Category: Crew On Two

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Thank You, Kenan

Estoril 2010. That was the first time I saw Kenan Sofuoglu race, in the Portuguese Moto2 Grand Prix, as a wildcard. He rode a Suter, which then was quite a competitive chassis, and for much of the race he was leading by what you might call a ‘country mile’. He then ran into some problems with his brake lever, though, and finally finished fifth. But it was an alarming debut in Grand Prix racing by the, then, two-times World Supersport Champion. I remember watching the race, I was at my dad’s house, and I remember him telling me how Sofuoglu was a dominant rider in WSS, but I didn’t really know what that meant, I had never seen a Superbike race, let alone Supersport. It’s fair to say that I had two ideas about World Supersport when I tuned in for the Aragon round, in the middle of the 2012 season (yes, it took me that long). In my head, there was the option that Sofuoglu would be light-years ahead of the pack, or that everyone else would be as stunningly fast as Sofuoglu. As it went, there was a battle at the front in the early laps, and for me the race sort of ends at that point, I don’t remember much else, because of what happened at the end of the straight on lap eight. Sofuoglu was slipstreaming fellow Kawasaki rider, Fabien Foret, popped out of the slipstream and threw his body at the Frenchman in an aggressive manner which I had not seen before. It is this aggression which makes Kenan one of the most controversial figures in racing.

Immediately, my head is telling me to make the comparison with Marc Marquez, that both have proven themselves to be both absurdly fast, extremely successful and yet also potentially dangerous on the race track. I guess the comparison would be valid. Marquez proved in Argentina this year that with the correct circumstances he can be dangerous, as Kenan did in Aragon. But, in reality, they are not so similar at all. Marquez’ aggression comes purely from his ambition to win everything, every corner, every lap, every session, but Kenan’s aggression comes from his background, which gives him similar ambitions as Marc.

Kenan was not born into money, or a nation which has a strong support system for young motorcycle racing talent, like Spain. Kenan hails from Turkey, a country on the border of Europe and Asia, and the instability of its continental allegiance is born out in politics too – not so long ago the country’s government was the subject of a(n) (unsuccessful) military coup. Kenan had to make his mark in racing early on, one bad race and his career could be done – there was no second chance for him. As such, he forged his career from outstanding aggression, and the aggression that helped him to the World Supersport Championship crown in 2007 for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda stayed with him throughout his career, because he always had something to fight for. That 2007 title put him on an unparalleled level in Turkey, the kind of fame that David Beckham might be accustomed to in Britain. Sofuoglu was Turkey’s idol and he knew it, so did the government, who took a vested interest in Kenan’s career.

In 2008, Sofuoglu made the move up to World Superbike, but it was ill-fated, with a best position of ninth and a final championship standing of eighteenth. But it was not a winless season for the Turk, who made a wildcard appearance in the final race of the season in World Supersport where he was victorious.

A move back to World Supersport in 2009 followed, but he was beaten to the championship by Cal Crutchlow – it was third that year for Sofuoglu, with Eugene Laverty taking second in the championship.

But the three wins he took that year helped set him up for championship number two in 2010, when he continued in WSS and took another three wins to beat Laverty to the championship by eleven points. That was a remarkable year for Sofuoglu, as he did not finish off the podium all season, and had that aforementioned wildcard in Moto2 in Estoril, too. Of course, that set up the opportunity to move to Moto2 full time in 2011 – the hope being that the familiarity in engine characteristics compared to what he had been riding in WSS would help Kenan make a smooth transition, or at least smoother than his attempted move to WSBK. It did not work, though, as Kenan scored only 59 points and finished a lowly seventeenth in the standings.

Back to World Supersport, then, for 2012, where he had that controversial moment with Fabien Foret, as well as one in Magny-Cours with Dan Linfoot at the Adelaide hairpin, but still came out of the season with World Championship number three.

2013 would not be the same, though. Sam Lowes had left Bogdanka PTR Honda and joined Yakhnich Yamaha over the winter, and had been blisteringly fast in testing. Sofuoglu would take the first win of the season in Phillip Island, but the pair would battle strongly for the entire season. My biggest memory of that season is the battle they had in Turkey, visited for the sole reason that Kenan Sofuoglu would bring in the crowds. It was a stunning fight Lowes and Sofuoglu shared, and somewhat fittingly it was Sofuoglu who won his only ever home race in a World Championship. Looking back now, that victory was extremely important. It was not enough, though, for the championship – Lowes took that in Magny-Cours.

The next year, 2014, would be worse for Sofuoglu. The Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki he was riding had numerous issues throughout the year, most notably when Sofuoglu was leading convincingly at Imola on the 20th anniversary weekend of Ayrton Senna’s death at the same track. Sofuoglu retired and that allowed the Pata Honda of Lorenzo Zanetti to take the victory, sporting a Senna replica helmet design. Just one win and two other podiums that season were of course nowhere near enough for the number 54 to stop Michael van der Mark clinching the championship.

So, onto 2015, and after some successful rounds at the end of 2014 with Puccetti Kawasaki (Mahi went bust before the end of the 2014 season, which also didn’t help) Sofuoglu signed for the Italian team full-time for 2015, and fought against Jules Cluzel for the championship, and successfully so, in part thanks to the Frenchman’s crash at the Sito Pons corner at Jerez in free practice for the penultimate round of the season, which broke his leg, leaving him on the side lines for the rest of the season. But the biggest thing to take away from Sofuoglu’s 2015 season is his superhuman mental strength and emotional toughness, as he spent part of the season travelling back and forth between Turkey and the races as his newly-born son, Hamza, was in intensive care. Hamza sadly passed away in July of that year, but Kenan continued to race, in the memory of his son, and the title at the end of the season was precisely why – after what had happened to him and his family there was no way that Kenan was going to let 2015 go by without having something to dedicate to his son.

2016 saw a more dominant season from Kenan, at least on paper. There was no consistent challenger to the four-time World Champion. Cluzel was the only rider who could consistently match Kenan for pace round-to-round but Jules’ MV proved too unreliable for him to mount a serious challenge for the championship.

Without doubt the seasons after 2015 for Kenan were fuelled by the memory of his son, from which he took great strength – everything after that was for Hamza, and for that Kenan Sofuoglu deserves great respect. 2017 was no different. An injury in preseason saw Kenan miss Phillip Island and Thailand, coming back in Aragon – still injured but just about okay to ride. He wanted the championship still, that’s why he was back, but Federico Caricasulo (unintentionally) took him out at turn one in Aragon. The first race Kenan finished in 2017, he won. That was Assen, which began a run of four victories in a row. It was second in Germany, before he won again in Portimao, but another crash in Magny-Cours, just as he had taken the lead away from Lucas Mahias in the championship, took him out of the French and Spanish rounds. He was back in Qatar, but unfortunately for Kenan he was unable to take the title away from Mahias. It was second again for Sofuoglu in 2017, which is anyway remarkable considering how it started, and that season probably represents the best of any the strength and determination of Sofuoglu – he did not know when to quit.

