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MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 12 MARCH 25, 2014 P45 and Bautista. Smith dropped off the back as Marquez took to the front for the first time on lap 14, but was closing again as the lead- ing pair drew clear, and Pedro- sa tussled with Bautista a little way back. Then the English- man was gone with four laps left, another to lose the front. Bautista followed suit two laps later, directly after having passed Pedrosa again. The action up front was riveting. Time and again the Old Master and the Young Upstart changed places. Every one of Rossi's attacks was repulsed, until on the final lap Marquez had just enough in hand to hold on to win by a quarter of a second. "It was important, because the injury meant I missed most of the pre-season," the Spaniard said. "The battle with Valentino was the best part… I really enjoyed it." Rossi overcame the taste of defeat to congratulate the winner wholeheartedly. "It looked like an old race from MotoGP from 10 years ago, all together on the same pace, some mis- takes, going wide and so on. Maybe Dorna had a great Briefly... Yamaha dominant in free practice, though crashing twice in qualifying to spoil his chances of a maiden pole. Marc Marquez had to summon ev- ery ounce of his talent to snitch pole at the last gasp from satellite Honda rider Alvaro Bautista; and satellite Ya- maha man Bradley Smith was third, for his first front row start. (By the way, neither has access to the soft tire.) Apart from their obvious consid- erable value in qualifying, the softer tires may be a mixed blessing for Espargaro and the Ducati riders. "It is impossible for the race," opined the Spaniard. "After only three laps it is gone: I have to use the same tire as the factories;" with Dovizioso and Crutchlow in agreement. Jorge Lorenzo's problem was dif- ferent: the new 2014 construction resists overheating at the expense of side grip at full lean - a corner- stone of the Yamaha rider's style. He struggled to make it into the top 10 to avoid having to join the slow boats in Q1, though when it mattered in Q2 he at last managed a competitive time. It was a repeat of his problems at the last Sepang test; although he was fastest next time out at Phil- lip Island, where Bridgestone had a new track-specific tire selection for testing. "The tires were bad for me in Malaysia, perfect in Australia, but now it is the same as Sepang," he said. "We are struggling, but we cannot change the engine, cannot change the chassis, cannot change the tires." Instead he was hoping electronic tweaking would come to his rescue. And in the longer term, a change in the tires. "We will speak with Bridgestone to find the best so- lution for everyone." on Dani Pedrosa, who was smooth and steady throughout. Stefan Bradl led row three from Cal Crutchlow (another to crash, and furthermore obliged to make it through from Q1) and the luckless Aleix Espargaro. Then came Rossi, close to the front on time but on row four, ahead of Andrea Iannone and Pol Espargaro, who had also come from Q1. Pol, like teammate Smith, had earlier suffered a massive highside in the free sessions. Honda RCV1000R rider Nicky Hayden was best of the rest, narrowly failing in a last-ditch attempt to move through from Q1, losing time in the last section and on the straight to leave Crutchlow safe by four tenths. Colin Edwards was alongside his countryman, then came Hiroshi Aoyama on the next-best production Honda, with rookie Scott Redding leading row six from Yonny Hernandez and Karel Abraham. Marc Marquez earned pole posi- tion for the Grand Prix of Qatar. Alvaro Bautista (19) had some moments like this one while racing at the front of the pack behind Bradl (6). He also eventually crashed out. continued on next page