renzo had led most of the way,
fought back with gusto when
Marquez finally pounced, and
was only finally beaten with one
of Marquez's trademark bor-
derline attacks that pushed him
wide. The fairing bashing lasted
over three corners, and started
VOL. 51 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 P39
Briefly...
What makes the level of racing prog-
ress? Why is there always another
rider coming along to eclipse the last
hero? How important is the psycho-
logical advantage? Valentino Rossi
was invited to wax philosophical on
the matter at Silverstone, and picked
up the baton briefly, before return-
ing to the matter-of-fact. "When I
was winning a lot of races they said
I had a psychological advantage –
like some football teams, or when
[Michael] Schumacher was winning
all the races. But the most important
thing is the speed on the track. That
is what makes you strong mentally.
But if you are strong mentally and
you are not fast on the track, it is for
nothing. This makes the difference:
the lap time at the end of the race."
Ducati has promised a major up-
grade for two races time at the Ara-
gon GP, where an all-new engine will
make its debut. The V-four has been
redesigned to make it easier to move
about in the chassis, to adjust weight
distribution. The target is to cure
the bike's persistent understeer, the
bane of its riders' lives. While Cal
Crutchlow remained at sea, along
the lines of predecessors like Marco
Melandri and to an extent Valentino
Rossi, the Andreas, Dovizioso and
Iannone, were recording improving
lap times and increased confidence.
"I think we are closer to the front,"
said Dovi, after qualifying on the front
row for a second race in a row and
third this year. "We still need to work
a lot. I have to use a lot of energy to
ride the bike fast, but I didn't expect
to be so fast today, and with used
tires we were a second faster than
last year. We have a better situation."
Cal Crutchlow's continuing lament
continued on next page
COMBAT ZONE
barges past Jorge Lorenzo to win the British GP
