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Only one winner in the desert showdown

Of course, I am biased, but there was only one winner in the desert showdown over the weekend. Three world sporting events in the sand and heat of the Middle East. The opening round of the MotoGP™ World Championship in Qatar. Across the desert the second round of the Formula One World Championship at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday. A heavyweight boxing fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou again in Saudi Arabia on Friday night. Three massive sporting confrontations 1500 kms apart on the same weekend.

For the second weekend in succession World Champion Max Verstappen totally dominated the Formula One race from the start, finishing with a 13.6 second advantage over his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez. The long-awaited clash of the heavyweight giants Joshua and Ngannou lasted just two rounds when the Englishman knocked out his opponent. The opening round of the MotoGP™ World Championship just crackled with drama, excitement, and breathtaking racing over three proper days of track action. Where do you start

On Friday the Marc Marquez style save with elbow, shoulder, and any other part of his body by Spanish teenager Pedro Acosta on his MotoGP™ debut. On Saturday morning just nine-hundredths of one second separated Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro and Enea Bastianini in qualifying. In the afternoon the brilliant Jorge Martin won the Sprint to lay his cards on the table in the first points-scoring encounter of the season. Sunday was even better!

An immaculate display by Pecco Bagnaia chasing his third successive MotoGP™ World title on the Lenovo Ducati, while the sparks flew between his pursuers. Binder claimed second on the Red Bull Factory KTM ahead of Sprint winner Martin and an impressive Marc Marquez. Acosta learnt so much on route to ninth place on his MotoGP™ debut. Earlier, just 0.041 seconds separated David Alonso and Daniel Holgado in a Moto3™ battle, which was decided on the final bend. It was nearly as close in Moto2™ with Alonso Lopez and Barry Baltus separated by 0.055 seconds at the chequered flag

The only saving grace on the track for Formula One was the performance of 18-year-old British driver, Oliver Bearman, who finished seventh on his Grand Prix debut driving for Ferrari. Formula One needed a ray of light to penetrate the non-racing dramas clouding their paddock. Thank goodness MotoGP™ is in no such need, but if it was, Pedro Acosta like Bearman would be the savour. What a debut by the 19-year-old Moto2™ and Moto3™ World Champion. That save at turn one on Friday and then finishing third after the opening two practice sessions. Qualifying eighth and finishing eighth in the Tissot Sprint race on Saturday. An audacious overtake on Marc Marquez during his ride to ninth place on Sunday. We are going to hear a great deal more about Acosta and Bearman in the coming weeks. They are the future on two and four wheels.

So of course, I’m biased but I am sure the neutrals would agree there was only one sporting event to be at in the Middle East over the weekend. Under the floodlights at the Lusail International circuit in Qatar was the only place to be. Quite honestly it was no contest!

 

By |2024-03-14T19:03:19+00:00March 14th, 2024|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|0 Comments

The wait has always been worth it

You have waited four months for this moment. All your fears and expectations may not be fully answered but there will be a real indication of what lies ahead in the next 20 races. Have riders, teams and organisers made the correct decisions? The Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar under the Lusail floodlights this weekend may be just the start, but many questions will be answered.

The biggest of them all. Can Marc Marquez become the oldest premier class World Champion in the MotoGP™ era? Six premier titles in 10 seasons and now the switch from Honda to Ducati. Even Valentino Rossi’s defection to Yamaha from Honda in 2004 didn’t create the same headlines, although Marquez will enjoy reading them as he embarks on his voyage of discovery. Rossi won that opening Grand Prix in South Africa and went on to retain the World title. It can be done Marc.