That changed this year. A tyre failure in free practice at Australia in Stoner Curve left the now five-time World Champion both injured and shaken up. He missed the first four rounds though injury and rumours of a premature retirement were circling. Press conference was called, then cancelled in Assen, before in the weeks leading up to Imola, one of Kenan’s most prolific circuits, it was announced that Kenan would be making his final appearance at the Italian round of the 2018 World Supersport Championship. He qualified third on the grid, but he did not start there. Before the weekend, Sofuoglu had promised both his mother and the Turkish president that he would not start the race in Imola. He pulled in at the end of the warm-up lap, and that was that – the end of a remarkable career that will be remembered for so much more than its on track performances and antics.

Kenan Sofuoglu scored podiums in 85 of his 126 World Supersport races, and 43 of those were victories. In between his stints in Grand Prix and WSBK, Sofuoglu exerted pure dominance on one of the most competitive classes in the world. But that is only half the story. His World Championship in 2007 was the first for a Turkish rider, and as of 16/05/2018 he is the only rider from Turkey to have a World Championship crown. But that will change, thanks to Kenan. Not only has the 33-year-old inspired a generation of Turkish youngsters to go racing, but, as Valentino Rossi in Italy, Sofuoglu is providing the support to the riders he deems talented enough to deserve it in order to smooth their path into the World Championship, so they don’t have to face the difficulties he did as a Turkish rider in the world of motorcycling. Already, Toprak Razgatlioglu, the first of Kenan’s youngsters to come through, is in the World Superbike Championship with Puccetti Kawasaki, who Kenan will continue to help after his retirement. Further than that, the Oncu brothers, Deniz and Can, are also under Kenan’s wing. Last year, they competed in both the Asia Talent Cup and the Red Bull Rookies MotoGP Cup, Deniz winning the ATC and Can winning the Rookies Cup. This year they are remaining in the Rookies Cup, but racing for Red Bull KTM Ajo in the Moto3 Junior World Championship too. In this, Kenan is ensuring his legacy is never lost in the abyss of motorcycle racing history, whilst at the same time building on the foundations he has laid for Turkish motorcycle racing.

As he goes off to pursue a political career, in combination with his commitments to Toprak and the Oncu brothers, as well as any other riders who he takes on, Kenan Sofuoglu leaves the legacy of the greatest 600 rider of all time (and before someone points out that he couldn’t do it on the big bikes, at which point did Angel Nieto prove himself to be a big bike specialist?), a rider whose aggression on occasion overpowered his immense talent, and a rider whose will to win is almost unparalleled. But, most importantly, Kenan Sofuoglu leaves behind twelve years which demonstrate how to overcome difficult moments, how to find strength from vulnerability, and how to be a great person, in every sense. Easy-going (off-track, to which I can testify), a nice guy, and a giant person, Kenan Sofuoglu is them all.

With Kenan, the racing only tells half the story, if that. Thank you, Kenan, not just for the memories, or the incredible battles, or for the numbers, but also for being an example both as a racer and as a man.

Thank you, Kenan, very much indeed.

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WSBK Imola: Race 1 – Cruise Control for Kawasaki

 

Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team cranked up the pressure on their championship rivals with a blistering performance, leaving all and sundry reeling in their wake.

The timing at this point in the season and the venue only made the victory sweeter for the Japanese factory team, at the spectacular Autodromo Enzo Ferrari di Imola, in the Bologna region of Italy – Ducati’s home round.

Having qualified on pole position for the sixteenth time in his career, Rea made the perfect launch from the grid as the lights went out, and never looked back. As so often is the case with the 3x world champion, once he’d found his rhythm it was impossible for anyone to close the gap. Even Tom Sykes (KRT) on identical machinery could offer no answer to the pace and consistency of the Northern Irishman. Such was the performance of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR machines, Sykes was able to establish his own commanding lead in second place over the chasing riders behind.

The factory Aruba.it Ducati team will be wondering how their rivals had so comprehensively outperformed them. On a track which their lead rider, Chaz Davies, had secured victory in the four previous races to be held at the circuit. Unlike messrs Rea and Sykes, Davies suffered a poor race start – wheel spinning off the line and becoming engulfed in the mid-pack shenanigans on the run down to the Tamburello chicane. P4 was the best Davies could ultimately manage, but due to the quirky reverse grid format for Race 2, it does mean he will start from pole position tomorrow.

Instead of challenging KRT for honours, the Ducati riders were left to fight amongst themselves for the final place on the podium. Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) emerged victorious from the in-house fight to claim the final spot on the podium, though not before he had fended off another strong challenge from Spanish rider Xavi Fores on the independent Barni-Racing Ducati. Fores eventually finished in P5 behind the two factory riders, but it was another display which showcased the breakthrough season the 32-year old is having. Behind him came young Italian protege, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team), much to the delight of the home crowd. Despite only entering his third round of the season, Rinaldi has adjusted to life from Superstock racing. Although he faded in the final laps due to tyre wear, his result in P7 (with a fastest lap of 1″47.536) underline his potential.

It was a testing day for the Pata Yamaha outfit with both riders, Michael Van der Mark (P6) and Alex Lowes (P10), unable to hold pace with their front running rivals. The latter in particular had been on the back foot since Friday, after an engine issue forced him to sit out the entirely of the first practice session. Lowes spent the race fighting with the two Pucetti Kawasaki bikes of Toprak Razgatlioglu (P11) and wildcard entrant Leon Haslam (P9).

One team who suffered a complete disaster was Red Bull Honda. Having attempted to ride during Friday morning practice, Leon Camier ruled himself out, still suffering with injuries sustained at Aragon last month. His replacement, flown in from British Superbikes, was Jason O’Halloran. with just one practice session to his name, the amiable Aussie out-qualified American teammate Jake Gagne. However that was to be as good as it got as, early in the race O’Halloran crashed out at the fast Villeneuve chicane and had to be transported to hospital. Gagne (P16), struggling with the front end feeling of the bike throughout the weekend so far, failed to finish in the points.

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Haslam Doubles Up at Oulton

From the scorching temperatures of race one earlier in the day, where Leon Haslam took victory for JG Speedfit Kawasaki, there was little change for the second British Superbike Championship race of the day with the track temperature still in the forties.

