BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
J
orge Lorenzo's trademark
steady progress—one fast
lap after another, times
hardly varying—has been de-
scribed as like a metronome. In
Italy, with his third win in three
races, that regular ticking was
more reminiscent of a time
bomb. It is set to blow the World
Championship apart.
Valentino Rossi still leads, as
a record-breaking Italian Grand
Prix—run in perfect weather in
the scenic beauty of the Tuscan
foothills—closed the first third of
the 2013 season. But it is now
just by six points; while early
challengers Andrea Dovizioso
and Marc Marquez fell further
behind.
As at the last two races, Mo-
vistar Yamaha's Lorenzo seized
the lead on the first lap with
some notably aggressive riding,
"Hammer" mode; then switched
directly into the smooth mode he
calls "Butter." In this way, when
he saw Repsol Honda's Marquez
had seized second and that after
five laps the gap was better than
a second, he knew he need
only continue the same way. "It
was risky—a couple of laps six
or seven tenths," Lorenzo said
later, cool as ice. But he was in
perfect control.
After six laps, his margin was
almost two seconds and would
grow to better than eight; at the
end of the 23rd and last, it had
shrunk back to 5.5 seconds.
Perfect control.
There is another rider who
VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P67
JORGE LORENZO WINS THIRD RACE ON
THE TROT AT MUGELLO TO BLOW THE
CHAMPIONSHIP WIDE OPEN
BACK
IN THEHUNT
