Cycle News

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 17 APRIL 29, 2014 P63 The bike needed improvement, and so did he. "We have to have patience and wait for our mo- ment," he added. Rossi, meanwhile, lapping at close to the leaders' pace, had caught and passed the fading Iannone on lap 10, and closed quickly on Bradl, getting ahead on lap 13. He was just 1.4 sec- onds behind Pedrosa, but could get no closer, obliged to be sat- isfied with a clear fourth. "I had the potential for the po- dium and to fight with the three guys in the front," he said. But his own earlier mistake and then two seconds lost when Bradl pushed him out left him too far adrift, though just 1.7 off Lorenzo at the flag. Bradl, badly knocked about in a heavy crash the day before, had run into front tire problems, and "preferred to remain calm to finish my race in a safe and good position." He was a lone fifth, five seconds from an equally lonely Iannone in sixth, and top Ducati. The brawling went on down the field, riders staying close through the sweeping curves. All spoke highly of the pleasure of the track. Dovizioso had been behind Rossi after a strong start but some sort of oil control prob- Briefly... Herrin was also missing, after he too required surgery after break- ing his collarbone in two places in a training Supermoto crash at his home in Georgia. His GP debut has been even more bruising, with first- lap crashes at Qatar and Austin, followed by another tumble after re- mounting his Caterham Suter Moto2 bike at round two. Argentina's most successful ever rid- er Sebastian Porto made a noted Grand Prix comeback at his home GP – running as a Moto2 wild card at the age of 35. Porto won seven 250 races between 1995 and 2006, but quit after battling for years for finan- cial support from his home country. Last year, however, he came back to contest his National Championship as well as some Spanish CEV races, so he was not as rusty as his eight years GP absence might suggest. Porto qualified his Kalex 33rd and finished 23rd in the race. Jorge Lorenzo's state of mind was a talking point, as the rider on the back foot after a ghastly start to his season strove to reassure the world that all was not yet completely lost. "Things can also be worse," he told press (which is a gloomy way of saying "Things can only get better"), after crashing on the first lap in Qatar then jumping the start in Austin. He had made "two really big mistakes, and the second one in Austin was even bigger than Qatar," he said. But "you learn from your mistakes." So he demonstrated, making no more as he topped the first free practice, qualifying second, and then riding a typically mature race to third. But he needs more than mental strength, he admitted, to challenge the Hondas. lethal last corner. The exotic venue and exciting city went a long way to make up for it all. The same thing happened this year, in a different way. The rustic appeal of the remote spa town and the fervor of the fans compensated for the lack of accommo- dation and sham- bolic traffic overload, while finishing touches were still under way at the circuit during practice. Colin Edwards tweeted: "It's great to be here – but the infrastructure isn't ready for us." This year's race is the first in 15 years, and true to tradition it got off to a false start – first practice was delayed by 30 minutes due to a short- age of marshals. On a grander scale, it was the second false start. It was scheduled for last year, but cancelled after the government nationalized the fuel company previously owned by Repsol, and Dorna advised the factory Honda team not to visit the country until further notice. The MotoGP paddock embraced the return to Argentina for a 10 th time. Yonny Hernandez (68), Hiroshi Aoyoma (7) and Nicky Hayden (69) fight over 10 th place. The spot went to Aoyoma with his teammate Hayden taking 11 th . continued on next page

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