Top gun fires

IT TOOK A good deal of soul searching and deep reserves of self-belief, but Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) finally served up a timely reminder of his impressive talents to launch himself into the title fight just as his challenge was on the verge of implosion.

This was a race in which he reversed the previous week’s misgivings that had left Yamaha’s bosses, team and rider perplexed coming into this weekend. But Viñales started well from pole position, broke clear of everyone with the exception of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati) with a full tank of fuel and carefully applied pressure on the race leader when necessary – all assets that were sorely missing from a desperately disappointing race here a week before.

These are the afternoons which raise the question: why doesn’t Viñales produce