MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1/MARCH 23, 2014
LOSAIL CIRCUIT/LOSAIL, QATAR
P38
Or even Dorna CEO Carmelo
Ezpeleta, whose fiddle-faddling
with the rules (the latest in three
updates this week on race morn-
ing) seems finally to have yielded
very close racing, in all three
classes - at least for this event?
Let's just say all of them, and
a few more, after a weekend of
racing full of surprises in practice
and qualifying, and full of drama
on race day. Results at the flood-
lit desert racetrack of Losail are
generally not thought to be too
typical of the season to come. If
the racing is only half this close
and this good for the rest of the
year, however, we are in for a
feast.
The first of 18 races in the 2014
season was also the first under
the ever shifting "Open" and
"Factory" regulations, whereby
the former category gets softer
tires as well as extra fuel. They
also had three days of practice
at Losail, and the combination
meant that the lesser lights led
the way in free practice.
It was still a bit that way in quali-
fying, although Repsol Honda's
youngest-ever World Champion
Marc Marquez came through
in the last gasp to put a factory
bike ahead of the satellite bikes
of Bautista (Fun&Go Honda) and
