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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.

They could only be Italian. Passion and pride pouring out of those bright red colours as Ducati celebrated their 100^th MotoGP™ win on Sunday. It had to be at Misano, although Mugello would have been fine, and it had to be an Italian rider who took the chequered flag. Throw in that fifth consecutive Constructors’ title and it is the perfect weekend for the Bologna factory, apart from the Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) crash.

Honestly, I don’t think any of us realised what lay ahead at Suzuka in 2003 when Ducati at last threw their hat into the MotoGP™ arena. It was the tragic Japanese Grand Prix in which Daijiro Kato lost his life that overshadowed all other events including Loris Capirossi’s third place on the V4 Desmosedici engine housed in the familiar Ducati tubular steel lattice frame. We started to take more notice when the former 125 and 250cc World Champion Capirossi started on the front row of the grid at the second round in South Africa

Their threat to the all-conquering Japanese giants was emerging and at the third round in Jerez, Capirossi and his team-mate Troy Bayliss took first and second places in qualifying – that first win was not far away. It came three races later in Barcelona with a Capirossi win over the Hondas of Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau. It was the first time an Italian rider had won on an Italian machine for 27 years. Ducati were up and running after the first win in the premier class, although they had tasted Grand Prix success in the smaller classes. In 1958 Italian Alberto Gandossi won two GPs en route to second place in the 125cc World Championship. A year later Mike Hailwood became the youngest ever Grand Prix winner when he won his first GP in Ulster riding the 125cc Ducati. The Italian factory had a sniff of the 500cc class in 1971 and 72. Italian Bruno Spaggiara, who won a 125cc Grand Prix on a Ducati in 1958, secured Ducati a first Premier class podium with a third place behind the MV Agustas of Giacomo Agostini and Alberto Pagani at Imola in 1972.

Capirossi continued to remind the Japanese factories that Ducati meant business with three straight wins at the Japanese Grand Prix at the Honda-owned Motegi circuit, between 2005 and 2007. He looked like a potential World Champion in 2006 until a first-bend melee in Barcelona wrecked his chances. At the final race of that season, Troy Bayliss returned to win in Valencia with Capirossi second, but all that had happened before was overshadowed when a young Australian arrived in the red of Ducati. Casey Stoner simply blew the opposition and Championship apart a year later.

What a combination. Stoner and the 800cc Ducati. Ten Grands Prix wins not only brought Ducati their first world title but blew away the theory that the 800cc machines would lap slower than their former 990cc counterparts. Witnessing Stoner sliding the number 27 Ducati surrounded by the stars of the Australian flag, often with the rear Bridgestone tyre smoking, was an awesome sight as the Australian re-wrote the history books. He became the second youngest rider to win the premier class. Only Agostini, Doohan and Rossi had won more Grands Prix in one season.

Stoner was the first rider in the MotoGP™ era to have led every lap for three successive races and set a record of 18 points scoring finishes in one season. It was an unbeatable combination of brilliant engineering and pure rider genius. Stoner won 13 more Grands Prix for Ducati before finally leaving for Honda in 2011 where predictably he brought the Japanese factory the world title.

Ducati joined Grand Prix giants Honda and Yamaha as the only factories to win over 100 GPs in the modern MotoGP™ era. They will add another premier class world title and more victories by the end of this season. Who knows when or if this incredible run will come to an end? There is little indication of their reign being threatened for a long time.

Those solid foundations laid down by Capirossi and Stoner have served them well.

So much has changed in 61 years. With the success of the new FIM Woman’s Circuit Racing World Championship this season it is hard to believe what happened in 1963. After Beryl Swain became the first woman to ride in World Championship Grand Prix in 1962, she was banned the following season. The reason the FIM revoked her international Licence – they thought racing was too dangerous for a woman.

It is the bravery and determination of pioneers like Swain, Gina Bovaird, Taru Rinne and Tomoko Igata that brought about a massive change of attitudes although it took such a long time. For half a century they fought against and defied prejudice and convention to provide the modern World Championship stars such as Ana Carrasco and Maria Herrera with an arena to display their considerable talents.

