VOL. 51 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 19, 2014 P71
lowing me rather than leading, he
probably could have gone faster
still."
They finished still close, and
less than 20 seconds off the lead
– improving on their benchmark.
Stefan Bradl led the pursuit
from Monster Yamaha's Pol Es-
pargaro until the latter crashed
out again on lap seven, leaving
the German to an unchallenged
seventh. Behind him NGM Ya-
maha's Aleix Espargaro gradually
escaped from Bradley Smith on
the Monster Yamaha, who had
qualified on the second row, but
found a mysterious lack of pace
for the race… blamed on a poor
rear tire. "My traction control had
to work considerably harder in
the race, and I was losing time
out of every corner," Smith said.
But he had enough to stay
clear of Go&Fun Honda's Alvaro
Bautista in tenth.
Wild card Michele Pirro on
the Ducati held 11th for most of
the race, under pressure from
Scott Redding's Go&Fun Honda
RCV1000R, until the determined
Englishman took advantage of
the expected Ducati fade to get
Briefly...
but in downshifting we don't have it.
We are pushing very hard but it is still
not ready," he said.
The post-Brno tests – always an im-
portant venue to try new stuff for next
year as much as the rest of the sea-
son – came early for Jorge Loren-
zo, working hard to regain momen-
tum after a dire start to the season.
He decided to raid the prototype
parts bin before rather than after the
race, for final practice and qualifying.
"We have some new things they
wanted to test on Monday, but I de-
cided to try them today rather than
discover after the race that they are
good, and regret not using them," he
said. "We lost some time doing that
and the bike wasn't better," he said.
It left him short of time in qualifying,
with just one chance to switch to his
"normal" bike and set a qualifying
lap.
Australian Moto3 racer Arthur Sissis
has been dropped by the Mahindra
team after a series of disappointing
results from the rider who achieved
a top-three finish in his home GP
riding a Red Bull KTM in 2012. Still
considered a promising rider after a
less successful 2013 with the team,
the former Red Bull Rookies star has
had a dire season after joining Ma-
hindra, starting by having to pull out
of the first race with acute tonsillitis.
While teammate Miguel Oliveira has
challenged for the podium, Sissis
has scored points only once, with
13th in Germany. His place will be
taken by 18-year-old Italian CEV rider
Andrea Migno. Sissis was philo-
sophical. "I'm happy," he said, after
his last race. "I want to go back to
After getting duffed up by Andrea
Iannone, Marc Marquez (left)
advanced to third, but his next
challenger was in hot pursuit –
Valentino Rossi (right).
continued on next page
