FEAST OR FAMINE<\/a> The sprint stats that make MotoGP\u2019s unstoppable force vulnerable<\/p>\nAgius bossed the rest on Friday, shattering the Jerez circuit\u2019s all-time Moto2 lap record by over half a second with a lap of 1min 38.973secs to top the timesheets. Yes, he was less than a tenth faster than local rider Alonso Lopez, the best of the rest, but his long-run pace as he prepared for Sunday\u2019s race was almost more imposing than his one-lap speed. It looked like his race to lose 48 hours before it started.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s qualifying didn\u2019t completely stick to that script \u2013 Agius qualified fourth, only 0.154secs off pole but, frustratingly, behind Gonzalez \u2013 but he immediately made amends on Sunday soon after the lights went out to start the 21-lap race, muscling past his teammate on the second lap and slotting into second behind surprise pole-sitter Collin Veijer, the second-year Dutch rider who\u2019d qualified on pole for the first time in Moto2. <\/p>\n
Agius had a plan, and pulled the pin on lap five when he attacked Veijer for the lead, the pair swapping places four times in a single tour of the 13-corner layout. Veijer, to his credit, wasn\u2019t going away, and Gonzalez struck back to immediately demote Agius to third. <\/p>\n
Time to regroup, and rethink. <\/p>\n
Veijer stubbornly held firm when Agius attacked, forcing the Aussie to regroup and rethink his approach. (AP Photo\/Jose Breton)Source: AP<\/p>\n
With the rest of the back well behind, Agius bided his time, saved some tyre life, and went again. Gonzalez was dispatched on lap 11, and then three laps later, he ambushed Veijer down the inside of turn eight, not a typical passing place. By the end of the lap, he was three-tenths of a second to the good. <\/p>\n
With so little to choose between the trio, Agius knew he had to be inch-perfect. For the final seven laps, his lead never grew past half a second until the final lap when Gonzalez, having followed Agius past Veijer, rolled out, knowing the race was over. <\/p>\n
Across seven laps and on a Jerez lap completed in, more or less, 101 seconds, the gap between Agius\u2019 best and worst laps in that span was a mere three-tenths of a second. <\/p>\n
The margin was 0.885secs at the chequered flag, but it was all Agius needed. Consecutive wins were his. How he achieved the second of them was almost as satisfying. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was super strong at the beginning, and I really believed that if I had a bit more speed on the straights and passed where I wanted, I could have had my own race at the front,\u201d he explained afterwards. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had much more pace, but I was on the limit on the front tyre sitting in the group. In the middle of the race I was not so strong, I was actually just holding my position and trying not to lose time. I couldn\u2019t attack. But I saw the others struggling and I began to understand my strong points, and did a big push at the end to win the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not an easy race, especially with the front tyre in my case, but I\u2019m really proud of the job we have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back-to-back wins for Agius were the first consecutive Moto2 successes for an Australian rider since Remy Gardner in 2021. (AP Photo\/Jose Breton)Source: AP<\/p>\n
STAYING CALM, REMAINING HUNGRY<\/p>\n
Half an hour later, Agius \u2013 a cap planted on his head to hide his hair soaked by champagne and sweat, an Australian flag tucked into the back of his leathers like a cape \u2013 was still doing his media rounds. More than outwardly euphoric, he seemed \u2013 sounded \u2013 much older than his 20 years. <\/p>\n
\u201cBack-to-back wins is a dream come true,\u201d Agius told Fox Sports\u2019 Renita Vermeulen at Jerez.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long road to get here [to the world championship], let alone one victory, [so] back-to-back wins is something that you dream of. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s brought a sense of calmness, because we\u2019re doing good work and we\u2019re in a really good moment, so that means we understand where we are with the bike and how we\u2019re doing things to apply it to all weekends. We\u2019re concentrating on the present moment, every session, every race. It brings the best results.\u201d<\/p>\n
