CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
P126
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
T
here was an interesting
exchange at Brno, where
the Grand Master and
the Young Pretender shared
the bench at the post-qualifying
conference. In the short 15-
minute qualifying window, Marc
Marquez had shot his bolt and
was returning to the pits when
Valentino Rossi came blistering
by, on his one and only chance
at a good lap.
He made it, qualified third,
behind Jorge Lorenzo and
Marquez.
But Marquez had shadowed
him all the way, for a valuable
lesson in the rider's and the
Yamaha's strengths and weak-
nesses.
Normally, Rossi would have
slowed to avoid these revela-
tions. Qualifying being what it
is, he couldn't afford to. How
had he felt about being unwill-
ing tutor?
He laughed as usual. Marquez
had been "very clever," he said,
in his light-hearted way.
The lips were smiling, but
the eyes had that death stare.
I can recognize it, having been
on the receiving end myself,
when I asked him whether he
had bought his sacked long-time
crew chief Jerry Burgess a nice
going-away present.
Marquez of course had that
knowing smirk, of the rider
MIND GAMES
