They kept saying it was hot in Aragón. Riders were wiping gallons of sweat from their faces, while replenishing the lost fluids at a similar rate.
As long as the action on the track is just as hot, it’s all worth it, we say.
Moto3:
After his tumble in Qualifying, Fernández had to sit the race out, his right thumb wrapped up in a permanent ‘thumb-up’ position due to it being very much broken.
Pérez was the only rider to start the race with a Long Lap Penalty to his name – an unusual thing for Moto3, having so few penalties on the grid – for rejoining the track in a minibus taxi kinda way.
Was that a puff of smoke as the riders pulled off?
While trying a divebomb-overtake on the inside of Nepa through Turn Nine, on the opening lap, Pérez ran out of grip, classically clattering down and sweeping Nepa off with him.
This is not what they mean by ‘sweeping someone off their feet’, Vicente.
Both riders got back on their motorcycles, Pérez returning straight to the race, while Nepa had to drop by the pits for a new footpeg et cetera before he could safely do the same.
We absolutely loved the invisible crash replay they showed us first. Only true fans would’ve seen the bikes in that clip; the rest would see nothing but clear track…
Uriarte retired to the pits by the end of the second lap. We knew we saw smoke on that launch!
As he started Lap Six, Roulstone raised his hand, clearly having spotted a troublesome mechanical gremlin hop onto his motorcycle.
He coasted around and into the pits, trying to expel the gremlin via an assortment of curses. None worked unfortunately.
On Lap Eight, Quiles decided to launch an attack on Muñoz, and nearly Kamikazed his fellow Spaniard in the process.
Pérez got served another Long Lap Penalty, this time allegedly for flirting too much with the Track Limits.
Now, we’re not saying the first two-thirds of the race were dull, but boy oh boy, did it ever ramp up in that final third.
Having led much of the race, Rueda suddenly began tumbling down the order, and the battles withing the top ten group went from entertaining to nail-biting. It was wonderful.
When the checkered flag dropped, Muñoz was the one first over the line, claiming his first Moto3 victory after a daring final-corner overtake; Quiles snatched up second, while Carpe got third.
Look at that: the first podium of the season that was Ruedaless.
Moodley finished in the position he’d started in, a still-respectable fourteenth
Moto2:
Binder was back, and his return came with a pre-loaded Long Lap Penalty for the crash back at Le Mans.
As the riders pulled off for the start of the race, the ‘FINISH’ graphic flashed on-screen – did we just witness the shortest Moto2 race in history?
On the opening lap, Holgado committed the Big Booboo You Do Not Do:
He launched an overtaking maneuvre on his teammate from about ten miles back into Turn Twelve. It failed miserably sending him sliding. In his slide, he wiped out Alonso, who went barrelling through the pebbles, and had to be taken to the Medical Centre for a check-up soon after.
Oh, to be a sentient, animatronic lizard on the wall of the Indy Aspar garage when they arrived back…
Sadly, Binder’s race was cut short by Lap Seven, when a technical issue forced him to park his motorcycle somewhere off-track.
Apparently, Sasaki crashed during the fourteenth lap, somewhere within the first sector.
Another splendid final-lap brawl for the win!
Moreira, having managed to somehow set the fastest lap of the race on the second-last lap, passed Öncü, who in turn said to himself: “Self, let’s send it and see what happens.”
It looked like Moreira was going to make it to the line first, but as he and Öncü emerged from the final corner, they locked elbows, flitting across the line almost dead-even.
It was soon confirmed that, in the closest finish in the history of Moto2 (the fifth-closest in an Intermediate class), Öncü had taken his maiden victory by a mere three-thousandths of a second.
He also become the first Turkish rider ever to do so in the class. What a way to do it!
Moreira, understandably miffed, took second, while Baltus got third.
Öncü’s victory was proof that you don’t need a set strategy to win a motorcycle race – or, indeed, Life. He admitted on the starting grid that he had no real strategy, and reaffirmed it in his Parc Fermé interview.
What a legend!
MotoGP: Business back to the usual?
Sidebar: Augusto Fernández was playing around with, we mean seriously riding, something called an ‘experimental Yamaha’ this weekend.
Saturday Sprint Race:
Márquez Senior opted to change his rear tyre on the grid – in a very secretive manner, which we thought was rather unnecessary. All he did was change from a Medium to a Soft, after all.
Then he suffered a bout of wheel-spin off the line, which in turn saw him lose a handful of positions, with some shoulder-barging with Acosta thrown in for good measure.
Pedro truly has no respect for his elders on track – Good Man!
On just the second lap we spotted Mir and Miller going wide together; Miller continued back to the racing, but Mir was not as fortunate and toppled over in the kitty litter. It was clear from Mir’s sign language and accusing finger-pointing who was to blame. At least in his eyes.
And in the eyes of Race Direction, too: Miller was slapped with a Long Lap Penalty for causing a crash.
For quite some time, there were no massive incidents; Márquez Senior snatched the lead from his younger sibling, and vanished; Bezzecchi, constantly cursing himself for his Qualifying blunder, managed to barge his way up into eighth, and Bagnaia nearly forgot where the track was at least once.
Three laps shy of the checkered flag, our Wildcard Fernández parked his experi-bike in the first sector, apparently having contracted a technical gremlin.
In more or less two-second-intervals, your podium trio crossed the line as such: Márquez Senior in first, Márquez Junior in second, and Aldeguer in third.
Binder recovered from a terrible start to finish ninth.
We spotted a thundercloud entering the Ducati Lenovo garage post-race, and realised it was attached to Bagnaia’s head.
But it was nothing compared to the lightning storm in his wife’s eyes, who stood in a different area to her hubby entirely.
Main Race:
How many officials does it take to roll up a small carpet?
Apparently, about four.
And why was there a pallus stuck to the tail of Marc’s Ducati on the grid?
Sadly, Zarco was the first to crash, sliding out at Turn Twelve on Lap Nine. Judging by the heart-shaped scuffing on his back, the turn had a crush on him.
Having ridden the wheels off his KTM, Binder also toppled and skidded off on Lap Twelve, at the third corner. His crew chiefs rage quit the pit wall.
At the start of the next lap, Quartararo did a similar slide out of Turn One, getting up and colliding with a marshal as he – in his dazed state – tried to run TO the track, instead of calmly stomping off AWAY from it.
Though the front few ended up pulling terribly boring levels of gaps between them, Aldeguer and Morbidelli were having a go at one another worthy of much more screentime than they ultimately got.
By the penultimate lap, ‘Let’s get Physical’ was playing in the background as they rubbed shoulders, knees, elbows… If it could be rubbed, they probably rubbed.
Turn Twelve claimed another victim on Lap Twenty, this time in the shape of Viñales – NOT ACOSTA, you gun-jumpers – when his KTM decided to abandon him near the track, in order to escape down the piece of suspiciously not blocked-off Other Track.
They say he made it all the way to the border, but was refused crossing due to a lack of documentation.
Back to the trio in front, circulating safely out of one another’s way. Márquez (Marc, again) snatched up a chill win, while little brother Álex got second place, again. Third place went the way of a much happier Bagnaia.
On their cooldown-slash-victory-lap, the Márquez Bros ran off to their fans together, where they went on to throw a quick impromptu dance party, awkward dance moves and mini fizzy drinks included. Marc even commandeered a microphone from the DJ – yes, there was a DJ in front of the stands – to give his adoring fanatics a quick speech while jogging to where a pair of scooters were waiting for them…
~ Karr
