'We don't talk about Brno'
The battle between the two Italian factories intensifies
By Graham Holt
Three weeks ago, the Tuscan wine flowed freely in the Factory Aprilia garage after Marco Bezzechi had won the Italian GP following up a Sprint win for Raul Fernandez on their satellite machine. Not only that, his team-mate joined him on the GP podium, and perhaps more importantly, their factory rivals Ducati were clearly losing their dominant grip in MotoGP.
Italy Factory Aprilia - Sprint 2nd/4th. GP - 1st/2nd. 60 points
Factory Ducati - Sprint 5th/7th. GP - 3rd/7th. 33 points
What Bezzechi and his team didn't anticipate was the most painful of all hangovers that would last for at least three weeks.
The first major headache came the following week as Marc Marquez announced he was back in the running as he swept the board in Hungary with a Sprint and GP win. Aprilia's response was disastrous as Jorge Martin took out Bezzechi on the first turn, and earned himself a double long lap at the next race, Brno in the Czech Republic.
HungaryFactory Aprilia - Sprint 3rd/6th. GP - DNF/DNF. 11 points
Factory Ducati - Sprint 1st/9th. GP - 1st/3rd. 63 points
It couldn't surely get worse for Factory Aprilia who would no doubt get back on track in Brno, similar in layout to Mugello where they had dominated.
Despite the penalty for Martin, Aprilia had held 'clear the air' meetings with their riders and were confident they would bounce back at the circuit both their riders really enjoyed.
Ducati were reporting that Marquez was still a long way from fit and would undoubtably struggle with stamina problems on such a demanding track. As had become usual these days, the team would hope that the inconsistent Pecco would get out of the right side of the bed and help them out. And on Saturday, he did
Prior to the Sprint race, neither team dominated the sessions, with Bagnaia the best of the Ducati and Aprilia factory riders, with a 3rd position on the grid. Probably motivated by the fact that all the talk had been centred around Marquez, Bezzechi and Martin, Pecco thought it was time to put his name in the mix and he delighted his team with a dominant win. Marquez gave Ducati more to smile about with an unexpected third.
The priority for both Factory Aprilia riders would surely have been to bring both bikes home, grab a few points, and begin to put the Hungarian nightmare behind them. What happened was the most unexpected, devastating and uncharacteristic act from their championship leader Bezzechi
Lying in 5th and 6th place with two laps to go, the Aprilia factory were achieving a slightly satisfactory damage limitation result. Despite leading the championship, Bezzechi had crashed in 3 previous Sprint races this year, but this was the worst time to continue this record. Particularly with only two laps to go. But the loss of 5 points soon became the least of the team's concerns.
As the marshall picked up the bike, which was still running, the revs rose and this angered Bezzechi. So much that he struck the marshall.
As the news spread, words and phrases like shocking, unforgivable, not like Marco, harsh punishment necessary, unacceptable, etc were being hastily written by the media. In reality, the only opinion that really mattered was that of the officials, who had to quickly determine a suitable punishment for the Italian.
There were mixed reactions to their decision to suspend Bezzechi from the Sunday GP but this was a disaster for both rider and his team. But an unexpected gift for Ducati. Both their riders responded almost perfectly with a win for Marquez and a third for Pecco. For the Aprilia factory, Martin finished the race, but in 9th place. Another huge points shift to Ducati.
Czechia Factory Aprilia - Sprint DNF/5th. GP - DNS/9th. 12 points
Factory Ducati - Sprint 1st/3rd. GP - 1st/3rd. 60 points
Ducati had gained 100 points on their Italian rivals in just two races.
True, the events in Hungary may now be forgotten for Aprilia, but in the garage, they will be focusing on Assen in 7 days and, most definitely, no-one will be talking about Brno.
