Moto2 Report
Kenny Noyes, starting from the pole position in only his third Moto2 Grand Prix, felt comfortable running at the front for the first four laps of the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.
He, eventual winner Toni Elías, and Frenchman Jules Cluzel were running together with in close motorcycle racing formation when Kenny suddenly lost the front on the entry to the Museum Corner and crashed.
There is a slight bump there that has unsettled the Honda-powered Moto2 Promoharris in practice, but this time it produced a front wheel push that he could not catch.
Looking back on the race weekend the Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas left the Le Mans racetrack pleased with the pole position, the first by an American rider in the intermediate class (250/Moto2) since John Kocinski started from the pole at the Australian 250cc GP in 1990.
Kenny has been strong in the preseason and has fought for he lead both in Spain and in France. The strong performance in Le Mans, in spite of the crash, was especially encouraging because with it Kenny has shown that he can be fast on unfamiliar tracks.
And the next three races, Mugello in Italy, Silverstone in Great Britain and Assen in Holland, like this race, are on tracks where the Kenny has never raced.
The team struggled on Friday but found a good base setting on Saturday for Sunday’s race. The next thing on the "to do list" is to find some needed top speed by working with the aerodynamics.
Kenny Noyes says: "I got a good start and was comfortable running with Toni Elias. I tried passing him a couple of times but he got me right back so I thought maybe if I sat on his rear wheel the two of us could get pull some distance on the pack. The idea was to sit back and follow, even after Cluzel got into the mix, and not take any risks."
"The crash happened on the last curve where there is a little bump where the track has been patched. I had been feeling that bump all weekend and thinking that it could be a problem. I guess this time I was a little quicker when I threw the bike into the corner and it got me."
"It is a complicated track and without a lot of grip, but the fact is I made a mistake and we left town without points. But all in all it was an important weekend for us. We got our first pole and when I crashed out I was running third and feeling comfortable with the pace. This weekend was a big step forward for us."
Le Mans, Sunday, May 23, 2010
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | Gresini Racing Moto2 |
Moriwaki | 150.1 | 43’29.277 |
| 2 | 20 | 60 | Julian SIMON |
SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team | Suter | 150.0 | +1.336 |
| 3 | 16 | 3 | Simone CORSI |
ITA | JIR Moto2 | Motobi | 150.0 | +2.831 |
| 4 | 13 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE |
ITA | Fimmco Speed Up | Speed Up | 149.8 | +4.880 |
| 5 | 11 | 2 | Gabor TALMACSI |
HUN | Fimmco Speed Up | Speed Up | 149.4 | +13.293 |
| 6 | 10 | 40 | Sergio GADEA |
SPA | Tenerife 40 Pons | Pons Kalex | 149.4 | +13.415 |
| 7 | 9 | 14 | Ratthapark WILAIROT |
THA | Thai Honda PTT Singha SAG | Bimota | 149.3 | +14.294 |
| 8 | 8 | 10 | Fonsi NIETO | SPA | Holiday Gym G22 |
Moriwaki | 149.3 | +14.554 |
| 9 | 7 | 65 | Stefan BRADL |
GER | Viessmann Kiefer Racing | Suter | 148.8 | +23.503 |
| 10 | 6 | 44 | Roberto ROLFO |
ITA | Italtrans S.T.R. | Suter | 148.8 | +23.687 |
| 11 | 5 | 45 | Scott REDDING |
GBR | Marc VDS Racing Team | Suter | 148.8 | +23.959 |
| 12 | 4 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ |
COL | Blusens-STX | BQR-Moto2 | 148.7 | +24.955 |
| 13 | 3 | 52 | Lukas PESEK | CZE | Matteoni CP Racing |
Moriwaki | 148.7 | +25.068 |
| 14 | 2 | 25 | Alex BALDOLINI |
ITA | Caretta Technology Race Dept | I.C.P. | 148.6 | +26.023 |
| 15 | 1 | 71 | Claudio CORTI |
ITA | Forward Racing | Suter | 148.5 | +28.765 |
| 16 | 6 | Alex DEBON | SPA | Aeroport de Castello – Ajo |
FTR | 148.3 | +32.240 | |
| 17 | 59 | Niccolo CANEPA |
ITA | RSM Team Scot | Force GP210 | 148.2 | +33.607 | |
| 18 | 41 | Arne TODE | GER | Racing Team Germany |
Suter | 148.1 | +34.789 | |
| 19 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI |
SWI | Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 | Moriwaki | 147.7 | +43.180 | |
| 20 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO |
FRA | Mapfre Aspar Team | Suter | 147.7 | +43.522 | |
| 21 | 61 | Vladimir IVANOV |
UKR | Gresini Racing Moto2 | Moriwaki | 147.4 | +47.761 | |
| 22 | 53 | Valentin DEBISE |
FRA | WTR San Marino Team | ADV | 147.2 | +51.571 | |
| 23 | 39 | Robertino PIETRI |
VEN | Italtrans S.T.R. | Suter | 146.8 | +59.692 | |
| 24 | 5 | Joan OLIVE | SPA | Jack & Jones by A.Banderas |
Promoharris | 146.8 | +59.939 | |
| 25 | 88 | Yannick GUERRA |
SPA | Holiday Gym G22 | Moriwaki | 146.3 | +1’07.377 | |
| 26 | 8 | Anthony WEST |
AUS | MZ Racing Team | MZ-RE Honda | 145.9 | +1’16.171 | |
| 27 | 21 | Vladimir LEONOV |
RUS | Vector Kiefer Racing | Suter | 145.8 | +1’16.528 | |
| 28 | 95 | Mashel AL NAIMI |
QAT | Blusens-STX | BQR-Moto2 | 145.6 | +1’20.977 | |
| 29 | 76 | Bernat MARTINEZ |
SPA | Maquinza-SAG Team | Bimota | 145.5 | +1’22.982 | |
| 30 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER |
SWI | Technomag-CIP | Suter | 138.2 | 2 Laps | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 55 | Hector FAUBEL |
SPA | Marc VDS Racing Team | Suter | 143.2 | 10 Laps | ||
| 75 | Mattia PASINI |
ITA | JIR Moto2 | Motobi | 146.7 | 19 Laps | ||
| 48 | Shoya TOMIZAWA |
JPN | Technomag-CIP | Suter | 146.7 | 19 Laps | ||
| 16 | Jules CLUZEL |
FRA | Forward Racing | Suter | 149.1 | 20 Laps | ||
| 19 | Xavier SIMEON |
BEL | Holiday Gym Racing | Moriwaki | 148.1 | 20 Laps | ||
| 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS |
RSM | RSM Team Scot | Force GP210 | 148.1 | 20 Laps | ||
| 35 | Raffaele DE ROSA |
ITA | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 147.2 | 21 Laps | ||
| 80 | Axel PONS | SPA | Tenerife 40 Pons |
Pons Kalex | 130.1 | 21 Laps | ||
| 9 | Kenny NOYES | USA | Jack & Jones by A.Banderas |
Promoharris | 148.1 | 22 Laps | ||
| 72 | Yuki TAKAHASHI |
JPN | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 147.9 | 22 Laps | ||
| 17 | Karel ABRAHAM |
CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | FTR | 99.2 | 25 Laps | ||
