Nick Harris

All eyes will be focused on the title decider in Barcelona this weekend, while all hearts and thoughts will be with the people of Valencia. So often sport can consume your life and block out what you do not want to hear. Sport can also bring people together in times of grief and sorrow and contribute both collectively and individually to provide support and practical help. Grand Prix Motorcycle racing has never shied away from understanding, caring and supporting. Sometimes on a massive scale such as the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix this weekend and the 35 years of the Two Wheels for Life campaigns. Sometimes just acts of individual kindness have meant so much. Sometimes just being there has brought relief and hope for the future to broken communities.

I remember that first Riders for Health Day of Champions at Brands Hatch in England back in 1989. Inspired by Randy Mamola and Andrea and Barry Colemen. It was the start of something so big that nobody, perhaps with the exception of Randy, could ever have envisaged the future. The sport and especially the riders and teams, have never wavered in their support and generosity for the people in Africa by providing lifesaving healthcare and transport. Re-named Two Wheels For Life the organisation, now the official MotoGP™ Charity, goes from strength to strength and is an example to every sport of just what can be achieved, if you care enough

Understandably these massive charity efforts receive the publicity they deserve. Sometimes acts of individual kindness and care go almost unnoticed. MotoGP™’s only visit to the Interlagos circuit on the outskirts of San Paulo in Brazil was on a wet September weekend in 1992. It was miserable in every way. The track so unsuitable for motorcycles, the chaotic organisation and the abject poverty around the city and especially surrounding the circuit. The paddock was so upset by the appalling state of the occupied mud-lined hut favelas that overlooked the track they did something about it. A collection was donated to a local charity. Perhaps a drop in the ocean but a demonstration that at least somebody cared about them.

Valentino Rossi visited Aids victims at the height of the pandemic at Welkom in South Africa, and the fact that MotoGP™ just went there did so much to help an area on its knees. A town of 200,000 people left with so little. Surrounded by abandoned mine-shaft headgear and slag heaps with the demise of gold mining. Jammed roundabouts of people early every morning hoping to be picked up for a job. MotoGP™ brought some hope and especially for the young people working at the circuit in so many different capacities. Hope was perhaps even more precious to them as charitable cash. It was such a tragedy when Welkom staged its last grand prix with the historic Rossi/Biaggi duel in 2004.

Twenty-one years earlier I stood at Arrivals at Johannesburg airport in turmoil. I questioned what I was doing there. This was South Africa gripped by the apartheid regime and so why was Grand Prix motorcycle racing prepared to race there? Four days later as we flew home, I knew exactly why. We broke every apartheid restriction at every opportunity. The paddock totally ignored all the rules. We upset the rulemakers, but I think brought some joy, hope and even fun for the future which was a rare commodity for the majority of the population.

In 2011 the Japanese Grand Prix was postponed after the earthquake and resulting tsunami in March. A new date was scheduled in September but there was genuine concern about a radiation leak at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. After much deliberation the Grand Prix went ahead and what a welcome we received from the Japanese nation. It was the first major sporting event to be held in Japan after the disaster and the fact we were prepared to take their advice and travel there meant so much to them. Yes, some riders would only shower in bottled water and less radiation was registered at the circuit than in Bologna, but everybody made the trip.

Motorcycle racing has always cared and being able to help through the sport we love makes it very special. We must never forget.

Even my appalling maths has worked it out. For the first time this season, Jorge Martin could clinch the MotoGP™ World Championship title at the penultimate round at Sepang on Sunday. It may be a long shot and will probably be finally decided at the last round in Valencia, but history is on the side of the Prima Pramac Ducati rider. The Spaniard won his only World Championship title so far in the penultimate round of the 2018 Moto3™ World Championship at Sepang. His seventh Grand Prix victory of the season was enough to give Martin the title with the Valencia round remaining.

Pecco Bagnaia will know exactly what to expect, because his first World Championship title was clinched at the penultimate round of the Moto2™ World Championship the very same year in Malaysia. Third place behind Luca Marini and Miguel Oliveira was enough for the title, and the Italian moved on to MotoGP™ glory

It will be a very different dimension on both Saturday and Sunday at Sepang. The goalposts have moved dramatically since the introduction of the Tissot Sprint on a Saturday. Twelve more precious Saturday points have been made available for the last two seasons. It could prove a massive factor after the drama in the Thai rain on Sunday. Bagnaia’s superb ride on the treacherous track brought him those precious 25 points. Marc Marquez’s crash moved Martin back into second place behind Bagnaia, losing only five points, keeping his Championship lead to a defendable 17 points. With another 25 points available for a Grand Prix win, there are 37 points available at the weekend. Martin needs to fly home from Kuala Lumpur with a 38-point advantage to break out the champagne on that flight.

