"Crashing every corner!" - Aprilia rivals talk Ai Ogura's "strange" MotoGP riding style

After solving his qualifying woes, Ai Ogura's searing pace has been on full display with three runner-up finishes and then a maiden MotoGP victory at Assen on Sunday.

Having averaged just 11th on the grid across the opening eight rounds, the Trackhouse Aprilia rider then qualified on the front row at both Brno and Assen.

Ogura's poor qualifying had frequently been followed by a red-hot late-race charge.

Now starting at the front, the Japanese rider could unleash the same used-tyre pace without the disadvantage of fighting through the field.

Ogura still lacked some early-race speed and dropped to fourth in the opening laps at Assen.

However, he formed an all-Aprilia lead group behind Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez by lap five of 26.

Ogura and Fernandez then burst past Martin on lap 18.

Sprint winner Fernandez couldn’t contain his team-mate, who took the lead with six laps to go and went on to win by a comfortable two seconds, despite a scare with his ride-height device.

Asked to explain Ogura's style afterwards, Fernandez said: “To see Ai riding the bike is quite strange because the style that he’s using on the bike is different from all of us.

“Maybe because of that he’s quite strong in the last part of the race. In the data we saw that his performance is coming better and better.

“So be careful with him for the championship!”

“It seems he's crashing every corner!”

Martin, who took over the championship lead from factory team-mate Marco Bezzecchi on Sunday, also described Ogura's bike vs body position as “strange”, adding: “It seems he’s crashing every corner!”

However, that technique may also be the key to his tyre-saving skills.

“For sure I have to congratulate Ai,” began Martin.

“Honestly, when you see the data [the performance of] all Aprilias are quite close.

“There are some milliseconds here, some milliseconds here. But we are all so similar."

The Spaniard, no stranger to extreme lean angles on the RS-GP, added: 

“But for sure when you follow Ai, it’s strange because it seems he’s crashing every corner!

“Because [his upper body] is really down, but the bike is straight [upright].

“I feel like I struggle to follow because I feel he’s crashing, but then he just turns and goes.

“So maybe that’s why he’s fast in the last few laps. But I will try anyway.”

Ogura is now fourth in the championship, 25 points behind Martin.

However, his 63-point haul from the last two rounds compares with 45 for the next-best riders, Marc Marquez and Fernandez, 39 for Fabio di Giannantonio, 33 for Martin, 31 for Pecco Bagnaia and just six for Bezzecchi.