Words: Karr (Karrbon Copy – go show her some support at her patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/KarrbonCopy)
Pics: MotoGP.com
The MotoGP mob was woken up by the war-drums of a thunderstorm on Race Sunday, but ‘el Dios del trueno’ showed them mercy, and ceased the thundering in time for the races. What this meant was that, again, the track had been washed clean of rubber. Ironically, the dirt stuck.
Moto3:
As the Juniors lined up on the grid, we could see just how miff the track conditions were – sure, the racing line was dry, but beyond it there was still a nasty bit of the wet stuff. And, in the on-grid words of Joel Kelso: “…dry but super super dirty” – in reference to the racing line.
Carraro and Pérez both withdrew from the race after their head-bonking crashes during Qualifying. Starting Lap Five, Zurutuza went for a quick bout of sightseeing at the first turn, returning to racing like he’d never left. Piqueras also tried to slip off the track for a short run of sightseeing on Lap Five at the Reverse Corkscrew, but the little road he took proved much slipperier than he’d expected, causing him to drop his bike close to where it rejoined the track. He managed to limp his ride back to the pits, disappearing to find something cool to drink. We lost Buasri somewhere along the eighth lap. Farioli was forced to retire after a technical gremlin latched onto his motorcycle on Lap Nine.
Let’s rewind a bit to the first lap here, in order to wonder at the insane lead of over one-point-six seconds Alonso had managed to pull out of his pursuers by the end of said first lap. When his lead stretched to over three seconds by Lap Three, it was assumed that he had this one in the bag. But, as they say in the classics, never count your Moto3 trophies before crossing the finish line. After making his way into second, Veijer closed the gap to Alonso faster than a tow truck to an accident. From the moment Veijer passed Alonso on the twelfth lap, all hell broke loose at the front; it had become a four-way brawl for the victory, and we were delighted!
Once the dust had settled, Rueda emerged victorious. He’d won his first Moto3 race ever, and with that win became the four-hundredth different race winner in MotoGP history. Behind, Veijer had settled into second, while Lunetta took his first-ever Moto3 podium in third. During the cooldown, Rueda stopped in order to bury his face in the tarmac, probably bawling his eyes out, and possibly thanking whichever deity he believed in for his victory.
Moto2:
A quick refresher for those who might’ve missed the Qualifying Summary: four riders were given three-place grid penalties for joining the illegal Dawdler’s Club. They were, (in no particular order): Salač, Foggia, Escrig, and Arenas. Both García and Chantra lined up for their centennial MotoGP race starts this Sunday. García would start his one-hundredth race at the uncharacteristic rear-end of the grid.
Lap One kicked off proceedings with an array of entertaining overtakes, as well as some nasty highsides. First to suffer was Guevara, who was launched from his seat mid-pack at Turn Three. The second victim was Canet who, at Turn Nine, went soaring through the air while the lyrics of ‘I believe I can fly’ played in the background. It appeared that the rear wheel wanted to have a race of its own against the front wheel, but as we all know, this was a terrible idea. Behind Canet, Masià did an excellent job of avoiding the catapulted rider directly in front of him. Turn One claimed Bendsneyder at the start of Lap Two.
During the seventh lap, Aldeguer tried to overtake Öncü into Turn Fourteen, but tried way too hard, resulting in him being launched into space while his bike spun off mid-air like some poorly designed aeroplane propeller. Vietti was seen going off-track at Turn Sixteen on Lap Nine, and at first we thought he might’ve spotted an ultra-rare Pokémon trackside. While he returned to the race mostly unharmed, we learned that it was Roberts who had punted Vietti off the track, and not some urge to catch a wild Tauros napping against the tyre wall. Roberts was later given a Long Lap Penalty for his transgression.
A Long Lap Penalty came the way of García as well, and this appeared to have been the final straw for the struggling Championship leader, because soon after it was announced, Sergio peeled into pit lane, stomping through his garage and disappearing out of sight. Some say the blow of being denied a MotoGP seat in 2025 had hit him too hard. Will he pull himself together? Time will tell.
On the final lap, Roberts, another title contender, was left raging in the gravel after an attempted overtake on his teammate Ramírez went terribly wrong and sent him hurtling through the air. The win went to Dixon, who was well ahead of Arbolino in second place; Öncü claimed third, and with it his maiden Moto2 podium. Binder ended the race in ninth. Good job, Daz.
Dixon’s post-race celebrations did not include another worm-dance (thank goodness), but it did include a hand-stand. Were we all waiting for Insufferable Jake to step up for his interview? Did we get Insufferable Jake? No. We got Demure Dixon. It was weird. After the trophies had been handed out, and the British anthem was played, Öncü went ahead and drank more of the Prosecco than he sprayed. We say go for it.
