Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2013 P41 Briefly... Lorenzo (99) controlled the race from the front and ended up pulling away from both Marquez (93) and Pedrosa (26) to win his seventh MotoGP of the season. only his third pole, that brought him within striking distance, and clarified his task for the rest of the season. From now on he must qualify on pole if possible and win every race. Pile up the points and keep up the pressure. In a trademark immaculate start-to-finish win, gambling on a soft tire and playing every advan- tage he could find, he did exactly that at Motegi. There were other reasons to be cheerful in front of a race-day crowd of 40,200 spectators who were finally rewarded with fine sunny weather after two days of torment. It was not only Lorenzo's 51st win but also Yamaha's 200th - achieved at Honda's home race, in the presence of the president. Mainly, though, it was the points. With Marquez – battered by another fast crash in morning warm-up – eventually settled for a safe second, the gap before the final race is down to just 13. If Lorenzo can win the final round in Valencia, Marquez must finish higher than fourth. Not an insuperable task, considering he has never finished below third. But he has also non-finished. "If you look at Moto3 and Moto2 today… it shows you never know what can happen," said a calm and confident Lorenzo. The victory was the sweeter for being at a track thought to favor Honda - born out by the fact that the next-best Yamaha was Valentino Rossi's in sixth. It was a signal win. Had it been his bestever race? "With 51 victories there are a lot to remember," said Lorenzo. has never been a good track for me. But if I am strong enough to help Jorge, why not?" His task would be to see that Marc Marquez finishes no higher than fourth. Scott Redding made a heroic return to Motegi, in a last-ditch defense of the long-standing title lead he lost at Phillip Island. It all went horribly wrong when he was an innocent victim of a first-corner crash. Redding broke his left radius bone just above the wrist in a violent crash in qualifying in Australia – he later revealed the fracture occurred while he was wrestling with the Marc VDS Kalex rather than when he hit the ground. It was only his third crash of the year. Redding had surgery (a plate and six screws) in Melbourne that evening, and at first did not expect to be able to ride at Motegi. But with the words "it's not over yet" he was passed fit to ride at least for the first session (which never happened); and qualified a brave 15th, but was then eliminated from the race. Redding has led on points since round four at Le Mans, where he took the first of his three race wins. Espargaro moved 16 points clear with his fifth win of the season at Phillip Island. Dorna issued a league table of naughtiness at Motegi, totting up the penalty points amassed so far in this first season of the new cumulative punishment system. Guess who is top? Marc Marquez has three, earned in two separate incidents, leaving him one short of a back-ofthe-grid start. Jack Miller has two, both earned for knocking Masbou off on the last corner at Motegi, while Ricky Cardus and Maverick Vinales also have two apiece. Nine continued on next page

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