By Karrbon Copy.
There was rain, there was sun, and (most important of all) there was racing!
Moto3:
When the Juniors lined up for their race, the sun had finally decided to grace the Sachsenring with its presence, drying up most of the track, but leaving a handful of damp patches just to keep things spicy.
Carraro would start the race with a Long Lap Penalty preloaded, for punting Rossi back at Assen.
The race commenced, and it delivered one epic demonstration of just how much rubbing there could be in racing. For a long time, the leading pack was a boiling mass of fifteen riders, all bashing and barging for position
By Lap Four, O’Shea’s bike laid down for a rest at the edge of the track through the first turn. Moments later, Abruzzo’s motorcycle noticed the napping bike, thought ‘that looks nice’, and promptly plonked down and slid into the gravel.
Carpe was handed a Long Lap Penalty for punting Almansa wide into Turn One at the start of the race.
On Lap Six, moments after serving his Long Lap Penalty, Carraro’s bike decided it, too, wanted to have a lie-down outside of Turn One.
Contact between Fernández and Muñoz on Lap Nine resulted in Fernández’s front mudguard getting launched off into space. Shortly after this, Fernández went tumbling off at Turn Three, looking on helplessly as his bike disrobed further in the graveltrap.
Odd stripshow, but we’ll take it.
Buasri retired to the pits by the end of Lap Twelve, clearly in too much pain to continue.
During the fifteenth lap, Almansa’s motorcycle abandoned him on the track at Turn Thirteen, promptly disappearing from sight and leaving a perplexed David to wonder what he’d done wrong.
Four laps from the checkered flag, two incidents occurred at Turn One in very short succession. First, Yamanaka went in hot, failed to brake in time, and opted for the graveltrack route through the corner. Very good form, did that gravel stage like it was part of the race.
Secondly, Ogden – who started the race in his maiden pole position – slid off the track, stopping on all fours where he cursed heavily at the pebbles.
While on the final lap, Furusato wiped out through the penultimate corner, looking like a sudden stream of floodwater had washed him out of third place. When he hit the pebbles, however, it turned into a whirlpool intent on sucking and bashing every last inch of breath from his lungs.
Muñoz snatched victory, a home win for his team, while second and third places were decided in a photo finish: Quiles got second, while Rueda ended up in third.
All the podium finishers sent out condolences to the family and friends of Borja Gómez. It seemed he was well-liked throughout every race class in both MotoGP and WorldSBK. He will be missed.
Moto2:
The clouds returned to spectate on the Middleweight race – but at least they didn’t get upset.
Agius blatantly jumped the start, and immediately knew he’d blundered. A Double Long Lapper loomed in his future.
We lost López during Lap Two. Somewhere, somehow.
Fernández (Eric) apparently crashed in the final sector on Lap Five.
Near the end of Lap Seven, Arbolino went tumbling off at Turn Twelve, legs in the air, out of third. He stomped off, looking back at the track angrily, as if it was the track’s fault he’d fallen.
After a few laps of incident-free, healthy racing, carnage happened on Lap Sixteen.
Moreira tried a very aggressive manoeuvre on Dixon, making contact with Jake’s rear – no, really, he made contact with Dixon’s rear, not his bike’s – resulting in him running off the track and onto the soggy grass and pebbles beyond.
It took him until the next turn to rejoin the race, which he did without checking his blindspots… Switching viewpoints: Alonso, riding hard and minding his business, suddenly found he was rocketing towards a slow-moving Moreira with no time to react. You could hear him yelling ‘gosh,gosh,gosh,gosh,gosh’ just before impact.
They collided, hard, bits of bike went flying in all directions, and both riders were spat from the track. Both were also sent off to the Medical Centre for some check-ups.
Going into Turn One at the beginning of Lap Twenty-One, Ramírez was nearing Arenas on the inside when his motorcycle went completely feral, bucking wildly before ramming into Arenas’ rear wheel. The impact threw Arenas out of the seat, and his bike sped off on its own in order to bite a hole in the air fence, before rebounding off of it most spectacularly while revving out ‘PARKOUR!’ as it arched backwards through the air. Ten out of ten, perfect form!
Meanwhile, Ramírez was getting two earfuls from a heavily pissed off Albert. You could just make out how Ramírez’s helmet reverberated with the verbal onslaught.
It didn’t take long for the Red Flag to emerge, on account of the air fence now having a hole in it. And, since we were well past two-thirds race distance, the results were called, and Öncü was declared the winner. Baltus ended up second, while Dixon claimed third.
