went out with just under three minutes to go. With a 2’08 lap time, they were up against it to get round in time to set a final qualifying attempt, and sure enough, most didn’t.

However, Jakub Kornfeil did, and set his first ever Grand Prix pole in his home race. He was helped on his way by John McPhee for half the lap, but passed the Scot at turn eleven, towing him up the hill and to the line. In turn McPhee went second, as the two of them fooled the field to snatch the front two places on the grid. With many of the favoured riders starting further back tomorrow, they both have a big chance to grab a podium, or maybe even a win.
Marcos Ramirez completes tomorrow’s front row, and for once he took third without the necessity for penalties for his rivals.

Jacub Kornfeil, John McPhee & Kazuki Masaki .Image courtesy of Gold and Goose /KTM

Philipp Oettl took fourth place on the grid, whilst Fabio Di Giannantonio – who held provisional pole for most of the session – was fifth ahead of Aron Canet who was the first rider to miss the chequered flag on his last run.

Row three is fronted by Gabriel Rodrigo, ahead of Nakarin Atiratphuvapat who had his best performance of 2018, and Niccolo Antonelli who has seemingly seen something of a return to form after the break, although the confirmation of that is still pending.

It was a self-proclaimed disaster for Enea Bastianini, who was tenth and needs a good race here to get his championship challenge back on track, although he hasn’t looked so brilliant this weekend. Jaume Masia and Kazuki Masaki – who has had a stellar weekend, topping FP2 – join Bastianini on row four.

Thirteenth fastest was Dennis Foggia – his best performance since the paddock arrived in Europe back in May – ahead of championship hopeful but Czech GP struggler Marco Bezzecchi and Albert Arenas who suffered a crash at the end of the session but was okay. Speaking for Bezzecchi, a good start is essential for his race tomorrow, even more so as his main title rival Jorge Martin, is out of the weekend with a broken radius. Like all the other championship hopefuls, Bezzecchi must make the most of Martin’s absence this weekend.

Tony Arbolino was sixteenth, ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Nicolo Bulega, who has looked much better than eighteenth this weekend. Darryn Binder was nineteenth, with Kaito Toba rounding out the top twenty and Adam Norrodin rounding out row seven.

Twenty-second fastest was Andrea Migno, then came Stefano Nepa, Vicente Perez, Alonso Lopez and Filip Salac who was superb in FP3 in the morning but could not translate that to qualifying.

Tatsuki Suzuki and Ayumu Sasaki did not set a qualifying lap as they crashed on the first lap out of the pits and both missed the flag at the end. Sasaki also had a trip to the medical centre and looked in pain at the end of the session. Hopefully he will be okay for tomorrow, and able to mount a comeback from the back of the grid.

As previously mentioned, Jorge Martin is absent this weekend. The championship leader suffered a nasty high side in FP1 at turn ten, and suffered a broken radius bone. That has put him out of this weekend, and also made him a doubt for next weekend in Austria. Hopefully the Spaniard will make a decent enough recovery over the next days to be able to turn up and be at least semi-competitive in Spielberg but right now it is difficult to say.

4th August 2018

Oliveira Looks to Continue Championship Momentum in Brno Moto2

Sachsenring was… eventful for the Moto2 class. It all started on lap two when Mattia Pasini’s crash left Francesco Bagnaia with nowhere to go but the grass. The crash of Pasini was then proceeded by a plethora of falls, including a potentially fatal one for the championship contention of Lorenzo Baldassarri.

Bagnaia was able to recover his position to finish twelfth, passing Alex Marquez in the final corner. But with Miguel Oliveira only qualifying seventeenth and with Bagnaia’s stellar pace across the weekend, Sachsenring was another opportunity for the Italian to extend his championship advantage, but with bad luck the chance went abegging. Nonetheless Pecco made a good recovery, and maintained his position at the top of the standings going into the summer break. Now the championship has returned after the holidays, it will be important for Bagnaia to continue in the vein of Sachsenring because, although the result was bad, he was fast over the whole weekend like all the races so far.

For Oliveira, though, the area to work on is obvious: qualifying. Saturday afternoons have been apocalyptic for the Portuguese rider so far this year, costing him a shot at the victory on multiple occasions and whilst he is still right there in the championship fight, it is only a matter of time until a poor qualifying really catches him out and leaves him either on the floor or with a bad result. In fact, it nearly happened in Germany, as the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was cutting through the field and lost the rear in a pretty big way on the exit of the final corner, pushing hard to try to lose as little time as possible. He was lucky it only cost him a few positions, and he got lucky with the effect Pasini’s crash had on Bagnaia, too, but this is racing and perhaps this good luck will help him (in a small way) on his way to a first World Championship.

Binder,Mir and Marini on the podium at Sachsenring 2018. Image courtesy of Hondaproracing

Whilst Oliveira was able to close the gap in the championship, his teammate, 2016 Moto3 World Champion Brad Binder, was able to take his first victory of his Moto2 career in commanding fashion. There is not much to say about Binder’s race in Sachsenring, because it was pretty faultless lights-to-flag, but the journey he has been on to get there, since his broken arm in the end of 2016, has been monumental. In a sense, the victory was a surprising one, because Binder has not been in the best form this season, almost in an opposite way to Oliveira, as he has been going okay in qualifying – generally – but struggling after a few laps in the races. Hopefully for Brad, this German GP win will open the proverbial floodgates, and he can build some momentum on the back of this milestone.

