VOL. 52 ISSUE 18 MAY 5, 2015 P67
There was much to admire in
MotoGP, even if it didn't include
much hand-to-hand combat for
the front positions.
There was Lorenzo's master
class, which began at the first
free practice. He dominated it,
and all the rest, overturning any
ideas that he was in a state of cri-
sis after a downbeat start to the
year. Pole, his first of the year,
set a new track record, a feat he
repeated in the race. This was
Gorgeous Jorge at his best.
There was Marc Marquez's
courage, after breaking his left-
hand little finger the previous
Saturday. Sounds like a small
injury. For riding a MotoGP bike,
it is not. The Repsol Honda
rider survived another spill in
free practice, doubtless caused
by being below full strength,
Briefly...
Will Marquez's hand injury prove
to be the finger of fate? The defend-
ing double champion was clearly
hampered at the first of four Spanish
home Grands Prix at Jerez, and the
injury could potentially be trouble-
some for some time. Pain and weak-
ness, plus an unfamiliar configuration
to a modified clip-on setting, doubt-
less contributed to a crash in free
practice; which normally he would
have been able to save. It's an indi-
cation of the seriousness of an ap-
parently minor injury. At the start of
last season, the Repsol Honda rider
proved that a still-healing leg fracture
was no block to his progress, as
he embarked on a 10-race winning
spree. With the Jerez race just eight
days after the injury, the situation
was more fraught. "It's only a little
finger, but it disturbs me more than
the leg," he said. It was not only in
braking and acceleration, but "when
the bike is shaking I can feel it. "I
cannot ride the bike like I want." The
22-year-old former boy wonder ran
both practice days without painkillers,
place. "On the last lap, I thought
something might be possible," he
said. He was three tenths ahead over
the line.
Luthi was another four seconds
back; a similar distance behind Fed-
eral Oil Kalex' Xavier Simeon was a
lone fifth. Italtrans Kalex' Franco Mor-
bidelli finally prevailed by half a second
after a long battle with Luis Salom on
the Paginas Amarillas Kalex. Both had
outdistanced eighth-placed Simone
Corsi on the Athina Kalex; while
Estrella Marc VDS Kalex' Alex Marquez
had dropped off the back of the gang
for ninth, the Moto3 champion's best
race so far.
There was another fight for tenth.
QMMF Speed Up's
Julian Simon had come
through after a back-of-
the-grid start (a penalty
for a technical infringe-
ment: under minimum
weight), and had caught
and passed Tech 3's
Marcel Schrotter on lap
22—only for the German
rider to get him back
when it mattered.
Speed Up's Sam
Lowes had a disastrous
weekend, dropping back to 20th.
Zarco's fortuitous second increased
his points lead, now on 73; while Fol-
ger moved to second on 57. No-score
Rins has 49, Luthi and Morbidelli 43
apiece.
Lorenzo (99) held off Marquez'
(93) early advances in front of the
home crowd.
Jonas Folger earns his second
win of the year at Jerez.
continued on next page
