Last weekend’s MotoGp at Motegi, Honda’s home track, was a surprise in so many ways. The pundits are searching through the record books to try and sum up all the records that MM93 broke when he won the race and the title and also how long ago it was that both of the “works” Yamahas fell out of the race through unforced errors by the riders. Already some are making comparisons with 2006 when Rossi went into the final round of the championship with a points lead that should have been easy to protect only to fall and hand the championship to Hayden.
It was a major embarrassment to the blue team and a major coup for the red team, especially with Honda’s BIG boss looking on. And, whereas we should have been looking for the title to be decided here at Phillip Island this weekend, the last three races become dead rubbers with the others scrambling to pick up some prestige. But if they thought that Marquez would rest on his laurels, they’d better think again. Now that he doesn’t have to ride carefully to protect his lead, the gloves will well and truly be off. Of course, he may crash, he sometimes does when he goes ballistic, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Our annual Snowy Ride has undergone a major change with the venue being moved to another location due to the poor condition of roads in the Alpine region and northern Victoria. A real pity, but the roads we will be riding are in many ways just as good so that’s the main issue isn’t it?
Triumph are doing a BMW and pushing out a veritable alphabet soup of models, the “bobber” version being announced today. Being all things to all men is a laudable ambition but it is fraught with danger. I hope they’ve got it right.