Sunday’s Moto GP race at Laguna Seca was the perfect end to the first half of the championship with Marc Marquez’s second win on the trot really leaving the top of the riders standings wide open.
In a race which surprisingly saw Dani Pedrosa, and even more surprisingly Jorge Lorenzo back in action, the first talking point of the weekend had to be Stefan Bradl and his first pole position start – where did that come from? Well if the apparent chat from around the paddock is anything to go by, the looming threat of being booted off his LCR Honda ride in favour of another (Cal Crutchlow maybe) was all Bradl needed to really get his butt in to gear!
Finishing just ahead of Marquez in qualifying, Bradl make an absolutely flying start before being overtaken by Marquez, but managed a fantastic ride to see out the race in second place ahead of Valentino Rossi who finished in third (that’s Rossi’s third podium finish out of the last three races – someone’s becoming a little bit too consistent aren’t they!!)
Marquez however had all the moves of the afternoon and after falling back to fourth at the start of the race, he managed THE move of the season on Rossi, emulating exactly what his hero had done to Casey Stoner five-years ago on the exact same corner. It was brilliant for us to watch but I bet Rossi couldn’t quite believe his eyes as the confident young Spaniard over-took him!
After seeing Rossi off, Bradl was the only other rider between Marquez and his third win of the season, and he was swiftly overtaken leaving the way clear for Marquez to see his way to victory.
The badly beaten and bruised boys (Pedrosa and Lorenzo) managed fantastic races considering the injuries they have both sustained in previous weeks and managed to finish in fifth and sixth places respectively. I don’t think anyone expected them to maintain their strong presence in the race, but they did and both managed to collect some much-needed points leaving the riders standings as follows:
- Marc Marquez – 163 points
- Dani Pedrosa – 147 points
- Jorge Lorenzo – 137 points
- Valentino Rossi – 117 points
- Cal Crutchlow – 116 points
If anyone was hoping that Pedrosa and Lorenzo would fade, it would’ve been Cal Crutchlow who tailed the pair throughout the race. Sadly this was not to be and the end of the race saw Cal cross the line in seventh place – his worst finish of the season so far. After suffering a crash during qualifying, Cal has to use bike number 2 and unfortunately, things just did not come together for him.
I’m pretty certain he will be heading into the break an unhappy chappy, but at least he now has four weeks to regroup mentally and physically before heading across to Indianapolis for the next race.
So no more Moto GP now until August 18th when not only Cal, but all the riders will hopefully be back fitter and stronger and raring to go. And with the rookie-rider leading the pack at the half-way stage, it really is anyone’s game!
