Rossi ‘Rains’ at Silverstone
With Britain’s reputation for wet weather always lurking in the riders’ minds, Rossi was happy to see the race declared wet, as his pace in the dry saw Marquez and Lorenzo both look hard to catch. Although it had been ten years since he won in the wet, he has always been close. Passing Marquez on the second lap, the Repsol Honda rider appeared to be able to keep pace with Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha – until he crashed. Proving that he really is a master in any weather, the 36 year-old now sits 12 points ahead of Lorenzo and critically, Marquez’ chances of staging a comeback are now in tatters. In a fortunate twist for the organisers, the blue ribbon class is far from decided, always a drawcard for fans to pack the stands. The Moto2 and Moto3 classes both have runaway leaders in what is almost a complete reversal of previous years.
The next round is in Rossi’s backyard, so will he be able to add to the gap or will his talented teammate reel him back? The random factor will be if another rider manages to split the two as they head into the showdown for the biggest crown in motorcycling. Meanwhile, Yamaha are all smiles…
Moto2 saw Zarco again at the front of a spread out field, taking the win from a surprised Alex Rins, who thought he was fourth, heading Tito Rabat. With the winning margin of over three seconds, with third a further two adrift and Alex Marquez getting a decent finish a second further back in fifth, it was a full twenty seconds before Sam Lowes crossed in sixth. The Silverstone weather definitely saw the cards fall in a unique British way. Zarco has now pulled out to an almost untouchable lead of 85 points over Rins but Rabat is a mere three behind him in what is really the main remaining fight in the Moto2 game.
Keeping the local fans in raptures, Danny Kent dominated the Moto3 race in an even more spread out race than the Moto2. With the smaller machines starting the event, Kent destroyed the field, winning by eight seconds over podium debutant, Jacub Kornfeil. Niccolo Antonelli was thied, thirteen seconds off Kent’s pace and teen sensation, Fabio Quartararo, almost 50 seconds after Kent, lead a straggling pack in fourth. Like Zarco, Kent is almost at the champion-elect stage with a 70-point buffer as the season closes in on the final few races.
