MotoE: Spain, Race 2

The silent, electric motorcycles of MotoE, the identically prepared Energica Eco Corse bikes, are ready to take on their second race of 2020, and their second race in Andalusia at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Jerez, Spain.  19 bikes will be on track to do battle. The race for MotoE, is go!  Six laps scheduled, once again for these bikes, to preserve enough of a battery charge for them.  A battle ensues for the lead right from the start.  Polesitter Dominique Aegerter of Switzerland (former Moto2 racer), is being pressed by experienced Spaniard Jordi Torres, who has raced in Moto3, Moto2, and for a few years in World Superbike.  Torres takes the lead, but he runs wide.  Bikes scatter as a rider goes down!  That's the #70 machine of Tommaso Marcon of Italy, riding for Tech3 E-Racing.  Ouch!  Even on an electric motorcycle, you can still have quite the skid, and that is what he's got, big style.

These bikes might be silent operators but they are just as precarious to ride as their gasoline powered cousins in MotoGP, Moto2, or Moto3.  Meanwhile, Aegerter has his hands full, as on the outside line, bike #11 is going for the lead.  That is Matteo Ferrari of Italy on the Tretino Gressini MotoE bike.  Ferrari gets the best of Aegerter as we are approaching the halfway mark in this race.  Not so fast, says Ferrari.  He comes back on the outside and uses electric jet propulsion to try and get back around Aegerter.  The Italian vs. the Frenchman.  Whoops!  We have another rider down.  It looks like the #66 of Finland's Niki Tuuli has gone down.  Tuuli riding for his countryman Niklas Ajo's team.  Ajo is a former Moto3 and Moto2 racer who is now a team owner.

Tuuli looks to be down and out as we have three laps to go.  We're past halfway in round two of the MotoE championship for 2020.  Eric Granado of France, he has moved up to second place on the #51 Avintia Esponsorama Racing bike, and he is giving Dominique Aegerter all he can handle.  Oh!  This is a mess!  Aegerter and Granado are down and out!  They make contact, and like an explosion, both riders are pitched off their bikes in a cloud of smoke!  Aegerter restarts his bike, and he is going to come back and win this MotoE race here in Spain!  Wow!  How could you have scripted that ending?  You couldn't have.  That was a wild finish!

#77 Dominique Aegerter    CHE.   Dynavolt Intact GP

The Dynavolt Intact GP team can celebrate!  Aegerter leads the points standings on 41 points over Jordi Torres 11 markers behind, followed by Eric Granado, and Italian Mattia Casadei.  Aegerter, Jordi Torres, and Casadei, are your podium finishers in MotoE race two, here in Spain.  So, round two of MotoE is in the bag.  Now, the MotoE riders get a break during the month of August.  We will not see them until the middle of September when they are slated to race round three of the championship, in San Marino, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Italy's Adriatic coast.  See you for coverage of that race, when it happens, here on 2 Wheelin'.  So long, for now.

Moto3: Spain, Race 2

It is time now, to bring the action, in Moto3, for the second consecutive week, in Andalusia at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit.  It's time for the young riders, the future motorcycle racing stars, to strut their stuff.  It is a quick getaway as we begin the Moto3 race, the second one, here in Spain.  #24 Tatsuki Suzuki is off to a fast start and so is #79 Ai Ogura.  A couple rapid Japanese riders are on the move already.  Gabriel Rodrigo of Argentina has taken the lead on bike #2, the Kommerling Gresini Moto3 Honda.  A good number of these bikes in Moto3 are Honda's and there are Husqvarna's and KTM's as well.  Wow.  Suzuki really wanted to take Rodrigo into the turn, and Rodrigo is having none of it and does the over under on Tatsuki Suzuki!

Ouch.  Two riders have already spilled in turn one.  Andrea Migno, the Italian, on the #16 Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM, (another one of Valentino Rossi's young charges who's career he is helping to develop), and also, the #71 Red Bull KTM Tech3 team rider, Ayumu Sasaki of Japan.  Like VR46, Red Bull KTM has riders they are developing for the future who will move up the ladder to Moto2 and MotoGP in years to come.  For now, these two riders are out of this race.  There's still more crashing!  It's not over yet.  A nice aligned order, turns into a crash, bang, wallop, in the space of a couple turns.