Spanish Moto2™ World Champion Pedro Acosta lines up for his premier class debut. Pressure is already mounting after some impressive testing performances on the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3. Can the Spanish teenager emulate Marquez by adding the MotoGP™ crown to his Moto3™ and Moto2™ titles in his first season? Could he match Jarno Saarinen and Max Biaggi by winning on his premier class debut? Neither of them went on to win the World title for very different reasons but Marquez won on his second premier class appearance en route to the World title

Can double World Champion Pecco Bagnaia join a very exclusive club only nine riders have won three successive premier class titles. His Ducati Lenovo teammate Enea Bastanini faces the season with real hope after an injury-hit debut season with the team, crashing in the opening round last year. I remember Barry Sheene returning to race at the opening round in the 1983 South African Grand Prix. Six months after he had 28 screws and two plates fitted to his shattered legs, following his Silverstone practice crash. The double 500cc World Champion finished tenth on his return in South Africa.

It’s not only riders and teams who have watched that opening round with trepidation after making some big decisions. The opening round at Suzuka in Japan 2002 represented the biggest change before and since. The switch to the four-stroke era arrived. Could the 500cc two-strokes remain competitive against the 990 cc four-strokes? I thought they could at certain circuits, but my theory disappeared in a flurry of sound and speed. Valentino Rossi led the revolution with victory on the RCV 211V Honda. The only two-stroke threat came at the Sachsenring, but Olivier Jacque and Alex Barros crashed out while leading.

In 1987 the riders faced a very new challenge again in the opening round at Suzuka. Clutch starts at last replaced the old push starts in all classes. For 38 years riders had to push start their machines to fire up their engines to begin a Grand Prix. Some sat side saddle, cocking their leg onto the footrest once the engine fired into life. Others just pushed and pushed, jumping into the saddle when they had enough speed to interest the engine. As you can imagine it was a change well received by everybody.

It all began on a dry bright morning on June 13, 1949, when the 350cc riders lined up on the Glencrutchery Road on the Isle of Man. A world ravished by the horrendous effects of a World War that had ended four years earlier was ready to celebrate, embrace and enjoy bringing some much-needed light to a dark place. The very first race of a World Championship that celebrates its 75th birthday this season.

Nothing has changed in three-quarters of a century. The wait is still worth it.

 

By |2024-03-07T11:04:05+00:00March 7th, 2024|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on The wait has always been worth it

MotoGP™ A-listers are on the track

It was only when the most famous national newspaper in the world started printing pictures of A-lister celebrities on the grid, instead of race action on the track, that I realised just how lucky we are. Pictures of the stars on the grid and in the hospitality suites, replacing race action from the Grand Prix at the four-wheeled equivalent of MotoGP™. All sports need the publicity and charisma gained from the big names grinning on the starting grid, but the A-listers in MotoGP™ are the riders and not the people who have come to watch.

It’s crucial not to let all the hype and glitter submerge why we are at 20 venues throughout the world. We are there to race. The best riders/drivers in the world competing on space-age technology-driven motorcycles and cars to discover who is the very best. From that very first World Championship race in the Isle of Man nearly 75 years ago the battle between man and machines has always been the priority. We are so lucky that the principle was fully endorsed after a season of racing that was right up there as one of the very best in the last three quarters of a century

I think that the final round in Valencia was the perfect example of why all that hype and glitz in the world is no match for the action when it’s as good as it was. It had everything to keep the massive boisterous fans and tens of millions of television viewers more than happy. Two riders after 20 Grands Prix, Tissot Sprints included, in nine months were separated by just 21 points going into those final two races. We were not let down. Fantastic racing, mind games, controversy, and crashes but when the dust settled, Pecco Bagnaia, the only Ducati rider in the history of the sport to retain the premier class title. It was everything that final rounds in other motorsport World Championships just could not match.

There was certainly no time to reflect, celebrate or rest even for the fans. The Valencia Test just two days later gave us a delicious aperitive to next season’s main menu. Of course, Marc Marquez’s Ducati debut made the headlines. The smile when he removed his helmet said it all. Throw in the Honda debut for Luca Marini, with Fabio Di Giannantonio replacing him at Mooney VR46 Racing, and a MotoGP™ debut for Moto2™ World Champion Pedro Acosta. I think you had enough to keep you going over Christmas and the new year.

