Despite my best endeavours I didn’t get to see all three races from Indy on the weekend. The combination of a poor night’s sleep and a miscalculation of the time zone differences between the west coast and Indianapolis meant that I dragged the sorry body out of bed at 1030, only a few minutes before the main game was on.
Some observations. Firstly, the race commentary was appalling; even worse than the ordinary one that blights the GP broadcasts at home. Some big-mouthed bimbo in pit lane trying to pretend that she knew something about motorcycles and two commentators in the box, neither of whose name I recognised and the “expert” commentary being provided by 1993 world 500cc champion, Kevin Schwantz (the only credibility that the team had) meant that it probably would have been better to turn down the sound and do my own commentary. If you are shouting at the top of your voice all the time, people tune out. And, then, if something REALLY exciting happens, you don’t have any more excitement that you can add because you are already at full volume.
The quality of the video was excellent, but it is controlled by DORNA not by the local broadcaster. The slo-mo’s are great and the close-ups are always wonderful. Unfortunately, the interruptions of the race by constant advertisements is the same that provides a constant frustration at home. Throw in the inane natures of the local ads (my apologies to my ‘Murican friends) and the “flow” of the race simply wasn’t there.
The race itself was fairly predictable with Lorenzo doing all that he could and yet still coming up snake eyes. When Marquez is on a bike he can trust, all you can do is try and run away and postpone what is probably the inevitable. Indy is a Lorenzo track and his centimetre-perfect style fits it beautifully. The dice between Pedrosa and Rossi was engrossing but I always felt that Dani’s efforts to promote his team-mate’s chances were always going to come up short and so it proved.
Marquez? Pole by a huge margin meant that he was always going to be hard to beat. Long runs during practice at nearly race pace meant that everybody was wondering by how much he would win. As it turned out, Lorenzo proved to be tougher than he expected and, once he realised he wasn’t going to be able to pass and disappear (his favourite MO) he showed that he has learned patience and waited till 3 laps out, passed under brakes at T1 and established a lead that he was to maintain to the flag. A mature ride that showed he was back to his best.
In fact, that is nonsense. He has ALWAYS been at his best, it has been Honda’s insistence on providing an “improved” bike for 2015 that has brought his title defence undone. His results since returning to the “hybrid” bike (2015 engine – 2014 chassis) have been 2nd, 1st, 1st. Need I say more?
Mathematically he COULD still win the title, but, at 57 points behind Rossi, he is behind the 8 ball. He really needs to rely on Rossi stumbling (like THAT’S going to happen) for his chances to be anything more than minimal.
Plenty of gossip in the paddock and in the media about the future of the MotoGp event at the Brickyard. There is a growing sentiment that DORNA is starting to think that just ONE event in the US is enough. Crowd figures were down again, the spectators sit far too far away from the track to feel engaged and the riders don’t like the track much. DORNA is coming under pressure to diversify the locations and it is my opinion that they have only persevered with Indy until they were sure that COTA was a viable event. With the Texas track proving to be popular with most everyone involved, it is probably time to abandon the less-than successful Brickyard experiment and throw all their weight behind Austin.
I have nearly completed my itinerary for the weekend. I’ll be staying with Wade Boyd who will be picking me up from the airport in his ’37..
…and giving me the grand tour of the city. A BBQ with a whole bunch of the historic guys and gals at Dave Crussell’s place on Friday night should be enough for the first day. Somewhere in there a trip out to Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway for the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion. This year’s featured marque is the Shelby GT350 Mustang (celebrating the 50th anniversary of the car) so it would be worth going just for that!
My “boss”, Jim Race, is trying to set up a MotoPod interview somewhere in there as well and goodness knows what else they have planned for me. But, you know what? I don’t really WANT to plan it too much. I’ve had great fun just letting things happen so far, so why change a winning formula?