MILLER HANGS ON TO MOTO3 POINTS LEAD AT SILVERSTONE

[totalmotorcycle]

MILLER HANGS ON TO #MOTO3 POINTS LEAD AT #SILVERSTONE


#RedBull #KTM Ajo’s Jack Miller of Australia finished a hard fought sixth at the Moto3 GP of Great Britain on Sunday on the Silverstone circuit but managed to hold onto his lead in the World Championship standings.

Top KTM rider was 16-year-old Enea Bastianini of Italy who rode a great race to finish third place behind Alex Rins and Alex Marquez, both of Spain.

Jakub Kornfiel of the Czech Republic and Italian Niccolo Antonelli both raced their KTM Moto3 bikes to fifth and eighth positions to give KTM four of the top eight slots in Rd. 12 of the competition.

Miller, a Red Bull athlete started in the middle of row three on the grid, only the third time this season he has been off the front row. He got away well and immediately moved up three places in the opening lap. The Australian then managed to ride with the leading four for most of the race with the riders fighting hard and constantly jockeying for the lead. With 16 riders vying for the win and barely separated on the time sheets, the race quickly developed into a blueprint of the last round on the Brno circuit. The Brno race was the closest ever finish by a large group of riders in the history of the small bike category.

Miller, who started the round with a 23-point lead, began to lose touch with the four front-runners with five laps to go as Rins, Marquez, Bastianini and Oliviera fought it out at the front. Particularly impressive was Bastianini’s ride. The young Italian showed little respect for the two Honda riders at the front of the pack as he fought hard for his podium place.

Miller leaves Silverstone with 10 more points to add to his championship tally but the opposition are closing in on him and the competition is shaping up to be very tight in the remaining rounds.

Miller: "I wanted to stay in the first group throughout the race, but some other riders made mistake which caused us to lose a lot of distance from the front. We had the pace and we were there lap after lap, but in the end we couldn’t manage it. We suffered a bit this weekend, both with my riding as well as with set-up. Now we have to get back on a positive trend and focus and on the next two GPs in Misano and Aragon.”

Miller’s Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate Karel Hanika of the Czech Republic, in his rookie season with the team, finished twelfth, recovered well from a race incident in the opening round then delivered a creditable ride on the British circuit.

Karel Hanika: It wasn’t a bad race. I started very well and I also felt really good. But on the first lap I braked very hard in a corner and lost my rear wheel completely and almost went into another rider. That was where I lost many positions. But still, I had a good pace and I was able to gradually pass rider after rider to move up to ninth place. Then another rider ran into me and I lost five positions. At this point I just tried to stay there. For me, the race was better than Brno, but we still have to find something that allows us to get to the front.”
Both Miller and Hanika are competing on the KTM RC 250GP factory machine.
Rd. 13 of the Moto3 World Championship is at Misano on Sept 14, 2014
More at www.motogp.com
Moto GP of the Great Britain – Silverstone Circuit - Round 12
Moto3 Results
1, Alex Rins, ESP, Honda, 38:11.330
2, Alex Marquez, ESP, Honda, 38:11.341
3, Enea Bastianini, ITA, KTM, 38:11.402
4, Miguel Oliveira, POR, Mahindra, 38:11.453
5, Jakub Kornfeil, CZE, KTM, 38:15.930
6, Jack Miller, AUS, KTM, 38:16.031
7, Niccolo Antonelli, ITA, KTM,38:16.097
8, Alexis Masbou, FRA, Honda, 38:16,923
9, Danny Kent, GBR, Husqvarna, 38:16.989
10, Niklas Ajo, FIN, Husqvarna, 38:17.001
Other KTM
12, Karel Hanika, CZE, KTM, 38:17.270
13, Isaac Viñales, ESP, KTM, 38:17.352
16, Romano Fenati, ITA, KTM, 38:17.819
20, Hafiq Azmi, MAL, KTM, 38:39.704
21, Francesco Bagnaia, ITA, KTM, 38:40.497
26, Eric Granado, BRA, KTM, 38:51.002
DNF, Joe Irving, GBR, KTM
Standings after Rd. 12
1, Miller, 179 points
2, Marquez 166
3, Rins 150
4, Efren Vazquez, ESP, Honda, 145
5, Fenati, 135
Other KTM
7, Vinales 99
8, Bastianini, 87
12, Kornfiel, 67
15, Bagnaia 42
17, Antonelli 30
18, Hanika, 24
26, Granado 2