Of course, there have been bumps in the road in such a long tiring journey. I think the Tissot Sprints were a great success and certainly made the weekend more interesting. I will not pretend to exactly understand the new tyre pressure rule. Some controversial decisions by the Stewards brought the same reaction to VAR in football. Ten Grands Prix in the last 13 weeks of the season put a strain on everybody. An understanding family is crucial to anybody embarking on the great adventure. Next year there are 22 Grands Prix scheduled. I think that is enough to maintain the welfare of everybody in the MotoGP™ family.

Never has a winter break been more richly deserved for everybody involved after such a pulsating season in all three classes. It was a year that totally summed up what the sport we love is all about. Stick to those racing principles and do not make it too complicated. A sport where the riders are still the A-listers.

 

By |2023-12-06T10:59:34+00:00December 6th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on MotoGP™ A-listers are on the track

Mind game masters

It’s all part of a World Championship battle especially if it goes down to the wire, the last round. Throw a few mind games into the pot, stir them around and see what emerges. The weekend fight for the 2023 title between Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin was never going to be an exception.

When you are 21 points behind with a maximum of 37 at stake you have to try and take every trick in the book. Martin never let Bagnaia out of his sight in Practice and the current World Champion and Champion elect appeared a little rattled. He steadied the ship on Saturday and the rest is history. Martin is certainly not the first or last to try and unsettle a great rival. There are some notable names in the mind games club

Those club members employed different tactics to match the situation and the opponent. On the track, on the grid, through the media, in a press conference and testing the loyalty of a team-mate have all been used to achieve that ultimate goal, the world title. Some have been successful, others have not.

Double 500cc World Champion Barry Sheene was a past master of the art. At the big British meetings, he would arrive on the grid smoking a cigarette already wearing his helmet. He had a hole drilled through the front of the helmet to fit a cigarette. He would walk along the front row of the grid and then shake his head while checking his opponent’s tyre and rear sprocket choice. Barry also had the media eating out of his hand and would give his main rivals a tough time in print. One man who was not affected and found the anti-headlines so amusing was Kenny Roberts. The American stole Barry’s world title and went on to win two more.

On the track, Kenny tried every trick in the book to regain that World title in a 1983 showdown with Freddie Spencer at Imola. At the Italian circuit, where Kenny made his European debut nine years earlier, he had to win to prevent Spencer from becoming the youngest-ever 500cc World Champion. Second place behind Kenny would give Freddie the title. They swapped the lead, with Kenny constantly upping and slowing the pace, hoping Freddie may crash or Eddie Lawson on the second Yamaha may catch them and relegate Freddie to third. It didn’t happen, and Freddie’s second place brought him the title and Kenny retired.

Being a teammate to Phil Read didn’t mean an exemption from mind games, as Bill Ivy discovered in 1968. The Yamaha teammates made an agreement that Read would win the 125cc World title and Ivy the 250. Ivy kept his part of the bargain with Read crowned 125cc World Champion, but he reneged on the 250cc agreement. They arrived at the final round in Monza and Read won the race from Ivy. Ivy was devastated and retired only to be killed a year later in a comeback ride. Read went on to win more World titles and upset teammates.

Valentino Rossi didn’t win those nine world titles without joining the club. He certainly got the better of his bitter rival Max Biaggi, both on and off the track, with great riding coupled with clever mind games. The Italian did the same to Sete Gibernau after an altercation in 2004 in Qatar. In the press conference a week later in Malaysia, Rossi told Gibernau and the world’s media that the Spaniard would never win another Grand Prix. And he didn’t.

It didn’t work out the same way 11 years later at the same Press Conference room in Sepang. Rossi launched a scathing attack on Marc Marquez regarding the race at Phillip Island a week earlier. Marquez stood firm and the fight ended up on the track and not in Rossi’s favour. His on-track clash with Marquez, plus another earlier penalty, meant he had to start the final round in Valencia from the back row. He eventually finished fourth but lost the title to teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

Mind games may not always work but they happen, and always will.