Jake Dixon arrived at turn one first again, and Bradley Ray rode around the outside of Old Hall to take second. Glenn Irwin was third from Haslam, but they soon swapped orders when the pack arrived at Shell Oils for the first time, and Irwin dropped another position to Jason O’Halloran at Hizzy’s Chicane. Shane Byrne had a difficult first lap and dropped back to seventh behind Peter Hickman.

After passing Haslam at the beginning of lap three, O’Halloran moved through on Brad Ray at Lodge on the same lap for second. Meanwhile Byrne passed Hickman for sixth and joined his teammate Irwin in chasing the lead group. Then, Haslam passed Ray for third at the end of lap four, before at the beginning of lap five O’Halloran took the lead from Dixon.

Jason was intent on escaping, and set about it immediately, stretching the elastic band between himself and Dixon behind, whilst Haslam was trying to displace the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki.

At the same time, the PBM Ducatis moved their way past Ray, to demote the Buildbase Suzuki to sixth place, and the championship leader was visibly struggling. That was on lap seven, and at the end of that lap, Haslam passed Dixon for second and pointed his crosshairs at race-leader O’Halloran, and had practically caught him by the end of lap eight, but Dixon was clearly at the limit and could not keep Haslam’s pace.

With half distance reached, it seemed that it would be a difficult task for anyone from this point to challenge O’Halloran and Haslam – Byrne was the only rider who seemed remotely capable of matching their pace but was too far back to be able to do anything about it.

So, it was a duel at the front; Honda versus Kawasaki, and the green bike took the advantage at Lodge on lap twelve. It became clear – Haslam was trying to repeat race one, where he edged away from Dixon tenth-by-tenth in the last five laps.

But O’Halloran would not be dropped, he struck to the back wheel of Haslam until the last lap, but was clearly on the limit. It looked like the Honda had enough to be able to stay with the Kawasaki but not enough to get by. O’Halloran tried, for sure, but finally could not get past Haslam – he might have been able to out-brake him at Lodge on the final lap but Leon held the inside well, got a good run out and got to the line ahead to take his first double of the year and third win in succession. The victory took him to the top of the championship both in the general standings and in the podium points, where he moved clear of Bradley Ray for the first time. It was important, too, for Haslam in other respects, because in most circumstances in the past the Kawasaki has not been able to make the soft rear tyre last the race distance, but in both races at Oulton, where the soft rear was the only option, Haslam made it work, and this could be ominous for the future.

O’Halloran took his second podium of the season after race one at Brands Indy, and fought until the end for the victory. This is an important step for the Aussie, and for the Honda Racing team, because finally it seems that the bike is capable of fighting for the title. He will be disappointed to have missed out on the victory, but the podium is an important result nonetheless, and he was eager to point out that this will not have been his only opportunity to take a win this season. Snetterton is next, where O’Halloran took his first BSB victory back in 2016, and he will be going there with the goal to do the same. For him it is a shame that he has to wait for six weeks.

Jake Dixon took his second podium of the day, and season, with third place as he held onto the final box spot under pressure from Byrne at the end. It is probably fair to say that Jake’s season started on Monday.

Shane Byrne. Image courtesy of Ducati.

The fourth place of Shane Byrne was not what he would have expected, especially after a distant third place in race one. But the position gave him important points towards Showdown qualification, and he, like O’Halloran will be keen to get to Snetterton where he has gone well in the past.

Glenn Irwin can be satisfied with his fifth place, which somewhat made up for his crash in race one. The most important thing now for Glenn is to stay safe in the Northwest 200 (easier said than done), take some confidence from it and arrive in Snetterton after the break in a good way, ready to fight for podiums and victories, and make the Showdown.

Josh Brookes completed a double of his own on Monday. Not the one he would have been after, two 6th places, but considering his problem this year has been rear grip it is perhaps not a surprise to see him missing from the front group with nearly fifty degrees track temperature.

Bradley Ray. Image courtesy of suzuki-racing

It was a disappointing result for Bradley Ray. After his fourth place in race one, the Suzuki rider would have wanted to get back on the podium, but he was unable to do so. This marks three races without a podium for Ray, and it is perhaps a little bit strange that he should struggle at Oulton, where he took his first BSB podium last season. However, that podium came in October, with maybe fifteen or twenty degrees of track temperature, not forty or more. When you also consider how strong Ray was in the biblically cold Donington round on Easter weekend, it might not be such a leap to assume that the Suzuki does not work so well in hotter conditions – perhaps it suffers from the traditional Kawasaki trait of not being able to hang onto a soft rear tyre. But, not working well in warmer conditions and excelling in the cold might not be such a bad thing, after all this is the British Superbike Championship.

Danny Buchan had a strong ride in eighth place. He caught Brookes at the end but the Aussie’s advances on Ray made it impossible for the FS-3 Kawasaki rider to get through, and in the end he was only half a tenth away from stealing Ray’s seventh place.

Ninth place went to Richard Cooper, who had been fighting with Buchan in the middle of the race but could not keep up towards the end when Danny upped the pace. Tommy Bridewell completed the top ten.

Peter Hickman finished eleventh, ahead of James Ellison who would have hoped for more out of this weekend, Michael Laverty who will be hoping Snetterton is kinder to him, Taylor Mackenzie and Ryuichi Kiyonari who profited from Tarran Mackenzie’s fall to be able to take a double points finish on his return to BSB – fifteenth and the final point for Kiyo in race two.

Sixteenth place was awarded to Martin Jessopp, who was three tenths ahead of Kyle Ryde, who at one stage looked like he might have been on for points. One thing I can see from watching Ryde (and if I can see it, it must be fairly clear) is that he doesn’t carry any corner speed. In Donington, I stood at the Schwantz Curve and looking into McLeans, and he was standing the bike up a lot more aggressively and a lot earlier than all the other riders, who were carrying more speed throughout the corner and carrying more lean angle when they opened the throttle. It was visible again in Oulton Park race two, when the attention of the TV director turned to Ryde’s battle with Jessopp, and Martin was almost running into the back of Kyle because the difference in corner speed was so vast. Finishing in seventeenth place when he is riding as though he has no front end is quite impressive from Kyle to be fair, but if he wants to progress in superbike he needs to work out why he can’t carry corner speed and fix it – if he does he can be very quick indeed.

Dean Harrison finished eighteenth, Sylvain Barrier nineteenth, Shaun Winfield twentieth and Connor Cummins twenty-first and last of the finishers.

There were seven DNFs: Mason Law, Luke Mossey (a retirement possible due to his bike not being properly fixed after race one), Gino Rea, Carl Phillips, Tarran Mackenzie, Jakub Smrz and David Johnson.

