MotoGP Round 5 At Le Meh

So yeah...last weekend was round 5 of the MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans, which was the home race for exactly zero riders in the MotoGP class. Last time out at Jerez, Marc Marquez took his fourth pole position and win of the season. For all my confused baseball nerd friends out there, it's the equivalent of batting 1000. You're welcome.

In France, it would be a Spanish guy on a Repsol Honda (no, not that Spanish guy on a Repsol Honda, but the other Spanish guy on a Repsol Honda)who would take pole position and the win. Tech 3's MotoGP rookie, Pol Espargaro, put in an impressive ride to qualify in second position...to celebrate, he and his brother later cried and hugged it out. Andrea Dovizioso put the Red (not quite as much of a) shopping cart (as it used to be) in a decent third spot. Bradl in fourth, Rossi in fifth, and Lorenzo in sixth...so on and so forth.

Race day...Spanish guy on a Repsol Honda (SGOARH from here on out) takes his spot at the front of the grid. DORNA, who don't want SGOARH to check out from pole position, and make the race as boring as the country it is being held in, throw a little hush money his way so that he'll make a shit start, and be forced to work his way back up through the field.

The lights go out, SGOARH fulfills his obligation, and does a full retreat to around tenth position. Meanwhile, up front, Andrea Iannone punts Homeboy Hayden off track just three corners into the race. Bummer, dude. With SGOARH back in the pack, somewhere, it was Dovizioso who took the lead followed by Bradl and little Asparagus. Dovi's time at the front lasted only a few laps before Rossi came through and pissed on his parade. Rossi quickly put a gap on the field, and looked like he might bag his first win since Assen, last year.

SGOARH had other ideas as he was tired of fucking around with the mid-packers. SGOARH hit the 'soul crusher' switch of his Honda and quickly made his way through the field like shit through a goose...kind of like an expert track day rider who goes out to pick on the novice group just for funzies. Up front, Rossi was looking all comfy until his pit board let him know that SGOARH was closing quickly and would soon be on his yellow and blue ass. Like this and like that, SGOARH caught and passed Rossi, and went on to put a gap on the field that was best measured with a sundial. Guess who won the race? Rossi cruised it home in a safe second place.

Before the last race, at Jerez, Gresini Honda's Alvaro Bautista got the 'pull your head out of your ass' speech from his team boss after a hat trick of crashes at the previous three races. That 'talking to' seemed to work as Bautista finished a decent sixth at Jerez, and scored his first podium finish of the season at Le Mans after a good battle with little Asparagus. Bautista celebrated while little Asparagus went back to his pit box to hug and cry...that guy's kleenex bill must be out of control.

So, with his win at Le Mans, SGOARH became the youngest MotoGP rider to win five races in a row, or something like that. Old Rossi, once again, looked like the the Rossi of old. Methinks he'll sign on for another two years at Y'maka.

MotoGP world championship points standing after round 5:

1 Marky MARQUEZ Honda 125

2 Daniel PEDROSA Honda 83

3 Valkilmer ROSSI Yamaha 81

4 Anders DOVIZIOSO Ducati 53

5 J-Money LORENZO Yamaha 45

6 Steve BRADL Honda 39

7 Pauly ESPARGARO Yamaha 38

8 Albert ESPARGARO Forward 37

9 Bradley SMITH Yamaha 34

10 Alvin BAUTISTA Honda 26

11 Andrew IANNONE Ducati 25

12 Nicky HAYDEN Honda 23

13 Cleetus AOYAMA Honda 21

14 Scott REDDING Honda 18

15 Mr. HERNANDEZ Ducati 16

16 Calvin CRUTCHLOW Ducati 15

17 Carol ABRAHAM Honda 9

18 Colin EDWARDS Forward 7

19 Donald PETRUCCI ART 2

20 Hannah BARBERA Avintia 2

21 EdelBroc PARKES PBM Goose Egg

Next stop is Mugello, where the Uccios will be in full effect...boyeee!

T...out