#5 Jaume Masia from Spain, riding a Leopard Racing Honda (no debates this time on Leopard or Leo-pard, please), and #79 bike (who we saw on the front row) Ai Ogura of Japan, on the first of the Honda Team Asia bikes, have crashed out.  They both went for a ride, right together, and as you can tell from the pictures, the Honda Team Asia mechanics are none too happy.  One long conga line begins to develop, as is so often the case in Moto3 competition.  We've actually fast forwarded the tape, ladies and gentlemen.  Yours truly didn't even notice, but between turns nine and 11, Tatsuki Suzuki has gone around Gabriel Rodrigo.  Another fall, another sliding fall, at turn 11.  Albert Arenas, from Spain, on the #75 Husqvarna for another famous junior motorcycle team, Aspar, that has also seen success in the big leagues, is down.

This race is 22 laps in duration and we've pressed the fast forward button once more.  Suzuki and Rodrigo run 1-2 and if and when points are awarded when this race is done and dusted, Suzuki will have a five point cushion on Rodrigo for second in the championship.  Albert Arenas fell and might be out of this race but he still maintains a six point cushion on Suzuki in the championship table right now.  Suzuki leads Rodrigo with John McPhee, Raul Fernandez, and Darryn Binder, younger brother of MotoGP KTM star Brad Binder, following.

Oh my!  Speaking of Darryn Binder, he is third now, and he is putting the move on Rodrigo for second spot!  Where did he come from?  He is now second behind Suzuki.  It is now the final corner, the final corner of the last lap.  Darryn Binder, we were singing his praises a bit earlier on, but he's gone backwards and is fifth.  So, he will get a top five out of this race today.  He is actually still in contention.  It's a five way battle for the victory.  Tatsuki Suzuki, John McPhee, Celestino Vietti, and Spaniard Jeremy Alcoba, are all battling for victory.

Suzuki looks like he is going to hold off the challenge of everybody as they come to the line!  Yes!  Alcoba looked like he wanted to make a move, but tucked back in line and so, Tatsuki Suzuki is victorious in Moto3 in the second event here at Jerez de la Frontera.

#24 Tatsuki Suzuki     JPN.     SIC58 Squadra Corsa Honda

This is a great victory for the team that was founded for and by the late, great MotoGP legend, Marco Simoncelli.  A great victory for them!  Suzuki, McPhee, and Vietti, are the podium finishers.  The next event for Moto3 is coming up, in two weeks, along with Moto2 and MotoGP, at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, at the Brno Autodrom in a couple of weeks.  Stay tuned for that one.  Adios, from Andalusia for now.

Moto2: Spain, Race 2

It's time now, for the second Moto2 race of the season, and it's deja vu as we are back, or still in, Andalusia, in Spain, for this race.  Pole position is held by #72 Marco Bezzecchi.  It's red lights, out, and we're off and racing in Moto2 race number two at Jerez!  A good getaway for Bezzecchi as the other riders in the back of the pack are scrambling for position already. There's a whole swarm of Moto2 riders ready to take the fight to Bezecchi on the Sky Racing VR46 bike.  Bezecchi is one of the riders for the team owned by Valentino Rossi, hence the VR46 part of the team name.  Jockeying for positions already is happening, as we move to the first turn on the first lap of 23 scheduled for this race.  Everyone seems to be through the first few corners cleanly.  They fly onto the back straight for the first time.  Marco Bezzechi leads Enea Bastianinni and Luca Marini. 

Marini takes a peak to the outside but thinks better of it.  Nope.  He still wants it.  Bastianinni has challengers on all sides.  Marini and Bezzechi are both right there and they want to sandwich the Italtrans Racing Team rider.  Marini and Bezzechi are both on VR46 Sky Racing bikes.  Bastianinni isn't taking the heat sitting down.  He's fighting back and opening a lead, or trying to get away from the Marini/Bezzechi duo.  The bikes all run single file and we are now on lap four.  #22 Sam Lowes, #88 Jorge Martin, and #9 Jorge Navarro are all pushing hard.  A Brit and a couple of Spaniards, scrapping for position.