 

By |2023-11-30T11:30:21+00:00November 30th, 2023|Uncategorised|Comments Off on Mind game masters

Never say never, but history is against Jorge

So, it’s come to the last round showdown as expected but not quite as we hoped. 21 points is a massive advantage for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) would have to make history to be crowned MotoGP™ World Champion at Valencia on Sunday. Never in the 74-year-old history of Grand Prix racing has a rider pulled back such a big deficit at the final round of the premier class to take the title. Of course, the introduction of the Tissot Sprint race this season has changed the situation. Now, there are 37 priceless World Championship points up for grabs instead of 25, but it’s still a massive ask for the Pramac rider.

19 times in that 74-year-old history the premier class world title has been decided at the final round. Only three times has the rider not leading the Championship going into that final round won the title. The biggest deficit pulled back was in 2006 at that never-to-be-forgotten final MotoGP™ race in Valencia. Valentino Rossi, riding the factory Yamaha, had an eight-point advantage over his old Repsol Honda team-mate Nick Hayden. The American had been brought down by his team-mate Dani Pedrosa at the penultimate round in Estoril and we all thought his big chance had gone. We were wrong. Rossi crashed, Hayden finished third behind the Ducatis of Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi to become the last American to win the title.

It was a lot more controversial in 2015, when Rossi arrived for the final Valencia showdown with a seven-point advantage over Yamaha team-mate, and not best friend, Jorge Lorenzo. Just two weeks earlier Rossi had been involved in a couple of unforgettable clashes with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) at Sepang in Malaysia. As a result, together with an earlier penalty, the Italian had to start the 30 lap race from the back of the grid and Lorenzo knew exactly what to do. He won the race with Rossi fighting his way through the field to fourth, but it was not enough. Lorenzo grabbed his third and last world title by five points. Rossi’s big chance to win his tenth world title had gone for good.

The first time a rider not leading the Championship won the title at the final round in 1992 was in very different circumstances. Mick Doohan arrived for the final round at Kyalami in South Africa with a two-point advantage over World Champion Wayne Rainey, but that does not tell the true story. Australian Doohan, riding the Rothmans Honda, held a 65-point advantage when he broke his leg in a qualifying crash in the eighth round at Assen. Severe complications prevented him from returning until the penultimate round at Interlagos in Brazil

Doohan could hardly walk, let alone race, but somehow fought through the pain to finish 12th in the race which was won by Rainey. He held that precious but fragile two-point lead going into 28 laps of the Kyalami circuit two weeks later. Doohan gave it all and more to finish sixth. Rainey’s third place retained the title for the World Champion by four points. I remember as media manager for the Honda team I had to organise the instant destruction of 200 World Championship-winning tee-shirts, press kits and photographs before Mick saw them.

Doohan was devastated, but two years later won his first world title for Honda. He captured four more consecutive titles for Honda, and so take heart for the loser this weekend. Look to the future after disappointment and don’t dwell on the past. So, Jorge, history is against you but never say never. Win that Tissot Sprint on Saturday and the pressure is on.

 

By |2023-11-23T12:23:30+00:00November 23rd, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Never say never, but history is against Jorge

Settling Pecco and Jorge rather than starting in Qatar

When that enormous red ball of the sun disappeared below the barren desert landscape and you heard thousands of light bulbs clicking into action, you knew the new season was underway. For 16 years the floodlit Lusail circuit was the beginning of a new season, but now the roles are reversed. Suddenly the 5.380km circuit is the venue where a MotoGP™ World Championship can be settled rather than started. 14 precious points separate Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) at the penultimate round on Sunday. For the first time this season, the title race could be settled after the Tissot Sprint and the Qatar Airways Grand Prix race in the desert

Arrival in Doha always heralded a complete change of life. The winter was over and family and friends knew better than anybody the travelling lifestyle had returned, after a seemingly too-short winter. You soon discovered the waistline you had requested on the uniform trousers had changed dramatically over those hungry winter months. The shoes you requested were too big and those shirts had problems covering your larger than it had been in November tummy. You reunited with colleagues who you were going to spend much of the next eight months within commentary boxes, media centres, airports, hotels and, of course, bars.

