[kropotkin thinks...] - 2016 Qatar MotoGP Sunday Round Up: Moto2 Madness, and the Daw

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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May you live in interesting times, runs an apocryphal Chinese curse. The first Grand Prix of 2016 certainly provided us with plenty of events which might be termed interesting, in both the common sense of the word and the apocryphal curse. The three races at Qatar were thrilling, tense, intriguing, and mind-bogglingly bizarre.

It is hard to know where to start. The first race of the day proved to be the most conventional, Moto3 serving up its usual treat. A very strong group of eight riders, including all of the championship favorites bar Fabio Quartararo, battled all race long for victory, Niccolo Antonelli finally coming out on top by just 0.007 seconds, beating Brad Binder into second.

The Moto3 draft lottery

Binder had controlled the group along with Romano Fenati for much of the race, and spent the last laps trying to convert that control into a win. The long run from the final corner to the line leaves two equally risky options: try to follow another rider through the final corner, and use their slipstream to slingshot yourself to victory; or try to push early in the lap and build just enough of a gap to hold off any attempts by others at using the draft. Binder settled on the latter, and nearly pulled it off.

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