Now, BSB takes a break for the roads season which gets underway in the coming days with the Northwest 200, before the Isle of Man TT which begins at the end of the month. For the riders who are not taking part in the roads, now is an important time to reflect on the opening three rounds, before Snetterton sees the resumption of the season, and try to work out where they can improve, and how to do so.

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Dominant Baldassarri Takes Second Career Win at Jerez

After Friday’s practice and qualifying on Saturday, it was Lorenzo Baldassarri who was the favourite to take victory in the fourth round of the 2018 Moto2 World Championship, at the Spanish Grand Prix from Jerez.

But it was Alex Marquez who made it to turn one first, and took the initial lead as he looked to take his first win of the season at his home round. But it was not long before Lorenzo Baldassarri claimed the lead for himself, and from there on it was a question of tyres. With Miguel Oliveira making a stunning comeback from fourteenth on the grid, it soon became an opportunity to see whether KTM still held their advantage over Kalex in tyre consumption, and considering the prowess of the Pons HP40 team in setting a bike up to save its tyres, it was sure to be an intriguing battle.

Miguel Oliveira ahead of Alex Marquez – image courtesy of KTM media

Oliveira was able to get close to Balda on many occasions, but in the final eight to ten laps, the Italian just slowly stretched the gap on the Portuguese with sublime consistency and outstanding pace, to finally take victory after over 18 months since his first win at home in Misano. The win for Lorenzo was an important one, for him and the team. Pons HP40 had not won since Alex Rins went to Ecstar Suzuki in MotoGP for the 2017 season, and suffered last year with their rider pairing of Fabio Quartararo and Edgar Pons. Even this year, not many people expected them to challenge with Baldassarri or his teammate Hector Barbera, and if people did expect them to challenge, they expected it to be Barbera at the front and not Balda. But, ultimately, they are a championship winning team, and they belong at the front, and that is precisely where Baldassarri has taken them. Equally, Baldassarri had a difficult 2017, and failed to make the podium as he, along with then teammate Luca Marini and their VR46 management, conflicted with the Forward Racing team for whom they rode. Sito Pons took a big gamble to take on Baldassarri for this year, and thankfully for the pair of them it seems to be paying off, Baldassarri sits just nine points off the championship leader, his flatmate Pecco Bagnaia, and looks as though he may be able to challenge for this championship.

Miguel Oliveira on the podium with Lorenzo Baldassarri. Image courtesy of KTM Media

Miguel Oliveira’s ride was stunning. In five laps he had gone from fourteenth to six and a few minutes later he was second and chasing down Baldassarri for the lead. It is entirely possible that the fight through the pack took too much life out of the rear Dunlop on the KTM, and that that is why Miguel failed to sustain his victory challenge. Aki Ajo said on the grid that Oliveira was back for Sunday, implying that the Portuguese had had an ‘off day’ on Saturday, hence his poor qualifying position. Either way, the points taken by Oliveira on Sunday were crucial for his championship.

They were even more important considering he took points out of his deficit to two-time race winner this season, Pecco Bagnaia, who started and finished third. The Italian struggled to keep the pace of Baldassarri all weekend, as did most, but did well to take a podium, his third of the season. It is true that he would have missed the podium without the mid-race crash of Alex Marquez at turn two, but mistakes are what win and lose championships – it is not the fault of Bagnaia that Marquez made the mistake. Moreover, the number 42 will be content knowing that next up is Le Mans, and he showed great pace at the French circuit last season, whilst the KTMs struggled.

It was not a comfortable podium for the championship leader, though – he was pushed all the way by Xavi Vierge on the Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex, as he continued his solid form of late, and Mattia Pasini rounded out the top five. Paso seemed like he could have had the pace for the podium had his qualifying been better, as he was matching the pace of Vierge and Bagnaia at the end, but was just too far back to make it matter.

Brad Binder had a difficult race in sixth. The South African looked good at the start and seemed as though he could challenge for the victory, especially if the KTM was going to keep good life in its tyres until the end of the race, but after five or six laps he started to drop back and looked very loose on the rear. It was a shame for Binder because for the first time this season he had qualified at the front and was in a position to challenge, but for whatever reason it never happened. The positive for Binder is that he proved that he can have the pace, and surely his first Moto2 victory is not far away.

Marcel Schrotter made a good comeback in the race from 20th on the grid after a three-place grid penalty to finish seventh and ahead of the winner of the 2016 edition of this race, Sam Lowes, by half a second. Ninth place went to Iker Lecuona, who was another rider to make a decent comeback in the race after starting eighteenth, and Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top ten.

Joan Mir, undoubtedly held back by his stomach bug from Saturday, finished eleventh, ahead of Simone Corsi, a somewhat impressive Tetsuta Nagashima in thirteenth, Hector Barbera and Andrea Locatelli who took the last point in fifteenth.

Sixteenth place was taken by Bo Bendsneyder, ahead of 17th placed Jorge Navarro who was recovering from lap one after he was taken out by Luca Marini at Dry Sack. It looked like Marini had out-braked himself and dived to the inside to avoid Sam Lowes directly in front of him, but could do nothing to avoid cleaning out Navarro. Marini should have gone to the outside to avoid Lowes, really, like Andrea Iannone should have done in Barcelona with Jorge Lorenzo in 2016, but things are a lot easier in hindsight. Khairul Idham Pawi took eighteenth place, in front of Isaac Vinales, Lukas Tulovic, Federico Fuligni, Xavi Cardelus who tested the MotoGP Avintia Ducati on Monday and was frighteningly slow, Hector Garzo and Jules Danilo who crashed early in the race but got back on to finish one lap down in 24th and last place.

There were quite a few retirements, perhaps owing a large part to the lack of grip in the searing Spanish heat. Marini was the first to go after his collision with Navarro, then Eric Granado went on lap three, Romano Fenati on lap seven, Stefano Manzi on lap nine, Zulfahmi Kharrudin (who has since been sacked) on lap ten, Danny Kent went with thirteen to go, the same lap as Alex Marquez crashed out of podium contention; Joe Roberts fell with just five laps to go and Steven Odendaal with two.

The dominance in this race from Baldassarri surely puts him into the frame for a championship challenge, especially with the miniscule gap that currently separates him from Bagnaia. Le Mans is next up, where last year the KTMs struggled, so there could be an opportunity in a couple of weeks for the Kalex riders to make a big difference in the championship, and it is not an opportunity that they can pass up if it arrives.

 

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Zarco Reunites with KTM

03/03/2018 has been an unsurprising day in the world of MotoGP: Johann Zarco has signed for Red Bull KTM for two years. This news comes one day after Pol Espargaro was confirmed to stay with the Austrian manufacturer for the next two years.

