VOL. 50 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 22, 2013
ample window between its completion in December and the race
10 months later.
Red-faced tire men took the
blame for a shambolic weekend,
during which major rule changes
were urgently instituted to cope
with a genuine crisis, and then
revised again during race day as
the situation got even worse.
But the whole comedy of errors
cut much deeper into MotoGP as
it is currently constituted, and the
"Be careful…" motto applied in at
least one other area.
Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta
wanted cheaper and closer racing when he introduced the spec-
P61
Briefly...
For a second successive race, a
collision between Jorge Lorenzo
and Marc Marquez kept questions
about the youngster and allegations
of dangerous riding well to the fore.
It happened as Marquez exited the
pits after his bike change, and swept
across towards the apex of turn 1.
At that moment Lorenzo arrived at
speed, and they collided as he came
past. "I made a mistake – I left my
braking a bit late and I was wide," Lorenzo admitted. "I don't know if Marquez saw me, but anyway the rider
on the track on the racing line should
have priority." He stopped short of accusing Marquez of dangerous riding,
instead complaining that Race Direction should not have let him out of
the pits, only to be black flagged. "It
could have been a bad crash at that
very fast point. Somebody could have
been hurt," he said. Close spectator
Dani Pedrosa, when pressed, admitted: "Sure, he could have been more
careful;" agreeing that Lorenzo had
the right to the corner line.
Scott Redding's still high hopes
of becoming the first British Moto2
World Champion since Barry
Sheene in 1977 suffered a body blow
in qualifying at Phillip Island, when
he was one of a number of high-profile riders to crash. The title leader,
whose advantage over the chasing
Pol Espargaro, had already narrowed to only nine points, broke his
left wrist, and was out of the race, after same-day surgery was performed
at Melbourne's Epworth Hospital.
Espargaro was 47 points adrift after
round five at Mugello, but has been
closing down erratically ever since.
After qualifying on pole for the Australian race, he expressed his regret
at his rival's injury. "If I am to win the
title at the last race in Valencia, I want
continued on next page