I remember sitting with my dad watching black and white pictures of Beryl Swain on BBC television in 1962. She was racing her 50cc Itom round a banked tarmac cycle track in South London preparing to make her World Championship debut in the Isle of Man. She finished 22^nd in the very first 50cc World Championship race to be held over the Mountain circuit and that was that. The FIM would not budge over its ban and Swain’s World Championship career was over. Women sidecar passengers were allowed to continue as long there was a male driver at the helm

In 1980 I reported from Daytona on the performance of Gina Bouvaird in the 200 miler round the world-famous banking. Riding a 500cc TZ Yamaha she was the first woman to compete in the 200 miler and she was soon on her way to Europe. She rode at Brands Hatch in England the same year and then embarked on her dream to race in the toughest, most competitive, dangerous, and frighteningly quick World Championship ever witnessed, the 500cc World Championship of the eighties. She was undeterred after failing to qualify for a number of grands prix and finally made it 1982. Many of the top riders boycotted the French Grand Prix at Nogaro on safety grounds. Bouvaird finally qualified to become the one and only woman to compete in a premier class Grand Prix in the 75-year history of the sport. Unfortunately, she failed to finish but it was a historic day.

Seven years later I stood on the pit wall at Hockenheim with pen and notebook in hand. I was ready to lap chart the 125cc race at the 1989 West German Grand Prix and I was lucky. Only after she finished second in qualifying did I realise that Taru Rinne was a woman. Even then I was not prepared for those explosive opening few laps of the 14 laps race around the ultra-fast track. The Finnish female Honda rider fought for the lead in a typical 125cc scrap. Eventually she finished in seventh place just over ten seconds behind winner Alex Criville who went on to win the World title. Rinne was the first woman ever to lead a Grand Prix race. That seventh place was followed a month later with an eighth place at Assen but unfortunately a bad crash at the French Grand Prix the next year halted her trailblazing progress.

That seventh place in Hockenheim was equalled by Japanese rider Tomoko Igata at Brno in the 125cc race at the 1995 Czech Republic Grand Prix. That is still the highest Grand Prix finish by a female rider. Ana Carrasco came close in the Moto3™ race at Valencia in 2013 when she crossed the line in eighth place.

Attitudes and prejudices have changed dramatically in those six decades. Grand Prix Motorcycle racing has played its part in this ongoing revolution. When we reflect and embrace those changes in all aspects of life we should never forget those brave pioneers who set the wheels in motion.

Was it a split-second decision that could cost Jorge Martin the World Championship? Probably not, but it took a big chunk out of his Championship lead and planted some doubts when the raindrops started falling. Did that shower on the grid and then in the early laps give Marc Marquez a chance at the Championship? Again, probably not but never say never when the eight-time World Champion is involved. He is going to win more Grands Prix this season and so it is down to Martin and Pecco Bagnaia to make no mistakes at the front.

Since that very first flag-to-flag race at Phillip Island in 2006, good and bad decisions have been made in that split second. It must be a nightmare for riders who are rather busy at the time. Riding a 325 kph motorcycle is tough enough, but in modern times they have so many things to check and change even before checking just how hard the rain is falling on their visor

Sometimes it is a very easy decision. When the heavens open as they did in Motegi last year, your only thought is to get back to pit lane as quickly and as safely as possible to change bikes. When it is iffy it is a very different story. Who will ever forget Brad Binder’s ride of a lifetime at the Red Bull Ring three years ago? As the rain fell on the skating rink surface the KTM rider defied logic by staying out there on slicks as his rivals pulled in. I do not think I was the only person to hold my breath and marvel at his last couple of slipping and sliding laps.  It was a gamble that paid off, but it has not always been the case. In 2014 as the rain started to pour down at Aragon, Repsol Honda teammates Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez decided to stay out on slicks while Jorge Lorenzo pitted to change to wets. Both Pedrosa and Marquez crashed in the rain. Lorenzo was a comfortable winner, but Marquez went on to win the title. So, take heart Jorge Martin.

I am not sure if all riders like the flag-to-flag format but for race commentators it was a dream. I was rubbish at working out if the riders had completed the right distance when the rain started, or if we had to take aggregate times from two separate races. The crunch came at Mugello in 2004 when the original race was stopped when the rain arrived. The re-run was classed as a separate race and consisted of just six laps. It was rumoured that a television station announced the first race as the result, and closed their transmission before the shortest race in MotoGP™ history took place. The crowd at Mugello did not worry because Valentino Rossi won the 31.470 kms encounter.

Misano is situated on the coastline of the Adriatic. Perhaps the proximity of the water makes the weather a factor, because it certainly has played a part in my Misano experiences. In 1976, my very first assignment as a Road Racing reporter for Motor Cycle News was curtailed when sleet and rain persuaded Giacomo Agostini not to race and the meeting was called off. In 2007 when Misano returned to the Grand Prix schedule after a 24-year absence, torrential rain wiped out the first day of practice.

You could taste the tension in the air on the Misano grid as those spots of rain arrived from over the Adriatic Ocean. Those old bitter rivals, Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi offered their advice but only one person could make that decision once the lights changed. Jorge Martin made the wrong one on Sunday, but he will not be the first or the last rider to make the wrong call in the heat of battle.

