Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 27, 2013 Pedrosa gives chase from third place. By the end of the race, the senior member of the Repsol Honda team was threatening his young teammate for the victory. race TV clash with the F1 car GP in Belgium. Qualifying had been slightly topsy turvy. This is not to take away from Cal Crutchlow's second pole of the year. The Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider had been fast throughout, and considered this a "real" pole, because the last time at Assen had been in the absence of Lorenzo. More unusually, Fun& Go Honda's Alvaro Bautista was second, after tagging on behind Marquez and knocking him down to third. It was Lorenzo away from the start, taking a flyer from the second row. Already Marquez and Pedrosa were in pursuit, with Crutchlow pushing hard to try to get amongst them. The Englishman lasted only eight laps, however, after falling back into the clutches of Bautista and Rossi, then striving to close again on the leaders. He slipped off, remounting in high dudgeon to finish 17th. "Lorenzo made an incredible start and put us all under pressure. I lost the front," Crutchlow said. Incredible start indeed. At the end of the first lap he was a second clear, erick Vinales and Alex Rins second and fourth, sandwiching Folger, and Alex Marquez pushed from second to fifth in the last corner set. For once the FTR Hondas were in contention, their relatively feeble bottom end acceleration not a drawback at a track with no first-gear corners. Australian Jack Miller nursing a freshly plated collarbone, played his usual significant role, but it was Ongetta-Rivacold FTR Honda rider Alexis Masbou who lasted better after the Australian's soft tire choice played him foul, losing touch only in the last laps in sixth, blaming pain from his heavily strapped left wrist (broken scaphoid) for slowing him. By then Miller in seventh was safely more than 10 seconds behind. Salom regained some ground in the title chase – he has 208 points to Vinales's 194; then comes Rins with 180, Folger with 110 and Marquez with 101. P67 Briefly... but things are moving pretty quick. A month ago, I didn't think I would have so many options. Some of them are pretty exciting." Ducati is anxious to keep him, with a berth in World Superbikes, but the 2006 World Champion has expressed a strong desire to stay in the premier class. Australian Moto3 rider Jack Miller rivaled Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa in making a quick comeback from breaking his collarbone, and getting straight up to speed. The FTR Honda rider broke his right collarbone at Indianapolis, flew straight to England for surgery on Monday, and was ready to ride on Friday. "I already had a plate, which wasn't damaged, but they had to take it out and put in a bigger one," he said. He felt fine, he said, riding without painkillers and up at the sharp end in practice. According to Italian reports, Ben Spies angered Ducati by announcing details of his surgery on social media, rather than through the company's information network. He did the same when he decided to quit Yamaha last year. He is described by website GPOne as "a loose cannon," and they cast doubt on his continued tenure with Ducati. Stefan Bradl's recent improvement in form had a simple explanation, the German rider said. It was down to his switch from Nissin to the otherwise almost universal Brembo brakes. He made the change at tests before the Dutch TT at Assen, where he qualified on the front row for the first time. Two continued on next page

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