Archive - Mar 2008

Dorna, the organization which holds the TV rights for MotoGP and is charged with marketing the series, likes to tell people that MotoGP is truly a global sport. And for the most part, this is only a mild exaggeration. MotoGP rounds are held on four of the world's five inhabited continents, and the series is broadcast in over two hundred different countries. It is fair to say that MotoGP has a worldwide reach.

Dorna, the organization which holds the TV rights for MotoGP and is charged with marketing the series, likes to tell people that MotoGP is truly a global sport. And for the most part, this is only a mild exaggeration. MotoGP rounds are held on four of the world's five inhabited continents, and the series is broadcast in over two hundred different countries. It is fair to say that MotoGP has a worldwide reach.

Qualifying practice at Jerez was a case of déjà vu, but from a parallel universe. A young man goes out on a new bike and posts the fastest time in session after session, before ripping up qualifying and snatching the pole by a big margin. Last year it was Casey Stoner putting on the smackdown at track after track. But here at Jerez, things were a little different.

The Qatar round of MotoGP always makes me think of my grandfather. During the first few months of the Second World War, he was sent to Belgium to fight the Germans. Luckily for him, the Germans were otherwise engaged, steamrollering across Poland and subduing Denmark and Norway, leaving my grandfather to trundle around the Low Countries on the back of a truck, wondering if this was what war was supposed to be like.

When Marco Melandri signed for Ducati, he cannot have foreseen the immense difficulty he would have in getting to grips with the Ducati GP7. Since making the switch from Honda, Melandri has floundered near the back of the field during testing, only managing to stay ahead of the satellite Alice Ducati riders Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli. The measure of his difficulties is summed up in the relief Melandri expressed in managing an 11th place finish at the season opener in Qatar.

Competing in motorcycle racing's premier class, and a prototype class to boot, is an extraordinarily expensive undertaking. As a consequence, being able to bring hard cash to a race team can sometimes be one of the factors in rider selection for a team.

The success of the floodlit MotoGP season opener at Qatar, held at the dead of night local time, has opened up a whole host of new perspectives. After the race finished without incident, and generating some spectacular images, a host of race organizers around the world breathed a huge sigh of relief, and started work on their own plans.