ROUND 9/JULY 21, 2013
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
MOTOGP
P48
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
BRADL'S FIRST
Qualifying was a feast of fascination, and happily not too many
crashes – except for the big one
that destroyed U.S. wild card Blake
Young's only chassis on Friday
afternoon.
One of several points of focus
was Marc Marquez. The golden
rookie's first sight of the track was
on Thursday afternoon on a scooter.
If he went fastest the next day,
opined Cal Crutchlow, it would prove
he was lying, and that he'd already
made a secret visit.
It did take until the second session, but he was firmly on top from
then on, attacking the track with a
gusto that reminded all (including
Valentino Rossi) of three-time winner
Casey Stoner.
On top until the last 30 seconds
of final qualifying. By then his attack on his own top time had gone
wrong: "Pushing too hard on the
second tire." The crash was fast but
innocuous, but meant no further
improvement.
Right at the end it all came
together for Stefan Bradl, the LCR
Honda rider threatening throughout
then riding "my best lap ever," completed with a seamless exit from the
last corer that took him over .017 of
a second faster than Marquez. His
first pole was the first by a German
in the premiere class.
A surprise at the other end of the
front row also: Alvaro Bautista making it all-Honda. He too was looking aggressively on the tight track,
recovering confidence after his
consecutive first-lap crashes in Italy
and Catalunya, and perhaps slightly
too obviously urging caution in the
early laps here, in relatively cool
track temperatures.
Less than two tenths covered the
front row. Rossi pronounced himself
happy to be heading the second,
less than a 10th adrift and on the
pace at a track he enjoys. He was
for once top Yamaha; Crutchlow
alongside was the next. It might
have been different had the Englishman's final qualifying plans not
