Jakub Kornfeil pulls off one of the craziest saves of all time, launching off a sliding bike before successfully landing.
It really is difficult to wrap one’s head around just how skilled professional motorcycle racers are. Whether it’s Stoner sliding around, Marquez dragging his elbows, Lorenzo cornering like he’s on rails, or just Rossi, well…being Rossi, the level of control elite racers have over their machines is almost unthinkable to the vast majority of riders on the planet. With all the media attention focused on the premier class pilots, it can be easy to overlook the amount of talent in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes – a fact we were reminded of over the weekend when Czech rider Jakub Kornfeil pulled off one of the most insane maneuvers I’ve ever seen on the track.
Sometimes, you just got to SEND IT! 🚀@JakubKornfeil84 goes BIG in the craziest save in #Moto3 history!#FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/VnSPFB7Jlf
— MotoGP™🇫🇷🏁 (@MotoGP) May 21, 2018
On May 20, 2018, the French Grand Prix was held at the Circuit de la Sarthe in LeMans, France. The races began with the junior (Moto3) support race, but not long after the lights went out, nearly half of the riders on the grid went down in a massive pileup in the gravel. This prompted officials to red flag the race, perform some cleanup, and then restart the event—this time as a 16 lap race. The usual suspects led the pack and the rest of the contest went off as expected until the final turn leading into the race’s penultimate lap.
Italian rider Enea Bastiannini was battling it out for the bottom step of the podium going into the circuit’s last corner before the start/finish straight. He seemingly got a little over-ambitious with his corner exit in an attempt to take back third place, opening the throttle too quickly and losing the rear end. Bastiannini and his Leopard Racing Honda went sliding into the gravel, directly in the path of Kornfeil. With nowhere else to go, Kornfeil plowed his KTM directly into the number 33 Honda. However instead of violently coming off the bike as expected, the Czech rider kept his boots firmly on his rearsets, bouncing his front end off the downed machine and launching him at least a foot or two off the gravel.
Amazingly, Kornfeil was somehow able to not only keep his bike upright, but he successfully landed, redirected his trajectory back onto the tarmac, and stayed in the race. Thanks to the ridiculously epic save, Kornfeil only lost one position – technically two positions but Bastiannini went down and was obviously overtaken. Kornfeil finished the race in a respectable sixth place, which is pretty bonkers when you consider the literal hurdle he had to endure.
Obviously, luck played a role in this whole ordeal — though that’s not to say Kornfeil’s skill didn’t also play a pivotal role in his impromptu jump. I assume his front end was compressed as he was almost certainly emergency braking just before the impact. By preloading the front suspension, Kornfeil’s KTM was better able to bounce and launch off of the Honda, instead of going into the Honda. The Honda’s crumpled bodywork also appeared to serve as a ramp of sorts which also aided in the KTM’s takeoff. Luckily for Kornfeil he wasn’t leaned over too far at the time so he was able to maintain control of his bike, and I feel like luck had to have played a role in that landing.
Reigning Moto3 Champion, Joan Mir may have finished first on Sunday’s race, but Jakub Kornfeil was the real winner.
Feature photo from Kornfeil’s Instagram account.