Cycle News

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 22 JUNE 3, 2014 P83 fitness is back." And his courage and commitment. As he showed di- rectly as they reached the first corner, with a strong at- tack under braking, and some fairing bashing to go with it. He was back in the lead, and for the next two laps. That was over the line, every time until they started the final lap. Out on the hillsides the pair were back and forth, for all the world like a couple of Moto3 rid- ers. Marquez would push past, Lorenzo would come straight back round the outside, cutting off the Honda rider's nose. Too many times to describe. It was mar- velous to watch. Marquez had that slipstreaming ace, however, and he used it again as they started the final tour. And this time managed not just to keep Lorenzo behind through turn one, but to secure enough of an advantage to be free from further attack. It was probably his finest win yet. And probably Lo- renzo's finest second place. With Rossi third, the rest were miles behind. Pedrosa was fourth, having taken until lap 10 before he'd got through to pass Iannone, only for the super speedy Ducati to keep passing him back. That went on until there were seven laps to go, before he was finally safe. Later he admitted he is still troubled with pain in his right arm, still recovering from arm-pump surgery after round four. Briefly... the fourth row of the grid, albeit only just over half a second off Marquez's pole. "We made a big mistake," he explained, deciding to switch to a soft front as well as a new rear for his second exit in the 15-minute Q2 session. "It was the wrong decision," he said. The front had big chatter problems, and he was unable to im- prove his time as others did so. "It's a shame because I had the potential for the front row," he said, but added optimistically: "This is not such a bad track to start off the front, because there are many places to overtake and a lot of slipstreaming." Margins are small in Moto3. Mahin- dra had an interesting way of looking for an edge – a winged T-piece on the front of the fairing bellypan, along with a new seat. "It was developed in a wind tunnel in Italy," said team chief Mufaddal Choonia. How long before other Moto3 bikes have the same? If Karel Abraham's MotoGP career is not going as well as he might have hoped, the Czech son of a multi-mil- lionaire always has a second career to fall back on. He passed his final state Master qualifying exam for law on the Wednesday before the race. Jack Miller's last-lap move earned the rider two penalty points, after Race Direction investigated the in- cident. The official announcement described how he had "crashed into two other riders resulting in all three crashing out." This was "irrespon- sible riding causing danger to other competitors." Miller's Red Bull KTM team did not appeal, and he said: "It was my own mistake." laps on the tire the char- acteristics of the bike are not so good, and it gets very difficult to ride." Bradley Smith pushed through at the end to lead row three from Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl, who had crashed in the morning and did so again, heavily, in race-morning warm- up. Only then came Rossi, also admit- ting a mistake. "For my second run on a new rear tire I also changed the front for a soft. It didn't work: I had very bad chatter. But this is not such a bad track to be off the front: there are lots of passing chances and all the slipstreaming." For a seventh successive race, pole went to Marc Marquez.

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