VOL. 51 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 21, 2014 P69
mates Smith and the younger
Espargaro; meanwhile Pedrosa
– the third man in the battle for
second overall in the title chase –
was getting shuffled back to ninth
in an unseemly brawl, both facto-
ry Ducatis ahead of him, Iannone
just behind, poised for his fateful
attack on lap six.
The front three pulled away,
Rossi setting fastest lap on the
ninth, 1.5 seconds off Marquez's
2013 record, set on the grippy
new surface; and Crutchlow
emerged to pull away from a mas-
sive brawl, depleted by the loss
of Iannone and Pedrosa, but still
including the Monster Yamaha
pair, plus Andrea Dovizioso on
the Marlboro Ducati and Aleix Es-
pargaro.
They would soon be joined by
Bradl, stuck at the back battling
with Smith until his fateful lunge
on Espargaro on lap 20. This left
Pol Espargaro with a little breath-
ing space, until he fell, leaving
what was now fourth but eventu-
ally third to Smith.
Dovizioso was a lonely and
disappointed fourth; a long way
back another big battle – at one
stage including seven riders –
was finally resolved on the run to
the line.
Go&Fun Honda's Scott Red-
ding had led the surviving trio into
the last corners, but both Hector
Barbera on the Avintia Ducati and
his factory-bike-mounted team-
mate Alvaro Bautista had blown
past the production Honda by
the time they reached the finish
line, with fifth to seventh covered
by .07 of a second.
Some three seconds back,
Hiro Aoyama on the Drive M7
Honda led NGM Forward Yama-
ha's Alex de Angelis and second
M7 rider Nicky Hayden for eighth
in an equally tight gang.
For Hayden, 10th "looks okay
on paper," but was not the result
he'd hoped for.
"I got a decent start, but in the
first corner I lost some positions
after somebody closed the door
on me and I ended up running
off," Hayden said. "There were
only one or two people behind
me, but I was able to recover,
move up, and I thought I could
do a good race. I was racing with
[Yonny] Hernandez's Ducati, but
when his tire went off mine last-
ed better and I was quicker than
him on acceleration. But on the
straightaways he could come
back past and that let the group
get away."
No score, but no worries for
champion Marquez still at 312
points, but plenty for Pedrosa,
now fourth with 230 points. Sec-
ond is now a dispute between
Rossi's 255 and Lorenzo's 247.
Dovizioso is a lonely, but not
quite invulnerable fifth with 166
points. CN
MOTOGP
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
3. Bradley Smith (Yamaha)
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati)
5. Hector Barbera (Ducati)
6. Alvaro Bautista (Honda)
7. Scott Redding (Honda)
8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
9. Alex de Angelis (Yamaha)
10. Nicky Hayden (Honda)
(From left to right) Lorenzo, Yamaha
team manager Lin Jarvis, Rossi and
Smith celebrate the first all-Yamaha
podium since 2008.
