VOL. 52 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 1, 2015 P71
Briefly...
was all about the riders. Adding new
piquancy to another hoary saying:
"The first person you have to beat is
your teammate." An interesting statis-
tic emerged pre-Silverstone: half of
Lorenzo's 38 premier-class wins were
led from first lap to the last; but only
two of Rossi's entire 111 career wins
had been achieved in the same way.
Marc Marquez had just two such wins
of his 22 in the premier class.
Franco Morbidelli—a leading mem-
ber of the growing stable of Rossi
protégés—was out of the British
Grand Prix and probably also his
home Misano Grand Prix in a fort-
night after breaking his leg badly
while motocross training with his il-
lustrious mentor. Morbidelli had been
gaining strength in his second Moto2
season, with a string of top-six finish-
es and a first podium at Indianapolis.
He broke both tibia and fibula of his
right leg, and it was Rossi who trans-
ferred him to hospital, for the usual
immediate remedial orthopedics.
His place in the Italtrans team was
taken by 19-year-old Italian rookie
Federico Caricasulo. Morbidelli was
also favored to switch to the Estrella
Galicia Marc VDS team next year, to
take the place of Tito Rabat, who in
turn is expected to take Redding's
place in the squad's MotoGP outfit.
Meantime, Ricky Cardus—sacked by
the Tech3 Moto2 team—returned for
a second race in place of Wilairot on
the JPMalaysia Suter.
More sackings and reshuffles in
Moto3, with spectacular knee-surfer
Nicky Ajo dumped from the RBA Rac-
ing team, and the highly mobile Isaac
Vinales taking his place. Ajo, son of
noted Finnish Red Bull team owner
continued on page 75
