Cycle News

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 22 JUNE 3, 2014 P79 fanned out in the opening sprint. Iannone led into the first cor- ner, from Lorenzo, Marquez, An- drea Dovizioso's factory Ducati, then Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro and Ducati's Cal Crutchlow. Then came Rossi, hav- ing already gained three places. The race was nine corners old when Lorenzo forced past Ian- none with an uncharacteristically rough move into the right-left on the second drop off the hill. Per- haps not so uncharacteristic. The one-time fiercest critic of rough riding tactics demonstrated a change of policy fighting with Marquez at the end of last year. RABAT, RABAT… Moto2 championship leader Tito Rabat was back on pole for the first time in three races on his Marc VDS Kalex, and back to his winning ways for a third time. It didn't look that way for the first half of the race, however, with one of a number of fast rookies leading for the first 13 laps. It was AGR Kalex rider Jonas Folger, hotly pursued by fellow rookie Luis Salom the pair almost two seconds clear as half distance approached. The pursuit was led first by Dominique Aegerter, but Rabat had got away well and was up to third by lap three. He was alone amongst the front runner in opting for the harder tire and in the end it paid dividends; while Folger admitted he'd pushed his soft tire too hard in the early laps as he tried in vain to break away. Salom and Rabat were past him on lap 14, and Rabat in front of his younger countryman one lap later. Now he tried to break away, and looked as though he'd done it with a record lap on the 19th, with Salom all but crashing as he lost the front in pursuit. But the former Moto3 star is not to be underestimated, and he fought back to finish second - just a quarter of a second adrift. Folger hung on to third, while Simone Corsi defeated Aegerter and Mika Kallio in a fierce battle for fourth; with Johann Zarco right on the back of them at the end. GP newcomer Sam Lowes was eighth after qualifying on the front row; the World Supersport Cham- pion fending off a late attack from Austin winner Maverick Vinales. Another GP new boy Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Kalex) led the next group for 10th. American Josh Herrin crashed out at the end of the first lap. It was a boost for Rabat's title hopes, now on 124 to teammate Kallio's 102 points; Vinales and Ae- gerter have 69 points apiece, and Corsi has 66. Tito Rabat won the Moto2 class for the third time in 2014. Briefly... three exits in the qualifying quarter- hour against the usual two, to con- tinue his run of pole positions. Valentino Rossi laughingly retract- ed his remarks two weeks ago after finishing second to Marquez at Le Mans, where he said: "I think I could have had a battle, but I made a mis- take at a crucial moment - my only mistake of the race." Now he said: "I was more optimistic about Le Mans until I saw the TV. I thought he had come from about fourth of fifth, but then I saw he had been 10th!" Rossi has not yet signed up as planned for a further two years with Yamaha. "We have started to speak, but we need more time. But not a long time." The first bad weather of the year struck on the first day of practice at Mugello, with a few spots of rain effectively ending FP2 five minutes early for Moto3, and keeping Mo- toGP bikes in the pits for the fol- lowing premier-class second free session. Only four riders recorded a time, with a handful more going out for just one lap, including Jorge Lo- renzo – "just to scrub in rain tires in case we need them tomorrow," he said. One problem was that the track was barely wet, but not dry enough for slicks. "With these tires you have to push them or they don't work," ex- plained Dani Pedrosa, who allowed that if intermediate tires were avail- able it would have been possible to get some worthwhile laps in. Since the introduction of control tires in 2009, only slicks and full wets have been on the menu. By the time Moto2 went out the track was fully wet; Saturday dawned sunny and continued on next page

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