The very nature of the sport makes MotoGP™ a Championship of logic-defying comebacks, but was Marc Marquez’s amazing weekend the greatest in 75 years? The Gresini Ducati rider joined the likes of Mick Doohan and Barry Sheene, who fought back from terrible and in some cases life-threatening injuries, not only to race again but win Grands Prix and ultimately World titles.

Marquez had to wait 1043 painful, desperate, soul-searching days between his last MotoGP™ win in 2021 and his record-breaking weekend in Aragon. Phil Read had the longest wait of 3200 days between premier class Grands Prix wins but won plenty of other class races in between. Doohan and Sheene may not have had to wait so long, but their fight against pain, desperation, and their utter determination to return to the track stands them out from mere mortals.

In 1992, Mick Doohan was running away with the 500cc World Championship on the factory Honda. The Australian had won five of the opening seven rounds and led the Championship by 53 points when we arrived in Assen. He crashed in the accident-littered final qualifying session and snapped the tibia and fibula in his right leg. I was in the medical centre when Mick decided to have the leg operated on at the local hospital and hoped to be back in 15 days at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He had a successful operation with plates fitted to pin the broken bones, but then it started to go so wrong.

Mick knew something was very wrong when his foot started to turn black, and he could smell dying flesh around the wound. When talk of amputation was mentioned it was time to get him out. Legendary Grand Prix doctor, Italian Dr Costa, smuggled him out of the hospital together with Kevin Schwantz who had broken his forearm and dislocated his hip in a race crash. They flew to Dr Costa’s clinic in Imola. There was every chance that Mick was going to have his right leg amputated but treatment in Imola and America saved him. At one stage he had his two legs sewn together to try and restore circulation from one to the other. Despite hardly being able to walk he returned to defend a 22-point Championship lead at the penultimate round in Brazil, but eventually lost the Championship to Wayne Rainey by four precious points. It was another year before Mick won a Grand Prix at Mugello in 1993. A year later he clinched the first of his successive five World 500cc titles.

Sheene survived two big crashes. The first at Daytona made him a national hero in Britain. In 1975, I travelled to Daytona by Greyhound bus after flying to New York only to discover that Sheene had crashed in practice. A television crew had flown out to America to film him and typically Barry took full advantage. Lying in the hospital casualty department he told the camera he had broken his right femur, a broken right arm, compression fractures to several vertebrae and a great loss of skin. He then requested the customary cigarette. He became a national hero overnight when the film was shown. Barry was back in action just seven weeks later and won his first 500cc Grand Prix at Assen two months after that. Barry was crowned World Champion in 1976 and the following season.

Marquez is back to winning Grands Prix and is that ninth world title around the corner? It probably will not be this year, but opponents be warned the comeback has only just started.

The next two Grand Prix races are staged around Misano on the Adriatic coast of Italy, which is where Marquez’s record is just as good as it was in Aragon. Already seven wins around the 4.2km Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, including his last MotoGP™ win in 2021 before Aragon.

Perhaps it is wrong to suggest any rider’s comeback is the greatest because every one of them is so special and a perfect illustration of just what Grand Prix riders are all about.

We thought at the start of the 2010 MotoGP™ season we would be visiting a brand-new circuit in Hungary but ended up somewhere so very different. The long-awaited opening of the Balatonring in Hungary never happened, and it was the reserve circuit on the Calendar that took over. The problem was I really did not know where Aragon was but what a gem of a circuit it turned out to be.

We were accustomed to visiting and enjoying the likes of Barcelona, Jerez, and Valencia. Coastal areas and great circuits; finding out just where Aragon was came as a bit of a shock. A different, less populated inland area of Spain with the nearest major city of Zaragoza nearly 100 kms from the circuit. And what about the circuit itself that was going to stage the 13^th round of the Championship? Designed by the legendary Hermann Tike it looked great on paper. A tremendous variety of undulating fast and slow bends and a mighty long straight looked perfect for MotoGP™ and that’s exactly how it turned out.

Getting there and finding somewhere to stay was never going to be easy but any inconvenience was overcome with the magnificent location of the circuit. Fly to Barcelona, drive down the coast and then cut inland at Reus. Drive through a succession of hills, vineyards through provincial towns, past the imaginary Meridian line that joins the North and South poles into a desert-like region. It’s easy to understand why they filmed some of the Spaghetti Cowboy films in the area. The imposing castle overlooking the town of Alcaniz gave an indication of the history before arrival at MotorLand Aragon situated by the side of the lake. Alcañiz had been famous for its street circuit on which cars and bikes raced and the tradition continued, as it has at many venues with the construction of a man-made circuit

The riders loved the track carved in the hillside and especially Casey Stoner. Those fast-sweeping bends leading up to the reverse Corkscrew. The magnificent long left-hander, not that he had time to admire the fantastic views, was made for his sliding style. On the brakes for the tight left and right-hand bends, which Nicky Hayden described as riding in his backyard at home, with the impressive massive stone wall the perfect background. The tight left-hander onto that long straight before braking for the all-important uphill left-hand bend onto the start and finish straight.

