VOL. 51 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 28, 2014 P45
But it didn't come easily. While
early leader Jorge Lorenzo suc-
cumbed to bodywork problems
(on his bike, as well as himself),
Movistar Yamaha teammate Val-
entino Rossi once again spanned
the 14-year age gap, and harried
the 21-year-old upstart without
mercy for most of the 20 gruel-
ing laps of the heat-sink Sepang
circuit.
It was the green versus the ev-
ergreen. But the last laps told the
story. Marquez had more in his
pocket.
Twelve wins in his second Mo-
toGP season puts the two-time
champion equal with the 1997
record set by five-time champion
Doohan. It's worth recording that
the Australian did it in a year with
only 15 rounds, a rate of 80 per-
cent. Marquez took 17 races, or
70.5 percent.
Then again, there is one race
left. Marquez could still lift the bar
even higher. And that is exactly
what the ever-smiling youngster
Briefly...
the same, and there was no loss of
power."
The leak was big enough to con-
taminate his rear tire as he braked for
turn one, and the crash was both fast
and spectacular, with the bike catch-
ing fire as the rider writhed in pain,
a little further down the track. The
incident brought out the red flags,
with less than three minutes of FP3
to go. Espargaro broke a bone in his
left foot, and hurt his right hand, but
that evening said he hoped to race
anyway. He was declared fit on race
morning.
"Incensed" Race Director Mike
Webb is to rewrite the rule book
to punish riders, especially in the
Moto3 class, who linger on the track
in qualifying, hoping to pick up a tow,
after a sorry spectacle in that class
at Sepang saw 20 or more riders pid-
dling along in what looked like a slow
bicycle race. Seven Moto3 mooch-
ers had been singled out at Phillip
Island, given a penalty point for daw-
"I hoped to win, and everything on
the bike was okay," Kallio said. "But
in the last five or six laps, he was just
faster."
Aegerter was alone for much of the
race, while a lively group behind was
led until after half distance by Sandro
Cortese on the Dynavolt Intact Kalex.
He led Julian Simon on the Italtrans
Kalex, home star Hafizh Syahrin on the
Petronas Kalex (bursting through he-
roically from 18th on the grid), Motegi
winner Thomas Luthi on the Interwet-
ten Suter and AirAsia Caterham Suter's
Johann Zarco.
Cortese, Simon and Zarco would
break free together; Syahrin crashed
out on lap 11.
In the last laps, Aegerter's tires
were sliding badly, and the pursuit
closing rapidly. On the last lap, Zarco
got through for fourth, with Simon a
close sixth. Cortese was off the back;
then came Luthi, fending off a late
threat from Jonas Folger, who had
broken free from a big gang behind,
and passed Tech 3's Marcel Schrotter
five laps from the end
Rabat is obviously unassailable on
326 points, but second is under dis-
pute between Kallio (289) and Vinales
(274); Luthi (169) and Aegerter (162)
are disputing fourth.
Tito Rabat finished third in the Moto2
Grand Prix and that was all he needed to
clinch the World Championship.
continued on next page
