MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11/AUGUST 17, 2014
BRNO CIRCUIT/BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
P70
nally hung on to fifth, fending off
factory Marlboro Ducati rider An-
drea Dovizioso by less than two
tenths, after a long battle.
Iannone had seized the lead
off the line with Dovi following,
and the positions reversed at the
beginning of the second lap. But
now Lorenzo had emerged from
an all-action brawl just behind,
and he took off by almost a sec-
ond as Pedrosa found his way
past the Ducatis.
The Honda closed remorse-
lessly, took over on lap six and
pulled gradually clear. Pedrosa
set the fast lap, a new record,
during the pursuit; and at best
was 1.8 seconds ahead.
All eyes were on Marquez, but
it took him until lap five to get
clear of the Ducatis, with Iannone
proving particularly troublesome
(they collided during one of sev-
eral attempted passes). By now
he was more than a second off
the leaders, and Rossi was with
him.
Over the next laps he drew
clear, but closed only margin-
ally on Lorenzo; and then Rossi
closed again. The dream of win
number 11 was clearly over; and
on lap 13 he was behind Rossi,
staying close for a couple of laps,
before "I decided to relax and
think of the championship."
The Ducatis were comfortably
far away, and battling. Dovizioso
did manage to get ahead of Ian-
none again before the end, but
said afterwards: "From the start
my engine wasn't pushing … lost
power." Even so, he wasn't sure
he could have beaten his compa-
triot. "I was better in braking, but
Iannone was really fast in corner
speed … and if he had been fol-
