MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4/MAY 4, 2014
CIRCUIT DE JEREZ/JEREZ, SPAIN
P44
briefly a couple of times towards
the end, but Dovi would outdrag
him again every time. The next at-
tack came from Fun&Go Honda's
Alvaro Bautista, coming through
steadily from 10th on lap one,
and anxious to clock up his first
race finish of the year. He led the
group for two laps, but on the
next one – the one that mattered
– Dovi bullied his way past again
to claim fifth by just over a 10
th
of
a second.
Espargaro was another three
tenths down, and three hun-
dredths ahead of Bradley Smith,
who was just over half a second
clear of his Tech 3 Yamaha team-
mate Pol Espargaro.
LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl
dropped back from this group
after half distance suffering from
severe arm pump. He provid-
ed a tantalizing target for Drive
M7 Honda's Nicky Hayden, on
the best of the Open Honda
RCV1000R machines. The Amer-
ican, running the softest tire op-
tion against Bridgestone's ad-
vice, closed to within a fraction
over a second with three laps
left, and his hopes of beating a
factory bike were high at a track
where the top speed deficit was
less significant. Then a little mis-
take in turn four saw him run wide
and lose touch.
"It would have been impossible
to pass him anyway because of
the factory bike's big jump out
of the corners – now we have to
wait until Assen for another track