Martin and Navarro and now nose to tail.  Whoops!  We have a crash in turn nine.  This has been calamity corner.  We did see a spill at this turn in the MotoGP race.  Lap ten, and we are trying to see who the rider who fell, was.  I think it was Navarro who was just in the battle for position that was being described.  Jorge Navarro has ditched his motorcycle.  The marshals attend to the bike and Navarro is fine, but he's out of this race.  Turn eight on lap ten, and it's a battle for the lead of this motorcycle race.  Turn nine is earning it's name as calamity corner.  We've got another rider down on the deck.  Can't tell who it is.  Trying to get a read on the leathers and what the sponsorship says. 

It's one of the Hewlett Packard/Flex Box riders.  It is one of the bikes for the Flexi Box HP 40 team.  It's either #7 Lorenzo Baldassari from Italy, or #40, Hector Garzo, from Spain.  That #40 bike has become famous in Moto2.  A lot of riders who have moved on to MotoGP have ridden that number and that particular team's bike.  Not much else has happened in this race.  It's a near wire to wire victory for Enea Bastianini on the #33 Italtrans Racing Team Kalex Moto2 bike.  The celebratory wheelie and the slam of the fuel tank, and Bastianini celebrates!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

#33 Enea Bastianini     ITA.   Italtrans Racing Team Kalex

So, a fairly quick Moto2 race is done and dusted.  Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi round out the podium places.  Tetsuta Nagashima remains in the points lead with 50 points, just two ahead of Bastianini, who gains more with his win, and Luca Marini, five points behind in third.  50, 48, 45, the points tallies for the top three in points in Moto2, headed to the next event at Brno in the Czech Republic in a couple weeks.  Excited to bring that race to you.  See you soon, for more Moto2 racing, right here on 2 Wheelin'.  Bye bye, for now.

MotoGP Round 2: Spain, Race 2

For the second consecutive week, MotoGP is ready to race in Spain, in Andalusia at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit.  Fabio Quartararo won the race last week.  He wants to go back to back.  Can he accomplish that feat?  We are about to find out.  It's time to race, for a second time at Jerez de la Frontera!  Fabio Quartararo is the man starting from pole position.  Remember, Marc Marquez is not in this race as his arm is healing.  So, there will be one less contender today, but it should still be a sizzler of a motorcycle race.

Red lights, on.  Red lights, out!  Away we go!  Fabio Quartararo is the one who gets the jump on the rest of the fiueld but he has other riders ganging up on him already right from the off.  Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, and Francesco Bagnaia all want a piece of the pie and we've not even reached the first corner yet!  Oh!  Oh!  We've got a rider down in the middle of the field already!  Ouch!  Miguel Oliveira is pitched off his motorcycle in spectacular fashion!  He is on the #88 Red Bull Tech3 KTM, one of the four in the field, and the second of the satellite team bikes.  There are two teams.  A factory squad and a satellite squad.  Well, Oliveira got the worst of the deal on this one.  He has taken a tumble.  25 laps scheduled for this motorcycle race as the race continues.

The two Yamaha factory bikes are up to challenging Fabio Quartararo already.  Maverick Vinales is on the inside, going for the lead, and right there with him is his team mate, the legend, "The Doctor", Valentino Rossi.  Wow.  Vinales runs wide into the corner, look, and that allows Oliveira to get by and pass for the lead of this motorcycle race.  The other riders are going to be in a mess of trouble because if he gets a head of steam and he clears off from the rest of the pack, there will be no catching him.  There will be no stopping this fast Frenchman.  Rossi makes a move around Vinales for second spot.

Meantime, the Ducati's are going for it.  It's the two Pramac Racing team mates, Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia, having a fair old dust up for third.  Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati is also there.  It's either Dovizioso or it's Danilo Petrucci.  Actually, both of them are squabbling for position as well.  Pol Espargaro is right behind these two on the second of the Gresini Aprilia RS-GP motorcycles.  He is team mates with Bradley Smith for 2020.  We watch the four riders dice from the overhead drone camera.  Whoops!  One of the KTM riders has gone down.  This was a fairly gentle low side wipe out and not a tank slapper. It looks like Miguel Oliveira went down and is back up and in the race again.