On the face of it, the move is a good one for both sides. Last year, KTM showed a tremendous development rate, as they accelerated through the midfield, whist Zarco has proven since he came to MotoGP at the beginning of last year that he has the potential, if given the right equipment, to fight for the world title, which ultimately is a goal he shares with KTM.

Zarco, Valencia Moto2 2016 – image courtesy of KTM.

Perhaps, though, the move is a better one for the employer than the employee. KTM get a double Moto2 World Champion, 2017’s MotoGP Rookie of the Year and one of the smoothest, yet most aggressive riders on the grid. But what is perhaps more valuable than all of that to KTM is that Zarco is the first ever Red Bull Rookies Cup Champion, a title he won back in 2008. One of KTM’s goals when it entered MotoGP was to obtain a better retention rate of their Red Bull Rookies graduates, as an alarming amount, such as Jorge Martin, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Ayumu Sasaki had ended up on Hondas in Moto3. Zarco moving back to KTM represents an opportunity for KTM to prove to their young riders that staying with KTM is an option – that you don’t have to be on a Honda, Yamaha, Ducati or Suzuki to win in MotoGP.

KTM at work. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

So, whilst KTM get their original road racing golden child, what does Zarco get? Well, he gets a team assembled, in part, of the minds that powered KTM to three of the first five Moto3 World Championships and, in part, of some of the people who developed the MotoGP projects of some of KTM’s rivals. In addition, he gets an RC16. What exactly an RC16 actually is, is difficult to determine, because it changes configuration almost every half-hour. But, for certain, it was the most improved bike of last year, as well as probably the most disappointing bike of 2018.

Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro at the 2018 RedBull KTM launch. Image Courtesy of Redbull Content Pool

Of course, KTM aren’t sprouting a fifth RC16 for 2019 for Zarco to pilot, they are sacking Bradley Smith. This is not a surprise. Smith did well to avoid being replaced by Mika Kallio for this season, and it was pretty much inevitable that he would not be riding a factory KTM in 2019. His options aren’t endless, either. He might be able to get himself a seat at Tech3 on one of their KTMs, but Avintia will likely keep hold of Rabat to partner Simeon, Marc VDS will remain with Morbidelli and bring in Alex Marquez or Joan Mir to go alongside the Italian, Angel Nieto will probably keep what they have (but may switch bikes) and Aprilia would probably prefer Iannone or a Moto2 rider to replace Aleix Espargaro or Scott Redding (or both), if it came to that, which is somewhat unlikely. It seems Smith’s MotoGP career is done.

Finally, since the other option for Zarco other than KTM was Repsol Honda, the Frenchman’s move to KTM almost confirms Dani Pedrosa’s safety on the second Repsol Honda.

Featured Image courtesy of KTM.

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Sykes Looks to Continue Good Form in Imola

This weekend, the Superbike World Championship heads to Imola in Italy, for the fifth round of the 2018 championship. Tom Sykes comes into this round on the crest of a wave after his victory in Asses two weeks ago, but it is his teammate, Jonathan Rea, who leads the championship.

But Sykes’ victory in Assen showed that this season will not be as easy for Rea as the previous ones, as it was the first time Rea had been beaten at the Dutch circuit since he joined Kawasaki back at the end of 2014. And Imola is a strong circuit for the 2013 World Champion, too, and one where he has strong support from the Italian fans – who can forget Sykes’ rage-fuelled pole lap in 2014 on race tyres when his initial lap on a qualifying tyre was disallowed because he crossed the line after a red flag was thrown. In addition to that, he scored a double win in Imola back in 2013, which proved critical for the title race as his championship rival, Sylvain Guintoli, retired from the first race. If Sykes can keep hold of his tyres this weekend, a traditional weakness of the number 66 but one he seemed to be able to remedy at an unusually warm Assen, he could be difficult to beat.

But if anyone could do so, it would likely be his teammate, Jonathan Rea. The Northern Irishman won both Imola races in 2014 on the underpowered Pata Honda. However, Rea hasn’t won at the San Marinese circuit since 2015, when he also did the double. Despite a test at Brno, on the way into this weekend Rea has claimed that he is still missing something to take the maximum from the 2018 ZX10-RR. But, like when Marc Marquez said the same thing about his Honda RC213V after last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, it is difficult to take this statement from Rea as one which perhaps put him under threat. If anything, it just serves as a worry to his fellow competitors, and there is no doubt that the reigning champion will be in the fight for the victory this weekend.

Chaz Davis. Image courtesy of Ducati.com

However, Imola is Ducati’s home, near to their Borgo Panigale base, and they will be eager to bounce back after a difficult weekend in Assen where they scored only one podium. Chaz Davies, though, has won the last four races at Imola, doing the double in the last two years on the #7 bike, and it will be important for the Welshman to do the same this weekend to maintain his championship challenge – his fifth place in Assen race two did not help his situation.

It was the other factory Ducati rider, Marco Melandri, though, who made the big progress at the Brno test. The Italian has suffered with straight-line instability all season, and it didn’t get any better in Holland, despite the outward appearance seeming significantly improved. The Italian will be hopeful of repeating his Phillip Island performance from February this weekend at his home race, although he has not won in Imola since he won the 125cc Grand Prix there in 1999.

The Yamaha riders had contrasting fortunes in Assen. Alex Lowes took pole, but his weekend got significantly worse from there, with the wrong front tyre being fitted to the bike (his second bike) for race one, and then, after starting from tenth due to his poor race one result, he crashed out of sixth place in race two, although he remounted to take 2 points for fourteenth. The 2013 British Superbike Champion will be hoping for better luck in the races this weekend and that, combined with recent improvements on the part of the bike, could get him back on the podium this weekend.

It was an almost opposite weekend for the #60 Yamaha of Michael van der Mark. The Assen home hero had a difficult qualifying, ending up seventh, but took second in race one and third in race two, challenging Rea on both occasions. Although, van der Mark has never been on the podium in Italy. He should have won race two in Misano last year, but his tyre failed causing him to crash – he will be hoping to correct that this weekend, although in the past Imola has proven a tricky circuit for Yamaha – they haven’t scored a top five since their return in 2015.

Jake Gagne. Image Courtesy of Hondanews.eu.

Honda have a difficult situation. Whilst Jake Gagne is fit for the whole weekend after missing days two and three of Assen, Leon Camier has only been given clearance for FP1 on Friday morning. It is good to have the pair of them back after there were no Ten Kate Hondas on the grid at their home race, but Camier will only decide if he will ride after the first session once it is completed. If Camier should decide to not continue with the weekend, BSB’s Jason O’Halloran, who took the Honda Racing CBR1000RR SP2 Fireblade to second place at Oulton Park last weekend in the British championship, is ready to take over for the weekend.

