There’s been serious action in Italy at Mugello this weekend, during the 6th round of the 2014 championship, and here’s a recap of some of the most spectacular ones.
On Friday, Yamaha Tech3 rookie Pol Espargaro was the “hero” of the day, with a very nasty crash he took at a fairly high speed which has left his bike quite mauled and his mechanics with a very serious rebuild to carry out. Despite the very hard fall he had, with sparks flying out from his bike and his leathers’ metal protectors, and him banging his head against the Italian track, Pol walked away from the crash with no serious injuries.
Apparently he still has a lot to learn on how the MotoGP motorcycles have to be ridden, as the slow-motion replay clearly shows him literally drifting the rear wheel, not unlike Moto2 riders use to. It looks like the 2013 Moto2 world champion has just learned a very important lesson, and even though Marquez is also doing this at least partially every now and then, this is definitely not the best way to ride. A bit scared maybe, clearly more focused and more careful, the Tech3 rookie managed to finish the Mugello race in a very respectable 5th position, ahead of much more experienced riders, including his brother Aleix, 9th fastest on Sunday.
When it comes to the MotoGP race, the Cructhlow-Bradl incident is definitely going to give you goose bumps, but thankfully, both the Ducati and LCR Honda riders are fine. The weekend was a tough one for both of them, Crutchlow adding his third DNF in 5 races, and Bradl coming off the bike twice in the same day.
The German had a nasty high-side in the Warm-up session, leaving him without major injuries, though considerably bruised, only to be taken down by Cructhlow’s Ducati, sliding along the track, impacting the Honda and causing a second high-side of the day. Horrific as Bradl’s tumbling looks, he walked away from it.
“I was keen to race here in Mugello but now I want to forget this weekend as soon as possible. In the morning I had a massive crash in the Warm Up session and I had to deal with the pain in the race. The feeling with the bike was good but after the start, in the first corner, I went wide losing three positions. After that I was preparing to overtake the guys in front of me but suddenly in the second chicane on turn five Crutchlow crashed and his bike tumbled on the track. I was not able to avoid it. His bike hit me in the back and I had another big crash similar to this morning. So I leave Italy with zero points and a lot of pain,” a very disappointed Bradl adds.
Google News