VOL. 51 ISSUE 28 JULY 15, 2014 P77
Rossi was next along; then Pramac's
Andrea Iannone the top Ducati. Like
the rest of those with the Open op-
tion he was using the softest rear tire,
the first time it had been successfully
used in a race after a failed earlier ex-
periment by the same rider.
Aleix Espargaro was chasing man-
fully throughout; there was much ac-
tion behind for seventh place, as slow
starters on fast bikes came through to
join an already lively fight between the
factory Ducati riders.
Andrea Dovizioso had inadvertently
left his pit-lane limiter on after the start,
losing place; then came under attack
from a feisty Cal Crutchlow, delighted
at last to find himself on the pace.
At the same time, Go&Fun Honda's
Alvaro Bautista and Monster Tech 3
Yamaha's Pol Espargaro had finally
got up to speed and through the Open
bikes, and both caught the red bikes
in the last two laps. Espargaro took
seventh ahead of Dovi, and Bautista
took ninth from Crutchlow, now bat-
tling front grip problems.
Bautista's teammate Scott Redding
had been engaged with this group,
and he was now a lone eleventh,
Briefly...
put the power on out of the downhill
left-handed turn two. Marquez land-
ed on his head in the relatively slow
crash, and at first appeared that he
might be badly hurt enough to trig-
ger a turning point in the season. He
later admitted to pain and stiffness,
but it clearly didn't slow him down.
He also revealed an unexpected rea-
son for the weird crash. "Turn 2 you
turn with the gas in second gear and
I didn't know at that time, but I was
touching the gear lever with my foot.
On the very last part I changed into
third without realizing. I was keeping
the same throttle and then came the
high-side."
Former factory Suzuki rider John
Hopkins reminded British BT Sport
viewers that he'd had an uncannily
similar crash at the same spot in
2005, when already riding injured.
His foot numbed with painkillers, he
couldn't feel the gear lever, and also
shifted by mistake. The race was
red-flagged.
The Sachsenring's Turn 11 – the first
right-hander after a string of seven
consecutive lefts – is a legendary
spot, and the scene of many crash-
es. It is taken at speed, the right-
hand side of the tires, further robbed
of grip as the track plunges away
downhill into the famous "Waterfall"
back straight.
Prompted by the riders Safety Com-
mission, a redesign was proposed
and tested this year, temporary curb-
ing making the corner tighter and
slower. The riders hated it. A delayed
Thursday run saw Stefan Bradl,
Bradley Smith and Andrea Iannone
take some trial laps in the evening,
coming in with long faces. "It's worse
seventh from Mattia Pasini
and Thomas Luthi; while
Xavier Simeon and Ricard
Cardus battled over 10th to
the finish, the former taking
the place by just over a 10
th
of a second.
Josh Herrin retired; his Caterham
Suter teammate Johan Zarco walked
away from a dramatic crash that turned
his bike into a fireball.
Rabat's early domination has been
broken, but his title lead is still strong:
170 to teammate Kallio's 151. Vinales
(120), Aegerter (96) and Corsi (85)
complete the top five.
Dominique
Aegerter
won the first
Moto2 race
of his career.
continued on next page
