Aleix Espargaro grabs historic win in Argentina

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Aleix Espargaro claimed his first MotoGP win after a tight battle at the Argentine Grand Prix on Sunday and presented Aprilia's first victory in the MotoGP era.

The Spaniard is starting the 200th MotoGP race of his career after taking Aprilia's first pole position since the MotoGP class was introduced in 2002 and the Noale manufacturer's third time overall in the premier class, alongside Tetsuya Harada in Italy in 1999 and Jeremy McWilliams in Australia. in 2000.

Aprilia also became the third manufacturer to feel pole at Termas after Honda (5) and Ducati (1).

That's the third time Espargaro has started at the front in MotoGP. Two other pole positions he won in Assen/2004 while racing for Yamaha and Catalunya/2015 with Suzuki. Therefore, he became the first rider to take pole on three MotoGP bikes from different manufacturers.

MotoGP returns to Argentina after two Grand Prix in the South American country were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year's race was hampered by logistical problems which caused the cargo plane to arrive late and all Friday practice sessions to be cancelled.

Leading the way at Termas de Rio Hondo, Espargaro lost his place after Pramac's team driver Jorge Martin slid perfectly to lead the race into corner one. The two riders competed fiercely and built a gap of two seconds in front of their rivals.

Martin, who failed to finish in the opening two races of the season, got some breathing room after the Aprila driver went wide at corner one.

However, after making this mistake, Espargaro apparently still kept his speed and scored the best lap to catch the leading rider.

After two attempts to overtake Martin and go wide, Espargaro pulled off the perfect maneuver to take the lead from his compatriot in the last five laps and become the first to cross the finish to celebrate a historic career victory.

Suzuki's Alex Rins ensured three Spaniards on the podium that day after finishing behind Martin.

This result also resulted in nine different riders finishing on the podium from three races earlier this season, which reveals how open the 2022 season will be.

Espargaro's emotions broke in the paddock while talking to his family on the phone, his biological brother, Pol also approached him and hugged his brother.

"Very happy, long enough to get here," said Espargaro as reported by the official MotoGP website. "It's a special race because it's my 200th GP start in the premier class."

The 32-year-old, who dominated free practice and qualifying on Saturday, said the pressure in this race was doubled as people believed he would be able to get through it easily.

But, "It's not an easy race, I have absolutely no grip in the race, I don't know if it's the temperature of the track or what, but I can't get my pace out, I can't race. as I wanted," he said.

"In the end in the last four laps I was very strong and I'm very happy. I want to thank everyone at Aprilia, Noale, all the Aprilia family because I think we really deserved this and the most special thing is that we are leading the championship, so it's a dream. ."

The result also brought Espargaro to the top of the standings with a collection of 45 points, seven points ahead of KTM's Brad Binder, who finished sixth that day.

Martin also picked up his first points of the season after failing to finish in the previous two races in Qatar and Indonesia.

Honda, who lost Marc Marquez this weekend to injury, were frustrated by substitute Stefan Bradl finishing P19 while Pol Espargaro made a mistake and crashed at Turn two to fail to finish the race.

Defending world champion Fabio Quartararo failed to make Yamaha shine after starting from P6 and briefly slipped to P13 in the race before restoring his position to finish P8.

The riders will continue their fight in the Americas when MotoGP visits the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, USA, next week.

Golovkin promises fierce duel in Japan against Murata

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Gennady Golovkin promises a fierce match against Ryota Murata in the IBF and WBA Super middleweight title match (72.5 kg) at the Super Arena, Saitama, Japan on Saturday (9/4).

The boxer from Kazakhstan arrived in Sakura Country on Thursday (31/3) to make final preparations. He will also carry out a series of promotional activities before dueling in the ring with the host boxer.

"I respect Murata's true strength as well as his personality. I am in good shape and will put in a great performance without fail," Golovkin told the WBA website on Sunday.

The match between Golovkin and Murata was supposed to take place at the end of 2021, but had to be rescheduled due to restrictions in Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four months later, the current conditions have allowed the public to enjoy a great middleweight fight.

Golovkin and continues to try to restore his big name after losing to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas on September 15 2018. This match became their second time after a draw on September 16 2017.

After losing against Canelo, slowly but surely Golovkin came back by winning the last three games against Steve Rolls, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Kamil Szeremeta.

Now Golovkin will bet his IBF title against Murata who holds the WBA title.

Golovkin throughout his career has played 44 matches. Apart from the draw and defeat to Canelo, the boxer nicknamed GGG has always won and even 36 of those matches were won by knockout (KO). Meanwhile, Murata has a record of 16 wins and two losses.