Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 22 JUNE 4, 2013 distance, but when they got there he had dropped away, and Terol had taken the lead from Redding. The Brit was feeling comfortable with the pace and happy to let the Spaniard do the work, then on lap 14, to his surprise, Terol let him back past. "Maybe he wanted to use my slipstream, but it wasn't a chance I was going to pass up," he said. Nor was Redding for hanging around. He put the hammer down and by lap 17 was better than 1.5 seconds clear, and still stretching, to win his second race in the class and second in a row by better than two seconds. Redding had destroyed his bike in a spectacular Saturday morning crash, although he was unhurt and it seemed to do him a favor. "I wasn't comfortable until then, but the new bike the team built for me was immediately better," he said. For Terol, "in the last laps Scott was faster than me, and second was okay;" while Zarco was thrilled to be third, after a slow start to the year. "I thought about fighting with Nico, but then I thought third place was good enough," he said. A big gang behind finally broke up somewhat in the closing laps, with Qatar winner Pol Espargaro finally coming through to take the front off Mika Kallio with two laps to go. Redding's second win secured him the biggest championship lead in any class, 101 points to Terol and Kallio on 58 apiece. P77 Briefly... have a screw in the other one without any trouble." After a strong second-place start at Qatar, Valentino Rossi's first season back with Yamaha had gone mildly but steadily downhill until the low point of a crash at Le Mans two weeks ago. After setting himself the task of seeing if he could mix it with the younger generation, he was asked if he was disappointed so far. "We have work to do. I think we can do it, but now in MotoGP you have to be at 100 percent from the first practice, and more than 100 percent for the race, if you want to stay in front from the first lap to the last." Was it a new and higher level than before? "For me it is not right to speak of another level. The younger riders are strong. It is like a car: the next model is always better. Also the way to ride the bike has changed a lot. Now you have to do some trick on the bike that for an older rider like me is very difficult to learn. Especially the tires have changed a lot, from when they introduced the mono-tire rule. From that moment the Bridgestones have less grip on the edge, to you have to use the traction area for acceleration more than in the past." Ben Spies' return to action after missing two races proved premature, with the American Ignite Ducati rider withdrawing after essaying the first two free practice sessions, and discovering that his long-lasting shoulder problems were not yet recovered. Spies injured his shoulder late last year, and underwent major reconstructive surgery after the season. The recovery time was always predicted to be long, but he ran the first two races, only to suffer agonizing muscle pain in the second in Texas as he used his upper body differently to compensate for the lack of shoulder strength. He withdrew for intensive rehabilitation, missing the Spanish and French GPs, but when he returned at Mugello, according to a team statement, "the practice highlighted to muscular problems still afflicting him." There had been a clear improvement over the past four weeks, but not enough. He was scheduled for further medical checks in the week to come. Spies placed 10th in the morning and 16th in the second session. "I'm upset, but not surprised," Spies said. A few weeks earlier he'd been told that full recovery was still a couple of months away. He'd almost crashed first time out, because of overall weakness on the fast to-and-fro chicanes of Mugello. There is no firm date for his return. Ducati factory test rider Michele Pirro, who substituted for Spies at Le Mans, is standing by to take his place again. Michele Pirro was at Mugello for a second wild-card ride on the factory development "lab bike," with a different chassis from the factory machine, and more changes expected in a month. The bike was, he said, "not a lot different from at Jerez except in set-up – we had a small problem with movement in the rear, and have checked a new solution. It is important to test it at two different tracks." The bike improved on every exit, he added. "My time today was one second faster than at the last test." He was puzzled that Hayden had the opposite experience. "In one month I hope is ancontinued on next page

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