VOL. 52 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 20, 2015 P71
Briefly...
22nd MotoGP legend at the final
round at Valencia, honoring his
achievements as one of the longest-
serving and certainly most popular
riders in the year of his retirement
from grand prix racing. Hayden,
who joined MotoGP in 2003 as
the youngest-ever AMA Superbike
Champion, defeated Rossi for the
title in 2006 in a last-race shootout.
He announced at the last race that
he will be moving to World Super-
bikes next year. The announcement
of his induction into the World Cham-
pionship Hall of Fame proves that
race wins are not the only criterion.
With only three, Hayden is by far the
least successful on a list of 21 riders
so far: Giacomo Agostini, Mick Doo-
han, Geoff Duke, Wayne Gardner,
Mike Hailwood, Daijiro Kato, Eddie
Lawson, Anton Mang, Angel Nieto,
Wayne Rainey, Phil Read, Jim Red-
man, Kenny Roberts, Jarno Saarin-
en, Kevin Schwantz, Barry Sheene,
Marco Simoncelli, Freddie Spencer,
Casey Stoner, John Surtees and
Carlo Ubbiali.
Race direction got tough on errant
Moto3 riders in qualifying, applying
the letter of the new rule to penal-
ize a number of riders for exceeding
110 percent of their best lap time on
three or more sections of the track.
Worst hit was championship leader
Danny Kent, who had gone over the
limit on eight sectors over the ses-
sions, and was hit with an exemplary
punishment of losing six places on
the grid. This took him from first to
seventh. Others penalized, though
only half as much, included Remy
Gardner, Maria Herrera, Andrea
Locatelli and four others. Kent was
slightly aggrieved, though he said at
option rear; so the only question
of tire tactics would be in the art
of preservation. This makes the
final outcome more revealing.
Marquez started from pole for
the eighth time; Rossi on row
three behind Dani Pedrosa, Cal
Crutchlow and a flying Maverick
Vinales, overcoming a 15 km/h
top speed disadvantage.
But it was Iannone seizing
control into the first corner after
a rocketship launch and Lorenzo
into second. Pedrosa held fourth
from Crutchlow and Rossi at the
end of the first lap.
Lorenzo was ahead of Ian-
none over the line, only for the
red bike to surge past again
And Rossi? He was the
big loser by a heart-breaking
88-hundredths of a second.
From victory last year to fourth
place this year was especially
sobering, because it meant a
loss of seven of the 18-point
advantage he brought to his
favorite circuit.
"Today, the results could have
been better if I would have been
able to overtake Iannone on the
last lap. It was a shame I wasn't
able to stay on the podium–I had
good pace and good speed. But
it was still a good race," he said.
All riders chose Bridgestone's
special new asymmetric front tire,
and all of significance, the softer-
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