No points for Bendsneyder in chaotic Moto2 race

A wrong tire choice cost Bo Bendsneyder a chance at points in the sprint race that the Emilia-Romagna GP turned out to be. Piotr Biesiekirski crashed on the penultimate lap of the Moto2 race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. NTS RW Racing GP therefore leaves Italy empty-handed after two races. The Moto2 race was downright chaotic, after it started to rain in the fifth lap. In lap 7, the race was stopped. In the preparation for the ten-lap restart it got dry, but just as the riders were back on the grid, it started to rain again, causing another delay. Bo Bendsneyder had a good start in the first race and was just building up rhythm to work his way up in the group that competed for points. For the second race, Bendsneyder switched to the softer rear tire, which turned out to be the wrong choice. He started in 22nd, but soon after a reasonable start he began to fall back a bit. The race was just too short to outsmart the relapsed Tetsuta Nagashima, but due to a penalty for Nagashima, Bendsneyder was listed 22nd in the standings after all. Piotr Biesiekirski stood firm in the chaos. The only goal in his Grand Prix debut was to finish the race and gain experience. The latter worked, but unfortunately not the first goal. In round 9 of ten, the 18-year-old Pole crashed out. “Being thrown to the lions like that, in a race where you have to start over three times, is not easy,” said NTS RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen. “Piotr has done a brave job. He has shown improvement every time out on track. It’s a shame he just couldn’t finish it, but he passed the baptism of fire well. In Barcelona he finds a track he knows well from the CEV. That will certainly make a difference.”

Bo Bendsneyder: “We knew the soft tire wouldn’t last a full 25 lap race, so we opted for the hard tire, which I felt good about. We had tried the hard tire in the warmup. It gives a little less grip, but a better feeling. I had a good first start and was able to stay with the group that was fighting for points. I was just building up rhythm to get more involved when it started to rain. For race 2 we made the mistake of opting for the softer tire. We had hoped to get a little more out of that over ten laps, but that turned out not to be the case. I had too much rear grip, which made steering out of corners difficult. It was a wrong choice and a lost cause. A great pity, because there would have been more in it. The focus is now on Barcelona, next weekend.”

Race results:

Pos Rider Team Time / Gap
1 Enea BASTIANINI Italtrans Racing Team 16’11.977
2 Marco BEZZECCHI SKY Racing Team VR46 +0.720
3 Sam LOWES EG 0,0 Marc VDS 1.124
4 Luca MARINI SKY Racing Team VR46 2.310
5 Marcel SCHROTTER Liqui Moly Intact GP 4.132
6 Jake DIXON Petronas Sprinta Racing 7.201
7 Jorge NAVARRO Beta Tools Speed Up 7.558
8 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Beta Tools Speed Up 7.704
9 Thomas LUTHI Liqui Moly Intact GP 7.762
10 Hector GARZO Flexbox HP 40 8.249
11 Nicolò BULEGA Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 8.141
12 Simone CORSI MV Agusta Forward Racing 8.663
13 Aron CANET Inde Aspar Team Moto2 9.189
14 Lorenzo DALLA PORTA Italtrans Racing Team 12.538
15 Stefano MANZI MV Agusta Forward Racing 12.744
16 Mattia PASINI Red Bull KTM Ajo 12.935
17 Marcos RAMIREZ Tennor American Racing 13.227
18 Augusto FERNANDEZ EG 0,0 Marc VDS 13.779
19 Hafizh SYAHRIN Inde Aspar Team Moto2 14.525
20 Edgar PONS Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 15.028
21 Somkiat CHANTRA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 15.511
22 Bo BENDSNEYDER NTS RW Racing GP 18.160
23 Tetsuta NAGASHIMA Red Bull KTM Ajo 18.079
24 Andi Farid IZDIHAR IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 21.265
25 Lorenzo BALDASSARRI Flexbox HP 40 25.587
Not Classified
Piotr BIESIEKIRSKI NTS RW Racing GP 2 Laps
Xavi VIERGE Petronas Sprinta Racing 5 Laps
Joe ROBERTS Tennor American Racing 0 Lap
Kasma DANIEL Onexox TKKR SAG Team 0 Lap

Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com

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