VOL. 51 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 12, 2014 P41
and Valentino Rossi. A rider can-
not choose his rivals. But all of
them can consider themselves a
little unlucky by comparison with
the new candidate for motorcycle
racing's Mount Rushmore.
Right now, and seemingly
for the foreseeable future, even
the riders who just two short
years ago were considered "The
Briefly...
year "pre-contract" with the rider,
and has put the affair in the hands of
the lawyers. "I'd be quite happy to go
to MotoGP, if it was on a competitive
bike," Miller said. "It's a motorbike.
If you can learn to ride this one, you
can learn to ride that."
Top riders paid tribute to Miller's
prowess, with Nicky Hayden's com-
ments typical: "I think his talent
will only really come out on a big-
ger bike… like Marc [Marquez] and
Casey [Stoner]." For his first year,
Miller would ride and Open-class
RCV1000R, as teammate to Cal
Crutchlow, who would have a facto-
ry-spec RC213V.
Universal admiration for the expense
and effort that Indianapolis Motor
Speedway expended in upgrading
the MotoGP-dedicated infield circuit
for the GP was almost but not quite
matched with universal approval of
the new layout. The track is used for
some car racing, but in the opposite
direction; and requests by the riders'
Safety Commission played a big part
in the minor but thorough redesign.
Three corner sets were re-profiled –
in the process eliminating first-gear
corners; and more importantly the
entire infield, where before there had
been a mix of three different grades
of asphalt, was repaved. In the pro-
cess, the bumps were ironed out.
The aim, according to IMS engineer-
ing director Kevin Forbes, was to im-
prove "entertainment value and com-
petition value for the riders;" which in
turn would improve the spectacle for
the crowds. With almost one voice,
the riders welcomed the changes,
which cut 50 yards of length, and a
massive 6.3 seconds off the lap time
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