Australian Motorcycle News - June 21, 2018

112 amcn.com.au

Step forward, Remy Gardner. Actually,

shuffle forward; the son of Wayne

was still on crutches after breaking

both legs and an ankle. Back riding

after only six weeks, he didn’t know if

he’d finish the weekend, but qualified

23rd and claimed a point for 15th.

Marquez, again. He thought it his best ever.
It was in FP4, and was a double save. He lost
the front at 170 km/h, the front tyre painting
a long black stripe, but picked it up with his
knee. Now on the dirty part of the track, “I lost the front
again”. He saved that too, and didn’t even run off track.
His knee-slider finished round the other side of his leg!

race

report

SAVE of the weekend HERO OF THE WEEKEND

work well,” Lorenzo said,

“but I had to save them, be

very smooth on the throttle

and with my line, because

I knew Marc was different,

and that could be an

advantage.”

Marquez felt the same:

“I tried to keep pushing to

see if Jorge’s tyres would

drop, but then we both

dropped the same way.”

The result meant that

Lorenzo pulled back five

points on Marquez, but he is

still 49 points behind.

“The bad news is we are

very far,” Jorge said. “The

good news is there are many

races, so it is possible. But

very, very difficult.

“The other good thing is

we don’thavepressure.”

And, he added, “this is the

most balanced Ducati ever”.

Marquez had an answer:

“I like the pressure. I perform

better, concentrate better,

when there is pressure.”

And his own bike was

good. “This year, when we

are bad we can still be on the

podium, and when we are

good we can win.”

There was drama from

the start. Andrea Iannone

(Ecstar Suzuki) blazed away

andevenledforacoupleof

yards before running wide at

the end of the back straight.

Marquez headed lap one,

but Lorenzo powered past by

the end of the front straight,

and Dovizioso then Rossi

dropped the Suzuki to fifth.

The first three soon pulled

clear, w ith Dovi a second

ahead of Rossi by lap six.

T h ree laps later, however, he

crashed out under brakes,

later shaking his head in

baff lement, as at Le Mans.

By now, wildcards Kallio

(KTM) and Guintoli (Suzuki),

as well as Luthi (Honda),

Simeon (Ducati) and Aleix

Espargaro (Aprilia) had

already crashed out, finding

the surface treacherous.

Soon after, Alex Rins

(Suzuki) retired, from the

back of the field.

The front three didn’t

change, and Marquez didn’t

give up pushing. But Lorenzo

had more, and after lap 10

the gap started to grow – to

almost 4.5 seconds at the end.

By then Marquez’s times

had dropped, and the gap to

Rossi had been halved to less

than two seconds.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol

Honda) had started well

unn yyyaSpa 15-17 June 2018 MotoGP World Championship

“I like the pressure.

I perform better,

concentrate better”