The Lusail International Circuit staged its first Grand Prix in 2004 and its first opening round in 2007. The heat and television timings back in Europe made it tough and so Qatar came up with a solution, which I honestly thought was pie in the sky. Flying in over hundreds of kilometres of desert sand the next year suddenly the silhouette of the floodlit Lusail circuit pierced the darkness below. In 12 months the circuit had been floodlit. The 2008 Qatar Grand Prix was the first ever World Championship motorsport event on tarmac to be staged under lights. The transformation took just 175 days. The opening round was staged under the Lusail lights until this season with just one break for Covid.

I loved those Thursday afternoon Championship photo sessions on the Losail start and finish straight, before the first practice session of the season the next day. There had been Valencia and pre-season testing but this was the first time we saw the bikes and riders in their new livery. Valentino Rossi on a Ducati in 2011 and back on the Yamaha two years later. Casey Stoner on a Repsol Honda in 2011 and four years earlier, even before the floodlights arrived, the first Ducati ride that led to a World Championship in 2007. That same year the number 1 plate was proudly displayed on Nicky Hayden’s Honda for the first time. Marc Marquez made his MotoGP™ debut for the same team in 2013 and Jorge Lorenzo in Ducati leathers for the first time, after leaving Yamaha in 2017.

Qatar will be full of added tension and anticipation with so much at stake this weekend, but it will be different. Already the Moto2™ World Championship is sorted and 37 points are up for grabs in MotoGP™. The first chance for Pecco Bagnaia to retain his world title, although Valencia looks the most likely showdown venue a week later. I always remembered the Lusail circuit as the start of the adventure. Next year it returns to herald the start of the 2024 season. Marc Marquez’s first race on the Ducati sums up my memory and feelings perfectly, although Sunday could be a very special Championship decider.

 

By |2023-11-15T20:42:15+00:00November 15th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Settling Pecco and Jorge rather than starting in Qatar

Can Bautista do a Bayliss?

The circumstances are so remarkably similar. As the world focuses on the superb battle for the MotoGP™ world title, the World Superbike Champion arrives to join in the fun. Double World Superbike Champion Alvaro Bautista, fresh from that amazing final round in Jerez returns to MotoGP™ in Malaysia on Sunday. His appearance as a wildcard on the factory Ducati brings memories flooding back to 2006 and a certain Australian, Troy Bayliss.

After winning the World Superbike Championship, Bayliss was brought in by Ducati to replace the injured Sete Gibernau at the final round of the MotoGP™ World Championship in Valencia. The world was totally focused on the Nicky Hayden/Valentino Rossi fight for the ultimate prize, the World Championship.

Sounds familiar so far. Bautista joins the grid on Sunday while the world focuses on the fight for the title between Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing). Bayliss had plenty of MotoGP™ experience with four podium finishes for Ducati before returning to Superbikes. Bautista not only returns to a series that brought him a world title,16 Grand Prix wins and three MotoGP™ podiums but to a track that he loves, no wonder why. The Spaniard has won two Grands Prix at the sweltering Sepang circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. In the same year as Bayliss’s Valencia success, Bautista won the 125cc race and the title. Two years later he won the 250cc Grand Prix by over two and a half seconds on his way to second place in the Championship.

Seventeen years ago in Valencia, history was made. Bayliss won the Grand Prix from fellow Ducati rider Loris Capirossi with Hayden crowned World Champion after finishing third. The very first Ducati one/two in the premier class did not go exactly unnoticed but Hayden’s first and only world title stole all the headlines. Bayliss returned to Superbikes to continue his domination after producing a ride that has never been replicated. He is the only current World Superbike Champion to win a MotoGP™ race. American Ben Spies is the only other rider to win a MotoGP™ race after winning the World Superbike Championship but not as the reigning Champion. The Yamaha rider won the 2011 Dutch TT in Assen two years after his Superbike Championship success. Without a doubt fellow American and Superbike Champion Colin Edwards deserved to join him. Who will ever forget the Texan crashing at the final esses in the 2006 Dutch TT with the chequered flag already fluttering in the breeze ready to celebrate his first Grand Prix win? Edwards stood on the podium 12 times and finished fourth and fifth in the World Championship.

