MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 15/OCTOBER 12, 2014
TWIN RING MOTEGI/MOTEGI, JAPAN
P38
LUTHI!
For once, there was a bit of a
change in Moto2. It was somewhat of
a procession, but this time it wasn't
Tito Rabat coming through to win.
The title-leading Marc VDS Kalex rider
could do no better than third; the star
of the show was Interwetten Suter's
Thomas Luthi.
Rabat had deposed the Swiss for-
mer 125cc World Champion from pole
at the last gasp, but with an upgraded
Suter chassis and brimming with confi-
dence, Luthi made a blazing start, and
led from the first lap to the last.
At mid-distance his lead was 2.3
seconds. As they started the last lap,
less than a second, but it wasn't Rabat
in pursuit. It was Aragon winner Mav-
erick Vinales and his Paginas Amarillas
Kalex, who set a new record in pursuit.
Luthi said afterwards his race had
been almost perfect.
"I made two mistakes, missing a
gear once, and braking a little bit late
another time."
But his escape was helped by front-
row starter Johann Zarco, who held a
fading second for the first nine laps, by
when he had Vinales, Rabat, second
Marc VDS rider Mika Kallio and Julian
Simon all piled up behind him.
Once Vinales found his way past
on lap 10, they started to stretch out
a bit. Rabat went with his compatriot,
and was leaning on him hard on lap 15,
but to no avail. Vinales was flying, and
even looked like he might catch Luthi in
the closing stages, but he was still just
under a second down as they started
the last lap, and 1.2 by the end of it.
Rabat was third, another 1.2 sec-
onds down.
Kallio had faded by the end, leaving
Zarco to a safe fourth, while the Finn