Eugene Laverty is back too, after he missed Aragon and Assen due to the injuries he sustained in Thailand when he was hit by Jordi Torres’ MV Agusta after he crashed the Milwaukee Yamaha. The Northern Irishman is back one round ahead of his plan, so it will be interesting to see his competitiveness – hopefully he will be okay to make the weekend with a good pace, and maybe he can make two good results in the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Leon Haslam is back in World Superbike, too, after his three successive wins in BSB, including a double win last weekend at Oulton Park which fired him to the top of the general standings. Haslam will be riding a retro Elf livery on the Puccetti Kawasaki, one similar to that his dad, Ron, used to ride, albeit on a Honda. Haslam, of course, took a podium in race one at Donington last year when he finished second, behind Tom Sykes who won thanks to Jonathan Rea’s tyre failure. Whether Haslam can replicate that result this weekend, on a track which he has not ridden since 2015, when he struggled a bit on the Aprilia, remains to be seen. And, of course, the Kawasaki in World Superbike is significantly different both to the one he rides in BSB, and that which he rode last year at Donington – most notably the maximum rev drop that Kawasaki has been suffering with so far this season will be a factor in Imola.

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First Dry Win of the Season for Haslam in Oulton Park Crash-fest

Race one for British Superbikes at Oulton Park got underway in blistering Cheshire heat on what was the hottest early-May bank holiday on record. The heat meant that the soft rear tyre was a must, and for the majority, medium fronts were the order of the day. The heat also meant that grip was at a premium, and there were several crashes early on, with Michael Laverty crashing out on the first lap at Lodge, Glenn Irwin joining him on the side lines not too much later at Island Bend, and many more falling victim to the greasy Oulton asphalt.

But it was Jake Dixon who grabbed the early lead at turn one, and he kept it for most of the race, unchallenged. But, with about five laps to go, Leon Haslam made his move at Lodge corner on the inside and began to stretch away from the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki. The two were out front on their own thanks to a fairly large gap that appeared between the then second-placed Haslam and third-placed Brad Ray, when Irwin hit the deck. After Haslam took the lead away from Dixon, he took minimal amounts of time out of the youngster over the final laps, and eventually won with a gap close to one second. It was Haslam’s second consecutive win, and first dry weather victory of the season – one that catapulted him to second in the championship. A welcome result, then, for Haslam, after struggling in the dry at least with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki in the first two rounds of the season.

The second place of Jake Dixon was an important one too. It had not been a spectacular start to the number 27’s season with results below his expectations in Donington and race one at Brands Indy, and a crash in the second race at round two. This result in a way, marks the proper start of Dixon’s season and it seems the first 2018 victory is not too far away for him. It will be interesting to see whether he can go one better in race two.

Shane Byrne. Image courtesy of ducatiukracing.com

Shane Byrne took third place, after a tough move on Jason O’Halloran at Hizzy’s chicane towards the end of the race. The move allowed him to quickly set his sights on Bradley Ray, who was seemingly struggling with rear grip towards the end. His overtake on Ray was somewhat less on the limit than the one with O’Halloran; clean as you like, in fact, and after that the Suzuki rider had no response, giving Byrne an important podium in the quest for podium points ahead of the Showdown. The podium was not enough for Shakey to hold second in the championship, which went to Haslam, but the 41-year-old is now just seven points off the top of the championship. After the race he complained of chatter, and it will be that which he and his PBM Ducati team will seek to fix for the second race.

Brad Ray came home in fourth. He made a great start from ninth, but got very detached after the crash of Irwin which happened directly in front of him. It looked from quite an early stage as though he was struggling with the rear tyre, but that could just have been him pushing on trying to keep Byrne and O’Halloran behind, whilst catching the leaders. Ultimately, he failed on two out of three counts, and will hope to have a better pace in the second race. Interestingly, Ray was the only Suzuki rider to choose the hard front tyre, everyone else was on the soft front. Whether that could be the difference maker this afternoon remains to be seen, but Ray will be keen to return to the podium to continue to build his tally of those all-important podium points.

O’Halloran took fifth place. After the move Byrne put on him, he became very detached from Shakey and Ray. To compound that, his CBR1000RR Fireblade developed a gearbox issue towards the end of the race. The positive for O’Halloran is that before the incident with Byrne he had a good pace, so he has something to build on for race two.

Josh Brookes took his best dry result of the season so far in sixth place. With that in mind, his claims of progress in the Oulton Park test just over one week ago are valid, but he also clearly still has more work to do to be able to challenge for podiums and victories.

Seventh place went to Danny Buchan on the FS-3 Kawasaki, ahead of Tommy Bridewell’s Halsall Suzuki, Tarran Mackenzie’s McAMS Yamaha and Richard Cooper’s Buildbase Suzuki. Mackenzie’s ride was impressive in just his fifth BSB start, and at a circuit where he has been struggling somewhat through the weekend, and also at the test. There is a lot of potential in Taz Mackenzie on a superbike, and it could be quite frightening when he begins to unlock more of it.

After a first lap excursion at Hizzy’s that dropped him to pretty much the very back of the pack, James Ellison took eleventh place, although he will be eager to improve a lot on that in race two after a difficult start to the season, if he wants to make the Showdown. Ryuichi Kiyonari perhaps surprised a few people with his twelfth-place finish on his BSB return, replacing Dan Linfoot. He was battling for most of the race with Gino Rea (13th) and Jakub Smrz (14th), ahead of Mason Law who took the final point, and his first in BSB.

The first of the non-point-scorers to cross the line was Sylvain Barrier, ahead of Dean Harrison who has had a cracking weekend, Martin Jessopp who would have been in the points but had a big off-track moment towards the end of the race at Cascades, David Johnson, Shaun Winfield and Connor Cummins, who was the 21st and last finisher, on his first outing on the new Fireblade as he prepares for the big road races coming up.

Retirements were aplenty, with Luke Mossey having a fairly large tip off at Druids, Taylor Mackenzie falling at Lodge, Glenn Irwin (aforementioned) crashing out at Island, Carl Phillips going down, Peter Hickman getting away with a high-side at Cascades, Kyle Ryde who made the Craig Fitzpatrick Yamaha a fixture of the local forestry at Druids and finally Michael Laverty (aforementioned) who crashed at the end of lap one.

The track temperature for race two should be somewhat cooler than for the first race of the day, so the casualty count should be smaller in the second outing. But the big question is whether anyone can challenge Leon Haslam, and whether it can be someone other than Jake Dixon.