Joan Mir was second in Germany, his third podium of his debut Moto2 season, putting more security on his fourth position in the championship standings. He lies fifty-three points behind in the standings, probably too far to challenge for the title, and has a factory Suzuki MotoGP contract in his pocket. But that does not make it any less important for the Spaniard to grab at least one victory in the second half of this season – to go to a factory MotoGP in the rookie year, a win in Moto2 is important for the confidence. Also, with no win, the media have something to criticise, and when something goes wrong, they will point to his lack of a Moto2 win. A win is almost essential for Mir before the end of the year, and perhaps this weekend will be the one for him to take it.

The third place on the German podium, two weeks ago, was taken by Luca Marini. Of course, whilst it was the best result of his career, it was not anything fantastic, primarily because Valentino Rossi, Marini’s maternal half-brother, finished second in the MotoGP race. But, seriously, Marini’s podium was both well-deserved and long in the making, a shoulder injury holding him back for much of the season to date. Like Binder, Marini’s first podium has the potential to be the catalyst for more top threes – even in the immediate aftermath of the race Marini mentioned several times about the importance in building the foundation with the lower steps before you reach the top. He has certainly done that, coming from the European Moto2 Championship in 2016 to essentially fight for last for one year, before a year of mixed results in 2017 led into this year which has so far culminated in his first Grand Prix podium. There is more to come from Luca Marini, and a good result in the Czech GP last year means that there will be strong hopes in the orange side od the Sky VR46 garage that more will arrive this weekend.

A crash in free practice for Alex Marquez in Germany curtailed his entire weekend, as he crossed the line in thirteenth. He is thirty-five points off the championship lead which, in Moto2, is not an impossible deficit, but if he is to overcome it, he will need to start reducing it this weekend.

4th August 2018

Martin Leads Moto3 into 2018 Part Two

The Moto3 World Championship is back from its ‘summer break’, three weeks after Jorge Martin took victory (again) in Sachsenring. And, of course, it is Martin who is leading the championship coming into the second half of the season, and with Brno being a circuit where the rider can make so much difference, Martin will be the favourite for this weekend.

But, can anyone challenge Martin? Well, possibly. Marco Bezzecchi has been the surprise of 2018, perhaps across all classes. From fighting for the last point last year to fighting for the title this, is some progression and although he hasn’t won since Argentina (his only career win), he is still right in this title fight. Also, in Sachsenring Bezzecchi continued his quite impressive statistic of this year which is that he has not finished a race and then not climbed the steps to the podium. The only races where he has not picked up a cup are Qatar, Le Mans and Assen all three being DNFs. He has been the best KTM rider this year, and it’s showing. Perhaps the biggest surprise now is that Moto2 teams aren’t – at least very publicly – bashing his door down and demanding his signature. Maybe now Martin is signed up for Red Bull KTM Ajo in Moto2 for next year, the attention will start to come the way of Bezzecchi.

Aron Canet is the only rider who made the podium in Brno last year to be in the Moto3 field this year, but the first half of the season has not gone to plan for the Spaniard. He was supposed to challenge for the championship, but like almost everyone else who was supposed to be fighting for the title things haven’t gone his way, and some mistakes have crept in too. Only three podiums in the first nine races of 2018 mean Canet comes into the second half of the year with much to improve upon. Thirty-eight points is not an insurmountable gap that Aron suffers to the top of the championship, but – like with Marquez in MotoGP – the critical part is that Jorge Martin is plain stronger at the moment, not just compared to Canet but compared to the whole field.

Sachsenring was a disaster for Enea Bastianini, as he crashed out and probably said goodbye to the final slither of an opportunity that he had for the championship. That said, his form has been quite good recently, and whilst his crash came in a bad moment for the championship, Bastianini could be well in the fight for the podium this weekend.

Moto3 2018: Round Nine – Sachsenring, Germany. Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu

Marcos Ramirez was back on form in Sachsenring as he took fourth place, his best result since his most recent podium in Le Mans at round five. It was only seventh in the wet Czech GP last year for Marcos, but with a decent result to keep him upbeat over the summer he could be in the front fight this weekend.
John McPhee has come back to form in recent races. The first half of the season proved to be one of mixed fortune for John, as he suffered from a lack of testing preseason. He finally got to test post-race in Mugello, and since then has fought for the podium in every race, finally making it in Germany despite his crew chief being absent. It will be interesting to see whether the, albeit short, summer break will stall his momentum at all.

Last year’s Czech GP was the Grand Prix debut for Dennis Foggia, and he scored two points. Unfortunately for Dennis, things have not progressed much this year. He had several impressive wildcards last year, but the reigning Junior World Champion has struggled this season in his first full-time campaign in the World Championship. Combined with the disastrous season suffered by his teammate, Nicolo Bulega, who has only scored seven points this year, you have to wonder whether there is something happening inside the team to make both riders suffer so much, because the riders have talent and speed but right now they are not comfortable at all. Maybe the summer break has provided them with the reset they need ahead of the second half of the season.

Of course, the weather could play a part this weekend, with the forecast in Brno never being completely reliable, and the skies are usually up for a bit of a drizzle. Rain might be the only thing that can stop the race-winning train that is Jorge Martin this weekend, and with that in mind his championship rivals will be hoping the clouds prepare for the lightweight class battle on Sunday morning.

Featured Image courtesy of hondanews.eu