VOL. 50 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2013
As is becoming standard,
Jorge Lorenzo (99) shot out
front from pole position in the
Japanese Grand Prix, leading
championship rivals Dani
Pedrosa (hidden) and Marc
Marquez (93) while the rest,
including Valentino Rossi (46)
slot in behind them.
P39
Briefly...
Who will fill the vacant slot at Ducati?
Rumors had already linked World
Superbike race winner Eugene Laverty with the Pramac "B-team" seat.
The Laverty move now seems even
more likely, and the vacancy exists in
the World Superbike squad with Ben
Spies' retirement. At the same time,
Yonny Hernandez might be kept on
at Pramac, doing an effective job as
the current replacement for Spies.
The new leased Yamaha, racing in
the newly named "Open" non-factory
category with extra fuel and engines
but control electronics, uses a factory supplied engine housed in the major components of a factory chassis,
at least until NGM's proposed FTR
chassis is completed. The Forward
team remains Yamaha's only customer. There will be four "Open" Hondas
– for Scott Redding, Karel Abraham,
and now also Nicky Hayden and potential Aspar teammate Hiro Aoyama.
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
E
arthquake, wind, fog, rain and fire – all the elements came
into play at Motegi. Okay, except for fire, though plenty left
with the bitter taste of brimstone in their mouths.
The effects were wide-ranging. It put some into damage-control mode, tipped others into damage out-of-control mode, and
wrought havoc where before all had seemed calm.
More change at Ducati – team manager and rider liaison officer Vittoriano Guareschi is to quit the red team
next year, to run Valentino Rossi's
new VR46/Sky TV Moto3 team. The
former Superbike racer and Ducati
test rider had felt side-lined under
the new Ducati regime, according to
reports on the Italian GPOne website, which also reports that the new
team will employ Rossi's faithful crew
chief from his 250 title years, Rosanna Brazzi. Hot prospect Romano Fenati will be the chief pilot, and there
is talk that Rossi's half-brother Luca
Marini will take the second seat in
the new team.
Jorge Lorenzo can count on Valentino Rossi's support at the last round
at Valencia, though he admitted, "It
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