Motorsport Monday

Happy

Monday everybody because it’s that day of the week again. Time for Motorsport Monday, where Let’s Talk Sport has a look at the past week’s motorsport events.

Moto GP

The 2014 Moto GP season kicked off in style on Sunday, with the Qatar GP at Losail. Marc Marquez claimed an unlikely pole position on his Honda on Saturday, after he broke his leg in late February. Lining up next to him was Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda and Briton Bradley Smith on his Tech 3 Yamaha. Bradley’s first ever front row start in Moto GP.

The race got off to a surprising start, with Jorge Lorenzo surging up to 1st from 5th on the

grid by turn 1, where he preceded to control the lead. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, he lost control under braking for turn 15, and crashed out spectacularly. And this was all before a lap had even been completed.

Bradley Smith then inherited the lead, only to almost immediately lose it after he had a scary moment further round the track. This allowed Stefan Bradl to take the lead, with Marquez in second. Shortly after that Andrea Iannone dropped the bike whilst running 4th, and not to be outdone, Bradley crashed out himself 2 laps later.

While all this had been happening Valentino Rossi had quietly worked his way up from 10th to take the lead of the race from Marquez. The two riders spent the rest of the race trading places, with Marc Marquez coming out on top, despite his broken leg. Valentino Rossi brought his Yamaha home second, with Dani Pedrosa coming 3rd on the other Honda.

NASCAR

Kyle Busch won his first race of the 2014 Sprint Cup, at the Auto Club 400 at Fontana on Sunday. Matt Kenseth put his Toyota on pole position but it was his team mate that won the day, with a health dose of luck and strategy. After running in the top 5 all day, Busch was clearly quick, but the car lacked the pace of the cars in front of him, and he never looked favourite for the win. That was until Clint Bowyer brought out the caution on lap 199 of 200, after his tyre popped and he spun off the track.

Busch darted into the pits and after a lightning fast stop, emerged the winner ahead of NASCAR rookie Kyle Larson. Kyle’s brother Kurt Busch finished off the top 3 in his Stewart-Haas Chevrolet.

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