VOL. 54 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 14, 2017 P77
of a queasy front-end feeling
all race—put an accomplished
block-pass on Zarco as they
started the 30th and final lap.
The Frenchman strove to reverse
the position, and crossed the
line barely three tenths adrift.
It was Pedrosa's second win
of the season, but quite over-
shadowed by Marquez's third
place, 10 seconds down. After
having only gained the points
lead just before the summer
break, Marquez had not only se-
cured a fourth title in five years,
he'd continued to set records:
just one being the young-
est rider in history to win four
premier-class crowns, almost a
year younger than his illustrious
predecessor Mike Hailwood.
It had always been a long
shot for Dovizioso, equal with
Marquez on race wins with six
apiece. He'd qualified only ninth,
but a strong start and first laps
put him fifth behind Lorenzo
by lap three, as third front-row
starter Andrea Iannone (Ecstar
Suzuki) lost ground behind.
Everyone expected Lorenzo
to let him pass, for then at least
he would have the chance of up-
setting the applecart. And Dovi
was leaning on him everywhere.
But the Spaniard didn't waver.
On lap 12, Ducati sent Loren-
zo the same coded dashboard
message as in Malaysia: "Sug-
gested Mapping: Mapping 8."
No response.
They sent it again, and then
put a downward arrow on his pit
board, to lose one place.
The drama continued on that
same lap.
First Lorenzo fell, and then
Dovizioso also ran into the
gravel, falling at low speed. He
remounted, cruised back to
the pit, to the applause and the
proud welcome of his mechan-
ics. He'd lost, but it had been an
amazing season and an amazing
performance all the same.
There was more to come,
as Pedrosa—who complained
it with my elbow," he explained,
showing the value of the record
27 crashes he's had this season.
Even so, it sent him careening
across the gravel. As we've seen
before, his remedy was to open
the throttle and dirt-track it back,
rejoining in fifth.
Not only had he handed the
lead back to Zarco, with Pe-
drosa still close, but Lorenzo and
Dovizioso were also ahead.
(Above) Jorge Lorenzo (99) denied
team orders to let Andrea Dovizioso
through. In the end, it didn't matter,
as both Ducati riders crashed out
within two corners of each other.
