There must’ve been a time, during one of the 9 championships that Rossi won, that you could sit in front of the TV and know that the guy you are rooting for is going to win. That era is over, and it’ll stay that way for the next 2 years.
Rossi finalized his contract with Yamaha for 2 more years, which means racing fans will get to see him belt around that M1 till 2018. By that time, he’ll be 39 fucking years old, an age that most men spend in a lovely period called mid-life crisis.
On the other end of the spectrum, 25 year old Bradley Smith signed a 2-year deal with KTM, who’ll be coming to MotoGP next year.
There’s nothing wrong with hoping to see Rossi pick his 10th World Championship trophy, there’s a very OCD-fulfilling sensation in that. 9 is just 1 behind 10, why not? There are only 2 problems for that dream as of now, and they are called Lorenzo and Marquez.
Mr. Jorge showed us all once again how dominant he is in this sport. The Ducatis were doing some 15 kmph more on the straights than any other bike, and still Dovi couldn’t do anything to stop the Spaniard from winning by a giant margin. Marquez was probably pushing more than he ever has, but still couldn’t even make it close to him. Rossi was nowhere in the picture, barely clinging on to the lead group, and separated from Pedrosa by a mile.
Mr. Marc showed us all once again how insanely talented he is. Until last week, he was hopelessly lost in the stream of problems that were plaguing Honda, and look at him now, fighting for the top, well ahead of Rossi. You can be sure it’s more about talent than the bike by watching where Pedrosa ended. Dani can’t seem to catch a break.
Overall, it was a rather boring race after Iannone crashed. There was nobody around who could challenge Lorenzo, Iannone was the only guy who looked dangerous. This is why I prefer WSBK to MotoGP in some departments. If this was WSBK, Iannone would’ve got one more chance to push Lorenzo, and we’d have one more brilliant race to watch.
Maverick started from 3rd on the grid, but a bad start saw him get pulled down the order, from where he never really recovered. It was kinda disheartening to see him not even be able to keep up with Pedrosa, who from the looks of it, is riding a machine that’s even worse than the 2015 one.
Hopefully, the next race will be a bit more fun. Lorenzo is talented for sure, but these races where he just goes in the lead and never looks back are just too damn straightforward. I don’t mind him winning, but I want there to be a chance for others to at least come close.
Moto2 was far more fun than MotoGP! It was one of funniest scenes in international racing that I’ve seen till date, with a bunch of riders jumping the start. It kinda reminded me of that race Jezza, Hamster and Capt. Slow had on the KTM X bow, the Caterham, and that weird 3 wheeled thing. Plenty of riders got the Ride Through Penalty, which meant people starting from the back of the grid saw themselves fighting for podium.
Read David Emmett’s brilliant take on the whole Moto2 shitfest over here. If you don’t care, Luthi won, followed by Luis Salom and Simone Corsi.
Moto3 was fun, as always, and you couldn’t tell till the last corner who was going to win. Finally, Antonelli won from Binder by a staggering 0.007 seconds. In case you are wondering, this is what looks like in real life.
MotoGP Qatar was strictly OK, as far as opening rounds go. Can’t wait for the next race to begin.