Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/192336
VOL. 50 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 15, 2013 Cal Crutchlow (35) lost out on his battle with Alvaro Bautista (19) for fifth. too much torque so it was heating the tire and spinning. It was my choice to go with the strong power map, and I'll learn from that." His teammate Bradley Smith had a mainly lonely ride to seventh, hounded for two laps by Andrea Dovizioso's Marlboro Ducati, until he ran off and nearly crashed on the slippery tarmac; then followed not especially closely by Nicky Hayden's Duke. That lasted only seven laps; on the eighth the Ducati expired in a cloud of smoke. The engine – his newest and best – had blown. "We can't really catch a break at the moment," he said. "It's gonna be complicated getting to the end of the season." Andrea Iannone and the Energy TI Pramac Ducati had been behind Hayden early, but pitted with a suspected puncture on lap seven. Some way back the recovered Dovizioso had quickly got back ahead of CRT leader Aleix Espargaro's Power Electronics ART for his lonely eighth. The rest of the points scorers were spaced out – Yonny Hernandez, Hiroshi Aoyama, Randy de Puniet and Corti down to 13th. Hector Barbera narrowly beat Colin Edwards for 14th, with both catching and passing Danilo Masbou was seventh, under pressure at the end from Folger; while ninthplaced Romano Fenati had caught and got well clear of Philipp Oettl and Brad Binder. This championship is likely to go to the wire. Salom regained a little breathing space on 284 points from Rins on 270; Vinales is losing ground on 258. Marquez has 162, while Oliveira is closing on Folger and is now six points behind. Luis Salom won the Moto3 race from pole position. P57 Briefly... wild cards in Moto3 to series regular Zulfahmi Khairuddin, and it makes 11 riders. Khairuddin was cleared to ride on race eve following surgery after breaking his right wrist at Aragon; while Syahrin was long-time Moto2 race leader in the rain last year, finishing a close fourth. The selection process for the 2014 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup, was to begin the day after the GP, picking out promising youngsters from a slew of hopefuls in the same way as Europe's Rookies Cup. Plans are afoot for a new circuit in Thailand to join that in Indonesia, both candidates to join the calendar in the future. Booming motorcycle and scooter sales mean the factories are behind the push. During the weekend, Dorna also announced renewal of the Sepang contract for a further three years. In another local connection, Malaysian magnate Tony Fernandes – owner of Air Asia and Caterham – announced his Moto2 team for next year, to be run under the Caterham name. As reported previously, new AMA Superbike Champion Josh Herrin and talented French rider Johann Zarco will campaign the Suterframed machines. Australian Anthony West racked up his 200th GP start in Malaysia, but thoughts that this made him the most experienced of his compatriots were quickly scotched by statistician Dr. Martin Raines, who tweeted to remind those with short memories that "Jack Findlay had 280 starts." West is not the most seasoned rider in his class: this was GP number 227 for Alex de Angelis; while in MotoGP the continued on next page