VOL. 51 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 18, 2014 P25
half-a-second inside his qualify-
ing time from Saturday, but not as
fast as Rossi's pole.
Pedrosa was a close second;
then a quartet of Yamahas—Lo-
renzo, Espargaro, Rossi, Smith—
before Petrucci, narrowly out-
ranking the next-best Honda,
ridden by Crutchlow, who went
back out for it in spite of his in-
juries.
With Hernandez ninth, now rid-
ing the 14.2 Ducati he will cam-
paign next year, Aleix Espargaro
was an impressive 10th on the
Suzuki. He was only a second
down on Marquez, and happy.
"We're still missing some top-
end power," Espargaro said. "But
the bike turns really well, and the
braking and corner entry is really
comfortable for me."
Suzuki has promised to ad-
dress the power problem; as well
as the worrying lack of reliability.
Hayden was 13th, and while
impressed by the extra power
of the 2015 production bike, he
said, "We are still giving away 11
mph to the factory bikes." Hope-
fully Honda would come up with
some more ponies, he added.
Half a second off, Redding, on
the factory RC213V, was taking a
cautious approach but laughing
about "having passed someone
on the straight, for the first time
in MotoGP." Bradl was 15th, and
Bautista, on the best of the April-
ia, was now 1.8 seconds away
from the top.
Miller was 21st (second-to-last)
running almost a second faster
on the second day, and (contrary
to his own suggestion that he
would be requiring extra under-
wear) looking steady, and keep-
ing the wheels down. He was
happy with the progress.
"I've improved on every single
exit, and I can't wait to get more
bike time in Malaysia at the end
of the month," Miller said. "With
experience, we'll be able to
work on improving the electron-
ics and set-up. My fitness felt
quite good, but I still need to get
some strength in the chest area.
I've got a busy training schedule
planned."
Fellow new boys Vinales, Baz
and Laverty were ahead; Me-
landri behind, all headed by 17th-
fastest Mike di Meglio, the former
125 Champion getting to grips
with his new Ducati.
Michael Scott
Aleix Espargaro
had an
impressive
first test on the
Suzuki.
Rookie Jack
Miller put in
the laps and
made steady
progress on
the old Honda
production
MotoGP
machine.
