MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 20 MAY 20, 2014 P41
On lap eight, Marquez set a
new lap record.
"When I caught him I expect-
ed to have to battle harder. But
he made a small mistake, and it
was easy," Marquez said. "Well
… it looks easy, but it's very dif-
ficult."
With this the fifth of 18 rounds,
the season is approaching one-
third distance. Too soon to be
sure of anything, but too late to
expect many surprises. Most of
them have already happened.
One is the strength of Rossi.
The Movistar Yamaha rider was
widely criticized for dropping his
long-term crew chief Jerry Bur-
gess at the end of last year. It
looked like the actions of a des-
perate man, flailing for excuses
at the end of his career.
The reality has been different.
Not only the rider but also Bur-
gess's old crew has gelled from
the start with new man Silvano
first race of the season
in his comeback ride
from a broken collar-
bone, the 2013 AMA
Superbike Champion
finishing 22
nd
and out of
the points.
Rabat's title lead
shrank to seven, 99-
92, over Kallio; then
comes Vinales on 62.
Mika Kallio easily won
the Moto2 Grand Prix.
Rossi (46) took over the lead and
pulled away, but Marquez caught
him, capitalized on an error and
pulled away.
Briefly...
Bridgestone did bring a general
rear-tire upgrade to Le Mans, as
promised, offering improved edge
grip on the medium and soft tires,
which were the Factory Option
choice at Le Mans. According to a
spokesman, this was a modifica-
tion introduced in the second half
of last year to improve edge grip of
the harder option, which many rid-
ers had criticized. For this year's
new-construction new generation,
the same technique was applied,
but only to the hard tire. At Sepang
test riders – especially Jorge Lo-
renzo – had complained of a loss of
side grip, and Bridgestone promised
to introduce the same modification
to the softer range, excluding the
super-soft available only to "Open"
teams, where it is not needed. They
arrived at Le Mans, on schedule, to
grudging praise from Lorenzo, after
testing them after the Jerez GP. "The
tire is slightly better," he said. "The
trouble is there is such a big differ-
ence between the soft and the hard."
The future of the French GP, first run
in 1951 but threatened at the turn of
the century with the loss of the Paul
Ricard circuit, has been secured un-
til 2021, with the contract extended
on the eve of this year's race. There
is no mention, however, of a venue.
Le Mans took over from the popular
south of France circuit in 2000; after
that circuit was taken over by F1 su-
premo Bernie Ecclestone, as a test-
ing circuit. Since that time there have
been no races there. Recent news
was that the Bol d'Or 24-hour endur-
ance race will return to Ricard next
year. Many in the paddock hope the
GP will follow suit, but French sourc-
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