MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4/MAY 4, 2014
CIRCUIT DE JEREZ/JEREZ, SPAIN
P46
THE REAL DEAL
The weirdness of the flyaway races
gave way to the madness of Jerez: a
quite different circuit and the start of
the season proper.
One thing remained the same. Four
races, four poles for Marc Marquez.
It only became that cut and dried
in the final Q2. Aleix Espargaro led
the first free practice; track specialist
Dani Pedrosa was on top on combined
free times, then Jorge Lorenzo, with
Marquez third. Colin Edwards was a
surprise fifth, responding to rumors
that his team boss was trying to ease
him out; factory riders Michele Pirro,
Andrea Iannone, Alvaro Bautista and
Cal Crutchlow (back from injury)
missed the top 10.
Bautista topped Q1 to make it
through with the big guys, and so
too – for a second successive race –
Nicky Hayden, top production Honda.
At a track of almost continuous
medium-speed corners, the Yamaha
disadvantages were less pronounced,
and Lorenzo seemed set for pole.
Marquez tried an impromptu new
tactic, however. Where most riders
stop once during the 15-minute dash,
he stopped twice – using both his
bikes. On his third soft tire, he aimed
at the Lorenzo target, and surpassed
it by better than four tenths. Business
as usual.
