The racing weekend round-up: MotoGP

This weekend we had a very interesting MotoGP at Jerez under that Spanish sun. So what (and who) went down? Who were the winners and losers? We give you a definitive round up of it all right here…

Excitement factor: 5/10 – The Spanish Grand Prix is one that has thrown us a bundle of great moments in the past, yet this weekend there has practically been more talk of wings than racing…

But the real headline sits firmly with Valentino Rossi, with the Doctor uncharacteristically being able to nail the whole weekend and have excellent pace from start to finish; in comparison to his usual magician-like manner of pulling everything back in the second half of a race. Fending off his fellow Movistar Yamaha teammate Lorenzo with (relative) ease, Rossi’s beaming confidence-inspiring laughs and smiles are surely the war cry in the hunt for that next world title, perfectly capitalising on Jorge’s tyre issues.

The Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez did seem to be eyeing up that second place, but a mistake on the brakes meant the championship leader couldn’t do anything about the Yamaha’s on this day, and a mature ride meant no gun-hoe risks which could of cost him the points. The man wants his title back and is looking at the bigger picture after all. Fellow Spaniard Pedrosa finished over ten seconds behind the winner – a worrying stat for the Spaniard who failed to make the podium for the first time in his GP career. Ouch. The two Suzuki’s didn’t have a bad day though, rounding out the top six with Espargaro getting the better of Vinales.

The factory Ducati’s on the other hand had a weekend to forget with Iannone being the top finisher in seventh and Dovizioso claiming another DNF out of his hands; this time with a water pump issue. I don’t know how many mirrors Andrea has broken but surely some luck must be coming his way soon. And to make things even better for the Italian brand, Scott Redding finished dead last with severe tyre issues, denting his impressive start to the season.

Back into the sharper end and it was Pol Espargaro who was the top independent, managing to grab 8th on the Tech 3 machine with Laverty and Barbera rounding out the top ten. Crutchlow grabbed 11th and his first points of the season, followed by fellow Brit Bradley Smith, Loris Baz, Stefan Bradl and Yonny Hernandez taking the last point in 15th.

Overall: A proccession? maybe. But a big forecast for the year. The GOAT won’t be going down without a fight…

Good Day: Rossi, A Espargaro, Laverty – Winning ways, beating Vinales, another top ten
Bad Day: Redding, Dovizioso, Pedrosa- Dead last, another unlucky DNF, first Spanish MotoGP of the podium.