ROUND 7/JUNE 29, 2013
CIRCUIT VAN DRENTHE/ASSEN, HOLLAND
MOTOGP
P56
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Crutchlow had battled in the
early laps, having his usual trouble with a full tank. At the end,
he was getting stronger – "again,
too little too late," he ruefully commented. He closed on the Honda
pair, passed Pedrosa firmly at the
chicane at the end of lap 20, and
started to close the gap to Marquez. For the last three laps he
was on him, but his plan to attack
at the hairpin on the last lap went
wrong, through little fault of his
own.
They were just starting the lap
when Marquez took a defensive
tight line into the first corner. "I
braked late, but stopped a lot,"
he said. "Then I felt a touch at the
back, and I thought: 'Cal is really
pushing.' "
The touch pushed Crutchlow
wide.
"It was his fault," he joked; recalling how it was much the same
as had happened when Marquez
almost hit Pedrosa two weeks
ago. "I didn't plan to pass him
there, but he braked so hard and
he was stopped in the middle of
the corner with his hand still on
the brake."
Lorenzo's race was remarkable, extraordinary, and a private
and public epic.
Starting 12th, he'd gained five
places on the first lap, and had
more to come as he passed
Smith and Bradl on the second.
He was fifth and travelling hardly slower than the leaders. He
stayed fifth too, although he'd
Nicky Hayden (69) battled with
teammate Andrea Dovizioso (04)
and Bradley Smith (38), but lost out
to both in the final laps.
dropped out of touch by then. He
was still only seven seconds behind Pedrosa, and comfortably
clear of Bradl in sixth.
Espargaro had pushed through
in the early laps while Bautista
– chastened by successive firstlap crashes at the last two races
– was proceeding more cautiously in the pack behind him. He
dropped Hayden's Ducati off and
closed on the CRT bike ahead after four laps, but while he did get
ahead there was no way he could
get rid of him, and the Aprilia even
got past again once or twice. At
the finish Espargaro was less than