The reverse scenario is not quite so barren but probably contains fewer riders than you would imagine. The 250cc World Champion John Kocinski won 500cc Grands Prix on Yamaha and Cagiva machinery before becoming World Superbike Champion. Four time 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi won premier class Grands Prix for Yamaha and Honda before dominating the Superbikes. Carlos Checa won a couple of 500 cc grands prix for Yamaha before switching and winning the World Superbike Championship.

So, can history repeat itself after 17 years in the 20-lap race at Sepang on Sunday? Understandably the spotlight will fall on the Bagnaia/Martin fight for the Championship with three rounds remaining. I promise you I will be paying a little more attention to Bautista than I did on Bayliss during the historic afternoon in the Spanish sunshine in 2006.

 

 

By |2023-11-08T17:02:50+00:00November 8th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Can Bautista do a Bayliss?

The next Marc Marquez faces his biggest test yet

I would think Pedro Acosta was licking his lips with anticipation after watching those last two incredible MotoGP™ races.  The 19-year-old Spaniard will be joining in the fun next year and I bet he can’t wait to get involved. I’m sure there is also a certain amount of trepidation for the Murcia rider who has exploded into Grand Prix racing. Six wins in his first season brought him the Moto3™ title. After finishing fifth in his first Moto2™ season last year Acosta is poised to add the Moto2™ crown after seven wins on the Red Bull KTM Ajo machine. He needs to finish fourth or higher at the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix in a couple of weeks’ time to be crowned the Moto2™ World Champion with two rounds remaining.

If he wins the World title this year he will achieve something no other rider in the modern era has done. Acosta will be the only rider to win two world titles in separate classes in his first three years competing in World Championship racing. Not even the likes of legends Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa or Jorge Lorenzo arrived so quickly with World titles under their belt

In those first three years, Acosta has won 16 Grands Prix. Fifteen of those came in his first 50 starts and only Valentino Rossi has done better. The nine-time World Champion won 20 Grands Prix in his first 50 starts. Rossi also won 17 races before his 20th birthday. Pedrosa is the youngest rider to clinch two world titles. The Spanish Honda rider was just 19 years 18 days old when he won the first of his 250cc world titles to add to his 125cc crown. As long as Acosta wins the Moto2™ crown this year he will be the second youngest to win two world titles. At the moment Marquez is the second youngest with Rossi third. Marquez won an incredible 26 Grands Prix before his 20th birthday with Pedrosa on 21, Rossi on 17 Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) on 16 and Lorenzo with 15.

Despite all the headlines and success, the next step into the premier class is massive for Acosta. When he joins the MotoGP™ grid under the Qatar floodlights on the GASGAS Factory Racing machine at that opening round of 22 next season, the pressure will be on. Comparing him to Marc Marquez is understandable after his success so far but it’s a tag that will hang heavy around his neck. Remember when Marquez arrived in MotoGP™ in 2013. He blew the premier class apart on the Repsol Honda. He won just his second Grand Prix in Austin and went on to re-write the history books. He won five more Grands Prix and the world title after finishing third in the final round in Valencia. Marquez and Kenny Roberts are the only riders in the 75-year history of the sport to win the premier class in their first season, apart of course from Les Graham who was the 500cc World Champion in the very first year in 1949.

Even Marquez did not win his first MotoGP™ race, but others have, starting with Geoff Duke in 1950 when he won the TT on the Norton. Jarno Saarinen won the opening two 1973 500cc rounds on the two-stroke Yamaha before his tragic death. Who will forget Max Biaggi’s debut with that stunning win at Suzuka in 1998.

