VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P71
Briefly...
injury, escaping fracture but getting
a badly sprained ankle that would
spoil the rest of his weekend. There
were a number of other MotoGP
class fallers in the blazing heat, with-
out the help of spilled oil, with Smith,
di Meglio and Dovizioso all slipping
off, and then also Marquez, for the
second time that day. All but Pedrosa
were unhurt.
Ducati brought an upgrade to Brno,
with revised bodywork housing an
equally revised engine—the same
unit, but with improved power deliv-
ery, which actually made its debut
at Indianapolis. The fairing is slim-
mer, thanks to narrowed-down wa-
ter and oil radiators, with a revised
seat unit exposing more exhaust.
Most obviously, the winglets look
larger, although team chief Paolo
Ciabatta said that the overall width
was as before. The leading edge
also has a more pronounced con-
cave arc. Rider opinions were di-
vided. Iannone preferred the old
version, but Dovizioso switched to
the new. Asked what was the advan-
tage, Dovizioso's reply was succinct.
"More power," he said. "It is not a big
difference, but it is a step."
Karel Abraham made his long-de-
layed return at his home circuit (liter-
ally in his back yard), still on crutches
after missing four races after injuring
his left foot in a free practice crash
at Montmelo for the Catalunyan GP.
At first it seemed nothing worse than
a broken toe or two, but he looked
pained as he explained how it was
much more complicated. "I'm not
feeling really great," he said. "I was
hoping to be fully fit, but the foot is
still painful," he said.
It took the darling of the crowd
two laps to move into third, but
by then he was better than two
seconds behind the leading pair.
He would never recover.
Lorenzo's perfect weekend
the line. He got into the first cor-
ner behind not only Lorenzo and
Marquez, but also fast starter
Bradley Smith, on the Monster
Yamaha, and Andrea Dovizioso's
Ducati.
continued on next page
