MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 20 MAY 20, 2014 P45
of the year," said Hayden. "But I
guess it's not the first time guys
have come together at that chi-
cane."
He hit his injured hand as he
fell, but didn't believe he'd in-
curred further damage.
The French GP ran in sub-
lime sunshine all weekend, with
a race-day crowd of 88,222,
treated to a moderately enjoyable
Moto2 race and a belting Moto3
contest: the smallest class get-
ting tougher and more violent al-
most by the lap.
Marquez entertained from the
first practice session, when he
seemed to be trying to crash as
he sought the outer limits of the
track. He reminds me of nobody
more than Freddie Spencer, the
man he has deposed from all the
youngest-ever records, who was
present but keeping a low pro-
Briefly...
es think it extremely unlikely.
Marc Marquez's pole time
smashed an outright lap record
that has stood for six years, leaving
only three tracks where the con-
trol Bridgestone tires have not yet
beaten times set using super-soft
one-lap qualifying tires, at the height
of the tire wars. The Le Mans best
lap (set in qualifying, where official
lap records are set in races) be-
longed to his Repsol Honda team-
mate Dani Pedrosa, at 1:32.647, and
with the best free practice time still
in the 1:33s it looked safe. Marquez
narrowly beat it in his first qualifying
run, then smashed it properly in his
second, only .004 short of the 1:31
bracket at 1:32.042. There are two
more tracks where he can attempt
to repeat the feat: Catalunya and
Sachsenring. The other is Qatar, and
that will have to wait until next year.
After a growing chorus of requests
for more powerful brakes for Mo-
toGP, officials have relented – at
least for the next two GPs at Mugello
in Italy and Montmelo in Catalunya.
With the bikes not only faster than
ever but also heavier, stopping has
become a problem for several rid-
ers, notably Cal Crutchlow at Jerez,
where the Ducati rider had to retire
because of a lack of stopping power.
Regulations dictate carbon brakes
with a maximum disc diameter of
320 mm, though this has been
waived in the past at Motegi, which
has several hard braking zones. Now
the same latitude will be allowed at
the next two races, with 340 mm
discs allowed.
