ROUND 17/OCTOBER 27, 2013
TWIN-RING MOTEGI/MOTEGI, JAPAN
MOTOGP
P46
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The Ducatis battled again. And,
again, Nicky Hayden chased down
Andrea Dovizioso and beat him on
the final lap.
Brakes were a major issue,
with the rules already eased to
allow larger and denser discs
to cope with the track's several
heavy braking areas. They still
caused trouble for some: Rossi
had a good start, but then twice
ran wide - the second time off
track - to lose touch, dropping
to 11th to fight his way back to an
eventual sixth.
This left the way open for a
Honda clean sweep from second
to fifth. But it was not the same
as victory at the track they built
and own.
The race started in now familiar fashion - inch-perfect off the
line for Lorenzo so he led into
the first U-bend. He would never
relinquish the position, under severe pressure almost throughout.
Rossi muscled past Pedrosa
on the way in, who promptly lost
another place to Marquez in the
confusion, and they finished the
first lap in this order.
This changed the next time
around after the fast steep plunge
down the back straight to the
fateful 90-degree corner, leading
into the second track-trademark
underpass. Rossi's big brakes
weren't as big as he thought they
were, and he ran wide to drop
behind the two Hondas.
The next time around, same
thing… only much worse.
