Good times…
Scott Redding – Unbelievable. Scott rocked up to Mugello brimming with confidence after Le Mans, bagged pole position, and took his second victory of the season in emphatic style. He utterly dominated and controlled the race, and left Italy with a 43 point lead in the Moto2 World Championship, while his title rivals had a shitter. This has to be Scott’s year, but the only half-decent MotoGP seat going next season is (more than likely) Stefan Bradl’s LCR Honda. That’ll do.
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Jorge Lorenzo – Despite looking like he’d been mugged after Pedrosa pinched pole in the dying seconds of qualifying, J-Lo bounced back with a resounding victory: his third consecutive win at Mugello. During the opening laps, it looked like Jorge and the two Repsol Hondas were going to make it an interesting race. J-lo soon pulled the pin, and the Mamba celebration.
Michael Dunlop – the only class Mickey D hadn’t won at the TT was the Superbike, but that changed yesterday evening. The hugely emotional nephew of Joey Dunlop absolutely mullered the rest, and looks unstoppable for the rest of race week on the island. He and the TT Legends squad look to be forming quite a partnership.
Josh Brookes – The TT novice took fastest ever newcomer record with a 127mph lap and a top-ten finish. Ripper, mate.
Cal Crutchlow – Yet another awesome ride from Cal to bag his second consecutive podium. Not only was he nursing a fractured leg, he’s had to put up with a mass of uncertainty/smack talk over his future, but it finally looks like CC35 will be with Tech3 again for 2014. Maybe.
Bad times…
Marc Marquez – A grand total of four crashes (including a 170mph wall-basher) over the weekend at Mugello and claiming a fetching chinstrap wasn’t what Marquez had planned for the Italian GP. He looked like he might take the fight to J-Lo after passing his struggling teammate but binned it soon after. Whatever happened in Tuscany, the boy’s raw pace and supernatural skills shone through again.
Marcel Schrotter’s gran – The German Moto2 rider is a prime example of how fecked this sport is. Struggling for cash, his gran sold her car so Marcel could race and repaid her faith with a front row. He had a nightmare race, though.
Valentino Rossi – Some were tagging this race as Rossi’s make or break outing, and things weren’t looking too grand for the GOAT after he qualified 7th on the grid. And it didn’t get any better when Alvaro Bautista decided to play Road Rash at Turn 2 and send most of the crowd home. This was the first time in 17 years that an Italian hadn’t finished on the podium at Mugello. Taxi for Alvaro…
Alvaro Bautista – See above
Bradley Smith – Yep, the balding youngster may have been struggling to adapt to the M1 this year, suffering a brace of enormous highsides at the weekend in the process, but you can’t deny his commitment when he raced to a top-ten finish with a broken scaphoid and hurty finger
Dave Moffitt – JHS Racing’s Moffitt launched the GSX-R1000 into the scenery during the Superbike race at the Isle of Man. For a 160mph crash, Dave was lucky to get away with a punctured lung and broken ribs. Get well soon Dave!