Forgetting the Covid seasons that decimated the MotoGP™ calendar, the last time a rider clinched the MotoGP™ World Championship title at the penultimate round was back in 2012. Jorge Lorenzo’s second place behind the Honda of Casey Stoner at Phillip Island was enough to bring him his second MotoGP™ World Championship title, before Marc Marquez arrived on the scene. A year earlier, it was Stoner’s win at his favourite track in Phillip Island that brought him his second World Championship title, with one round remaining.

The last time a rider captured the World Championship title at the penultimate round in Sepang was a historic day for Valentino Rossi in 2009. Third place behind Stoner and Pedrosa was enough for him to win the last of his seven MotoGP™ World Championship titles. I remember the celebrations around the hotel swimming pool at KL airport that went on long into the night and the next morning. Rossi also won the fourth of those titles in the penultimate round at Phillip Island in 2004.

You did not have to finish on the podium to clinch the title. Just knowing how your Championship challengers were faring was crucial. In 1999, Alex Criville became the first Spanish rider to win the Premier class World Championship title after finishing sixth in the penultimate round in Rio. He knew that Kenny Roberts’s third and Tadayuki Okada’s seventh finishes were not enough to prevent him from making history.

So, which rider clinched that Premier class Championship title earliest in the 75-year history of our sport? Perhaps no great surprise, it is a certain Giacomo Agostini in the middle of that incredible six-in-a-row World Championship titles on the magnificent MV Agustas. In both 1970 and 1971, Ago grabbed the title at the sixth of 11 rounds at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. He comfortably won the races around the legendary circuit just over halfway through the season. Working out when the World Championship title had actually been won was a lot more complicated in those days. Riders were only able to count so many results in the season to complete their tally at the end. Probably no real problems for Ago at the time, who simply just won all the races.

No problems this time, just more points up for grabs. Seventy-four just waiting for Martin or Bagnaia to gobble at the final two rounds. Keep an eye on the weather in Sepang; it could make all the difference.

Do you know, my old maths master would never have believed I wrote this blog. Perhaps I had a little help!

I love Phillip Island, and it just never lets you down. Another epic MotoGP™ encounter on Sunday not only endorsed its rightful claim as the greatest motorcycle racing track in the world but showed what a crucial part non-championship contenders could play in the final outcome. Two riders in particular can certainly tilt the balance in the next three races.

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Tream) can help current teammates, future teammates, and countrymen Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) claim the ultimate prize—the world title. As the points get tighter and the races fewer, how the pair of them react to certain situations, especially in that final round in Valencia, could be the difference between success and failure for the two contenders. It has happened, and been claimed by others to have happened, in the past

It certainly happened at Phillip Island in 1990 in the final round of the 125cc World Championship. The record books show that Loris Capirossi won that final round to become the youngest-ever World Champion, and the pizzeria in Cowes named a new pizza after the 17-year-old. What they do not tell you is how the other Italian riders, such as Bruno Casanova, Doriano Romboni, and Fausto Gresini, nicknamed “the Mafia” by the non-Italian media, ganged up to help him. Dutchman Hans Spaan and German Stefan Prein still had a Championship chance, but the Italian ‘Godfathers’ protected their protégé from the moment the lights changed. Spaan eventually finished fourth behind three Italians, while Prein retired with engine problems, and Capirossi was eating that celebratory pizza.

Thirty-five years later, once again at Phillip Island, the biggest conspiracy theory in the history of the sport exploded. This definitely cost the accuser the world title. Valentino Rossi accused Marc Marquez of slowing the pace in another epic Island battle to allow Rossi’s teammate and Championship rival, Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, to finish second behind Marquez, in front of Andrea Iannone, with Rossi in fourth place. The nine-time World Champion was incensed and produced lap charts to try to prove his accusations, while out on the track at the next round in Sepang turned into total warfare.

No war of words this time but a clash of the titans. They swapped third place nine times on one single lap, and it could never last—and it did not. After another swapping of paint clash, Marquez crashed, and Rossi was docked three penalty points for causing the crash. It meant he had to start from the back of the grid at the final round in Valencia. He finished fourth, but Lorenzo won to clinch his third MotoGP World title. Rossi fans continued the patriotic accusations, claiming that Marquez and Pedrosa, in second and third places, protected Lorenzo from Rossi and did not try and overtake him at the front.

Teammates have been drafted in to help at the final round. The 250cc World Champion Carlos Lavado was drafted into the final round of the 1983 500cc Yamaha team to help Kenny Roberts clinch the world title. He could not help, as Freddie Spencer played the classic cat-and-mouse game in a truly fascinating game of chess. Kenny at the front continually slowed and upped the pace, but Freddie kept cool. Second place was enough to win him that first title.

