VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P53
clear, and before half-distance
Rossi was leaning hard on his
teammate. His first attack at turn
nine, the slowest corner, was re-
pulsed; the next time around he
made it stick, with Marquez fol-
lowing past the discombobulated
Lorenzo, who fought back, but
within two laps was losing touch.
Lorenzo blamed a lack of fit-
ness.
"We made a strategy to train
a little softer during the flyaway
races, so as not to arrive here al-
ready tired. It was our mistake."
There was another problem:
the rubber pad on his dummy
fuel tank came off, and he wasn't
able to grip with his knees under
braking, and "my body was mov-
ing forward," he said.
Rossi pushed and pushed,
and Marquez – skating the front
wheel on some corner entries –
looked to be feeling the pressure.
But as the tires wore he proved
Briefly...
wins apiece) as the most successful
rider never to win the title. And with
Pedrosa's two non-finishes in a row,
it leaves the struggle to Movistar Ya-
maha teammates Valentino Rossi
and Jorge Lorenzo, with the lat-
ter saying: "The championship is at
such a high level this year that sec-
ond would be a good result... and it
would mean that since 2009 I have
finished either first or second every
year." For Rossi, "The challenge with
Jorge is personal. We are very close
in the number of victories and num-
ber of podiums, and very close in
performance. It means a lot." Rossi
left Malaysia holding an advantage of
12 points.
Not only did Pol Espargaro get
away with a massive crash in prac-
tice, when he chose to ignore warn-
ings of an oil leak, but his real stroke
of luck was in morning warm-up,
when he used the short cut back
to the pits from turn six. It crosses
a service road, and just before he
got there an official car came right
across in front of him.
