Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 12, 2014 P47 Pramac Ducati third after his own blazing takeoff from the head of row three. Second Movistar Yamaha rider Lorenzo had been on the front row, but had been shuffled down to sixth in the opening argy-bargy, though he was past Pedrosa di- rectly. The two Italians were making the running up front, with Dovi clearly faster on the straight and peering past Rossi at other points as well. He attacked and got past to lead lap five, then he and Rossi touched, and both Marquez and Lo- renzo got ahead briefly, only for Rossi to grasp the lead again. He stayed there until lap 10, but now a pattern was establishing, with both Dovizioso and Iannone dropping back somewhat, the latter soon to retire by the trackside, out of power. They were still all close, though, with frequent skir- mishes slowing the pace. Marquez's crucial move came as they started lap 11. Lorenzo attacked into the first sweeping left-hand corner, and seemed to have taken second off the Honda rider. Not so easy. Into the next tight right Marquez made a gap for himself at the apex, displacing also Rossi. It was not the first time he had been in front, but it was decisive. He'd had front-tire wor- ries in the early laps, he later revealed, "so I was waiting for the tire to go away, but in the end it was the rear." It played into his hands, and his rear-wheel-sliding prowess. He made up the Briefly... before MotoGP goes all-Open class in 2016. "But I felt good."After next season, new rules mean that all bikes must share control electronics, with each factory's information sup- posedly pooled. Strong rumors surfaced at Indianap- olis linking former three-time 500cc World Champion and Grand Prix hero Wayne Rainey with an immi- nent rescue plan for U.S. domestic road racing. Reports in the Italian media added Dorna involvement for a planned takeover of the AMA se- ries, with a major initiative to restore its status and rebuild broken links with international racing. Rainey was at Indianapolis for a series of high- level meetings, but issued a firm "no comment" when asked directly about the reports. The series has fallen into the doldrums since the AMA sold National Championship rights to the Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) in 2008. Several fac- tory-backed teams abandoned the technically dumbed-down series, while the 2014 calendar has shrunk to just seven rounds. At Grand Prix level, the near-domination of U.S. riders in the 1980s and 1980s is a distant memory. The last American champion was Nicky Hayden in 2006; at Indy this year there were only two American riders. Colin Ed- wards was having apparently his final outing in MotoGP, while struggling AMA Superbike Champion Josh Her- rin crashed out of the Moto2 race. Team tactics were much in dis- play in qualifying at Indy, especially in Moto3, where a well-timed slip- stream down the long half-mile front straight could gain a substantial cut in lap time. According to pole qualifi- in the first corners, along with Tom Luthi and Julian Simon; Xavier Simeon, who had triggered that crash, later crashed out alone. Luis Salom and Franco Morbidelli also crashed out together. The result made the championship that much tastier. Kallio now has 176 points to early runaway leader Rabat's 183. Vinales is third with 140, followed by Aegerter's 112 and Corsi's 96. The red-flagged and restarted Moto2 race was dominated by Mika Kallio (36). continued on next page

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