VOL. 50 ISSUE 39 OCTOBER 1, 2013
P67
Briefly...
other factors contributed to marginal fuel consumption, and meant
that the power had to be reduced
to ensure he could finish races.
The race changed when Marc
Marquez clipped the rear of Dani
Pedrosa's Honda, causing the bike
to lose its traction control function
and leading to this vicious highside
as Valentino Rossi (46) and Stefan
Bradl (6) appear on the scene.
Marquez ran wide in the incident and
isn't visible in the photos.
the cable to a critical rear-mounted sensor measuring back wheel
speed, which in turn disabled
the traction control. Pedrosa had
no time to find out about this for
he was very busy going around
the corner, and a split second
later he opened the throttle for
the exit, lining up Lorenzo in his
sights.
The bike spun up, slewed
sideways, and threw him. Violently. He was lucky to escape
serious injury, and lucky also that
he didn't get hit by Marquez, run-
ning wide almost alongside. But
that was as far as his luck went.
Pedrosa could write a book
about luck. They say you make
your own, and this is possibly
true of his foiled title bid in 2011,
when he collided with a wayward
Marco Simoncelli at Le Mans,
and broke his collarbone in the
crash. Pedrosa didn't really need
to try that overtaking move, and it
cost him dear.
But there have been almost
countless other times when his
chances to add a premier-class
crown to his two 250cc and one
125cc titles were foiled through
little fault of his own. Innocuous
crashes would leave the fragile
rider broken again; and a mechanic's error at Motegi did the
same thing in 2010.
Pedrosa put a brave if somber
face on it.
Honda's riders bristled somewhat,
when taxed with reported criticism
from HRC chief Shuhei Nakamoto that Jorge Lorenzo's wins at Silverstone and Misano demonstrated that Marquez and Pedrosa were
not fast enough on the opening two
laps. Lorenzo had made his escape
in this way, most conspicuously at
Misano, when he had a lead of better than 1.2 seconds after the first
lap, and kept on stretching away.
A report in Britain's Motor Cycle
News quoted Nakamoto's criticism. Marquez took it on the chin,
saying he planned to work on his
starts, and then separately on firstlap speed; but Pedrosa was quick
to point out, "I have won quite a few
races the same way in the past…
but it doesn't work every time."
Lorenzo's recently perfected and
frequently devastating technique
reminded old-timers of Marquez's
previous "youngest-ever" predecessor Freddie Spencer; while Valentino Rossi was moderately pungent on the topic. "You have to ride
the first two laps like qualifying," he
said.
Both factory Yamaha riders put
their fifth and final engines into
use at Aragon, with satellite rider Bradley Smith already on his
fifth from the last race. Only Cal
Crutchlow has one unused motor
left. But Yamaha is not alone in running close to the limit. While most
of the Honda riders are still on their
fourth motor, satellite rider Stefan
Bradl is using his fifth. And all but
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