Spaniard Jorge Martin won yesterday’s sprint race at the Indonesia MotoGP to overtake rival Francesco Bagnaia in the championship standings.
Luca Marini, who had earlier claimed pole position in qualifying, took second, with Marco Bezzecchi completing the podium a week after surgery for a broken collarbone.
The Ducati satellite team rider took his fourth straight sprint race victory to leave him on 328 points, seven ahead of Bagnaia, who finished eighth.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I feel super. Starting from sixth maybe was not the best, but at least I was able to overtake,” he told reporters. “Winning was tough ... but yeah finally leading the championship at this point feels great. It’s a dream.”
He said he hoped he could “finish the weekend in the same way” at today’s main event.
Martin finished more than a second ahead of Italian Marini, who earlier set a record lap at the Mandalika circuit on the resort island of Lombok.
Photo: EPA-EFE
It is the first time Martin has led the MotoGP championship in his career.
Bagnaia struggled earlier in the day, finishing outside the second round of qualifying for the first time this season, which left him 13th on the grid.
Bezzecchi, the Italian who sits third in the overall standings, capped a stunning ride after his injury and late arrival in Lombok on Friday morning.
MotoGP returned to Indonesia last year for the first time since 1997 at a new venue.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when