So, what happens this time round when it comes to the crunch? Will Marc Marquez help his next year’s Lenovo Ducati teammate Bagnaia win the title? Will he share any patriotic pride with Martin, or will he just go on to win more Grands Prix? Will Bastianini help fellow countryman and current teammate Bagnaia in his title bid after losing his place in the Ducati team to Marquez next season?

These are delicate questions that will not be answered until that final round in Valencia, but they will have to be asked.

For those sitting on the beach in Bali or others on the long flight home to see loved ones, there has been plenty of time to contemplate how they will cope in the next four weeks. It is a month that will test everybody involved in MotoGP™ to the absolute limit before that world title is decided. Thirty frantic days of racing for 148 World Championship points, hectic travel schedules, keeping healthy, watching what you eat, checking not too much air conditioning, and monitoring the weather. Never in the 75-year history of Grand Prix racing has so much been at stake in such a short space of time. It will be the classic survival of the fittest battle.

The introduction of the Tissot Sprint last year and those precious 12 extra points each weekend made the run-in to the title a hugely different proposition. With 37 points available at each Grand Prix instead of the previous 25 points, it looks certain the battle between Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) will be settled at the showdown in Valencia in one month’s time

Before then, it is three Grands Prix in two weeks at three venues where the weather is so contrasting and unpredictable. The magnificent Phillip Island circuit in Australia is legendary for being able to produce four seasons of weather in just one, let alone three days. Throw in the wind off the Bass Strait and you pack every item of clothing, and Michelin brings their full range of tyre selection. No wonder it was Phillip Island that staged that very first flag-to-flag race in 2006. Do not rule out another on Sunday. It is then straight to Thailand and Malaysia. One thing for certain—it will be hot, very hot, but the rain is not quite so predictable. When it rains, it rains. Those downpours can wreck practice and qualifying schedules and produce unpredictable flag-to-flag races. Then a week at home before Valencia as winter approaches. On the Mediterranean coast of Spain in November, it can be autumn sunshine and warmth or a cold reminder that winter is around the corner.

It is obvious the problems these unpredictable weather conditions produce for teams and riders once in action out on the track, but they also produce problems of a much more personal nature. Riders and team personnel are human beings, and keeping them fit and well is crucial when you are chasing a world title. Those contrasting temperatures, frequent flights, different food, and pure fatigue can wreck plans. I felt pretty lousy sometimes when commentating in the sweatbox of a commentary booth, jet-lagged and after enjoying too much of the local cuisine the night before, but it was nothing compared to what a rider or vital crew member had to battle through to produce the results. I remember during our first visit to Shah Alam in Malaysia having to visit the medical centre after spending a desperate day trying to find a flushing loo between practice sessions.

Chasing a world title was a vastly different proposition in years gone by. In 1983, Freddie Spencer and Kenny Roberts were fighting for the 500cc World Championship. After Spencer had beaten the ‘King’ on the last lap of the penultimate round at Anderstorp in Sweden, they were separated by five points going into the final round at Imola. The problem was there was a four-week gap between the two Grands Prix. Kenny went home to play golf and Freddie flew home to spend time with his family. They returned refreshed and rested. With just 15 points up for grabs, Freddie’s second place made him the youngest-ever 500cc World Champion, while Kenny won his last Grand Prix.

A totally contrasting final four weeks of the season for Martin and Bagnaia this time around. Kenny was more worried about improving his golf handicap than competing in three Grands Prix and checking the switch on the air conditioning.

The mighty impressive David Alonso (CFMoto Aspar Team) was awarded membership to a very exclusive South American club on Sunday. The 18-year-old Colombian joined legends Carlos Lavado and Johnny Cecotto as the only South American riders to win a world title in the 75-year history of Grand Prix racing.  The CFMoto rider’s tenth win of the season in Japan brought him the Moto3™ world title with four rounds remaining. It is only the fourth South American World title, and it has been a long time coming after two Venezuelan riders won their world titles.

The bubbly Carlos Lavado won the last of his two 250cc titles in 1986, three years after his first. The Yamaha rider won 17 Grands Prix after finishing second at his home GP at San Carlos in 1978. Lavado also won two 350cc Grands Prix in South America, a famous home win at the 1979 Venezuelan Grand Prix and three years later in Argentina. Fellow countryman Cecotto won the 350cc world title in 1975. He won nine Grands Prix before moving onto the 500cc class. He won three premier class GPs and was third in the 1978 World Championship. That is the highest finish in the premier class by a South American rider. When Cecotto retired from two wheels he went on to a highly successful car racing career

Brazilian Alex Barros rode in 245 premier class Grands Prix and finished fourth in the World Championship on four separate occasions. He won seven Grands Prix starting at Jarama in 1993 riding the 500cc Suzuki, finishing at Estoril in 2005 riding the RCV 211 V Honda four-stroke machine. Motegi reminded me of Barros’s first ride on the V-5 Honda four-stroke when he beat Valentino Rossi in 2002. He repeated that victory with another at that final round in Valencia the same year.

