VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P73
at the maximum something can happen like
it did today." His problems started when the
tires went down, with corner entry slides. Dark
days, with the season one-third done, and a
49-point deficit.
A dark day also for Dovizioso, for whom
hopes of a Ducati home win were smoulder-
ing both within and among the home fans. It
started with a cold-tires crash on his out lap in
morning warm-up, ending his session before
it began (embarrassingly, he had just been
waving to the fans in the Ducati grandstand). It
ended prematurely in the pits, after a convinc-
ing early run in second faded away. The chain
was jumping, the rear sprocket losing teeth,
an unheard of and—after 14 laps—a terminal
problem.
Dovizioso had started from the front row, the
Ducatis sandwiching Lorenzo, Iannone on pole
for the first time.
The front three rocketed over the blind rise
to the first corner, Dovizioso taking over from
Iannone as they peeled in, and Lorenzo follow-
ing around the outside. Half a lap later another
daring swoop, inside this time, and he had the
lead off Dovizioso. You know the rest.
Marquez's first laps were no less impressive,
starting with a maximum-risk sliding inside line
into the first corner that took him past team-
Briefly...
Brembo. Detailed figures give stop-
ping distance as 1053 feet over
6.1 seconds, during which the rider
must apply 12.5 pounds of pressure
to the lever, and withstand 1.6G. But
who is the last of the late brakers?
Brembo culled team telemetry data
from each qualifying session to find
out, and came up with the following
roll of honor: Andrea Dovizioso, Val-
entino Rossi, Andrea Iannone, Jorge
Lorenzo and Marc Marquez.
KTM's promised new chassis for
their somewhat beleaguered Moto3
riders did not turn up at Mugello
after all, when the promise found
in early tests proved to be of little
value. Moto3 only allows one chas-
sis upgrade per season, which must
be available to all riders; so it needs
to be a worthwhile improvement.
Mahindra also brought a new ex-
haust to the Italian race, popular with
some riders for its better spread of
power—but top rider Pecco Bagnaia
preferred to stick with the existing
version.
a sounder footing after a shaky start.
Aegerter, meanwhile, was under
strong but ultimately vain pressure from
a recovered Lowes, less than three
tenths down over the line.
Only a couple of seconds behind,
Paginas Amarillas Kalex' Luis Salom
finally, if narrowly prevailed after a long
battle with Simeon; QMMF Speed
Up's Julian Simon dropping away by
the finish in seventh.
Dynavolt Kalex' Sandro Cortese
headed AGR Kalex' Axel Pons after
a long struggle for eighth, erstwhile
companion Lorenzo Baldassari on the
Athina Kalex a second away in 10th.
Meanwhile, a downbeat top rookie
Alex Rins on the
Paginas Amarillas
Kalex came out on
top for 11th from fel-
low ex-Moto3 rival
(and champion) Alex
Marquez on the other
Estrella VDS Kalex.
Zarco's consola-
tion for defeat was an
increased title lead
over new second-
placer Rabat, 109
points to 78. No-score
Luthi (68) drops to third, one ahead of
Lowes; Folger has 57.
The reigning Moto2 champ won his
first race of the year at Mugello.
