The MotoGP bikes in quali seemed to have a mind of their own, the save of the season has to go to Ivan Silva who, while holding on in an attempt to stay on the bike, hit the throttle and done a spectacular wheelie, saving the bike and going on his merry way (although he later had a unpleasant crash in warm up) however a few minutes later a nasty crash occurred between Randy De Puniet and Colin Edwards - Edwards was off the racing line on a slow lap while RDP was on a hot lap, just as he was sweeping past, the bike went down and collected Edwards. The weekend was over for Colin sustaining a broken collarbone. Both being rather beat up Randy was able to take part in the race.
Moto3:
It was a battle between Sandro Cortese (who started on pole for the second time this season) and Maverick Vinales, hot on their exhausts was the familiar name of Louis Salom but up in the battle for a podium spot were also Efron Vazquez (JHK T-shirt Laglisse) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-Sic-Ajo)
The first half of the race was the usual mix in order however with every lap the race hot up, a tight battle between Brit Danny Kent and Italian Romano Fenati saw them both duel for position till confidence got the better of both the riders and ended up running wide together losing several places, soon after Romano Fenati crashed out the race on Lap 9 along with Louis Rossi who had a strong start to the race.
The latter stage of the race was intense racing, tactical Cortese stayed close behind Vinales, both lapping similar times. When the chequered flag was near with a few laps to go the battle was on, swapping and changing position countless times making your mind boggle with who was leading who. The last half a lap was nail biting (seriously, i have no nails left) they came up against lapped riders, getting mixed up with them and eager to get his first Moto3 win Sandro Cortese pulled out some agressive (but not over-agressive or dangerous in my opinion) moves on Maverick Vinales to take the first step of the podium!
Vinales wasn't too happy after the race, his fiery Spanish side and lack of experience in these 'situations' got the better of him, his team having to assure him that Cortese was within his rights, while Sandro himself was full of smiles, a season he needs to make an impression on and that he is certainly doing!
Louis Salom joined them on the podium after a great fight with Zulfahmi Khairuddin who put his stamp on the race and was close to being the first Malaysian rider to grace the podium, i'm sure we'll be seing more of him in future races.
Although it proved an exciting race, promising Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira retired due to a mechanical failure after such promising practise and Qualifying, bad luck Miguel.
Retirements: Jasper Iwema (8 laps), Romano Fenati (9 laps), Louis Rossi (9 laps), Issac Vinales (10 laps), Danny Webb (15 laps), Adrian Martin (17 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps)
[Sandro Cortese-1st, Maverick Vinales-2nd, Louis Salom-3rd]
Moto2:
There seems to never be a dull race in Moto2 and Estoril was no different.
Marc Marquez led the first lap but by the second it was Thomas Luthi who was in front, Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco all staying within over taking distance of each other. Luthi led for the majority of the race with the fight for podium going on, not far behind the top 4 were Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone pushing hard though once again Redding dropped off rapidly to the middle of the pack finishing in 11th. Iannone was on a charge but a mistake on Lap 11 saw him temporarily run his own race off-track, re-joining and eventually finishing in 5th.
Lap 17 was when any hope of a victory started to get less likely for Luthi as he wasn't able to pull a gap from Marquez and Espargaro who both over took the Swiss and they themselves pulled out a gap.
For the second race running the victory would either be Pol Espargaro's or Marc Marquez's. With quite a few chop and changes (after all this is Moto2 - nothing can be decided with only a few changes in lead) a fierce spat between both Spaniards and it was Pol who was first to slip, not literally but he ran wide at the chicane on the last lap and it was all over, 2nd place was the place he'd finish, giving the win to Marquez.
A hand-shake on the cool down lap (Maverick Vinales take note) Espargaro was gracious in defeat both riders enjoyed the rivalry and happy to be on podium. Once again joining them was Thomas Luthi.
Retirements: Mike de Meglio (6 laps), Simone Corsi (7 laps), Axel Pons (17 laps), Yuki Takahashi (21 laps)
[Marc Marquez-1st, Pol Espargaro-2nd, Thomas Luthi-3rd]
MotoGP:
MotoGP seems to be back to it's own familiar pattern (which i know some fans are finding... less interesting) With both Qatar and Jerez behind him it was Casey Stoner that has well and truly returned to his previous seasons form - winning by a mile.
What i'd like to type: 'it was a a close battle between front runner Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo both pinching the lead of each other throughout the race...'
What really happened: Casey Stoner had a terrific start and led the race from start to finish, pulling out a big enough gap from Lorenzo in which all Lorenzo could do was sniff the exhaust fumes from the Honda rider.
That was the story from the front of the pack and all though a very deserving race for Stoner and his pure skill to pull away from the pack for the whole race it does get a bit mundane doesn't it (but then all though i try to be as un-biased as possible on my blog i am a Lorenzo fan so this is very frustrating)
Further down it was Valentino Rossi, that i think i can safely say every MotoGP fan was happy for him, finding a bit of pace he was able to stay consistant and cross the line in 7th - the highest he's finished all season, feeling more at one with the bike i hope Ducati are on the right road but teammate Nicky Hayden had an appalling race finishing in 11th, apparently the bike was all out of sync, not handling like it should. As i've said before it's either or in the Ducati team it seems, fingers crossed that they'll soon have both riders up there on form.
Talking of form it was another disappointing race for Yamaha's Ben Spies, although he took 8th from race rival Stefan Bradl, who may i say is having a great rookie year for LCR Honda, Spies had a positive start up at the front however he himself admitting his over-confidence with finally feeling like he was in control, led him to make several errors during the first half of the race. Feeling the pressure that comes with lack of performance but finally being at one with his bike maybe we'll see him up there in Le Mans.
Having a corker of a season is the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both having a race between themselves and finishing 4th and 5th respectively.
Fastest CRT: Aleix Espargaro
Retirements: Karel Abraham (5 laps), James Ellison (10 laps), Yonny Hernandez (12 laps), Mattia Pasini (17 laps), Ivan Silva (17 laps)
[Casey Stoner-1sr, Jorge Lorenzo-2nd, Dani Pedrosa-3rd]
Next up:
Formula 1 is back this weekend in Spain for the start of the European races followed the week after by MotoGP at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.
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