MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 12 MARCH 25, 2014 P37
Briefly...
Riders were as bemused as the fans
by the twists and turns of Dorna's
frenzy of last-minute rule changes,
but with the more important business
of racing on hand, were content to
put it to the back of their minds. Cal
Crutchlow's comment was forth-
right. "I signed up as a Factory rider,
then I wasn't a Factory rider, and now
I am one again. I don't care. We're all
racing. It makes no difference."
Marc Marquez opined: "Everyone
is working to have only one catego-
ry, but it takes time;" while teammate
Dani Pedrosa added: "It's not ideal to
have changes every five minutes, but
it's not easy to make everyone equal.
I think we have to wait some years.
In F1 also they make many changes
to see what is the best way." And
for Valentino Rossi? "There is a little
confusion, but in the end the riders
don't care a lot."
The agreement by the factories to
adopt control software is of longer-
term significance, representing
another climb-down by Honda's
previously implacable Shuhei Na-
kamoto, and an important step in
Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta's
long-standing campaign for more
equal machinery. It comes with
strings attached: the factories have
agreed to pool development to assist
with development of the control soft-
ware, and are insistent that develop-
ment shouldn't be frozen. Yamaha's
Kouichi Tsuji told the press: "If we
can't develop software to make the
bikes faster, okay, but for the safety
issue, 'frozen' is not a good idea. We
need always to improve safety for the
riders." Repsol Honda's Livio Suppo
explained that the factory was against
frozen electronic development, but
continued on next page
How about teammate Jorge
Lorenzo? Tough enough to try
to win in spite of all sorts of
problems, then man enough to
admit "a learner's mistake" after
a lap-one crash from the lead?
Or is that too kind-hearted?
Should it be Aussie Moto3
victor Jack Miller, the first non-
Spaniard to win in the class for
20 races? Or perhaps the hot
new Moto3 Honda, which has
come out fighting to challenge
the KTMs?
The race for
victory in the
opening MotoGP
of the season
came down to
Marc Marquez vs.
Valentino Rossi,
new vs. old, Honda
vs. Yamaha.
GAME CHANGER
