Espargaro back in CRT lead and level on points with teammate after Top 10 finish at Laguna Seca

There were no surprises at the front of the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca as the top three riders on the grid filled the podium positions, Casey Stoner taking the win ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo pushed hard to break the pair from pole position but after eleven laps he finally relented to intense pressure from the Australian, who went on to open up a 3.4 second advantage at the flag.

The last race before the summer break proved to be one to remember for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team, capping off an impressive first half of the season. Between them Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet have taken CRT honours in eight of the opening ten races, five of them going the Spaniard’s way after today’s ninth place. Aleix spent all 32 laps of today’s race as the leading CRT on track although he would surely have come under more threat from Randy if it weren’t for the Frenchman getting run off track by another rider in turn one. An impressive fightback to eleventh place means the pair are now tied on 33 points in the championship with eight races remaining.

9th Aleix Espargaró: “I am really happy with the result although I didn’t actually enjoy the race as much as some others. I have struggled for front feel all weekend and not been able to get the bike turning as well as at other tracks. We improved it a little bit for today and after a good start I was able to push hard for the first three laps behind Valentino, which allowed me to open a gap and hold it to the end. I didn’t know that Randy had run off but I did think it was strange that he wasn’t running with me in the race because our pace was so similar. I would prefer to beat him fair and square but the important thing is to finish as the top CRT. This season has been fantastic so far, the team are giving me a lot of support and putting everything into every race so I want to thank them all for the results we have achieved together up to now.”

Source: Aspar Team Press Release