We were watching a strong battle for fourth place between Jack Miller, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, and Takaaki Nakagami before all that other action happened.  Yes.  It comes up on the television screen that Aleix Espargaro has crashed in turn two.  It is game over, perhaps, for the Gresini Aprilia rider.  Rossi is opening a margin, meanwhile, over the third place scrum that we can see between Vinales, Miller, and Bagnaia.  Bagnaia is pouring on the steam now, look.  He's rocketing up on Vinales!  Will he nab him before the braking zone into the next turn?  I was about to say, no, but look at Bagnaia!  It's "Francesco the Flyer!"  Maybe that will be a nickname for him.  He's diving on the inside of Vinales in the center of the corner!

Will you look at that!  He made the pass stick!  This race has been so exciting, we're already on lap 11.  Yours truly has not even been counting laps and this motorcycle race will be half over on the next one.  That's how exhilarating the action has been.  Oh no!  There's a crash in turn nine.  We've got a rider going one way and the bike going the other.  It's one of the Pramac Ducati's, and it's Danilo Petrucci who just crashed out.  He low sided the bike and wiped out in the gravel.  It could be game over from here.  Actually, Petrucci is just on a Ducati Team bike, but I think he just went off. 

Timing and scoring indicates it was Petrucci who fell off.  Half distance and Bagnaia puts a move on Rossi for second.  Look out!  There's another wreck!  It's another KTM, over and out, and this time it's Brad Binder, the South African rider who is team mates at the KTM factory squad with Pol Espargaro.  He put his knee down, and the bike just spits him off!  It's like riding a bull.  When the bull doesn't want the cowboy on his back, he just rolls him right off, and here, it's like the old 500cc days where an ill handling motorcycle would just fling a rider over the handlebars and into orbit.  Binder is going for a ride!

He lands hard on his side in the gravel trap, praying that the bike won't land on top of him!  That one gives you the shivers watching the replay.  Game over for Binder.  Lap 17, and also game over for #21 Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.  He's just coasting.  What happened there?  My best guess is that the electronics system on the motorcycle is playing up and it just shuts it down.  He either has a gearbox full of neutrals or the engine just shut down unexpectedly because of an electronic default.  Morbidelli pulls to the side of the track, and it's a DNF for the Italian.  Speaking of DNF's we have more mechanical misery and mayhem.  There's blue smoke billowing from the tailpipe of a Ducati.

Halfway through the race and Bagnaia's bike is smoking.  That looks like blue oil smoke.  It's probably blown a ring or gasket seal and is puking oil out the back all over the place.  The marshals best get a slippery surface flag, the yellow flag with red lines.  Meanwhile, the Monster Energy Yamaha boys are in a ding dong battle all their own.  Vinales shoots down the inside of Rossi.  But "The Doctor" is going to give his team mate a dose of his own medicine.  As this battle rages, the Ducati with the blown motor chugs its way into retirement.  Francesco Bagnaia, head in his hands, can't believe it!

That's the emotion of racing at a top level like this, especially in MotoGP.  These guys are the equivalent of Formula 1 drivers, just on two wheels.  Vinales is going to try Rossi again!  He's right on the rear tire of bike #46.  Rossi slams the door in his face at the end of the backstretch at 290 kilometers an hour!  That's 181 miles an hour for non metric measurement users, if you are keeping score at home.  Vinales, I believe is in his second year at Yamaha and he's in no mood to give anything to "The Doctor".  He's a real scrapper, and here he comes!  He is on the outside, look.  Bish, bash, bosh, he makes the pass.

Rossi is not going to play dead here.  The old dog still has fight in him.  Meantime, none of these shenanigans are going to bug Fabio Quatararo.  Fabs, is fabulous, and he's going to sweep up for a second straight week, in Andalusia!  Break out the broom!  Fabio Quartararo wins again in Spain!

