“It’s a big shame I felt good on the bike, I was not pushing too hard, it felt really good, I looked at the temperature and it was way down to what it should be because of the rain and then as I got on the throttle, it stuttered a bit and the back end came round and I couldn’t save it,” explained the 14-year-old Irishman.
Race 2
Collin Veijer flicked out of the slipstream of Filippo Farioli’s KTM and willed his identical RC 250 R alongside and ahead as the pair led a pack of 13 Red Bull MotoGP™ Rookies across the Mugello finish line covered by just 2 seconds.
It was a masterly performance by the 16-year-old Dutchman who was never too far from the front along with pole man Farioli the 17-year-old Italian.
It had been one of the truly great Cup races and third went to Tatchakorn Buasri, the 21-year-old Thai by just 1 thousandth of a second over 15-year-old Briton Eddie O‘Shea.
The conditions were so different to Saturday’s soaker and 15 laps in virtually perfect conditions allowed the youngsters to produce their best with no one coming close to breaking away and places swapping many times every corner.
“I knew what I wanted to do on the last lap. I thought I could get far enough ahead that they would not be able to catch me before the line. I had tried it a few laps earlier and I thought it was possible.”
“So I went for it on the last lap to make a gap but then Filippo came past and I thought, ‘well maybe that is not so bad,’ and I got in behind him and concentrated on making a perfect run through the last corner and into his slipstream.”
“I had no idea how close the others were behind me I was just concentrating on Filippo. It is great to get the win. I had tried to break away but I was running long gearing and I couldn’t do it, a great race.”
Farioli with a beautiful ride
“The start was not so bad, the first lap was good. After I saw that it was not possible to escape from the other riders, I stayed in the group, made a good management of the…