By: KarrbonCopy
Undoubtedly one of the most colourful circuits on the calendar, Misano dished up the hot Italians, er… Italian weather by mounds.
Moto3:
The Junior class delivered once again.
During Lap Two, Ortolá decided to take the scenic route at Turn Fourteen; though he did not crash, his chances of fighting for the podium did.
The only crash of the race saw a rather scuffed-up Salvador trudging away while his scuffed-up bike got dragged from the pebbles.
Poleman Masiá streaked away at the front, and for a moment worry rose that this was going to be a runaway victory. Which we all know is great for the rider, but boring as hell for us.
But, by the seventh lap, Masiá got caught by the chasing pack spearheaded by Öncü. Was Jaume struggling? Guess not, judging by his rapid pace-dropping not long after.
The battle was on. Four riders were all set on taking the win, by any means. The fact that two of those were Muñoz and Öncü, and there was Alonso in there as well, spelt chaos. Not to discount Masiá’s fighting spirit, but he had three of the most aggressive lads in Moto3 breathing down his exhausts for the remainder of the race.
Muñoz, arguably one of the most hard-riding riders out there, had a bit of a moment through the second turn during Lap Eighteen. He must’ve accidentally engaged ‘Bounce Mode’ – a feature gleaned from the new Mercedes’. If you haven’t experienced Bounce Mode, do go and find some videos. It’s worth it.
That bike’s front end was hopping harder than an angry bunny, yet for some reason Muñoz didn’t go sailing into the gravel-seas. Instead, he continued on in fourth, settling down just slightly.
This left Alonso, Masiá, and Öncü to a three-way final lap brawl. It looked like the three bikes had been collected by a pro-poker-player, and he was shuffling them like his life depended on it.
It was one final lap of absolutely glorious overtakes, none of which resulted in the apparently unavoidable catastrophic collision expected.
Alonso! My Colombian Kid! After one of the best contenders for Pass of the Year, Alonso took his third victory in four races. As a rookie who isn’t even old enough to legally have alcohol in most countries, this is madness.
Masiá had to be content with second, and Öncü came in third.
Öncü, post-race in Parc Fermé: ‘…It was our day to win. I f**ed up…’ Language, Deniz. People might take offence.
Later, Öncü mounted the podium with a drinking horn in hand.
That was the most animated, full-spirited performance of a national anthem ever witnessed on the podium; yes, you, Alonso. It was brilliant.
Moto2:
Remaining true to their habit of not showing replays of the majority of crashes during Moto2 races, the People in Charge of What is Broadcast left us with little to write about; at least, to an extent.
We know Agius crashed on Lap Three, and that Foggia and Van Den Goorbergh came off together at Turn Fourteen during the fifth lap. How these fellows crashed, remained a mystery even Scooby Doo would have a hard time solving.
Turn Fourteen continued adding to its body count by sticking a foot out in front of Canet as he came by on Lap Eight. He slid off onto the arty part with a soul-withering grinding noise.
Skinner dipped into the pits on Lap Eleven, never to be seen again.
Starting Lap Fifteen, Aldeguer lost his luck going through Turn Two; while his bike disappeared ahead of him, Fermín threw up his hands, shaking his head at his own dumbassness.
Lowes decided to show off his rugby skills during a not-quite-successful save at Turn One, starting Lap Sixteen. First, while still mounted, he lifted his leg vertically as he tried desperately not to crash. Then, once the inevitable had happened, he demonstrated his dropkick using an invisible ball.
Impressive kick form, nine out of ten. Incorrect sport participation, minus five points.
Apparently, López had also installed Bounce Mode in his bike. Likely a Chinese knockoff, as it didn’t bounce nearly as impressively as Muñoz’s in Moto3.
Meanwhile, at the front, Vietti had thrown everything he could into the assault on Acosta’s lead. For a while it looked like he had a fighting chance. Then, the warnings began coming…
By the third or fourth near-crash, Celestino had decided to just relax in second, before he was forced to do so in the kitty litter. That replay of him panning across the shot behind Acosta was one of the highlights of the Moto2 race. How he didn’t end up in the gravel right there is a mystery.
The annoyingly consistent Acosta took victory by a slight margin of just six-point-three seconds over Vietti, who’d settled for second. A mildly exhausted, sore-handed López held on to third, even finding the time to send his gloves into the crowd.
The celebrations were interrupted by a replay (a replay, yes!) of possibly the most impressive crash of the entire race day. Tulovic, riding right on Guevara’s rear, ended up suddenly wiping his back-end from under him. The result was a proper tumble-drying for both riders, Guevara appearing to get the roughest treatment of the two.
Tulovic’s bike wanted nothing to do with this, and decided to make a speedy getaway on its own before anyone could object. Rumour has it that it’d reached the beach before they managed to catch it.
MotoGP:
Hovering jet planes! Even Quartararo made the face of an awestruck child as one of them went from hovering to howling overhead.
Same, Fabio, same.
A red mist blew across the track. Literally. It made the first lap or two even more magical. Bagnaia’s bright yellow home race livery shone through it like a beacon of Italian determination.
Much like the Sprint, Brad came stonking through the pack, until he found himself in fourth. Unlike the Sprint, however, he spun his KTM off at Turn Fourteen during Lap Nine. One rapid remount later he was back in the battle, trying to chase down as many positions as possible.
Not long after Brad, the KTM of Miller and Duc of Pirro came together at Turn Four, sending Miller off to join the space program while Pirro somehow narrowly avoided getting his leg run over.
Seeing the rest of the KTMs falling like flies, the team patched in on Pedrosa’s comms with an urgent message: ‘Dani, it’s all up to you now.’
Dani, his eyes firing up: ‘Understood.’ And just like that, he went Super Samurai. Heck, he almost caught Bagnaia. Again.
A crash at Turn One ended Mir’s race after ten laps.
During the sixteenth lap, Espargaró got whacked down on his left side like an elephant had just launched an attack on him. Which Espargaró, you ask? The obvious one – Pol.
Through all the action, Martín had been cruising his way to victory at the front of the field. Claiming the weekend hat trick, you could fit ten chocolate-filled croissants into Jorge’s grin.
In a carbon copy of Saturday’s Sprint results, twisted-thumb Bezzecchi took second, and How-the-Heck-did-he-Manage-That Bagnaia held on to third.
Upon Pecco’s arrival in Parc Fermé, he quietly noted that he’d ‘Just stay on the bike, OK?’ The agony of having to lift a leg over the Ducati simply too much for him to think about.After a while his team gingerly lifted him off the bike, almost carrying him to the corner where the rest of the temporarily-yellow sea were waiting for him. Master Crafar even took the interview corner to Bagnaia, saving the Champ the torture of walking to the usual interview spot.
Fall and all, Brad managed to recover up to fourteenth.
Show of appreciation for Pedrosa – the war pony who has hardly raced in years, could still show the young stallions how it’s done. The fact that he needs a stepladder to get on and off the motorcycle is irrelevant.
Who’s excited to visit a brand-spanking new track in two weeks’ time? The commentators sure are. On a playing field that no-one has ever set boot on, things could get messy.
We’re counting on it.
~ Karr