#20 Fabio Quartararo     FRA.    Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamahaz YZM R1

Quartararo says it was the hardest race of his life because it was so hot.  In the hot air, the riders can barely breathe.  You have the ambient heat, and the heat coming off the engine and the bikes around you.  The blokes of MotoGP have earned their money today in Andalusia.  The next MotoGP race is in two weeks, at the Brno Autodrom in Brno, Czech Republic.  Join us there, for more action packed MotoGP mayhem.  Adios from Andalusia, everyone.  Take care.

Despite his injury clearance, Marc Marquez won't race MotoGP Sunday

Marc Marquez will not race in the Sunday MotoGP event at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain even though he has been cleared by doctors after breaking his arm and it healing steadily.  He just does not feel ready physically to do so.

https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2020/07/25/marc-marquez-wont-race-motogp-repsol-honda-team-alberto-puig-alex-marquez-fabio-quartararo-jerez/

MotoE Spain: Race 1

Just like their petrol powered counterparts, the relatively new MotoE championship for electric motorcycles, is resuming, or maybe even beginning, their 2020 campaign, here in Spain at Jerez de la Frontera, and they too, will also race here next weekend in the Andalucia Grand Prix.  These motorcycles are much like the cars of Formula E and being powered by electricity, compared to a regular motorbike, make very little noise.  Something for new fans to get used to, and yet, perhaps, a way to conserve and clean up the environment, if indeed electric motorcycle batteries are recyclable.  All riders and teams in the MotoE championship, use identically prepared electric motorcycles, supplied by Energica.  The Energica Ego Corsa.  So, this race will have a level playing field and it will all come down to rider skill. 

OK.  It's time for MotoE action, in Spain.  On the pole, is bike #51 ridden by Brazilian Eric Granado for Avintia ESponsorama Racing.  Granado looks like he has the lead going into turn one for the first time as the red lights are out and we are racing here at Jerez de la Frontera.  Granado is opening a gap on second place rider Niki Tuuli of Finland on bike #66 for Avant Ajo MotoE owned by former Moto2 racer and fellow Finn Niki Ajo.  This is a short race.  Just six laps and we're already on the last lap of this MotoE race.  There's probably only so much charge in the batteries on these motorcycles that they can only run fairly short distances compared to their petrol fueled counterparts.

But that doesn't mean the racing is any less exciting!  The stewards have dinged Alex de Angelis on bike #15 for a jumped start.  He will have to do a ride through penalty in the pit lane to redress that.  de Angelis, the Argentinian rider has raced in MotoGP and in FIM World Superbike if my memory serves me correctly, and now, he is a contender in MotoE in it's second season, albeit an abbreviated one, as we know due to the virus pandemic.  Big time action and a battle for the lead as we see Niki Tuuli challenging Eric Granado for that top spot.  It's the Finn and the Brazilian, going for it hammer and tongs at the front!

Granado maintains the lead and guess what?  He opened it up and dominated this race to the flag!  Lap six of six.  MotoE in Spain, the first go around, is done and dusted.  Eric Granado is your winner!  Celebrate your victory!  You've got it.  Matteo Ferrari and Dominique Aegerter, riders who have run classes like Moto3, World Supersport, and Moto2 in the past, round out the podium in MotoE.  Lukas Tulovic of Germany and Mattia Casadei of Italy round out the top five.  In sixth through ninth it's Jordi Torres, Alejandro Medina, Xavier Simeon, (Moto2 veteran from Belgium), and Australian World Superbike and World Endurance rider Josh Hook.

#51 Eric Granado     BRA.

That'll do it for the first race back for MotoGP in a while, and we get to do all of this again, this weekend.

Moto3: Spain, Race 1

It's time for the resumption of the season for MotoGP's junior category.  We are ready to rumble in Moto3 for the teenage riders who hope to make the big time and move into a coveted place in MotoGP, on the big bikes, in the not too distant future.  The revs are up!  We're ready to start!  Red lights, on.  Red lights, out!  Away we go!  On the front row, we have Tatsuki Suzuki from Japan on the #24 SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda and Andrea Migno from Italy on the #16 SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM.  Migno is another young talent under the tutelage of multiple MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and his team.  We have 22 laps scheduled for the Moto3 race. 

