There are some obvious reasons, not least the athleticism that distinguishes two-wheeled GP racing from four-wheeled. It is that on two wheels, the rider makes more difference than the motorcycle. There is another clear conclusion – and it is not a surprise, for it is exactly what Rossi set out to prove when he switched from dominant Honda to underdog Yamaha in 2004. The first of two races at Aragon had the top ten past the flag in 9.6 seconds, the second-closest in premier-class history. Some explanation comes from the closeness of the racing – the result of a couple of decades of standardisation and cost-saving technical restrictions. Next time in Austria Dovi came first one week and sixth the next at Misano first-time winner Morbidelli was a poor ninth next time out. Only at the first double, at Jerez, did Quartararo and Yamaha win both races. The opposite has been true as often than not. Bikes that meshed well with the character of a circuit one weekend should surely do so seven days later. Just to add to that inconsistency is the curious effect of running back-to-back races on consecutive weekends at the same tracks. And zero to Honda, the marque that has dominated the results for the past seven years. Five races to Yamaha, in spite of being generally perceived as less than fully competitive (especially by factory riders Rossi and Vinales) two each to Ducati, KTM and Suzuki. The first was Emilio Alzamora, 125 champion of 1999, and now the Svengali behind Marc Marquez and several other Spanish luminaries.Īstonishing also the variety of winning machines. Should the personable and articulate 23-year-old from Mallorca, a former dominant Moto3 champion, continue in the same way to the premier-class crown, he would be only the second champion in more than 70 years of multiclass history to be champion without a race win in that year. He is clear coming-man Joan Mir, in his second year on the ever-improving Suzuki, demonstrating the value of consistent podium finishes. One-time winners range from experience runners like Dovizioso and Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) through the mid-range of established undergraduates Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) and Alex Rins (Suzuki) to first-timers, the KTM pair Miguel Oliveira and class rookie Brad Binder.Īs remarkably, the leader of the championship, in the short break before the final triple-header, has yet to win a race. Only Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli (both Yamaha B-team riders) have more than one victory, with three and two respectively.
Instead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, Honda-mounted Marc’s understudy for the past three years, taking the lead, the second-most experienced rider (behind only Rossi) has been submerged in a series of brawls with repeatedly unpredictable outcomes.Ī gang of feisty youths squabbling over the vacant role of Alpha Male.Ī series of 11 races so far has yielded eight different winners. In any field of endeavour, from politics to… well, to motorcycle racing, this will lead to a power struggle. Whereas for the past six years, almost without exception, the others have been riding to see who would come second, the races are now there to be won. Marc Marquez, unquestionably the towering talent of his generation, broke his right humerus in a first-race crash, and thanks to the difficult nature of this injury has been absent ever since. The other major influence is the unexpected absence of the dominant force.