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Carnage in Moto3 as Oettl Takes First Grand Prix Win

The Moto3 World Championship race at Jerez was set to take place under gorgeous Spanish sun, on the track bearing the name of Spanish motorcycle racing’s original hero, Angel Nieto. It was expected that Jorge Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio would dominate proceedings, after showing superior pace over the course of the weekend, but of course all of the Spanish riders were eager to impress and make a good result at the ‘true’ Spanish Grand Prix. The action, like in qualifying, was immediate, as John McPhee torpedoed down the inside of turn two on the first lap, colliding with Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who sat up and hit Dennis Foggia. The three went down and did not continue. McPhee looked fairly unamused with what had happened, and the same can be said for Dalla Porta. All three riders got away okay, and will be looking to get back towards the front end of the field in Le Mans.

In the first few laps, it looked as though there could be a group of eight breaking away at the front, but a mistake from Fabio Di Giannantonio at Dry Sack dropped him through the pack, and he knitted the groups back together, to have an eighteen bike leading group.

Kaito Toba ahead of the pack. Image courtesy of hondaproracing.com

Eventually, there was a split. With about ten laps to go, six riders began to get away at the front, mostly due to the robust defending of Kaito Toba who had fought his way up to seventh in an impressive ride. The Japanese rider was unwilling to let track position go, and the hard battling cost him and the people behind him a lot of time to the leaders.

But, finally, this battle would prove to be the battle for the final podium spot, when Aron Canet lost control of the #44 Estrella Galicia Honda NSF250R into Dry Sack corner, clattered into title rival Jorge Martin, who – unintentionally – ran into Tony Arbolino and Enea Bastianini, meaning the front group of six was now just two.

After the race, Martin said that he became angrier when he realised it was Canet. He implied that his increased anger was fuelled by his compatriot’s incident with Makar Yurchenko in Argentina, which Jorge claimed he believes was an intentional move by Canet. In fairness to Canet, after the race he seemed genuinely remorseful. He wanted to apologise to all the riders involved, but Martin would not let him apologise in person, or at least he would not accept Canet’s apology. This is a shame because it follows the precedent set by Valentino Rossi in Argentina: Marc Marquez went to apologise, but Rossi wouldn’t let him (despite himself going to apologise, famously, after taking out Casey Stoner at Jerez, 2011). In my opinion, Martin is following the example of Rossi, set in Argentina, when he (through Uccio) told Marquez to go away when Marc tried to apologise; this is the wrong example to follow. Martin should be using Rossi’s approach in Jerez 2011, and allowed Canet to apologise, as Stoner did on that occasion – everyone should be allowed the opportunity to apologise.

The incident left him in the lead and Marco Bezzecchi, who was at the back of the front group when the incident happened, out front, but with a one-second-or-more gap between them with four laps to go. Bezzecchi started immediately closing on Oettl, but ultimately was unable to make a pass one the German for the win. So, it was Philipp Oettl who took his first Grand Prix victory ahead of Bezzecchi, the German joining his father in ‘Grand Prix winner’ status. Oettl has taken his time to get there, I remember when he was in the podium fight riding a Kalex KTM in 2013 at Aragon, in a year where, unless you were riding a full KTM, you had no chance. To put it into perspective, in 2013, Oettl’s first year, Marc Marquez was a MotoGP rookie; the BBC were still broadcasting MotoGP; CRT was still a thing; Jonathan Rea was just ‘a very good Honda rider’ and Valentino Rossi was nearing the end of his career. A lot has changed since Oettl came onto the scene, and now it will be interesting to see whether he is able to build on this performance and result going forward into the rest of the 2018 season.

The second place of Marco Bezzecchi was very important, because thanks to the crashes of Martin, Canet and Bastianini, Bez is now the championship leader of the Moto3 World Championship. The media will continue to assert that Bezzcchi has lucked into his championship advantage, along with his podium today, but the fact remains that Bezzecchi is leading the championship and that is only the case, because he deserves to be. Had Martin have chosen a wet tyre in Argentina, he would probably be leading the championship. Will Bezzecchi be leading after Le Mans? Well, we know from last season and from Argentina that he likes the wet conditions, and we also know that Le Mans is not immune to some precipitation, but, realistically, it is only a matter of time before the likes of Canet, Bastianini and especially Martin begin to asset their authority on the championship.

Alonso Lopez. Image courtesy of Hondaproracing

The third-place battle that was left after Canet’s error was a lively one, but an intriguing one. Almost all of the people who looked to be in the running for the final podium spot seemed to be unlikely ones: Jaume Masia, Kaito Toba, Alonso Lopez and Marcos Ramirez were all in there. Di Giannantonio was too, but the former four seemed the more likely. Finally, it was Lopez who crossed the line third. Unfortunately for the Spanish rookie, he was forced to give up a place due to a penalty being applied after the race for exceeding track limits on the final lap. This was pretty heart-breaking for Lopez, in his first ever Spanish Grand Prix, but the penalty meant that the true paddock local boy, Marcos Ramirez, got the podium for the Bester Capital Dubai KTM team – his first of 2018, a year in which he has struggled to get on with the new KTM.

Lopez’ penalty dropped him to fourth place, which is still a stunning result considering that he was at one stage in the gravel on the outside of the Angel Nieto corner.  His first Moto 3 podium is surely not far away. Masia came across the line in fifth place, which again was a particularly stunning result considering he qualified down in 25th place. Tatsuki Suzuki took sixth on the SIC58 Squdra Corse, ahead of Di Giannantonio who will be disappointed with seventh place, Jakub Kornfeil in eighth, Toba who ended up ninth and Gabriel Rodrigo who had an anonymous race to round out the top ten.

Niccolo Antonelli looked strong early on, but in the end could only manage eleventh, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki who made good progress from a dismal qualifying, Andrea Migno who would have hoped for more in his team’s home event but after his qualifying penalty which landed him 18th on the grid it was always going to be a difficult task for the Italian. Makar Yurchenko took fourteenth place, and it was the wildcard Ai Ogura who took his first Grand Prix point on debut in fifteenth.

Adam Norrodin came over the line in sixteenth place, ahead of Nicolo Bulega in seventeenth – which in a somewhat saddening way is an improvement for the Italian. Livio Loi was eighteenth, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat nineteenth and Kazuki Masaki was the twentieth and final finisher on the RBA KTM.

There were many retirements. On lap one, the aforementioned waywardness of John McPhee claimed the races of Dalla Porta and Foggia, and Jeremy Alcoba, the second wildcard, got caught up in that incident too. Albert Arenas retired nine laps from the flag, and five laps later Canet cleaned out Martin, Arbolino and Bastianini.