Miller in opening action at Silverstone



Courageous ride by Bastianini puts his KTM on podium third



Hanika finishes 12th in British GP

31/08 2014
JORGE MARTIN WINS IMPRESSIVE DOUBLE-HEADER AT SILVERSTONE
Red Bull MotoGP Rookie Jorge Martin of Spain was the star attraction this weekend at Rds. 10-11 at Britain’s Silverstone racing circuit when he cleaned up in both rounds to surge ahead in the Cup points with only three rounds to go.

Martin won the rain-interrupted Rd. 10 on Saturday and dominated Sunday’s race from pole to flag, leaving the rest of the field to scrap it out behind him for the minor honors. Martin’s two closest rivals Joan Mir (Spain) and Stefano Manzi of Italy joined him on the podium on Saturday while on Sunday it was again Manzi and 15-year-old Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder who claimed the minor podiums after a fierce seven-rider battle in the last stages of the race.

Martin said he had been working on his starts and this certainly worked for him this weekend in Silverstone: “I have been working on those starts and I got another good one. Then I just pushed. I still thought it was going to be a big battle like yesterday but I was watching my pit board and soon there was a good gap,” he said after Sunday’s race. He set a blistering pace throughout the race and finished with a six-second margin to the following group.

Manzi was happy to have moved up a place from Saturday to Sunday but still aspires to win a race in the series. “I climbed up a step. Not to where I wanted to be but starting from tenth it wasn't possible to do anything about Jorge today. I talked it over with my mechanic and worked out some different lines. Coming through the last lap I was determined to be at the front of the group.”

Manzi, who is third in the points behind Martin and Mir is confident that he can deliver a good result in the next round in Misano when he races in front of his home crowd.

Already with a win at his home GP, Bendsneyder is having an impressive first Rookies Cup season and had to slog it out for his podium third on Sunday.

Just three races are left in the series and the next is at Misano in two weeks, on September 13th.

Results of Rd. 10 at Silverstone, Great Britain
(All riders on KTM RC 250 R)
Note: Race reduced to five laps after the initial start was red flagged because of rain
1, Jorge Martin, ESP, 11 minutes 35.791
2, Joan Mir, ESP, at 0.045
3, Stefano Manzi, ITA, at 0.185
4, Manuel Pagliani, ITA, 0.429
5, Bradley Ray, GBR, at 0.575
6, Bo Bendschneyder, NED, at 0.588
7, Oscar Gutierrez, ESP, at 0.796
8, Fabio Di Giannantonio, ITA, at 7.318
9, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu TUR, at 7.661
10, Darryn Binder RSA at 8.418
Results of Rd. 11 at Silverstone, Great Britain
(All riders on KTM RC 250 R)
1, Joan Mir, ESP, 32:12.719
2, Stefano Manzi, ITA, at 5.134
3, Bo Bendsneyder, NED, at 5.304
4, Bradley Ray, GBR, at 5.400
5, Joan Mir, SPA, at 5.834
6, Fabio Di Giannantonio, ITA, at 5.900
7, Olly Simpson, AUS, at 6.247
8, Manuel Pagliani, ITA, at 17.481
9, Soushi Mihara, JPN, at 17.988
10, Aris Michail, GER at 33.776
Standings after Rd. 11
1, Martin, 205 points
2, Mir, 156
3, Manzi, 140
4, Ray 180
5, Mihara 110



Jorge Martin on the podium of Rd. 11 with Manzi and Bendsneyder



Martin snatches an early lead in Rd. 11



Tight battle for minor podium places