2014 Motegi Moto2 Preview | Rabat Leads Kallio

2014 Motegi Moto2 Preview — Rabat’s lead over Kallio larger, but not insurmountable going into Motul GP of Japan

As the 2014 Moto2 Championship heads to the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan for round 15, Esteve Rabat (SPA) and Mika Kallio (FIN) (both Marc VDS Racing Team) are the leaders in the points race.

Thanks to his second-place finish at Aragon two weeks ago, Rabat has 278 points, 33 ahead of Kallio, who finished seventh in Spain.

Kallio has three victories this yea, and  must top the podium in some of the four remaining rounds if he is gain ground on Rabat in the title hunt. Heading into Aragon, Kallio had finished on the podium in each of the five previous events.

Third in the standings with 204 points is Maverick Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), who rode to victory at Aragon; an achievement that has secured the Rookie of the Year award for him. In addition, a 2015 MotoGP ride with Suzuki has been secured. Aragon was the 19-year old’s 14th Grand Prix victory.

Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert), Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Sitag) and Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham) have the potential to be on the podium at Motegi, whereas Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) will not return to competition before Valencia due to injury.

Corsi had a fracture to his left forearm suffered at Silverstone surgically repaired and won’t be ready to return to competition. He will again be substituted for at the next three rounds by the 21 year-old French rider Florian Marino.

Tomoyoshi Koyama also gets a substitute ride in Japan as he steps in for Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru Team JiR Webike) who likewise is still injured.

2014 Moto2 Point Standings:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Esteve RABAT	Kalex	SPA	278
2	Mika KALLIO	Kalex	FIN	245
3	Maverick VIÑALES	Kalex	SPA	204
4	Dominique AEGERTER	Suter	SWI	143
5	Thomas LUTHI	Suter	SWI	116
6	Johann ZARCO	Caterham Suter	FRA	104
7	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	100
8	Luis SALOM	Kalex	SPA	66
9	Sandro CORTESE	Kalex	GER	66
10	Anthony WEST	Speed Up	AUS	65
11	Franco MORBIDELLI	Kalex	ITA	63
12	Marcel SCHROTTER	Tech 3	GER	57
13	Sam LOWES	Speed Up	GBR	49
14	Jonas FOLGER	Kalex	GER	48
15	Jordi TORRES	Suter	SPA	40
16	Xavier SIMEON	Suter	BEL	39
17	Alex DE ANGELIS	Suter	RSM	37
18	Julian SIMON	Kalex	SPA	36
19	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Kalex	MAL	34
20	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	32
21	Ricard CARDUS	Tech 3	SPA	30
22	Axel PONS	Kalex	SPA	28
23	Randy KRUMMENACHER	Suter	SWI	24
24	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	JPN	24
25	Louis ROSSI	Kalex	FRA	13
26	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Suter	ITA	12
27	Gino REA	Suter	GBR	5
28	Nicolas TEROL	Suter	SPA	2