MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17/OCTOBER 26, 2014
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT/SEPANG MALAYSIA
P50
>>WILD TIMES
"The trouble with motorbike racing
is once you've watched them overtake
each other over and over for a few
laps, it gets boring." The quote, more
than 20 years old, was attributed to F1
supremo Bernie Ecclestone. But then
he'd never watched Moto3.
Malaysia was another minibikes
tour-de-force, not least for Jack Miller.
The Australian Red Bull KTM rider
kept his title hopes alive with a typi-
cally fierce race. His fiercest move
was on title rival Alex Marquez on the
Estrella Galicia Honda as they started
the last lap, pushing inside at turn one
to send Marc's younger brother can-
noning out wide.
"The main thing was to push him
wide and allow a couple of bikes to
come through on him," said Miller.
After the race, Marquez's team pro-
tested, but to no avail (see Briefly…).
Miller didn't win; even his late,
late braking couldn't overcome Efren
Vazquez's SaxoPrint Honda horse-
power on the final straights and it was
a second victory for the Spaniard,
who also won at Indy.
But he would finish second in a
typically tight bunch – with six riders
over the line within a second. And
with Marquez fifth, beaten not only by
his third-placed teammate Alex Rins
but also Husqvarna's Danny Kent,
the leading pair will have to settle it at
Valencia.
All but Kent had led over the line;
Miller seven times, but Vazquez eight,
including when it really mattered. And
nobody could break away.
Indeed, the lead group had swelled
to eight by the end, with Rivacold
Honda's Alexis Masbou performing
another ride-through to join in after
finishing lap one in 21st. He was sixth,
barely a 10
th
of a second off Mar-
quez, and narrowly ahead of Niccolo
Antonelli on the Go&Fun KTM, with
Calvo KTM's Jakub Kornfeil on his
heels.
John McPhee on the SaxoPrint
Honda had been in the thick of it, but
slipped off on the last lap. Calvo KTM
Isaac Vinales had crashed out of the
gang after half-distance.
Sky VR46 KTM's Romano Fe-
nati had also been at the back of the
gang, before pitting to retire; likewise
Brad Binder on the Ambrogio Mahin-
dra – with a flat front tire.
Miller's teammate Karel Hanika was
a lone ninth, with Enea Basstianini on
Pedrosa crashed twice
during the race – once
on the second lap
and this one later in
the race after having
worked himself back
into the points.
