By: Karrbon Copy
Though a little bumpy in places, Termas did not disappoint, delivering a buffet of Grand Prix entertainment…
MOTO 3:
In case you forgot: Muñoz, due to his antics in Buriram two weeks ago, would start the race in pit lane.
Kelso started the race with two Long Laps to his name, after he wiped Piqueras out of the race at the final corner two weeks ago.
Eighteen laps of absolute racing poetry: That’s what we witnessed in the Lightweight race.
It was the race of the Day! More like this, please.
The first crash occurred on Lap Seven, when Pini went skiing off the track at speed between Turns Seven and Eight.
A handful of riders tried taking the shortcut at Turn Ten, but were rapped over the knuckles with a Long Lap Penalty each. The first, Buasri, served his quickly, but the other two – Rossi and Esteban – figured it was so close to the end of the race when they received theirs, that they would just continue racing and take whatever time penalty would result from defaulting.
At the end of Lap Nine, Muñoz peeled into the pits, got some fresh rear rubber and returned to the track.
He was well and truly out of contention for any points, so he decided to just go out and get some laps in.
Uriarte had to be pulled up from the gravel outside Turn Eleven after going off-track on Lap Twelve. Once he’d been dug from the gravel pit, he managed to walk away under his own steam, or was that dust?
Having ridden beautifully throughout the race, rookie Carpe went skidding off at the first turn of the final lap. After the Butt-Slide of Shame, he did rejoin the race, though any hope of a podium was left behind in the kitty litter.
Argentine local boy, Perrone crushed fans’ hearts when he crashed out quite spectacularly a little further into the final lap.
While trying to bomb his way down the inside of Ogden, Perrone rubbed shoulders with Scott which sent Perrone skyward, and had he not clung to the handlebar so desperately he would most likely now be on the moon. Another consequence of his hand clamping down on the handlebar like that was his motorcycle trying to twist his arm off.
Arms should, logically, not be twisting in that way and still remain attached to their owner.
Still, Perrone kept his arm, and didn’t at all seem gravely injured – physically, at least.
Towards the end of an epic race, we were treated to a final-lap five-way for the podium honours. With just a pinch of controversy to add spice…
Piqueras, very obviously went off onto the green paint during that last-lap tussle, but was not deprived of a position post-race. This was, according to speculation, because he’d dropped a position when he’d touched green, before reclaiming it.
Thus, TECHNICALLY, he had served his penalty. Debates around this will likely continue into the foreseeable future.
All that aside, Piqueras took the victory, closely followed by Fernández in second, and Rueda in third.
This was officially the closest podium at Termas de Río Hondo the Moto3 class has ever managed, with the top three separated by a mere tenth of a second…
Our boy Moodley started off rough, recovered commendably, and ended the race in fifteenth.
Not as lucky as Piqueras, Furusato had to relinquish one position for touching green tarmac on the last lap.
The third-place trophy was almost handed to the rider in second: priceless. That was on live stream, bud – you will never hear the end of it!
Moto2:
We awaited the Middleweight battle with wild excitement following the gloriously close race that started race day.
Though not remotely as close throughout the pack, it was still a good race.
Huertas’ race came to an end just two corners in when he tumbled from the pack at Turn Two, his visor doing a Houdini and vanishing into thin air.
During the fourth lap, Canet went into a corner so hot that flames spewed from his bike’s exhaust.
One lap later, just as the commentators noted how Dixon was ‘turning on the heat’, his motorcycle also spit flames on cue.
Moreira peeled into the pits at the end of the sixth lap, complaining that he had no front feeling at all.
Nada. Niks. The team’s solution? Give him fresh rubber all ‘round and send him back out again.
During Lap Eleven, Ramírez dived past Salač and ran a little wide.
Salač saw an open door, shoved his boot in it, and Ramírez promptly slammed the door shut. This resulted in some part-removing body-slamming, which sent Salač skittling off the track while Ramírez somehow managed not to end up with a similar fate.
Later, chatting to the pit lane reporters, Salač very gently made his opinion clear on whose fault the collision had been.
Oh yes! We lost Aji somewhere along the fourteenth lap.
A whole time zone away from the rest of the field, Dixon took the win with the largest winning margin ever seen in Moto2 at the Argentinian track – just over three-and-a-half seconds. González finished in a very lonely second, while Vietti had to fight for his third place.
