Race report by Karrbon Copy.
We’re back! The summer break felt far shorter than it has been to be honest.
On Thursday, Barry Sheene was inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Jeff Duke was added on Saturday. About time!
Moto3:
Following a nasty highside in Q2, Quiles was ruled out of the action with a broken right collarbone.
For a few laps, everything went smoothly. Too smoothly.
On Lap Five, O’Gorman rammed into the rear of Cruces entering Turn Sixteen, launching the latter into a collision-course with Danish, who in turn made it a little further around the corner before joining the tumbleweeds.
O’Gorman was understandably swiftly handed a Long Lap Penalty for his sins.
Soon after, Ogden’s bike went on a self-destruction tumble during Lap Seven.
Buchanan crashed out on Lap Nine, at Turn Three.
Eventually, the leading six bikes broke free of the pack and it was dice on!
Morelli was given a Long Lap Penalty for exceeding track limits.
With less than two laps to go, Carraro crashed at Turn Twelve.
A little further up the road, Carpe was forced to use an alternate route through the esses.
Yamanaka was forced to run his bike off onto the grass around Turn Twelve on the same lap, his motorcycle smoking like a nervous addict.
On the final lap, Uriarte earned his own Sparky Award with his Turn-Six slide out of third.
Victory went to Almansa, while Carpe somehow managed to recover into second place, and Perrone took third.
Moto2:
After having sent Aji for an exfoliating tumble through the gravel during Qualifying, Van den Goorbergh was ordered to complete one Long Lap Penalty in the race.
On the first lap, going through Turn Twelve, Veijer went tumbling off. Judging by his stance and general gesturing towards the track around him, he was certain he’d been helped off.
A few laps later, this was confirmed when Alonso was slapped with a Long Lap Penalty. Seeing’s Veijer was the sole crasher before this, it was obvious which crash David had caused.
During Lap Nine, Canet was seen limping across the gravelly fields at Turn Fifteen, no bike in sight.
While deeply involved in the leading battle, Arbolino went off at Turn Sixteen on the thirteenth lap, doing an impressive reverse-frog flip through the gravel.
Oh, Gonzalez! Leading the pack across the line for the penultimate time, Manuel lifted himself from his seat, convinced he’d just won the race.
Unfortunately for him, that was not the case, and he soon realised this, at about the same moment someone – Holgado? – clattered into him, clipping and unclipping his exhaust. This resulted in lots of sparks when he tried to lean into right-handers, as well as him having to limp to the finish line, his race-winning hopes shattered.
Holgado survived a pretty aggressive death wobble on the final lap.
The race culminated in a final-lap shootout between Salac and Ortola.
It was Salac who emerged victorious, claiming his maiden Moto2 victory. Ortola had to settle for second place, while Escrig made his Moto2 podium debut in third.
Salac was so ecstatic, he shattered his screen.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez kept continuously and vigorously shaking his head throughout the Cooldown Lap, to such an extent we were afraid he’d injure himself.
MotoGP:
Fernandez – Raul – sported a Spanish soccer-themed helmet this weekend, in celebration of Spain’s World Cup achievements.
Sprint Race:
British local and veteran racer, Crutchlow, went tumbling on the opening lap at Turn Four. He remounted, only to retire to the pits by the end of Lap Three.
Near the end of Lap One, Morbidelli gave Lecuona a gentle hand off the track at Turn Sixteen. Lecuona went from tumbling, to on his feet with his hands in the air in one ridiculously smooth motion, clearly unhappy about the incident.
During Lap Four, at the fourth corner, Fernandez (Raul) slipped off the track. He remounted swiftly, but eventually pitted at the end of Lap Five.
Martin claimed a distant victory, Ogura taking second place over a second behind him. Bezzecchi took third in order to complete the Aprilia podium lockout.
Binder finished a decent eleventh.
Main Race:
At the start of the race, Martin and Ogura both suffered temporary ride-height device woes, struggling to get their Aprilias to disengage from their starting crouches.
Two of our most esteemed crashing veterans, Rins and Mir, went down at Turn Seven on the opening lap. Rins did manage to remount, doing a very dusty burnout before eventually retiring to the pits by the end of the next lap.
Ogura’s Aprilia did the shake and rattle on Lap Two, but, thankfully, not the roll.
Riders began falling like flies in a Doom advertisement.
First to go was Bastianini, crashing at Turn Seventeen on Lap Five.
Next up was Lecuona, who chose Turn Twelve as his final resting place during the sixth lap.
By Lap Seven, Crutchlow fell off at Turn Six, making it a double DNF in front of his home crowd.
One lap and one corner later, Bagnaia crashed in a most inexplicable manner, at the same corner he’d crashed at last year.
Ogura gently slid off the track on Lap Nine, at Turn Sixteen.
Having dominated the race, Fernandez – Raul – took the win, becoming the twelfth different rider to win at Silverstone in as many years. Second place went to Martin, while Bezzecchi took third, completing another Aprilia lockout.
Binder finished a healthy eighth.
Kudos to Bezzecchi for even finishing that race – the Italian was SPENT when he climbed off that Aprilia post-race.
That’s all from Silverstone, folks.
~ Karr
