Moto2™ Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) overcomes Marini to take the Championship lead.

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Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) brilliantly battled his way to his second victory of the season in a phenomenal Moto2™ race at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, fending off pole sitter Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) on the final lap as the Italian picks up his second consecutive podium, with teammate Francesco Bagnaia crossing the line third, conceding the lead in the Championship to the Portuguese rider in the process.

In a classic Brno battle, it was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who got the best launch as the lights went out, but it was Marini who led the pack heading into Turn 3, before the Spaniard moved to the front. It was a disastrous start for fellow Spaniard and teammate Joan Mir though, as he and the two Tech 3 Racing riders of Bo Bendsneyder and Remy Gardner crashed out of contention at Turn 5 – riders ok.

By lap four, Marquez had dropped to fifth and it was the two SKY Racing Team VR46 men who hit the front, with Oliveria and Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) keeping tabs on the two Italians. The younger Marquez brother then found his rhythm and bridged the gap to the leading quartet, getting himself into P3 before disaster struck – sliding out of contention at the final corner on lap nine.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) had made ground and joined the four at the front, quickly dispatching Vierge, Oliveira and Marini, before taking the lead on lap 13. Tyres then became a major factor as grip levels started to wear thin, with Oliveira making his way to the front at Turn 3 on lap 16, immediately creating a 0.4 gap before Marini was able to reel the Portuguese rider back in. By this time Vierge had dropped to 1.2 seconds back, with Bagnaia and Baldassarri then losing touch on the leading two with a lap to go.

Marini led the last lap after making a pass stick at Turn 3, before Oliveira fought back at the bottom of horsepower hill. The Italian then made his lunge up the inside heading into the penultimate corner, but the number 44 held the outside line to have the inside at the final turn – winning the drag race to the line and taking the Championship lead.

Bagnaia beat Baldassarri in the battle for the final podium position, with Vierge just managing to hold off Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – 5th and 6th for the two respectively. Friday’s pace setter Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) came home seventh, with Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) grabbing his second consecutive top ten in eighth.

Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) recovered well from a P22 grid position to earn a P9 finish at Brno, with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) rounding out the top ten. Fabio Quartararo (Boost – Speed Up Racing) was 11th, with Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) impressing again in 12th. Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors), Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) completed the point scoring positions in 13th, 14th and 15th.

Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team) jumped the start and then retired, as Alejandro Medina (SAG Team), Xavi Cardelus (Team Stylobike), Stefano Manzi (Forward Racing Team) and Danny Kent (Boost – Speed Up Racing) all crashed – riders ok.

The Moto2™ title pendulum swings once again as Oliveira takes over at the top as Austria beckons, can Bagnaia bounce back with a bang in Spielberg?

MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

Moto2 Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	156.4	39’22.324
2	20	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	156.4	+0.070
3	16	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	156.4	+0.525
4	13	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex	156.3	+0.745
5	11	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	156.2	+3.362
6	10	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	156.2	+3.643
7	9	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	156.1	+3.694
8	8	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	156.1	+3.728
9	7	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	156.1	+4.038
10	6	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	156.1	+5.030
11	5	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Boost – Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	156.1	+5.153
12	4	40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	156.0	+5.839
13	3	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	155.9	+6.857
14	2	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	155.8	+9.473
15	1	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	155.7	+10.054
16		45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	155.7	+10.626
17		77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	Kiefer Racing	KTM	155.7	+10.658
18		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	155.2	+18.136
19		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	155.1	+19.040
20		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	155.0	+21.334
21		66	Niki TUULI	FIN	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	154.6	+28.078
22		95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex	154.1	+34.570
23		51	Eric GRANADO	BRA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	153.5	+45.169
24		12	Sheridan MORAIS	POR	Willi Race Racing Team	Kalex	152.0	+1’08.853
Not Classified
		52	Danny KENT	GBR	Boost – Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	155.5	8 Laps
		73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	156.3	11 Laps
		13	Romano FENATI	ITA	Marinelli Snipers Team	Kalex	149.9	12 Laps
		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	154.2	14 Laps
		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Team Stylobike	Kalex	149.9	17 Laps
		55	Alejandro MEDINA	SPA	SAG Team	Kalex	144.9	18 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		36	Joan MIR	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex		0 Lap
		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3		0 Lap
		87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3		0 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	166
2	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	164
3	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	113
4	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	106
5	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	101
6	Joan MIR	Kalex	SPA	95
7	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	90
8	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	82
9	Fabio QUARTARARO	Speed Up	FRA	77
10	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	69
11	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	63
12	Sam LOWES	KTM	GBR	46
13	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	35
14	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	32
15	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	31
16	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	29
17	Dominique AEGERTER	KTM	SWI	24
18	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	20
19	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	11
20	Hector BARBERA	Kalex	SPA	10
21	Romano FENATI	Kalex	ITA	9
22	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	SPA	7
23	Stefano MANZI	Suter	ITA	6
24	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	6
25	Danny KENT	Speed Up	GBR	4
26	Joe ROBERTS	NTS	USA	2
27	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA	1
28	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	1
29	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Tech 3	NED
30	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA
31	Niki TUULI	Kalex	FIN
32	Eric GRANADO	Suter	BRA
33	Jules DANILO	Kalex	FRA
34	Hector GARZO	Tech 3	SPA
35	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
36	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA
37	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
38	Sheridan MORAIS	Kalex	POR
39	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Honda	INA
40	Corentin PEROLARI	Transformiers	FRA
41	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	Kalex	MAL
42	Cedric TANGRE	Tech 3	FRA
43	Alejandro MEDINA		SPA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™ Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) overcomes Marini to take the Championship lead.

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MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

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