Into the first turn for the first time, and we've got two motorcycles down in the gravel trap at the back, already.  They will not complete any laps.  Zero, zilch, nothing.  Carlos Tatay of Spain on the #99 Reale Avintia KTM and the unlucky #7 bike of Italian Dennis Foggia for Leopard (or Leo pard) Racing, are out of this one.  Trust me, folks, it's Leopard, not Leo pard.  Tatay has an expression like, "what the heck was that all about?" as he walks away.  Game over.  We watch the race unfold from overhead either via drone or helicopter.  More than likely its a drone camera.  Back on terra firma, and it's a huge pack snarling away at the front.  We're already at halfway!  Lap 11 of 22!  Tony Arbolino of Italy leads Jeremy Alcoba from Spain.  Since there's so many bikes in this one pack, here's the order.

1. #14 Tony Arbolino     ITA.  Honda

2. #52 Jeremy Alcoba    ESP.  Honda

3. #75 Albert Arenas    ESP. KTM

4. #40 Darryn Binder     RSA. KTM

5. #13 Celestino Vietti   ITA.   KTM

6. #17 John McPhee      GBR. Honda

7. #24 Tatsuki Suzuki    JPN.  Honda

8. #2 Gabriel Rodrigo   ARG. Honda

9. #16 Andrea Migno    ITA.  Honda

10. #25 Raul Fernandez ESP. KTM

There's your top ten as this race gets underway.  These younger riders, many in their teenage years, are really competitive as we see the bikes fan out three, sometimes four wide on the straightaways.  They can run at least two wide into the corners.  Albert Arenas leads this motorcycle races now from Tony Arbolino, who was leading before, and he's putting all kinds of pressure on the Spaniard.  Now we fast forward to money time.  The chips are all on the table now, with two laps remaining, here, in Spain, in Moto3.  Moto3 veteran John McPhee, is leading, after having his Honda down in sixth spot at the completion of lap one.

But he has a whole snarling back of at least half a dozen riders behind him, nipping at his heels.  Blink and you'll miss something.  The top five are all in this.  John McPhee, Tony Arbolino, Albert Arenas, Xavi Vierge, and Darryn Binder.  Two laps to go now as we watch Arbolino pass McPhee for the lead!  This is intense!  Oh dear, and we have a rider down.  nIt's a chartreuse green and white bike.  Trying to see the number.  Oh my!  It's Darryn Binder on the #40 bike!  Binder is one of the riders you always expect at the front.  He tucked the front wheel and went over and out.  Well, not over, but tucking the front wheel results in a low side slide and he's in the gravel trap for good.

Game over for Darryn Binder as we reach the final lap and a mano e mano battle for the win.  It's going to be down to a fight between John McPhee and Tony Arbolino to settle this one, ladies and gentlemen.  Lap 22.  Mano e mano fight?  Not hardly!  The pack is swarming once more.  Now, the order has changed?  Where's McPhee gone?  He's third.  He's still on the podium.  But now it's the battle of the Italian vs. the Spaniard.  It's Arbolino vs. Arenas.  It looks like McPhee may not be defeated yet.  ...And, we have another fallen rider.

Someone in the middle of the pack gets clipped and loses their balance, tumbling onto the gravel trap.  Arenas in the lead and a photo finish for second between #14 Arbolino and #79 Ai Ogura of Japan!  Who is it going to be in Moto3 at Jerez?  Arenas wins it!

#14 Albert Arenas    ESP.     Rivacold Snipers Team Honda

Albert Arenas is victorious in his home race!  Ogura second, Arbolino third.  That's the podium.  Andrea Migno and Celestino Vietti round out the top five, the two Italians.  Sixth through tenth, the order is Raul Fernandez, Gabriel Rodrigo, Tatsuki Suzuki, Niccolo Antonelli, and Jaume Masia.  We get to do all of this again, next weekend, at the same circuit.  See you next week for more Moto3 action as all three divisions in MotoGP have officially resumed their seasons in style.  So long for now.  Can't wait for racing next week!