Pol on pole! that was the story for the Styrian MotoGP, or Austria 2.0. In terms of classification, it was P2 Takaaki Nakagami, P3Johann Zarco and then Joan Mir. However Zarco had a penalty for the huge accident in the Austrian GP, somehow the stewards blamed him and not Morbidelli! So his pit lane start put Joan Mir P3 on the track. Zarco was held at the pit lane exit for an extraordinary amount of time before being released, just to add insult to injury.
Joan Mir shot away from the rest and pulled a lead early on, but it was not long before Jack Miller undercut him to take the lead within the first lap. So it was Miller, Mir and Nakagami to settle in on the opening of 28 laps. It was like that until Mir using the agile Suzuki to his advantage went past Miller with 24 laps to go, showing all of his world champion class. Leading the group Joan pulled half a second on the others and was settling into a nice rhythm (having already given back a place for a turn one infringement). Lap after lap Mir was smooth and consistent showing the rest the way around the Red Bull Ring. This was Joan’s race barring his mistake or another incident. With 14 laps to go Mir had a 1.9 second lead.
With 12 laps to go. Bang! Deja-vu. We saw the red flag out. Maverick Vinales had jumped off his Yamaha at 140mph, no brakes! The bike destroying itself in the airbag and catching fire. Drama once again at the Red Bull Ring. At that point, it was Mir, Nakagami and Miller, top three.
The restart took some time with an airbag replacement. New grid was 1. Joan Mir 2. Takaaki Nakagami 3. Jack Miller. Once again it was Mir who shot off the line to take his rightful place in the lead. Soon though it was Miller taking the lead with Mir, Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira all tightly packed.
That was the status quo until with six laps to go Oliveira slid past Joan Mir to settle into a comfortable 3rd place. Four to go and Pol Espargaro pushed ahead of Miller to justify his pole position and took the lead.
Down to the last lap and it was a Miller/Espargaro scrap, with Oliveira lurking in third. The last corner and as Miller and Espargaro had their ruck, Miguel Oliveira slid past them with the most intelligent riding we have seen for some time. Over the line and into the history books, the first premier class win by a Portuguese rider and the first premier class win for Herve Poncharal and the Tech 3 team. In every respect, a popular and welcome win for the Red Bull sponsored KTM Tech 3 team, newly formed.
This was to be Joan Mir’s race, but a wayward Yamaha put pay to that. Mir will be back, with all that talent, that is for sure.
1. Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 2. Jack Miller Pramac Racing | 3. Pol Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by @motogp
・・・
Every ride should be an adventure… Tell us where you’re riding @bikedirectory and we will feature your pics and add your location to our directory. Also, we want to crowdfund and publish a book with 50 of the best short stories/poems or anecdotes that we can, and we need your help to do it. Be bold and get writing, and re-writing, and drop us a story. Stay safe! Visithttps://bikedirectory.co.uk/get-published/and don’t forget to follow and/or like us!
・・・
#MotoGP#MiguelOlivera#JackMiller #PolEspargaro#BTsport#bikedirectory#StryianGP#Motorcycle#Racing#Motorsport#ThisIsMotoGP
Author: Martin Northern
Founder of Bike Directory
