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.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said