Moto2: Bradl runs away with Qatar Moto2
Stefan Bradl dominated the Moto2 season-opener in Qatar, leaving a spectacular battle for second place in his wake
Just as Nico Terol had done in the preceding 125cc event, Bradl surged away from pole position and never looked back. Although his performance was not quite as crushing as Terol's had been in the smaller class, Bradl got his lead up to seven seconds for a while and crossed the line 4.3s in front of the pack, having been in a class of his own.
Andrea Iannone battled through from 16th on the grid to take an excellent second place, pushing Tom Luthi back to third.
Alex de Angelis also mounted a late charge to grab fourth from long-time podium contender Yuki Takahashi, as the riders in second through fifth places battled all the way to the flag.
Simone Corsi fended off Jules Cluzel and Michele Pirro to take sixth, while Bradley Smith hung on to ninth on his Moto2 debut - leading home last year's championship runner-up Julian Simon and ex-MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro.
Front-row qualifier Marc Marquez tumbled down the order at the start, quickly fought back from 11th to sixth, but then crashed out on lap four.
Another man to fall early was regular frontrunner Scott Redding, who rejoined and battled to 31st with a damaged bike.
Results - 20 laps:
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time/Gap 1. Stefan Bradl Kiefer Kalex 40m38.549s 2. Andrea Iannone Speed Master Suter + 4.330s 3. Thomas Luthi Interwetten Suter + 5.137s 4. Alex De Angelis JiR Motobi + 5.925s 5. Yuki Takahashi Gresini Moriwaki + 6.621s 6. Simone Corsi Ioda FTR + 14.217s 7. Jules Cluzel Forward Suter + 14.257s 8. Michele Pirro Gresini Moriwaki + 14.501s 9. Bradley Smith Tech 3 + 18.910s 10. Julian Simon Aspar Suter + 19.174s 11. Aleix Espargaro Pons Kalex + 19.442s 12. Yonny Hernandez Blusens FTR + 20.830s 13. Dominique Aegerter Technomag-CIP Suter + 20.837s 14. Esteve Rabat Blusens FTR + 20.855s 15. Max Neukirchner MZ + 26.803s 16. Axel Pons Pons Kalex + 27.295s 17. Ricard Cardus QMMF Moriwaki + 28.080s 18. Kenan Sofuoglu Technomag-CIP Suter + 28.212s 19. Mike di Meglio Tech 3 + 34.939s 20. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Suter + 34.962s 21. Claudio Corti Italtrans Suter + 37.982s 22. Pol Espargaro Speed Up FTR + 43.491s 23. Valentin Debise Speed Up FTR + 43.659s 24. Kenny Noyes Avintia FTR + 47.476s 25. Xavier Simeon Tech 3 + 47.755s 26. Javier Fores Aspar Suter + 50.355s 27. Randy Krummenache Kiefer Kalex + 50.544s 28. Alex Baldolini Forward Suter + 1m04.879s 29. Robertino Pietri Italtrans Suter + 1m09.672s 30. Raffaele de Rosa G22 Moriwaki + 1m09.781s 31. Scott Redding Marc VDS Suter + 1m23.743s 32. Nasser Hasan Al Malki QMMF Moriwaki + 1m39.105s Retirements: Ratthapark Wilairot SAG FTR 10 laps Kev Coghlan Castello FTR 6 laps Marc Marquez Repsol Suter 4 laps Santiago Hernandez SAG FTR 4 laps Anthony West MZ 4 laps Mattia Pasini Ioda FTR 3 laps Mashel Al Naimi QMMF Moriwaki 0 laps
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