It is the most exciting but also the most toughest period of the season for the MotoGP teams and riders as the paddock packs up for three races in as many weekends on the other side of the planet. Motegi, Sepang and Phillip Island are the venues for an intense intercontinental triple-header, starting this weekend at the Japanese track. The fifteenth round of the season sees Dani Pedrosa arrive with his championship hopes still alive after victory at Aragón although a 33-point gap to Jorge Lorenzo remains significant with just four rounds remaining. Casey Stoner returns to action and could well be the deciding factor in the battle between the two Spaniards.
Aleix Espargaró nicked a point back from his team-mate Randy De Puniet with his latest CRT win last time out in what was probably the tightest scrap of the season between the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar pair. Just two points now separate them in an entertaining battle for championship supremacy that looks certain to run until the final round in Valencia. Whichever way their personal duel goes it seems certain that a historic first ever CRT title will end up in the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar trophy cabinet.
Randy De Puniet: “You could say that Motegi isn't one of the most interesting circuits on the calendar as far as I am concerned. There are too many braking zones and I don't enjoy riding there really although the flip side of that is that it has always been good to me in terms of results and performances. It will be an important Grand Prix for us anyway. There are just four remaining this season and the fight with Aleix is going to be very tight, so we have to remain competitive over the next three weekends and at Valencia. Hopefully the weather is good to us because normally in Japan it tends to rain a lot in October. Whatever the conditions we have to give our best to bring home as many points as possible from each of the remaining four rounds.”
Aleix Espargaró: “Now we go to Japan and we have three races in a very short space of time. To be honest I don't like spending so much time away from home but the good thing is that we're going to race at some of my favourite circuits, especially Sepang and Phillip Island. We will have to work hard at Motegi this weekend if we want to leave there with a good result. It is a circuit with a lot of hard braking and that should suit us because it is probably our strong point. We are highly motivated after an excellent weekend at Aragón and the objective will be to finish ahead of Randy again and make up the points he took from us at Misano a couple of races ago. Every race has to be like that now if we want to get to Valencia fighting to finish the season as the top CRT rider.”
Aspar Power Electronics Press Release
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