Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/894643
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 17 / OCTOBER 29, 2017 SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SEPANG, MALAYSIA P72 My Own Race: 04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 1ST MOTOGP "It was a truly perfect weekend," said winner Andrea Dovizioso. "We were quick in every session, both in the dry and in the wet, and today in the rain we dominated. Here at Sepang, Jorge and I really had a bike advantage, because our Desmosedici was very fast, and we managed to administer the gap in the best possible way even though track conditions were very dif- ficult because there wasn't much grip. I'm very pleased for the win which keeps my hopes alive for the title, and even though I know it will be very difficult at Valencia because it's a track where Marquez always goes well, we'll be going to Spain with confidence to try and bring home the victory." 99 JORGE LORENZO 2ND MOTOGP "It was a great race that showed the progress we made throughout the weekend," said runner-up Jorge Lorenzo. "I was really at ease on the bike, and even though I'd have preferred a dry race, when I saw it was raining, I changed my mentality and tried to keep focused in order to avoid a mistake like Misano. I pushed hard but in the last few laps I was in a bit of crisis with the tires, especially the front, and had a few scary moments in some corners. It wasn't the right time to do anything stupid and when I almost crashed at Turn 15 and Andrea passed me, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to fight for the win." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 6TH MOTOGP "We were a little bit unlucky with the weather because I think that on the dry we could have been competitive," said Valentino Rossi. "We wanted to do a good race because we arrived here fresh from a podium on Phillip Island and it's good to try to stay at the top, but it rained. Unfortunately, today we also weren't strong enough with this bike on the wet. We had a lot of prob- lems and I was struggling for more or less three quarters of the race. We need to understand the situation and try to improve and that's just the way it is. We'll see what happens in Valencia. It's another important race and a difficult track, but we'll see. We'll try to be competitive." 44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA 1ST MOTO2 "Today I had to give everything; I can hardly speak," said a thrilled Miguel Oliveira after his Moto2 victory. "This was not the strategy I had in mind before we started, as Franco [Morbidelli] and Brad [Binder] had a very good pace, so my plan was to ride behind them. But I saw that I could give a little more on the first few laps and I went for it. I gave everything I had and I am very proud to have succeeded. At the begin- ning of the season I did not imagine that we would be able to achieve these results. I thought we would be competitive but not that we would do so well. We deserve this end to the season."