Though the most important thing to happen at Sepang was the horrific crash between Jose Antonio Rueda and Noah Dettwiler, there were three races held too. The (relatively) good news is that the latest update from Dettwiler’s CIP Green Power team is that he is critical but stable, and in the ICU after multiple surgeries.
Once Rueda and Dettwiler had been airlifted to hospital, track action resumed, with the Moto3 race shortened to just 10 laps, and Moto2 moved until after the MotoGP race, causing a hasty reshuffling of flights. In the Moto3 race, Taiyo Furusato rode away at the front while war broke out behind him. And in Moto2 and MotoGP, we learned a lot about the pressures of racing, what happens when you let it get to you, and what happens when it’s gone.
On Saturday, we had seen Alex Márquez suffer with pressure. He was within touching distance of second in the MotoGP championship, and runner up to his brother. In the sprint race, he needed to outscore Marco Bezzecchi by 2 points, and lose no more than 5 points to Pecco Bagnaia. He managed to do both, finishing second behind Bagnaia and clinching second at last.
