Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 18 MAY 6, 2014 P39 sure that sooner or later will come a race which we are unable to win." It was his 100th GP start, and he marked it by accumulating a perfect 100 points. The first three flyaways are often atypical, but not so much this year. But Yamaha did claw back some of the ground lost to Honda, with enough of an improvement to put the resurgent Valen- tino Rossi second at a track where the Yamaha's higher corner speed is more valuable. But he was only barely second, with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa closing to within less than a tenth of a second on the final lap, after spending most of the race in fourth behind second Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo as he battled with sliding tires. This was the second race where Bridgestone brought a selection of three front tires – it was done in Argentina for reasons of caution on a new track, but proved so popular that it has been adopted henceforth. Only Rossi, Pol Espargaro and Scott Redding chose the hard front, and for the former it paid dividends at the end of the race. He'd held sec- ond throughout, but now Pedrosa was closing fast. Briefly... With contract talks having started earlier than ever (Jorge Lorenzo to Ducati is one current red herring), speculation is intensifying about Suzuki's rider shopping list, for the company's MotoGP return next sea- son. Several top names have been linked with the company, including Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pe- drosa. The latest rumors concern top Open and CRT rider Aleix Espar- garo, currently riding the NGM For- ward Yamaha with some distinction. It is far from certain what machine the team will race. Lips are sealed however, at this early stage, with other contracts needing to fall into place first. All major riders except for Cal Crutchlow are up for grabs at the end of the season. Meanwhile, the Suzuki test pro- gram suffered a setback when two post-race days at Argentina were hit by rain. Although test rider Randy de Puniet was present, only fac- wise third throughout, and admitted he had been nervous in the closing laps, when Rabat was a couple of seconds behind. The Spaniard had finished lap one eighth, but by the eighth he had taken fourth of Pons HP 40 Kalex class rookie Luis Salom. He never got any further forward. Salom came under a late attack from fellow-rookie teammate Mav- erick Vinales, with the Moto3 World Champion getting ahead with three laps to go. Riders trailed along behind, with Xavier Simeon alone in seventh. An- other three seconds behind him San- dro Cortese had been engaged with Thomas Luthi, prevailing on lap 21. By now, however, Johann Zarco had found his mojo, and was ahead of both for eighth, his first points of the year, by the end. Luthi then came under at- tack from Takaaki Nakagami until the Japanese charger crashed out on the final lap. There was a close battle for 11th, won by just over a tenth by the re- doubtable veteran Anthony West from Jordi Torres, Ricard Cardus, Julian Simon, Randy Krummenacher, Axel Pons, Alex de Angelis and Mattia. Krummenacher was the last to score points; the group redeemed Moto2's reputation for close racing: 11th to 18th was covered by 2.7 seconds. Rabat still leads, with 83 points to Kallio's 67; then come Vinales and Ae- gerter on 49 and 33 points, respectively. Corsi crashed out of the race. Mika Kallio celebrates his first Moto2 victory of the season. continued on next page