MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The morning's Superpole race had a grid where everyone started where they qualified, all penalties being served yesterday. A couple of purple Q stickers were spotted on front row tyres with the rest using X tyres. A cooler 20ºC morning for ten laps of racing round the shortest track of the year.

Danilo Petrucci led into turn one ahead of Andrea Iannone and Nicolo Bulega, but Alex Lowes snuck under Bulega and was followed by Andrea Locatelli, pushing Bulega back to fifth from pole position.

Bulega took fourth place back from Locatelli at the end of lap two before Petrucci set a 1'28.289 fastest lap. Lap three, Bulega took third place from Lowes into turn eleven at the end of the back straight.

Five laps in, at half race distance, Petrucci led Iannone by over a second with Bulega just under a second further back and closing on Iannone's yellow Ducati. Alex Lowes was over a second off the podium places, with the Yamahas of Andrea Locatelli and Bradley Ray battling over fifth a second behind.

Bulega caught Iannone and started looking for a way past as Iannone's pace wasn't as strong as the riders behind him. With three laps left, from Xavi Vierge in sixth place to Garrett Gerloff in eleventh, riders were covered by around one second as they jostled for a few points and grid position in the afternoon's race.

Two laps to go, Petrucci had a two second lead over Iannone and Bulega as Alex Lowes joined the fight for second place, and Lowes took third place from Bulega, shaking his head down the start finish straight to indicate there was a problem to his team, into turn eight, carrying more grip in his Kawasaki's X tyre than both Ducatis around him. Lowes took second place early into the last lap and held it to the flag.

Danilo Petrucci took his first Superpole race win a day after his first full race victory, earning himself pole position and twelve points. Alex Lowes took second under two seconds off the win, but on the cooling down lap, fourth-placed Nicolo Bulega parked trackside and called third-placed Andrea Iannone over to hold his bike as he summoned a marshal with a fire extinguisher, pointing at his engine. Iannone gave Bulega a croggy on his way back to Parc Fermé.

Alex Lowes took second place with the three Ducatis on the grid using the Q tyre as he chose the development SCX tyre that left him with more grip at the end of the race, but Petrucci was just too far down the road to catch in ten laps. Alvaro Bautista clawed his way to sixth place, the second row for race two, down the back straight on the last lap, behind Bulega and Iker Lecuona.

Results: