Crash in warmup does not prevent Repsol rider from shining at Aragon to finish second. Maria Herrera fights hard in second group to take fourteenth. Sena Yamada claims eighteenth.
Jorge Navarro’s Sunday at MotorLand began badly but ended with joy for the Spanish rider. The Repsol Moto3 rider went from the Clinica Mobile to the grid within an hour, and concluded the Aragon GP on the podium. After suffering a heavy crash during the warm up, Navarro was eventually able to compete in the race.
There was a very intense race ahead of him, with plenty of overtaking in a large group of eleven riders. Oliveira, Fenati, Bastianini, Binder, Kent and Antonelli, amongst others, were all fighting for the three podium places. Navarro kept clear of the incidents that caused numerous crashes on the last lap, taking a valuable second place behind racewinner Oliveira.
Maria Herrera also had a good race, starting from thirtieth. She moved up nine places on the opening lap and continued to overtake riders in the fight for eleventh. She was part of a group of riders with ample experience, and held her own. Despite contact from another rider during the last lap that took her off her line, the Repsol rider managed to finish thirteenth and add three points to her tally for the season.
Sena Yamada rounded off his stand-in weekend in the Moto3 World Championship with a positive eighteenth position, gaining a lot of experience over the course of a race in which he also competed with more experienced riders.
The World Championship now moves into a stretch of three flyaway rounds in Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
Jorge Navarro
2nd – at 0.193 sec.
“I’ve taken my first podium and I’m happy. I’m even more happy to have done it at Aragon, so close to home, at what is also one of my favourite circuits. I was calm, because after practice I knew I could have a good race. The weekend went well, despite the crash in the warmup this morning, and I went out to race convinced we could do well. The team did a great job all weekend, helping me to stay calm. I am very happy with this result and look forward to continuing to work. It was what we needed, the reward for the effort we are making at every race with the team. We will continue trying to get more podiums and –why not?– wins as well.”
Sena Yamada
18th, at 31.050 sec.
“It was a good race. At the start it was a bit difficult, because we are in the World Championship and it is a little different from the FIM CEV Repsol; here there is even more of a fight and I struggled to keep my position. I lost some places, but then I tried to increase my pace gradually and I ended up first in my group. It was a good experience; this weekend I learned a lot, taking a step forward with my riding and in many other ways.”
Maria Herrera
13th, at 16.899 sec.
“Today it was important to make a good start, because we started from 30th position, and I managed to do that. I was up to 23rd after the first few corners and I continued slowly moving up positions. The whole race was fun because we had a good fight in the large group that I was a part of. On the last lap I had contact with another rider which took me off my line, but I was able to finish thirteenth, so I’m very happy with this result.”
