MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 26 JULY 1, 2014 P47
havoc with practice and qualify-
ing… Rossi, for instance, quali-
fied 12th after a shower hit right
after the start of the 15-minute
Q2 session. Last year he won
here, and thought he might do so
again.
On race day, only the first
Moto3 race got away with it,
completely dry. Starts had to be
delayed for both Moto2 and Mo-
toGP, and starting procedures re-
vised for extra sighting laps. Not
that it helped much, since waiting
another five minutes simply gave
the weather another chance to
change again.
Moto2 set the scene, with a
few riders risking starting on slick
tires on a well-wet track. The
weather went the other way…
and though the track was almost
dry at the end, making the wet
tires squirm, those on slicks were
by now a full lap behind.
Briefly...
clearly Yamaha's favorite, "even
though I am ahead of him on points."
The new big brakes took a back
seat at Assen – a circuit with only
one hard braking point, with much
of the lap more to do with maintain-
ing momentum than shedding speed
suddenly. A couple of riders (Valen-
tino Rossi included) tried them on
the first day, but most didn't bother;
while some – including the Repsol
Honda riders – fitted shields over the
discs to maintain heat. "You are al-
ready on the margin of temperature
here with the small brakes… it's dif-
ficult to keep them warm enough,"
said Dovizioso.
One problem with the big brakes
is that they make removal and refit-
ment a little more complicated. Dani
Pedrosa had another angle – the
extra weight of the 340mm discs ad-
versely affects the feel and handling.
"Only a little… but you can feel it," he
said. "Also they are more… biting,"
he said. "Here you need smoother
braking."
the last lap, but he was steadfast while
Kallio had decided that a safe third was
good enough. Even so he was only
three quarters of a second behind.
Caterham Suter's Johan Zarco had
been climbing in the latter stages,
and took fourth off the slowing de
Angelis with five laps to spare; Luthi
had dropped back right out of touch;
likewise Simon.
Rabat was next after playing it
safe, well clear in the end of erstwhile
rival Baldassarri on the Gresini Suter;
Petronas Kalex's Hafizh Syahrin led the
next group for 10th; from Gino Rea and
Schrotter. The re-
mounted Corsi made it
back up to 13th; Salom
to 15th, behind Naka-
gami. Folger was 23rd,
after a ride-through
penalty for speeding in
pit lane; Aegerter was
21st, a lap down, after
starting on slicks.
Rabat's lead over
Kallio shrank by eight,
157- 131. Vinales has
109 and Aegerter sits
fourth with 71.
Aussie Anthony West (95) mastered the difficult
conditions of the Moto2 GP, winning at Assen for a
second time in his career.
continued on next page
Once the track dried and the riders
switched to their second bikes and
slick tires, Marquez gained control.
Dovizioso, however, still managed to
finish a season-best second on the
Ducati.
