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It’s a brave move by Dovi and he knows better than anybody just how tough it will be, but he has the experience to make it work. This will be the third full factory bike he has ridden in the MotoGP™ class. He brought the Repsol Honda team success in the 2009 British Grand Prix and after one season with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team switched to Ducati. He won the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix and the floodgates opened. The only problem was a certain Marc Marquez was at his peak and despite some masterful breath-taking duels against the Spanish Honda rider that World title never came his way despite 13 more Grands Prix wins. Three years in succession between 2017 – 2019 he finished runner-up in the Championship behind Marquez. His last Grand Prix win came in Austria last year.

When I hear of a rider finishing runner-up in the MotoGP™ Championship three times I always think of Randy Mamola. The exuberant Californian finished runner-up four times after winning 13 Grand Prix. There was no Marquez to spoil his fun in the eighties but the foursome of Kenny Roberts, Marco Lucchinelli Eddie Lawson and Wayne Gardner which was just as formidable. Two so different characters but brilliant on two wheels. Unlike Mamola at least Dovi has tasted World Championship success. He won the 125cc World title in 2004 and was runner-up in the 250cc Championship on two occasions in 2006 and 2007

I rather naively thought every Grand Prix would be like that, but Assen that afternoon, evening and night set a precedent that has barely been surpassed. A year later Middelburg won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and that was that. A Dutchman never won another premier class race. Nine years later in 1990 Wilco Zeelenberg won the 250cc German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and Hans Spaan won five 125cc Grands Prix and secured the last ever Grand Prix victory for a Dutch rider, but the crowds continued to flock to Assen every single year.

Despite great success in the smaller classes thanks to the efforts of the likes of Toni Mang, Dirk Raudies, Ralf Waldmann and Stefan Bradl, Germany has only tasted success in the premier class on one occasion and even then, it was controversial. Edmund Czihak won the 1974 500cc German Grand Prix race at the Nürburgring when all the top riders boycotted the race on safety grounds

Probably the best-remembered twist or stick decision at the British Grand Prix came 22 years later in the 2000 250cc race at Donington Park. The 27-lap race started in slightly damp conditions. The majority of the riders started on slick, or hand-cut slick tyres. Ralf Waldmann and Naoki Matsudo decided to take the gamble on starting on wets and it appeared very much wrong decision. Olivier Jacque led the way on the Tech 3 Yamaha but with nine laps remaining the rain arrived. At this stage Waldmann on the Aprilia was one minute 40 seconds behind the leader. He was cutting great swathes out of that time advantage lap by lap but with two to go he was still 24 seconds behind the Frenchman. Coming into the last lap they were still separated by the length of the start and finish straight but on the run to the finish line Waldmann raced past the future World Champion for a famous victory. The gamble had paid off, but it doesn’t always.

In 2009 again at Donington it misfired for the Ducati duo of World Champions Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner. They chose wet weather tyres at the start of the 30 lap MotoGP™ race. The track was damp, and rain was expected. It came but not in enough quantity to help them. They eventually finished 15th and 14th respectively in the race won by Andrea Dovizioso on his one and only victory for Repsol Honda.

The riders arrive at Silverstone knowing that those big decisions can and have played such a massive part in the outcome of the race. Hopefully there will be no stick of twist decisions to make, and the sun will shine all day on Sunday.

South African Binder and Spaniard Martin are absolute examples of why I’m so optimistic about the future. They simply just typify what the modern-day MotoGP™ rider is all about. Battle-hardened in Moto3™ and Moto2™. The first three on Sunday are all former World Champions. I remember Jorge always appearing with a smile at the Moto3™ Tissot Pole Position presentation. Plenty of poles but no wins but when he finally stood on the top step at the final round in 2017 the floodgates simply opened. He was crowned World Champion a year later after seven wins. Brad had won the title two years earlier.

Already these new MotoGP™ youngsters are emulating the true legends of the sport. Binder’s win on Sunday and Martin’s victory on the Pramac Ducati a week before placed them in a very select group of riders in the 72-year history of the premier class

A magnificent journey to towering cliffs and lighthouse at Cape Wrath in Scotland, the furthest point north on the mainland of the British Isles was no exception. As we waited for the tiny ferry to take us across the Loch before embarking on a 20 kms minibus journey to such a desolate magic location a tiny Motorhome arrived with Italian number plates. In the back window, a massive number 46 sticker to remind us of the ‘Doctor’ was keeping an eye on us.

The Grand Anse beach on the Caribbean Island of Grenada was a wonderful place to relax but Vale was never far away. The guitar playing Reggie singer had replaced his obligatory Bob Marley tee-shirt with that brilliant Rossi sun design as he sang away in the sunshine.

There has never been a MotoGP™ race in Greece but once again Vale presence was so evident. The taxi driver who picked us up at Thessaloniki airport proudly wore his number 46 cap all the way to the hotel. He still had it on when he picked us up for the return trip seven days later

Roll the clock on to seven years ago and the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina in Rio De Janeiro. It was July 13th, the day of the 2014 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. Of course, Marc Marquez won the MotoGP™ race from Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Dominique Aegerter was the popular Moto2™ winner with Jack Millar victorious in Moto3™. The trip to Leipzig airport after the races was so easy. The roads were deserted because once again a nation was watching a sporting event that meant so much to them. We watched the game on the television in the airport hotel lounge surrounded by excited German fans. I sat next to Diego, the Dorna photographer and it appeared the only Argentinian in Germany that evening. When Germany won a single goal in extra time, I commiserated with him but quietly.

I would love to be telling you about English success on the football field while working at MotoGP™ races, but I cannot lie. It has been a complete nightmare. Desperate nights in the IRTA Office conference room surrounded by empty beer cans and half eaten pizzas watching England losing yet another penalty shoot-out. Being told halfway through the qualifying press conference at Donington Park in 2006 that talisman Wayne Rooney had been sent off in a World Cup game. Waking up in the middle of the night in Barcelona to watch England lose a World Cup game to Italy much to the delight of Rossi and co the next morning.