VOL. 52 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 13, 2015 P61
Briefly...
instantly repaired by Barcelona doc-
tor Xavier Mir with screws and a six-
hole titanium plate, but less than a
week old was far from healed. "It's
painful of course, because it is bro-
ken," Marquez said after qualifying.
"But I can ride more or less well. I
think it is not a big problem for the
race, because today I rode without
painkillers, but tomorrow I will have
them."
Jorge Lorenzo had feared the worst
when he injured his shoulder falling
off a minibike the previous Saturday.
When he arrived at hospital it was
with every expectation that he would
require surgery. He was much re-
lieved when X-rays revealed merely
a sprain with no need for an opera-
tion. The Movistar Yamaha rider was
wearing a sling much of the time off
the bike, but also found it not too
much of a problem for riding. "Maybe
it's not 100 percent, but also I am not
100 percent on the right, so perhaps
it is good balance," he quipped.
The absent Karel Abraham's mis-
fortune meant another twist in the
highly varied career of double GP
winner Anthony West–with the
news at Motegi that the Australian
will substitute aboard the Open-spec
AB Moto Honda at his home GP at
Phillip Island. West was dumped two
races ago from his ride on the Speed
Up machine for the QMMF team,
and since then had an outing in the
British Superbike Series. At Motegi,
Abraham's bike went to 40-year-old
Kousuke Akiyoshi. This was the
veteran's ninth MotoGP start, with
a best result so far of 12th in 2006,
before he switched from Suzuki to
Honda.
seized control into turn three,
the start of the second trade-
mark Motegi stop-and-go u-
turns. In familiar style he quickly
built a commanding lead, up to
three seconds after just five of
the 24 scheduled laps of the
mountain top Honda-built circuit.
From there on Rossi could
match his pace, but not get
By midrace, he had decided
simply to maintain fourth place.
By then, the result seemed
settled. Rossi led into the first
corner from the front row, but
pole qualifier Lorenzo firmly
Lowes did the
same to Marcel
Schrotter for eighth;
with Randy Krummenacher right on
his back wheel.
Only then, another three seconds
adrift, came a thoroughly detuned
Rins in eleventh, having asked too
much of his tires in the early stages.
Baldassarri, wild cards Tomoyoshi
Koyama and Yuki Takahashi and a fad-
ing Kallio took the last of the points.
Zarco is unassailable on 309
points; the fight is for second, be-
tween Rabat (206) and rookie Rins
(189). Lowes (152) and Folger (145)
are next.
When was the last
time you saw a
backflip off a bike?
Zarco showed just
why he's the champ
with a dominating
display at Motegi.
Lorenzo and his team look
bewildered as they look at the
Spaniard's shredded front tire.
continued on next page