I don’t think anybody is expecting Acosta to emulate these feats, especially Marquez with a title win. Never has the level of competition been closer or more intense. Twenty-two Grands Prix and 22 Tissot Sprint races is the longest and toughest test we’ve ever witnessed. Acosta first has to win the Moto2™ World Championship before that massive step into MotoGP™.

The next Marc Marquez? Only time will tell but I can’t wait to see how he fares.

 

By |2023-11-02T09:59:40+00:00November 2nd, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on The next Marc Marquez faces his biggest test yet

Worth the wait

I have waited six years and 209 days to write this blog about ‘The Professor’.  At last, a MotoGP™ winner after 120 Grands Prix for a rider who certainly does not fit the stereotypical picture of a world class racer. Johann Zarco’s (Prima Pramac Racing) incredible last lap win was not only totally deserved but universally celebrated. The long wait after 19 previous MotoGP™ podiums was worth it for the double Moto2™ World Champion who is a unique figure in the crazy world of MotoGP™.

It was 1.30 am on a Monday morning at a deserted Melbourne airport seven years ago, when we made our way around the empty corridors to find our flight to Kuala Lumpur, en route to the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. I heard a piano playing in the background but took little notice. It had been a long hard and exhilarating day at Phillip Island and piped airport music was not going to stir the soul. Rounding the corner I saw, sat all alone at a keyboard, Johann Zarco happily playing away without another person in sight. The Moto2™ World Champion totally absorbed in his music. The World Champion overcoming his disappointment not to retain his world title that afternoon in the Australian Grand Prix after finishing 12th. He made amends six days later at Sepang.

Three weeks later, the celebrations in our hotel after the final Grand Prix of the season in Valencia were in full cry. Zarco was celebrating with his team the second Moto2™ World Championship before moving onto MotoGP™

As we saw, after that historic win on Saturday, every win for the Frenchman is celebrated with the legendary back flip off a safety barrier. This time no barrier and so the bar was cleared of glasses for the Champion to back flip amidst the cheers.

We nicknamed Zarco ‘The Professor’ for the way he would explain and analyse in detail every question. The quietly spoken Frenchman was like a college professor explaining to his students what had happened in qualifying but of course there is another side. You don’t win 17 Grands Prix and two world titles without a ruthless streak. He had already upset some of his Moto2™ rivals before taking on the big boys. Nothing changed and Valentino Rossi, in particular, was not happy as his rattled a few of the MotoGP™ legends, especially in that first season.

Only once did I witness Johann switch personalities from track to press conference. In Barcelona, an Italian journalist was asking some probing questions about the fatal accident of Luis Salom in 2016. The Frenchman took exception to the tone and threatened to jump over the media conference desk to sort things out. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) stepped in, to calm things down

Others have had to wait longer for that first premier class win. Jack Findlay made his 500cc debut at Nürburgring in 1958. His first win came at the Ulster Grand Prix in 1971, which was his 92nd 500cc start, a wait of 13 years and 25 days.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) rode in even more Grands Prix before that first win. The Spaniard made his debut at Indianapolis in 2009. That first win in Argentina 2022, was his 200th MotoGP start, a wait of 12 years 216 days.

We waited quite a time for Zarco’s first and only 125cc victory. He arrived as the Red Bull Rookies Champion and that first Grand Prix win came in 2011 at Motegi after six second places that same season. Zarco then switched to Moto2™ the next season and once again he had to be patient before the Grands Prix wins flowed. He started in the 2015 Argentine Grand Prix and 14 more Grands Prix and two world titles followed. The Frenchman switched to MotoGP™ in 2017, starting at the Qatar Grand with that first win coming six years 290 days later in Australia.

I hope Johann found that same piano in Melbourne airport on Monday morning to celebrate in true Zarco style. He deserved it.

By |2023-10-25T21:16:45+00:00October 25th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Worth the wait
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