Monthly Archives: September 2022

They may not have come into play at a dramatic Motegi but Francesco Bagnaia’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) demise in Japan will just increase the pressure on the Ducati riders to help his cause. It is a tough one, with examples and answers to all arguments. Surely with Ducati closing in on Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) seemingly untouchable lead in the Championship, Bagnaia deserves all the help he needs from the Italian clan. The question is what you understand as help. The key factor is for team managers to be crystal clear when talking to their riders about what they expect from them. It is when the grey areas appear the problems start, and the mistrust starts.

The classic example of mistrust came a long time ago when Phil Read and Bill Ivy were teammates at Yamaha. After Honda departed in 1967 Yamaha dominated the 250 and 125cc World Championships on those magnificent four-cylinder two-stroke machines. It was decided before the 1968 season by Yamaha and the riders that 125cc World Champion Ivy would win the 250cc title and the former 250cc Champion Read the 125cc. All was going to plan before Read, never known as your best teammate, reneged on the original arrangement.

The seven times World Champion duly clinched the 125cc title in Brno and then told his teammate he wanted to make it a double. The new agreement came to a head at the final round horrible round at Monza, full of anger and accusations. Read beat Ivy in the twenty-two lap 250cc race. Incredibly they ended up on equal points in the Championship but Read was crowned World Champion after their respective race times from each Grand Prix were added together. Ivy, totally crushed by the turn around retired to go car racing a very disillusioned rider. He returned to finance his car racing before passing away in 1969. Read continued to win world titles and upset teammates.

Bagnaia and Bastianini may not have exactly tread on eggshells in their last lap Ducati duels at Misano and Aragon, but they showed ample respect for each other. Teammates may not receive orders but do not wreck their Championship ambitions by doing something stupid at a vital moment – just ask Dani Pedrosa. Nobody will forget and especially the Repsol Honda team that afternoon at Estoril in 2006. It was the penultimate round of the World Championship. Leader Nicky Hayden arrived with a 12 point lead over Valentino Rossi and was comfortably placed third in the race behind the Yamahas of Rossi and team-mate Colin Edwards. His Repsol Honda team-mate Pedrosa was right behind as they raced into that tricky left hand at the end of the back straight with twenty-three laps remaining. The 250cc World Champion Pedrosa left his braking too late, ran onto the kerb, locked the front wheel, with his sliding Honda skittling down teammate Hayden.

So many riders have returned from serious injury to find success. Grand Prix motorcycle riders always have been and always will be tough guys. It is what the sport is all about. Nothing will stop riders from competing if humanly possible, often at the expense of pain and suffering when they have finally cried enough and retired. Barry Sheene and Alex Criville not only won 500cc world titles after returning from serious injuries but also became national heroes in their respective countries. Sheene’s two life-threatening accidents at Daytona and Silverstone rather than two world titles made him a British icon. Criville became the first Spanish rider to be crowned a premier class World Champion two years after a serious hand injury kept him out of action for over two months.

I remember two very different comebacks that had very different times scales involving World Champions Mick Doohan and Jorge Lorenzo. One lasted 56 days, the other just two days. Mick Doohan’s pinched grey face matched his mood when he arrived for the penultimate round of the 1992 500cc World Championship. When he showed me the spindly remains of his legs and especially the right leg I understood just why. His right calf was still encased in a light cast while the wounds below reminded of our local butcher’s shop. Mick had missed four Grands Prix after breaking his leg in the final qualifying for the Dutch TT. The Australian rider had seen his massive Championship lead slashed to 22 points coming into the penultimate round at the dangerous chaotic Interlagos circuit on the outskirts of the massive sprawling City of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He had almost had to have his right leg amputated after infection set in after the operation. At one point, both his legs were sewn together to try and restore circulation from one to the other.

Watching Mick complete 121km in the drizzle was a humbling experience coupled with fear of what injuries he would suffer if he crashed again. He did not but all that pain and effort was unrewarded. Somehow he finished in 12^th place which meant no World Championship points. Wayne Rainey won the race and two weeks later won the title by four points. It was a bitter pill for Mick to swallow but after a difficult 1993 season, all that pain and anguish was rewarded when he won the 1994 500cc Championship for Honda. That win just opened the floodgates for the Australian legend who won four more world titles on the trot

Misano just about ticked all the boxes in that recent Global Fans Survey. Ninety-four per cent of the fans put exciting racing top of their priority list. The MotoGP™ clash and certainly the last lap between Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini would have met that particular criterion. Just three hundredth of one second separated the two Italian Ducati riders at the end of 27 laps. Ninety-one cent of the fans put overtaking and on track action top of their list. I think the Moto2™ race, with perhaps just a few too many crashes and less than half a second separating the first four in another breath-taking Moto3™ race, would have sent most people home satisfied and happy.

Ever since that very first World Championship race at the Isle of Man in 1949 the sport has attracted a very loyal and knowledgeable worldwide following. It has always had that extra edge to it that other motorsports have never been able to understand and match. Its popularity has often reflected in the mood of the World and in many cases provided fans with a glimmer of light in countries suffocated by suppression.