MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 16, 2015
BRNO CIRCUIT / BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
P76
admitted. "I am a little bit disappointed. I
expected a better race and a better pace.
I expected to be closer to Jorge, and to
fight with Marc."
He had nonetheless preserved his
perfect podium record.
It was an austere race up front, once
Rossi got into third, with tension but no
further changes of position. There was
plenty of excitement and variety behind.
Dovizioso resisted Rossi's early at-
tacks with vigor and a handful of extra
horsepower, but after six or seven laps
he was out of touch, while teammate
Andrea Iannone (riding the earlier version
of the Desmosedici) had also got ahead
of Smith by the end of lap one, and was
soon leaning on the older Andrea for top
Ducati honors.
It took until lap eight before he was
able to do so, and another eight or more
before he got a comfortable gap, but
basically that battle was done.
With Smith dropping away, occupied
with keeping Monster Yamaha teammate
by a tenth and open a gap on Marc. It was
an important victory," he added. "I knew
before the race this was my chance to
recover more points."
Marquez, fresh off two successive wins
and with the sniff of the chance of closing
the title gap, was out to win. "I have noth-
ing to lose. I have to take the risk," the
current champ explained. "From warm-
up, I could see Jorge was one, maybe
two steps ahead. I tried to follow him, and
for the first five or six laps I could."
He set fastest lap, just short of a new
record, fourth time round.
"But when the rear tire started to drop
again I had this problem with corner entry
and acceleration. Then it was time to con-
trol the gap from Valentino. I knew already
this is one of the circuits we struggle with,
with our bike and my style."
Rossi had gone for hard tires front and
rear but couldn't blame the rubber. "Un-
fortunately, I had a bad start, but I didn't
have the rhythm. I wasn't fast enough to
stay with them," the nine-time champion
Cal Crutchlow's
weekend was
nothing short of a
disaster and ended
in the gravel trap.