Next, the Moto3 World Championship heads to France, and Le Mans, for round four of the 2018 World Championship, and the championship favourites will be keen to bounce back from their pointless weekends in Jerez.

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Byrne Obliterates Lap Record for Oulton Pole

Qualifying for round three of the 2018 British Superbike Championship in Oulton Park got underway in scorching heat, under the blazing Cheshire sunshine. The conditions should not have been conducive to fast lap times, but Shane Byrne had different plans as he set a 1’33.979 to break the lap record by half a second and take pole position for tomorrow’s first BSB race by two tenths of a second.

Joining Byrne on the front row tomorrow will be Jake Dixon on the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki, which represents a return to form for Dixon after a difficult opening two rounds of the championship, and the second PBM Ducati of Glenn Irwin, who has been quick all weekend, and also at the test last week. Any of the front three could be in with a shot at the win tomorrow – they all look particularly strong.

Leon Haslam will line up fourth tomorrow for race one, with Jason O’Halloran and the second JG Speedfit Kawasaki of Luke Mossey alongside him on the second row of the grid. After taking his first win of the season last time out at Brands Indy, Haslam will be keen to return to the top step at a circuit at which he was so prolific at last season. Also, O’Halloran will be wanting to make up for the tyre choice error in race two a few weeks ago at Brands, which ultimately led him to retire, and Luke Mossey will be eager to get on the podium after a disastrous round two of the 2018 championship.

The head of row three will be occupied by Tommy Bridewell on the Halsall Suzuki. Oulton Park is the place of Bridewell’s most recent BSB win, back in 2016 on the Tyco BMW, and a repeat would be a dream result for the number 46. Peter Hickman, who had a cash in Q2 and could therefore only manage one lap in Q3 after his Smiths BMW team repaired the S1000RR, and Bradley Ray complete the third row, and Ray will be desperate to make a good start tomorrow so as to not lose too much time to the leaders.
James Ellison was the fastest of the riders to get knocked out in Q2, and will go from tenth place tomorrow, ahead of Danny Buchan and a presumably disappointed Josh Brookes who reckons he has made some good improvements coming into this weekend with the McAMS Yamaha, but could nonetheless only manage twelfth on the grid.

Richard Cooper. Image Courtesy of suzuki-racing.com

The Moto Rapido Ducati of Taylor Mackenzie is fourteenth for race one. He will be joined by Richard Cooper and Kyle Ryde who made a good qualifying session on row five. Row six will be made up of Tarran Mackenzie, Jakub Smrz and the returning Ryuichi Kiyonari, whilst Gino Rea, Sylvain Barrier and Michael Laverty will start from the seventh row. Mason Law will be 22nd on race one’s grid, ahead of Martin Jessopp and Dean Harrison on row eight. The ninth row will consist of the number 8 Yamaha of Shaun Winfield, the Gulf BMW of David Johnson and Karl Phillips’ Gearlink Kawasaki. Connor Cummins will be last on the grid for race one.

featured image courtesy of suzuki-racing.com

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Baldassarri Takes Maiden Grand Prix Pole in Jerez Moto2 Qualifying

As usual, the qualifying session for Moto2 got underway in Jerez after the excitement of MotoGP. The expectation was that the track would get slower as the session wound on, and therefore the fastest times would be set at the beginning of the session. But this was not the case.

Lorenzo Baldassarri set his pole position lap of a 1’41.925 on his 16th lap of 18 in the session. It was the Italian’s first pole position of his Grand Prix career, and sets him up well to take his first victory of 2018, first since Misano 2016 and second in his career, in tomorrow’s race. But a qualifying lap, of course, is not indicative of pace to win a race. What is, though, is consistently fast long run pace over the weekend, and Baldassarri has had that in abundance over the last two days. The number 7 will be a tough man to beat.

Second place went to Alex Marquez, and he is of the feeling that Baldassarri will have an advantage in tomorrow’s race. But this is his home Grand Prix and you can bet that Marquez will be determined to stop Baldassarri from getting away, in the vein of Pasini with Oliveira in Argentina, or Rossi with Stoner at Laguna 2008.

The remaining place of the front row will be occupied by Pecco Bagnaia on tomorrow’s Moto2 grid, as the championship leader puts himself in a strong position to take win number three from the opening four races. It could perhaps be considered a trait of Bagnaia over the course of his Moto2 career that he has been kind on tyres, and that could be critical tomorrow with the line between running the harder or softer compound Dunlop rear slick appearing to be very fine indeed.

Brad Binder. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

That, in theory, should bring the KTMs into play, with their infamous rear tyre conservation. But whilst Brad Binder will set off in fifth place tomorrow, just behind the impressive Jorge Navarro who took the fourth-fastest qualifying time. Miguel Oliveira will start from way down in fourteenth on the number 44 bike. This is not the way the Portuguese would have wished to celebrate the announcement of his signing for Tech 3 KTM for next season, and will be eager to begin his fight back through the field tomorrow.

On the back of row two will be the unfortunately ill Joan Mir, who is suffering with a stomach bug that was so intrusive that he had to miss the final minutes of FP3. This makes the Spaniard’s qualifying efforts all the more impressive. Tomorrow the rookie will be hoping to claim his first Moto2 podium at home in front of the Spanish GP crowd, although his endurance will be put fully to the test in the searing Andalusian sun.

Xavi Vierge goes off of seventh tomorrow, the head of row three, ahead of Sam Lowes, who had a crash in qualifying, and Romano Fenati, who has had a brilliant weekend on the Snipers Kalex, but Xavi could struggle to hold onto the tyres in the latter stages of tomorrow’s race.

Mattia Pasini will have work to do tomorrow afternoon starting in 10th, if he is to limit the damage done to his championship challenge, should the front row fulfil their respective potentials. Joining Mattia on the fourth row will be Danny Kent and Luca Marini.

Fifth row comprises of Simone Corsi will start from thirteenth place, with the aforementioned Oliveira and Hector Barbera behind him. The sixteenth fastest time went to Tetsuta Nagashima, who will start on row six ahead of Marcel Schotter and Fabio Quartararo. Meanwhile, Iker Lecuona underperformed with the nineteenth fastest lap, but will start of Andrea Locatelli and Isaac Vinales on row seven, whilst row eight will consist of Stefano Manzi, Bo Bendsneyder and Domi Aegerter’s replacement, Lukas Tulovic.

Khairul Idham Pawi will be 25th on the grid, ahead of the two NTS bikes of Steven Odendaal and Joe Roberts. Eric Granado, Jules Danilo and Hector Garzo make up row ten, and the final row will be occupied by wildcard Xavi Cardelus, Federico Fuligni and Zulfahmi Khairuddin.

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