VOL. 51 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 P77
has 292 points, 75 more than Pedrosa. If he still has
75 after the next race at Motegi, he will be unbeat-
able.
Rossi's no-score was compensated by Pedrosa's
two-pointer; he is three behind the Spaniard. But
Lorenzo now has a sniff of beating both for second,
with 202 points to Pedrosa's 217 and Rossi's 214.
CN
MOTOGP
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
2. Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha)
3. Cal Crutchlow (Ducati)
4. Stefan Bradl (Honda)
5. Bradley Smith (Yamaha)
6. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha)
7. Alvaro Bautista (Honda)
8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
9. Nicky Hayden (Honda)
10. Scott Redding (Honda)
Briefly...
involved. Next year, there will be two, or at most three
- and effectively just one, as all the major teams switch
to the most successful unit, the German Kalex. This
brings the unloved class one step closer to a one-
make championship, ill-suited to its status as a Grand
Prix World Championship. On the plus side, one of
Dorna's aims has been met: an attempt to control run-
away costs.
A similar attempt in Moto3, by prescribing the cost of
engine and next year also chassis parts, was instantly
sidestepped by KTM, which subsidized the costs by
bearing the losses themselves. This year, Honda has
followed suit; with Mahindra already doing much the
same. Result? Runaway costs... and truly excellent
racing. Must be some lesson there, surely.
Yamaha and the NGM Forward Racing team con-
firmed a renewal of the agreement for the former to
supply the latter with leased Open-category bikes for
next year, following the serial success of current rider
Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard is off to join Suzuki, but
his place will be taken by Stefan Bradl, with the sec-
ond berth still not decided, although possibly for Loris
Baz. The announcement of "a contract signed today"
came on race eve, at a press conference awash with
mutual adoration, attended by team principal Giovan-
ni Cuzari plus Yamaha's Kouichi Tsuji and Lin Jarvis.
Both Yamaha spokesmen expressed some surprise at
the level of success achieved by Espargaro, winner
of the Open category at every race except when he
crashed out, at Indianapolis and San Marino.
Other observers may have been less surprised, since
his machine is effectively a lease-lend 2014 factory
Yamaha running control electronics, up against lower-
level for-sale Hondas built to a price, and a handful of
superannuated Aprilia and Kawasaki-powered ex-CRT
bikes. To be fair, however, Aleix Espargaro's qualify-
ing and race performances have often been stunning,
and have bothered a number of the lesser factory ma-
chine riders. Yamaha's original intention was to supply
only engines, with the team expected to supply their
own chassis, commissioned from British builders FTR.
That deal went sour, however, after major changes at
FTR, and in the end Yamaha were wrong-footed into
providing a complete motorcycle, including chassis
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