The amazing scenario of the Phillip Island’s track has been the perfect frame for a crazy Moto3 race that almost took us up in the podium. Who knows, maybe with one meter more of asphalt, Tatsuki’s race could have revealed a magnificent ending. For this round we asked Yari Montella, our CEV rider, to join us, replacing Antonelli after the bad crash in Japan. It was almost a perfect weekend considering it was the second one in the world championship and the first one ever in this circuit; “almost” because he did a mistake during the race which cost him the detachment from the leading group made of twenty riders. Anyway he kept a good pace, with a lap time of 1:37’3”. Tatsuki did a good practice on Friday as always, while on Saturday he ended 24th because of a crash and that made us expecting a race in the last positions. Instead… just in few circuits it happens to see twenty riders in just 2 seconds, everyone fighting for the victory. Tatsuki came back from the bottom, he began to attack in the last lapses; at three lapses to the end he was 2nd, two turns later he was in 13th position because of the slipstreams.
The last lap was breathtaking, amazing, one meter more and we would have seen the podium. In the afternoon, after the race, I received a message: “What a show when races are that gripping!”. How could one fail to agree? The wish of 27 crazy young riders brought to life an epic race, a series of internal and external overtaking, contacts which took us stick to the screen, a race worthy of a great motorcycle. A race with mistakes, solutions and a lot of impetuosity that I wish to summarize in two easy words: blessed youth.
We leave Australia with a quiet sense of satisfaction to fly off to Sepang, a circuit that gave us a lot but took away our everything. We prefer to remember it as the place with 30 degrees in the shade, where during a sultry day 10 years ago, with opened arms and his curls in the wind, Marco won the 250 World Championship.
-PaoloSic58-