At the very opposite end of the time scale, I also remember as a teenager following the exploits of Argentinian Benedicto Caldarella in the sixties. He had the audacity to lead my hero Mike Hailwood in the first American Grand Prix at Daytona riding the 500cc Gilera in 1964. Two years earlier he won the Argentinian Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. Many of the European stars did not travel to South America and Caldarella riding a Matchless was a comfortable winner, lapping the fourth-placed rider five times. Caldarella finished second behind Hailwood in the 1964 Nations Grand Prix in Monza bringing Gilera their last 500cc podium.

Argentinian Sebastian Porto was unlucky to come up against the rising star Dani Pedrosa in the 2004 250cc World Championship. He eventually finished second in the title race to Pedrosa who had won the 125cc world title the previous year. Porto won five Grands Prix that season after his first World Championship win the previous year in Rio. Venezuelan Ivan Palazzese finished third in the 1982 125cc World Championship after wins in Finland and Sweden. He stepped up to the 250cc class but tragically lost his life in a first lap crash at Hockenheim in 1989.

So, what lies in the future for Alonso who already has written plenty of pages in the history books. He is the first Colombian rider to win a world title and was the first Colombian to stand on the top step of the podium at Silverstone in 2023. Alonso has now won 14 Moto3™ Grands Prix, which is more than any other rider. That vibrant South American continent would certainly know how to celebrate their very first MotoGP™ World Champion. There is a long way to go but Alonso has got the party rolling.

Explorers Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus would have loved every minute of it; traversing the globe in nine frantic months. It is that time of the year, next season’s MotoGP™ calendar has been revealed. 22 Grands Prix in 18 countries and five separate continents. It is time for those intrepid MotoGP™ travellers to check those 2025 birthdays, wedding anniversaries, summer holiday dates before returning home at the end of this season in five races time. It will be a busy winter of planning for both teams and families working out how to fit everything into those nine months.

When the World Championship was launched 75 years ago in 1949 there were just six Grands Prix on the schedule and all in Europe. Even when I started my MotoGP™ travels in 1980 there were only eight premier class Grand Prix scheduled and, once again, all in Europe. It was a World Championship in name but only the likes of America, Argentina, Canada, Venezuela, and Japan had hosted a Grand Prix outside Europe in those 31 years since the start, but that was soon to change

The return of the magnificent Brno circuit to next year’s schedule is the highlight for me. Close behind is the return of Grand Prix racing to Hungary and Argentina. Brno is right up there with the likes of Assen and the Sachsenring as a legendary Grand Prix venue, that formed the very foundations which built the Championship to where it is today.

The road circuit that circumnavigated the city, racing through villages, forests and cornfields, were witnessed by massive crowds enjoying a brief taste of life beyond the Iron Curtain. When the road circuit was deemed too dangerous, they showed us plans of an undulating purpose-built circuit overlooking the city. We never believed it would be built but it was, and staged its first Czechoslovakian Grand Prix in 1987. Seven years earlier I made my only visit to the road circuit and what an eye-opener it was for a very gullible reporter. Grand Prix veteran Chas Mortimer offered me advice before I set out. Do not argue with the border police when they take your car apart and keep you waiting two hours. Do not change any money at the border because you get a better rate in the paddock. Do not expect milk in your tea at the hotel and if you want a set of those magnificent Brno crystal wine glasses the only man to speak to is World Sidecar Champion George O’Dell. Finally, spend all the Czech money you have because no other country will accept it. Grand Prix winner Chas was right on all counts. The 500cc bikes had already stopped racing on the road circuit, and the highlight was the penultimate round of the 350cc Championship between Toni Mang and Jon Ekerold. Mang won the race with Ekerold limping home in 10th with mechanical problems. They went into the final round at the legendary Nürburgring road circuit on equal points. Ekerold clinched the title with one of the greatest-ever rides in the 75-year history of Grand Prix racing. It was a fitting end to World Championship racing on the German road circuit.

My first Grand Prix adventure outside Europe was to Argentina in 1982. What a trip! A Che Guevara-style motorcycle ride from Buenos Aires to the Andes and back, followed by a fantastic race won by Kenny Roberts from Barry Sheene and Freddie Spencer. When we returned home on Monday morning, we learned war was about to be declared between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands dispute. We just got out in time.

Our two visits to the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest provided two historic races. In 1990 five five-time World Champion Mick Doohan won the first of his 54 500cc Grand Prix victories. Two years later Eddie Lawson won the last of his 31 500cc Grand Prix victories, to give that majestic Italian Cagiva machine its very first World Championship win.

From six to 22 Grands Prix venues in 75 years. MotoGP™ will never stop exploring the world. I toast the future with one of those Brno crystal glasses still sparkling after 44 years.