Reckless or just racing?
The weekend’s racing at Aragon has left us with only the one newsworthy headline. With Cal Crutchlow ending the race in sixth position and never really troubling those ahead of him, and British Moto2 contender Scott Redding only managing a fourth place finish, it was up to the usual faces at the front of the MotoGP pack to provide the entertainment.
When the red lights went out Jorge Lorenzo did what he has been doing so well for the last few races, and that is disappearing as quickly as possible. It has proved to be an incredibly efficient tactic, providing the 26 year old factory Yamaha rider with wins at the previous two rounds. At Misano in particular Lorenzo pulled a two second gap in the opening two laps which he maintained until the chequered flag.
Even the super lightweight Dani Pedrosa, who has traditionally been the first rider into turn one at most Grand Prix, has no answer for the new found pace of Lorenzo.
This weekend at Aragon was no different and Lorenzo had yet another rocket-ship of a start, firing into turn one in the lead and already opening up a gap on Pedrosa and Marquez who were following, unable to find an answer for a supremely focused Lorenzo.
This continued into lap five with the factory Honda team mates swapping position in a desperate bid to keep Lorenzo in sight. Pedrosa found himself in front and Marquez, in a hurried attempt to get back past and on the tail of championship rival Lorenzo, missed his braking marker at the downhill turn 12. At the time it looked like a very near miss indeed, with Marquez running wide.
As the cameras panned back in it was clear that Pedrosa had taken a tumble and replays showed a high side while exiting turn 12. At the time it looked like the close call had rattled Pedrosa enough to lose concentration while applying the gas, resulting in the highside crash which ended his race and promoted Valentino Rossi to a podium finish.
Marquez recovered from the time lost by running wide and avoiding the wreckage of Pedrosa’s bike. The rookie Spaniard went on to use the sort of pace that has stunned fans this year and made the pass on Lorenzo for the race win, eventually crossing the with a comfortable 1.3 second lead.
The real drama came after the race. It emerged there was more to the story than a simple momentary lapse in concentration on Pedrosa’s part while exiting turn 12.
Contact was made that wasn’t immediately obvious. The subtle glance was enough for Marquez’s clutch lever to sever the rear wheel speed sensor on Pedrosa’s RC212V, effectively disabling the traction control system. Pedrosa had no way of knowing this a fraction of a second later when applying the throttle and the result was a trip to the clinica mobile, thankfully with no serious injuries.
The ensuing drama involves an on-going investigation by Race Direction on the incident with both parties blaming the other.
Was Marquez reckless? Was it just another racing incident?
Whatever your opinions it certainly makes for exciting viewing which after a few lack lustre MotoGP rounds will be welcomed by everyone (unless you’re a Pedrosa fan)