MotoGP:
Settle down, #93 fans, settle down!
Saturday Sprint Race:
Bagnaia pulled off from the start, but instead of going forward, he went right. That was only the start of his Sprint Race woes. After tagging DiGi’s rear wheel, Espargaró Senior went skittling off at the very first turn in a spray of sparks worthy of the Sparky Award. Zarco also crashed on the first lap. The reverse corkscrew reversed Morbidelli’s race on the second lap. Frankie managed to quickly remount, but retired from the race by the end of Lap Seven.
Marc Márquez. What a run! From rocketing off from pole position, to crossing the finish line while meerkating nearly four seconds ahead of Martín, he seemed to cruise (at speed) through the entire race. Márquez fans lost their minds. As mentioned, Martín came through for second, while Acosta rounded off an all-Spanish podium in third. This was Marc’s first (Sprint) win for Gresini Ducati, as well as his first-ever Sprint Race victory. With second place, combined with Bagnaia’s horrendous race, Martín regained the Championship lead. Binder ended up a decent sixth. Well done.
Main Race:
After a string of arguably mundane main races lately, Sunday’s race at Aragón was everything but dull. It decided to whip out some fun plot-twists for us.
But let us start from the start.
Marini had an issue at the very start, but was basically forgotten in the background of Bagnaia’s repeat of the Sideways Start technique he showcased in the Sprint Race. That was not the ideal trajectory off the line, Pecco. At Turn Sixteen on the first lap, Oliveira suffered a high-speed slide off into the kitty litter. He walked away from the crash, evidently furious at himself. Hopes of a repeat recovery from Quartararo during the main race were demolished along with his Yamaha when he barrelled off at Turn Five during Lap Six. Viñales finally retired to his pit garage after ten laps of agonisingly riding while stuck in reverse, over fifty seconds adrift of Marc in the lead. What was the problem? According to Maverick, there was no feeling on the bike, and it was difficult to turn into corners.
What happened on the eighteenth lap, however, eclipsed any and all other incidents. Allow us a moment to attempt a worthy description of the catastrophe that was the Alex/Pecco pile-up. Bagnaia had been clinging to Márquez’s (Álex) rear wheel for some time by then, waiting for a chance to pass the younger Márquez. Entering Turn Twelve, Álex went wide, Pecco thought ‘A-ha!’ and sped through the resulting gap. Unfortunately for them, the next corner went the opposite way, and Bagnaia was now on the outside, albeit well ahead of Álex. Álex didn’t think he was THAT far behind, and automatically tried to take the racing line into Turn Thirteen… resulting in him having to (hopefully) slam on all his brake power in an attempt to avoid a collision with the fully-leaned-over Bagnaia.
He failed!
Álex’s Ducati stood bolt upright, then gently toppled over onto Bagnaia, clamping him down onto the tarmac as the bundle of bikes and riders slid across the track and towards the graveltrap. Meanwhile, Álex found himself riding a tidal wave sponsored by Ducati. Entering the gravel, Álex’s bike gave Bagnaia one good final steamrollering before using the Italian as a ramp. Having cleared Bagnaia, the Gresini Ducati put in a feeble attempt at snapping its own rider’s arm off, then went for a nap against the barriers. Both riders somehow walked off on their own two feet after what looked like a bone-crunching crash, Pecco going to the Medical Centre for a quick check-up. It was later announced that he hadn’t broken anything, but did have a contusion. And probably newly developed hypertension.
Safely away from all this, and oblivious to his little brother’s incident, Marc was cruising towards his second victory of the weekend, with his lead gap stretching to beyond the five-second mark. He crossed the finish line first, again meerkating, though we daresay he did a decent stretching-the-wings-for-a-call hadeda impression while doing so. Completing the hat-trick in Aragón, Marc also celebrated his sixtieth Grand Prix win, and his first for Ducati. Someone had kept track of the days since his last win in 2021, so for you who care it’d been one-thousand-and-forty-three days.
Martín had settled for second, while Acosta inherited third after the Bagnaia/ Márquez Junior debacle. One could say it was a ‘Karrbon Copy’ of the Sprint podium. Ha, ha…. We’ll just show ourselves out…
Also in part thanks to the B/M incident, Binder finished fourth, having ridden the devil out of his KTM.
During cooldown, Marc celebrated like he’d never won a race before, running off in order to bow in front of his fans, coaxing up the noise and – thankfully – not demonstrating his longing for a career in Australian breakdancing again.
Not a lot of down-time before we invade Italy. So, get your panties unknotted, your drinks ready, and your seats adequately padded in time for another weekend of Premier Class chaos.