A perfect 50 points from the past two rounds now has Agius within sight of the championship lead. (AP Photo\/Jose Breton)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Contemplative, yes. Confident, too. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a crazy amount of strong things in my riding,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt requires some stuff from the bike, and some understanding to get the most out of myself and the bike. Once I understand how the bike needs to be ridden versus what I need from the bike so I can use my strong points \u2026 as you could see today, I was incredible in sector three, there\u2019s a couple of key areas that I\u2019ve unlocked to get the maximum out of the tyre and keep the tyre [life] at the end of the race even though I\u2019m taking risks in the fast corners. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel super confident, but for me the confidence makes me even more calm. I\u2019ll go to [the next race at] Le Mans with the attitude that this is a new track, a new situation \u2026 it\u2019s unbelievable to be at the top of my game. I might seem never satisfied, but it\u2019s a bit of a pinch-me moment to get back-to-back victories and be well and truly in this title fight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had a plan in that race to win with a margin [but] I sat in the group, adapted and attacked, and this is something I\u2019ve not really found easy to do before.\u201d <\/p>\n
Easy is what Agius is making it look more often than not of late; Sunday\u2019s win was his third in his past eight Moto2 starts. Harder, of course, is doing it again and again to knock down the MotoGP door. But it\u2019s now a realistic conversation. <\/p>\n
A Moto2 title isn\u2019t a necessity, but it certainly can\u2019t hurt. <\/p>\n
Asked in a post-race interview how he\u2019d be approaching the next brace of races as MotoGP\u2019s calendar settles into Europe for the next 11 rounds, Agius referenced both his latest win and the stuttering start to the season, one he\u2019s turned around in short order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how you start, it\u2019s how you finish,\u201d he smiled, quickly responding when asked how he was going to finish 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow I just finished \u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senna Agius is big on detail. Which was why one small thing was something to be bothered by.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[2620,8454,64314,2095,1724,64,43336,14017,63,306869,146912,306671,82628,20211,306874,11308,21763,49522,8402,306817,306666,2057,36333,306871,306876,22488,306870,935,3556,16268,306877,806,805,803,804,2041,2067,306873,279183,16280,306878,306875,122761,306872,133658,37214,21788,69906,11298,2812,3595,2020,85,16273,306675,3370,3725,21760,34700,137623,2614,2086,88825],"class_list":{"0":"post-633535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-alex-marquez","10":"tag-alonso-lopez","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-asia","13":"tag-au","14":"tag-aussie","15":"tag-austin","16":"tag-australia","17":"tag-australian-flag","18":"tag-australian-rider","19":"tag-back-to-back-races","20":"tag-back-to-back-victories","21":"tag-back-to-back-wins","22":"tag-bike-needs","23":"tag-brazil","24":"tag-championship-lead","25":"tag-chequered-flag","26":"tag-consecutive-wins","27":"tag-crashes-outmotorsport","28":"tag-crazy-rain-hit","29":"tag-europe","30":"tag-final-lap","31":"tag-front-tyre","32":"tag-front-tyre-sitting","33":"tag-lap-record","34":"tag-last-corner-thriller","35":"tag-malaysia","36":"tag-manuel-gonzalez","37":"tag-matt-clayton","38":"tag-media-rounds","39":"tag-motor","40":"tag-motor-sports","41":"tag-motosport","42":"tag-motosports","43":"tag-north-america","44":"tag-northern-america","45":"tag-pair-swapping-places","46":"tag-pinch-me-moment","47":"tag-pole-position","48":"tag-post-race-interview","49":"tag-post-race-prosecco","50":"tag-race-report","51":"tag-regulation-shift","52":"tag-remy-gardner","53":"tag-rider-market","54":"tag-sets-sights","55":"tag-shop-window","56":"tag-south-america","57":"tag-south-eastern-asia","58":"tag-southern-europe","59":"tag-spain","60":"tag-sports","61":"tag-sprint-report","62":"tag-sprint-stats","63":"tag-texas","64":"tag-thailand","65":"tag-title-fight","66":"tag-top-flight","67":"tag-tyre-life","68":"tag-united-states-of-america","69":"tag-world-championship","70":"tag-world-championship-points"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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