Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 / MAY 5-7, 2017 CIRCUITO DE JEREZ / CADIZ, SPAIN P78 BY MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE R eputations are not reliable in racing. Jerez made a great job of disrespect- ing them. In the process, it recharged a title battle that had earlier looked a bit predictable. Jerez is supposed to be a Yamaha track. Well, one of them finished fourth—but it was the satellite bike of bright spark Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha), riding, once again, as though he'd stolen it, while the factory riders were fading. Especially last year's Jerez winner Valen- tino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha), a distant 10th. Ducatis are meant to struggle at Jerez, and Jorge Lorenzo is supposed to be all at sea on his new bike. But now he put it on the podium. And Dani Pedrosa is widely considered yesterday's man. Not today, however, as he led from pole to flag, ably resisting a relentless race-long challenge from his formidable Repsol Hon- da teammate, Marc Marquez. In this way, 31-year-old Dani won the 3000th GP, and put himself back into contention in a title race that has closed right up again at the start of the Europe- an season. The top four are now all within four points. Tires were a deciding factor— not so much tire choice, where there was little variation, but in the way the bikes and riders used the Michelins. For reasons that will have their engineers puzzled late into the night, the Movistar Yamahas chewed theirs to destruction. Zarco, Hector Barbera (Reale Avintia Racing Ducati), Jonas Folger (Tech3 Yamaha) and Lorenzo risked the medium front; the rest chose the hard. For the rear, only Marquez, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Sam Lowes (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) risked the hard. The rest chose the asymmetric medium, with the harder compound on the right. Conditions were the hottest of the weekend when the race kicked off, in front of the usual capacity crowd of almost a quar- ter of a million over the week- end, around 27 laps (74.204 miles) of the iconic Andalusian circuit. Pedrosa led an all-Honda front row from Marquez and Crutchlow, and took a perfect start, Marquez heading the pursuit. At once he started opening up a gap—seven-tenths on lap one, better than 1.5 seconds on lap three. It wouldn't ever get much bigger, but he could make sure it was enough. "I could have gone faster at the beginning, but it was important to do a focused race; I didn't want to stress my tire too much," Pedrosa said. Zarco was the hero of the pursuit, finishing lap one sixth, but already having bullied past Rossi, and at once setting about Maverick Vinales (Movistar