Henny Ray Abrams | April 9, 2010
Scot Racing Team’s Alex De Angelis topped the first ever Moto2 practice session on a moderately warm evening at the Losail International Circuit outside the Qatari capital of Doha.The laps were the first ever for the new class, which replaced the always competitive 250’s. The 40 riders were on a variety of chassis, 15 in all, but all used control Honda engines, with Suter clutches, Eni fuel, and Dunlop tires.Once he got up to speed, De Angelis, riding on a Scot chassis, dominated much of the session. He lost the top spot to Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) after 45 minutes, then took it back 12 minutes later. His lap of 2:03.349 was roughly 1.35 secs. slower than the fastest lap turned in by Gabor Talmacsi on a 250 in first practice last year.Redding held on to second at a deficit of .585 secs., with Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team) a shadow third.Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter was a surprise fourth on the Technomag-CIP Suter entry. Next was Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kieffer Racing), with Roby Rolfo (Italtrans S.T.R) sixth by .040 secs.Talmacsi, who spent most of last year in MotoGP, finished ninth and over a second behind De Angelis.Tech 3 Racing’s Yuki Takahashi led the session early before dropping to 11th at the end, two spots in front of fellow former MotoGP rider Toni Elias.Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas Racing’s Kenny Noyes, the only American in the field, was near the top ten for most of the session before slipping down the order to 21st at the end.Moto2 Practice:1. Alex De Angelis (ForceGP2) 2:03.2492. Scott Redding (Suter) 2:03.8343. Julian Simon (RSV) 2:03.8684. Dominique Aegerter (Suter) 2:04.0675. Stefan Bradl (Suter) 2:04.1106. Roby Rolfo (Suter) 2:04.1507. Alex Debon (FTR) 2:04.1648. Karel Abraham (RSV) 2:04.2699. Gabor Talmacsi (Speed Up) 2:04.33710. Alex Baldolini (Moriwaki) 2:04.365Other:21. Kenny Noyes (Promoharris) 2:05.249
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
