Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 28 JULY 18, 2015 P75 set about his teammate, but his first attack was repulsed. It took another lap, the eighth, before he was clear. Marquez by now was 1.6 seconds away and clearly unassailable, with a new record on lap 10. Lorenzo was struggling, say- ing later that rear grip problems had affected both his braking and corner exit drive. "I regret not trying a shorter bike in warm- up," he said. At the start of lap 11 Pedrosa—gaining pace as the fuel burned off—dove inside into the first corner. Lorenzo would steadily lose ground; Pedrosa quickly closed on Rossi. He shadowed him until the bottom of the hill on lap 17, then took over second. "It was a good moment for me, because I could put a hook on his seat and make a gap on Jorge," said Rossi. He even thought he might be able to get by again, "but then Dani [Pedro- sa] did two really fast laps, and he was gone." For his part, Pedrosa regret- ted his discomfort in the early laps, that meant he hadn't had the chance to chase Marquez. With Iannone falling away throughout in a lone fifth, and Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso suffering yet another out-of-character race crash just before half distance, it was a relatively processional race be- hind them. That was except for a stirring internecine battle by the Ecstar Suzuki pair, separated Briefly... expecting to have fresh surgery—the condition persisting in spite of an op- eration after the French Grand Prix. Honda's handling problems that marred the early part of the season for both factory riders had already been addressed when Marc Marquez switched to last year's chassis at the last race. Now both he and Dani Pe- drosa hope for further progress, with a week of testing at Misano during the summer break. The difficulties, said Marquez, are mainly at faster corners, with a wayward rear wheel both in braking and in corner exit. "It looks like we have arrived," he said, after claiming a dominant race win. "But we need another step. We have a lot of things to test… for this year, and also for 2016." You didn't have to be an old-timer to like Suzuki's special livery for this and the next grand prix—a rec- reation of the original white-on-blue scheme of the GSX-R campaigned most famously by Kevin Schwantz in the U.S. Superbike championship, in his classic battles with career-long rival Wayne Rainey. Rider Aleix Es- pargaro, who in 1985 was four years away from being born, said: "Davide [Brivio, team boss] will be angry, but I prefer this look to the usual." The change was to celebrate 30 years of the GSX-R, launched in 1985, and a sports-bike stalwart ever since. The current GP bike continues the title, named GSX-RR. Maverick Vinales' bike continued the tribute, with a miniature number 34 on his own number 25, celebrating the number always used by Schwantz, who was at the Sachsenring. Germany's only MotoGP rider—Ste- managed to fend off a late attack from Takaaki Na- kagami's Idemitsu Kalex. Corsi's teammate Lorenzo Baldassari lost touch with the Japanese rider in the end in eighth; QMMF Speed Up's Julian Simon won out narrowly after a long battle with Dominique Aegerter on the Technomag Kalex and Dynavolt Kalex' Sandro Cortese; Kallio off the back of it. JiR Kalex' Randy Krummenacher nicked 13th off Jonas Folger on the AGR Kalex, who had dropped out of a strong top-10 position with a turn one run-off; Axel Pons on the AGR Kalex narrowly saved the last point from Hafiz Syahrin on the Petronas Kalex. Simon's teammate Antony West crashed out, as did Azlan Shah and Marcel Schrotter. Zarco added 20 points to his title lead, 179 to no-score Rabat's 114. Lowes is closing in at 107, likewise Rins (103), then Luthi (99). A very happy Xavier Simeon stood on top of the podium in the Moto2 class. Smiles all around… teammates Pedrosa (left) and Marquez (right) congratulate each other on a job well done. continued on next page

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