In Case You Missed It – Styrian GP
All the action was at the front in the Styrian GP, and that took the attention away from the rear of the field where you may have missed some things.
Moto3 –
Khairul Idham Pawi did not race again due to the finger injury sustained in Brno that is threatening his Moto3 career. Max Kofler had a nightmare at home, crashing out and remounting to finish in the final position of 24th. Stefano Nepa did well on the Aspar bike to come home 9th and Tatsuki Suzuki once again disappointed at the Red Bull Ring to finish 7th. The final point scorer was Ryusei Yamanaka on the Estrella Galicia 0’0 machine, joining teammate Sergio Garcia in the points. Brno winner Dennis Foggia was 11th. The final run of points-scoring finishes in the class was broken too, as Jeremy Alcoba went down chasing the leading pack.
Moto2 –
Bo Bendsneyder had a very strange finish, being classified dead last after failing to take penalties and was docked 29 seconds. Sam Lowes was actually excluded from the race results after receiving a black flag for irresponsible riding, we all saw the crash but he is classified as ‘excluded’. Last week’s podium man Marcel Schrotter disappointed in 11th, and Nicolo Bulega again showed he is making steps with a 13th place finish. Fabio Di Giannantonio is continuing to suffer, and must be fearing for his future after an 18th place finish. It just isn’t working for the Speed Up boys since the tyre changes. Marcos Ramirez once again was just outside the points, but is looking stronger with every appearance on the Kalex chassis. Alejandro Medina finished outside the points on his replacement ride for Hafizh Syahrin, but did not look out of his depth. Aron Canet must have been the most disappointed man in Austria however, crashing out of 2nd place after his first pole.
MotoGP –
After the previous week’s carnage, only having one DNF was a refreshing change, even if the nature of the retirement of Vinales was terrifying. Franco Morbidelli seemed to be suffering mental effects of the previous incident with Johann Zarco, finishing in 15th place and looking cautious. Zarco for his part served his penalty and came home 14th. Neither Repsol Honda rider scored a point, nor did Cal Crutchlow. Honda have serious issues with the 2020 machine, and Taka Nakagami coming 7th on a 2019 bike will add salt to wounds. Valentino Rossi was a muted 9th and best Yamaha, with all of the Iwata machine suffering brake problems. Suzuki did well to get both riders into the top 6 as Alex Rins is still suffering from his shoulder. Michele Pirro could not repeat his point-scoring finish from last week and came home 20th on the Pramac machine. Tito Rabat once again struggled, and you have to wonder how long Avintia can keep him on.
We now await Misano with anticipation, to see if KTM can continue their brilliant run, or if Yamaha and Honda can find something to compete.
Featured image- www.motogp.com
