VOL. 51 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 14, 2014 P49
front discs (rather than 320s) are
compulsory rather than voluntary,
making it a particularly punishing
for his recuperating joint, all the
more so after a crash in morning
warm-up.
"I got an okay start, but early
on Scott Redding ran onto the
grass ahead of me and threw up
a couple of rocks that smashed
my screen, and gave me some
difficulties for the wheelie control
and aerodynamics," the Ameri-
can said. "It was a complicated
race: I'm not super-happy; I'd
hoped to be faster, but I got a
couple of points and got this race
behind me. I knew it would be
Briefly...
recover his bike from the gravel
trap. He hit him on the arm in "an
action prejudicial to the interests of
the sport," according to the official
citation. The last-ever 250cc World
Champion is normally the politest of
riders, apart possibly from his ever-
gentlemanly Drive M7 Aspar team-
mate Nicky Hayden.
Yamaha will be officially monstrous
for the next two years. The Monster
energy drink company confirmed
at Motegi that it would continue as
sponsor of the factory team until
2016, and title sponsor of the satel-
lite Tech 3 squad for the same pe-
riod. Monster joined the factory team
as a secondary sponsor this year,
causing some headaches with the
clash of its virulent green "M" logo
with the title sponsor Movistar's not
dissimilar livery.
Former 125cc GP winner Pablo
Nieto, son of the Spanish racing
legend Angel, is to switch from his
current Calvo Moto3 team to Rossi's
Sky VR46 squad next year, to take
the place of the dumped Vittoriano
Guareschi. Former World Superbike
racer Guareschi was dropped after
what Rossi explained as "a differ-
ence in technical plans." The Italian,
who moved from a role at the Ducati
MotoGP squad, wanted to switch
from KTM to Honda, but this was
clearly unacceptable to Yamaha em-
ployee Rossi. "Valentino and I have
been friends for a long time, and he
spoke to me about this in the sum-
mer," said Pablo, who will cede his
role at the Calvo team to his brother
Angel "Gelete" Nieto. It was an offer
that he couldn't refuse.