Binder, (Daz), very quietly, finished in fifteenth.
In Parc Fermé, Öncü hopped onto his bike’s seat, and began jiving to a tune only he could hear. It was an odd dance. Maybe don’t give up your day job, Deniz.
MotoGP:
We celebrated the fiftieth Sprint Race in MotoGP this weekend. Fifty already? How time flies!
The Márquez brothers also celebrated some milestones at the ‘Ring: Marc his two-hundredth MotoGP race start, and Álex his hundredth.
Saturday Sprint Race:
The track was WET. It was cloudy. Yet, there was no rain falling when the race got underway – ten minutes late.
Rewind for a second: Acosta was wearing a jacket on track that immediately had our parents’ mantra playing in our heads: oh, he’ll grow into it!
Back to the race.
During the third lap, Morbidelli went flying off the track as he approached Turn Eight, skimming across the gravel like a turbocharged tumbleweed as his clothes began removing themselves from the sheer air-friction. He ended up lying in front of the wall, looking like he’s on the beach catching a tan.
Naturally, he had to be carted off to the Medical Centre for a serious check-up after that one.
On Lap Eight, Turn Eight was again in the spotlight when Acosta went for a spat of (soggy) graveltracking.
It was a close victory for Márquez Senior this time, taking his tenth Sprint Race win – the most any rider has ever managed. Bezzecchi was left with second place, while Quartararo won the Battle of the Fabios in order to snatch up third.
Binder finished in a healthy sixth.
Main Race:
Welcome back Sun. Partially.
A quick rundown on the injured: Viñales hurt himself on Friday, while Morbidelli’s Saturday crash ruled him out of the race, too.
Chantra’s ouchy knee meant he had to sit this one out.
And a nasty bout of appendicitis sidelined Bastianini, too.
Halfway through the second lap, Savadori had a tiny spill, but managed to rejoin the race post haste.
Oliveira crashed out at Turn Thirteen on Lap Three.
During Lap Four, Acosta leaned into Turn Three, but instead of lifting up again, his KTM opted for the straight down and out direction, sliding off the track and bogging itself down in the gravel a few feet shy of rejoining the track.
Just like that, Binder became the sole KTM rider still circulating around Sachsenring.
For many laps thereafter, things settled down to the point of dullness. A few overtakes here, some rubbing there, but nothing to excite a pen to erectness.
Turned out they were saving all the controversy for the second half.
The first of the calamities struck on Lap Eighteen. Having run solidly in second for so long, Di Giannantonio approached Turn One, blissfully unaware that his Ducati was about to have a stroke.
In the blink of an eye the bright yellow machine went from upright to horizontal, sliding off the track and tumbling through the gravel alongside its rider. DiGi managed to tumble back onto his feet, earning him a few style points.
While DiGi was rising from the dust in the background, Zarco went sprawling out of the same turn a few metres further along, his bike going wheels-up in an attempt to play dead.
Luckily for Johann, Race Direction decided he didn’t have enough time to react to the Yellow Flag DiGi had triggered moments before him, and thus he wouldn’t be penalised.
At this stage, we realised there were only fourteen riders left on-track.
Until Bezzecchi slipped out of second at the first corner, having just started Lap Twenty-One. He kneeled in the gravel, appearing to pray-ask the Racing gods why they were being like that.
Then there were thirteen. An unlucky number, some would say.
One lap later, Turn One claimed two more victims, this time in the form of Ogura and Mir.
Ogura was lunging down the inside of Mir in an attempt to overtake the Spaniard, when the front of his bike gave way under him, sending Ogura clattering into the unsuspecting Mir.
As the duo were collecting themselves from the pebbles, Savadori came past, bike pointed at the sky, essentially riding its rider into the gravel nearby. Not the ideal method of wheelieing, if we were to be honest.
Just like Zarco before him, Savadori was acquitted of any penalties for crashing under a Yellow Flag.
If you’ve been counting, you’d know that, after all this, we were left with a mere ten riders still upright and competing.
At this stage, we were beginning to worry – would there be anyone left on the track by the time the checkered flag was waved?
Much to our relief, someone had slapped Turn One back in line, and for the remaining handful of laps, there were no more casualties.
Marc Márquez took his sixtieth MotoGP race win, his ninth at Sachsenring, while his little brother again played bridesmaid in second, and Bagnaia got another third.
Binder survived the carnage, finishing the race in seventh.
That brings us to the end of an eventful weekend in Germany. Onward! To Brno!
~ Karr
