Calamity corner: Jerez final turn may lead to more MotoGP blows
On three notable occasions, a podium position has been determined in the final turn on the final lap of the Spanish GP at Jerez due to an incident.
Mick Doohan and Alex Criville started the “tradition” almost 20 years ago, on May 12, 1996.
Spanish rider Alex Criville had a decent sized lead over his Australian teammate Mick Doohan heading into the final lap of the race when fans began to run out onto the sides of the track in jubilation for their home country rider.
Criville was so distracted that he lost all of his lead to Doohan, who made his move under the Spaniard into the final corner: Turn 13. Criville got back on the throttle to try and fight back against Doohan, but did so too early and highsided. Criville was down and out of the race with just a couple hundred yards to go, while Doohan took the win. (Watch full race on YouTube)
Not more than 10 years later, and the win was once again determined by a last corner incident on the final turn of the MotoGP Spanish GP at Jerez. This time, however, it was Sete Gibernau and Valentino Rossi up front and – once again – the rider leading into the final turn, didn’t cross the line in first place.
Unfortunately for the Spanish fans, that rider was – once again – their home-country rider, as Sete Gibernau saw the Italian rider pass under him, make contact, shove him out wide into the gravel, and go on to win the 2005 Spanish GP, while Gibernau had to settle for second. (Watch race recap on YouTube)
By 2013, the now infamous Turn 13 had became named after Jorge Lorenzo, following an exciting duel between Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa in 2010 which had seen contact between the two on the penultimate lap, with Lorenzo beating Pedrosa in a final lap duel for the win.
In 2013, however, Lorenzo’s luck was turned, as it was the Honda rider Pedrosa who went on to win, while Lorenzo was left scrabbling to hold onto second ahead of Pedrosa’s teammate, Marc Marquez. Marquez made his move under Lorenzo into Turn 13, but then had to stand the bike up to avoid lowsiding, which consequently led to him bumping into Lorenzo. Marquez went on to finish second, while the incident relegated Lorenzo to a third place finish. (Watch race highlights on YouTube)
With the Jerez circuit being so well-known for last turn, last lap incidents, one can only wonder if we’ll see more of the same this year – especially considering that Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi collided while battling for the lead in the closing laps last race at Argentina.
Tune in to FOX Sports 1 LIVE on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET to find out.
