MotoGP: Marquez Closes in on 2019 Title After Aragon Win

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Marc Marquez has now won eight out of 14 races in the 2019 MotoGP season. © Getty Images

Marc Marquez once again romped towards an utterly dominant win in Aragon for Repsol Honda, with one hand now on the title.

At the start of his 200th race, he rabbited off and that was the last anyone ever saw of the Spaniard for the rest of the race. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller’s Pramac bike rounded out the podium.

Dovizioso started at the tail of the top ten and steadily clawed his way up the order. Meanwhile, Jack Miller was stuck with Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales for much of the race, before making his move.

The two Yamahas were practically sitting ducks as their inferior top speed came back to bite them hard. Teenage sensation Quartararo was dispatched off early, while Dovizioso and Miller charged on.

Later on, Vinales could only shake his head as the Ducati-powered duo blasted past him on the straight, as though he was standing still.

Elsewhere, the fast-starting Suzuki of Alex Rins careened into the back of Quartararo’s teammate, Franco Morbidelli.

The latter’s race was ended instantly, while Rins dropped to 17th.

Brad Binder Fends off Navarro

Brad Binder’s win at Aragon keeps his slim Moto2 title chances intact. © Gold and Goose

In Moto2, South Africa’s Brad Binder soaked up pressure from Jorge Navarro to seize his second win in four races at Aragon.

Tailing them was championship leader Alex Marquez who, like his brother, edged closer to his title. The latter was helped by the fact that rival Augusto Fernandez crashed out.

Pole man Marquez was passed by Binder before the first corner, with Luca Marini following aboard the KTM. Things looked down until fourth-placed Fernandez crashed out at the ‘reverse corkscrew’, rejoining the race dead last.

At the front, Binder cleared off after the opening lap, but Marini and Marquez did not let him get away easily. However, once they began to scrape over position, Binder managed to sneak away unnoticed.

In the latter stages, Jorge Navarro rose to the challenge a new challenger, who dispatched Marini easily.

Now with clean air, Marquez redoubled his efforts to chase Binder, though he struggled to catch up. Soon after, Navarro made short work of him and set his sights on race leader Binder.

The Spaniard closed within half a second of the South African heading into the final lap, though it was too late.

Canet Storms to 3rd Win in 2019

Aron Canet is now only two points behind Moto3 championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porte. © Gold and Goose

Aron Canet weathered an early onslaught from fellow riders, until he too disappeared at the front.

The Spaniard went from pole position to victory, although he had an early hiccup, courtesy a track limits warning.

So, with an eagle eye on his bike, he built a huge 4.5 second advantage over the line. In the process, Canet slashed the gap to Lorenzo Dalla Porta down to two points.

This comes after Dalla Porta ended up battling for position amongst the midfield, crossing the line in tenth. To make things worse, the Spaniard received a penalty for exceeding track limits, which dropped him down to 11th.

In second place, in his maiden podium appearance was Ai Ogura in spite of injuries sustained at Misano. The Japanese rider pulled off incredible moves to keep second for Honda Team Asia.

Rounding out the podium was Sky Racing Team VR46 rider, Dennis Foggia, aboard the KTM. The Italian scythed through the pack from eleventh on the grid to equal his best ever finish in third.

Wildcard rider Carlos Tatay raised plenty of eyebrows by qualifying on the front row. Sadly, he could not sustain it and dropped like a stone, eventually finishing 12th.

 

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