Martin makes his point as Aprilia rule Sprint Saturday at Silverstone
by Jack Fairman - YSW Editor
The summer break is supposed to clear the mind. Judging by Saturday afternoon at Silverstone, Jorge Martin spent most of July sharpening his.
Pole position in the morning, Sprint victory in the afternoon and, by the time the Prosecco was being sprayed over the Silverstone Sprint podium, the first all-Aprilia Sprint top three in MotoGP history. Not a bad way to come back from your holidays.
Martin made the start, got his head down and that was more or less that. Ai Ogura kept him within sight but never really within striking distance, and ten laps later the championship leader crossed the line 1.5 seconds clear.
It wasn't quite the procession that makes it sound
Martin's afternoon was almost suspiciously calm. Behind him, things got progressively more untidy.
Silverstone is a magnificent circuit when everything is working. When it isn't, it has all the sympathy of a meat grinder.
Raul Fernandez was first through it. Starting second in an all-Aprilia front row, he was roughed up in the opening corners, found himself sixth and then lost the front at Turn Four. From a possible podium to an early bath in three laps.
Bezzecchi went the other way.
Still very much second-hand after his Sachsenring accident, he spent the opening laps arguing over fourth with Marc Marquez. Marquez got past. Bezzecchi got him back, using the Aprilia's speed out of Copse to sweep by on the run into Maggotts and Becketts at the thick end of 280km/h.
There are probably easier places to overtake Marc Marquez.
There are certainly slower ones.
Then Fabio Di Giannantonio came back towards him.
Diggia had been close enough to bother Ogura early on, but his Ducati's rear grip began to disappear rapidly after half-distance. Bezzecchi went past at Copse and was gone.
Third was a remarkable result given the state he's in. The extent of that became rather clearer after the flag, when he climbed off the Aprilia like a man several decades older than the one who'd climbed aboard it. Still helmeted, he was visibly emotional as his team gathered around him.
No need to overanalyse that one.
Ducati, meanwhile, had other problems.
For perhaps the strangest few laps of the afternoon, Marc Marquez looked almost helpless.
He'd been fourth and apparently comfortable enough early on. Then the rear tyre went away and so did everyone else.
Alex Marquez passed him. Pedro Acosta passed him. Joan Mir passed him. Franco Morbidelli passed him. Marquez, normally about as easy to get past as airport security, could do very little about any of them.
He eventually dragged the Ducati home ninth, beating Diogo Moreira to the final point by just two hundredths of a second. Given the speed at which riders were catching him, the chequered flag probably arrived not a moment too soon.
Di Giannantonio suffered a similar, if less dramatic, collapse to fifth, leaving Alex Marquez as the best Ducati in fourth.
If Aprilia ended Saturday smiling, Ducati disappeared into the garage with plenty to discuss.
Tyres will be fairly high on the agenda.
Even Ogura admitted afterwards that the rear drop had been so severe he wasn't certain he'd make the finish. Martin had little left either, but managed it well enough to keep Ogura at arm's length and take his third Sprint victory of the season.
There was also a clue further down the order that won't have escaped anyone's attention. Brad Binder, one of the few men running the medium rear, was the fastest rider on the final lap.
Funny, that.
For now, though, Martin has a 17-point championship lead, Ogura has another second place and Bezzecchi has somehow hauled himself back to third in the standings.
More significantly, Aprilia have spent Saturday making everyone else look rather ordinary.
The Sprint was ten laps.
Tomorrow they have to do twenty.
Silverstone's meat grinder will be waiting.