Binder Junior had a splendid race, finishing in a comfortable, and very respectable, sixth.
Through the cooldown-lap celebrations, Vietti decided to add just a spot of offroad racing to his celebration.
We spied Canet sitting down gingerly in his pit box, sending for a bottle of any of the famed Argentinian wines; preferably the strongest.
With a smile a mile wide, Dixon announced that the Dixon Fam will be off to Disneyland on Monday.
A very respectable way to celebrate a race victory, in our books.
MotoGP:
Sprint Race.
Brad Binder’s Sprint Race didn’t even last one full lap. He passed Morbidelli. when Frankie saw an opening for a cutback, he took it as any racer would. Unfortunately for Brad, this spelt disaster as the two motorcycles were suddenly headed for the same strip of tarmac, a situation that could end only poorly.
And that’s how Brad was bumped out of the race.
He opted for a calming stroll across the grassy outskirts of the track, but the way he was stomping along, the ants below sounded their earthquake alarms.
On a side note: Who mixed turpentine into Álex Márquez’s bum cream? Or is it the new pair of glasses that has changed his pace so?
During the fifth lap, Rookie Fermin Aldeguer tried to take Turn Two horizontally which was a terrible idea, no matter how you look at it. His horizontal Ducati ended up pushing Oliveira into an unplanned offroad excursion.
Aldeguer jumped back onto his machine, rejoining the track while it spluttered out a great ball of smoke and debris. This did not seem very safe, and marshals were condemned for allowing a smoke machine back onto the track.
We suppose it resolved its issues, as Aldeguer continued racing until the checkered flag.
We were as Riveted as the cameras were to the front runners (why they were so fixated, we might never know) Savadori vanished from the race without much coverage.
Rumour had it that aliens took him.
A strong sense of déjà vu clenched at our guts when Marc Márquez claimed the victory, while leading the younger Márquez into second. Bagnaia had to settle for a very lonely third.
The Main Race:
Man of Misfortune, Miguel Oliveira, would not participate in the Sunday race, due to injury-worries following his Sprint Race offing.
Miller had the worst of starts off the line, seemingly having left his Yamaha in Park.
His transgression was all but forgotten when Bezzecchi, going into the first turn, locked up the front of his Aprilia, veering to the left and giving Quartararo’s bike a pimp slap of the highest quality across its rear end.
By some miracle, the force of the impact did not result in a catastrophic crash for Fabio, though it did send him on a slight detour.
Bez, on the other hand, was not so lucky: after the clash, he went tumbling through the gravel, ending up on his hands and knees, not knowing which way was South.
Aldeguer was handed a Long Lap Penalty.
During the second lap, Bastianini noticed how the grass outside of Turn Nine was ever so slightly longer than the rest so, with a little help from Fernández, he lay his bike flat in order to trim the ends to a more suitable length before continuing on with his race.
Fernández was then slapped with a Long Lapper for his part in Bastia’s grass-cutting excursion.
Much to our relief, the racing remained much closer than it’d been on Saturday, though it was still a Márquez Versus Márquez Showdown. M Junior led for most of the race, but big brother Márquez ultimately won, leaving Álex Márquez with yet another second place. Third went to an ecstatic Morbidelli, his first podium since the 2021 Spanish GP.
Binder managed a healthy seventh place.
Special mention has to be made of Johan Zarco who piloted his Honda to fourth in the sprint race and sixth during moto GP.
The best position that Honda has seen in a long time and hopefully, a sign of things to come!
Having won in Argentina, Marc Márquez equalled Ángel Nieto’s ninety race wins across all classes, the third-most victories anyone has ever managed. He also became the first Ducati rider to win both of the opening two rounds of the season.
What we didn’t mention last time was that the Márquez brothers have become the first siblings to take a MotoGP one-two; and now they did it again.
Very nice synchronicity in entering Parc Fermé, as well as diving into the crowd, Márquez and Márquez – eight out of ten.
Morbidelli had to be pushed to Parc Fermé, his Ducati having died on him during some of his celebrations. (That marshal looked happier than Frankie to arrive in Parc Fermé, to be honest).
We spied Acosta pressing a cold can of Red Bull against his left forearm post-race. That’s not quite how Red Bull works Pedro.
Next up: Texas!
