By far, without a doubt, Hands Down! The best
race of the past weekend was the electrifying MotoGP race in Argentina,
where "The Doctor," nee
Valentino Rossi once again pulled out his scalpel and dissected the entire
MotoGP field!
Pole sitter Marc Marquez made the last minute
decision on the grid to switch to the "Softer" Hard compound rear
Bridgestone rubber, along with Cal Crutchlow, while the other Factory Riders,
most notably Rossi decided to use Bridgestone's "Harder" (extra) Hard
rear tyre especially formulated for the overly abrasive Argentina tarmac.
At the start Marquez rocketed away from the
field, building up a 4.3-second lead before Rossi, who'd started an unhappy
eighth began cutting into his lead after having moved up to second by lap-11.
Rossi chipped away and with nine laps
remaining had reduced the gap to Marquez to a scant three seconds, and was
carving three-tenths a lap off of the young Spaniard's lead, as next time by it
was 2.7-seconds, although I thought Valentino would run out of time.
And then with just six laps remaining, Rossi
was just a miniscule 0.6-seconds adrift of Marquez's Honda before the two
tussled for the lead! Then on the last lap, 24-of-25 it A-L-L went "Pear-shaped"
for Marquez, as Rossi passed him, Marquez re-passed, then Rossi took the lead
again, which Marc fought to reclaim the lead on his worn Bridgestone rubber and
clipped Rossi's rear tyre!
With Marquez crashing out of the race, the
incident was put under investigation but to Mwah, it was clearly Marquez's fault, as I found it
weird to be chanting Vali-Vali-Vali! Prior to The Doctor passing the upstart
Spaniard, since I'm typically a Marquez fan, yet was fascinated that the elder
Statesman of MotoGP at 36yrs old was putting on another clinic!
Rossi's second win of the season gives him
the points lead over fellow Italian "Desmo Dovy," which Bob Varsha anointed
him, as Andrea
Dovizioso's six points behind with Marquez's DNF
dropping him to fifth overall, 30-points adrift of Rossi with fifteen rounds
remaining...
