Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/282881
MOTOGP MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1/MARCH 23, 2014 LOSAIL CIRCUIT/LOSAIL, QATAR P42 Briefly... the one side: an increasingly gloomy Jorge Lorenzo, describing the new 2014 tires as "dangerous" after bat- tling for a time and watching a couple of spectacular power-on highside crashes in practice (one victim was Bradley Smith, who described it as "a 500cc crash"). On the other, a brigade of non-facto- ry riders had access to the ex-CRT softer tire: still only two compounds, but the "Open" harder compound was the "Factory" softer. Along with three days of Losail testing with the official factory teams absent, this turned practice form on its head, with Aleix Espargaro on an "Open" IT'S MILLER TIME! There was a new tension in Moto3, with Honda having pulled out all the stops to prevent another year of KTM domination. Honda's top rider Jack Miller had switched to the official Red Bull KTM team; but KTM's top remain- ing pair, Alexes Rins and Marquez, had crossed the floor along with their Estrella squad to ride the new Honda RS250FW, with its natty twin under- seat exhausts. The tension was justified, with Rins snatching pole, but teammate Mar- quez taking the early race lead. The MotoGP World Champion's younger brother would hang on to it for the next eight laps, with Miller's KTM following closely, the pair drawing more than two seconds clear. Rins had muffed the start and, while he was soon taking a leading role in the pursuit, Efren Vazquez's more accurately geared Saxoprint Honda passed him time and again down the straight. The gap to the leaders stayed constant. Then just before half distance Miller took the lead for the first time, and though Marquez was soon back to lead over the line all the way to the penultimate lap, the tussle meant the chasers could catch up for a thrilling last-lap showdown. By now Miguel Oliveira and the Mahin- dra were pushing hard in the gang, but Rins looked strongest. Any one of them could have won. Until Miller took control on the last lap, staying just far enough ahead to avoid an unseemly brawl. It was not only the fancied teenager's first win, but his first rostrum too. Rins had got close as Marquez missed a gear, but the pursuers were shuffling at every corner, and all the way down the straight. Marquez came through again for second, .233 of a second down, with a photo finish giving third to Vazquez from Oliveira, Rins fifth. The top five finished within .369 seconds, with fifth-placed Jakub Kornfeil (Calvo KTM) another two tenths away. Alexis Masbou reinforced the Honda's strong debut with a still-close seventh, with Isaac Vinales almost along- side. Antonelli and Bagnaia completed the top 10. The gap between all three manufacturers just got a whole lot closer. Aussie Jack Miller won his first-ever Moto3 Grand Prix. It came down to two and despite the best efforts of Rossi (46), the win went to the defending World Champion Marquez (93). continued on next page