Stoner won that opening Aragon Grand Prix in his final Ducati season in 2010. The Australian won again in 2011 on his debut and Championship season for Honda. Then the Spanish riders took over. Following a Moto2™ win Marc Marquez went on to win five MotoGP™ races. Jorge Lorenzo won twice with Dani Pedrosa and Alex Rins grabbing single wins. More recently the Italians have fought back in the Spanish heartland. Franco Morbidelli won the Teruel Grand Prix three years ago with Pecco Bagnaia the winner in 2021, and Enea Bastanini the last MotoGP™ winner in 2022.

So what about Sunday? Surely another Bagnaia/Jorge Martin clash but do not rule out Aragon winners Marquez and Bastanini. Martin a Moto3™ winner, podium finishes in both Moto2™ and MotoGP™, will be desperate to retake that Championship lead with the juicy part of the season about to commence.

It is great to see Aragon back on the MotoGP™ Schedule this weekend. A proper racing venue that is absolutely made for the very best of MotoGP™. Also, I now know how to get there!

Twenty-three-year-old Ai Ogura signed up to the toughest job in MotoGP™ last week – to become the first Japanese rider to win the premier class World Championship. Despite all their enormous success in the Constructors premier class Championship, plenty of World titles and Grands Prix wins in the smaller classes, the highest accolade in the sport still awaits a Japanese rider after 75 years.

Just three days after the Trackhouse team announced that Ogura was joining their MotoGP™ team next year, he crashed and broke his right hand during Saturday morning practice at the Red Bull Ring. The five-time Moto2™ winner has won twice this season and still holds second place in the Moto2™ World Championship despite missing Austria.

It’s a tough road ahead for Ogura who won three Moto2™ races in 2022 and finished second in the World Championship, before an injury-hit 2023 season. He steps up to a MotoGP™ World Championship that last witnessed a Japanese winner two decades ago when Makoto Tamada scored a home victory for Honda at Motegi in 2004. Earlier that season Tamada also won in Rio and finished sixth in the Championship. The last Japanese rider to finish on the MotoGP™ podium was Katsuyuki Nakasuga who brought Yamaha second place at Valencia in 2012. Takaaki Nakagami, who finished 14th in Austria on Sunday, was the last Japanese pole setter at Aragon in 2020

The closest a Japanese rider came to that elusive title came in 1997. Tadayuki Okada came along at just the wrong time, right in the middle of the Doohan domination years. He finished second in the 1997 500cc World Championship behind his Repsol Honda team-mate Doohan. Two years later Okada finished third behind Alex Criville and Kenny Roberts Junior. He finished on the 500cc podium 21 times including four Grands Prix wins. In another era that would have been enough for the World title.

Nobody will ever forget Norick Abe. With that long hair flowing from the back of his helmet, he won three 500cc Grands Prix for Yamaha. The two at Suzuka in 1996 and 2000 were so special, with that massive smile and celebrations on the podium in front of the home fans. One of the most underrated Japanese 500cc grand prix riders was Toru Ukawa. I remember him fighting off Honda team-mate World Champion Valentino Rossi to win the 2002 Grand Prix at Welkom in South Africa. He finished third in the Championship that year, but it was his only 500cc victory.

Without a doubt Japan and Honda had earmarked the brilliant Daijiro Kato to bring that World title home. He won 11 Grands Prix en route to the 2001 250cc World title. He took two podium finishes on both two-stroke and four-stroke Hondas on his debut MotoGP™ season, eventually finishing seventh in the 2002 Championship. The stage was set for the big push in 2003, but it ended in tragedy. Kato was killed at the opening round at Suzuka. The dream died that dreadful afternoon and all we can do is imagine what those battles between Valentino Rossi and Kato would have produced. One thing for certain, Kato would have been right up there with all those MotoGP™ stars.

So, a massive two years ahead for the latest Japanese star to emerge from the smaller classes. In those last 75 years it’s been rare for a Japanese rider to compete in the Premier class on European machinery. It’s Aprilia for Ogura and he can take an optimistic glance at history. The first Japanese rider to both start and score points in the 500cc class was Fumio Itoh. He finished sixth at the 1960 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand riding a BMW. A good omen for the 23-year-old as he embarks on his journey to re-write the history books.