VOL. 50 ISSUE 13 APRIL 2, 2013
P37
NE, TWO AND THREE
of MotoGP racing in 2013
stuff? Well, we were only joking, away as the lights turn green to
lead into the first corner.
anyway.
But no. As he eases off the
brakes and reels the Honda in...
>>SCENARIO ONE – NEW
STONER, NEW ERA, NEW
here's Marquez. He thinks it's
PROBLEMS
Moto2 all over again. He pushes
Eighteen races, starting on April past, sending Pedrosa wobbling
7 in Qatar. There's all to play for onto the paved run-off.
in the desert night, in the secAnd disappears. Just 20 years
ond year of the 1000cc MotoGP old and he wins his first race by
bikes. But Qatar is never typical, 15 seconds. It really is something
so there's a frisson of being on special. Fans feel special themthe verge of something huge, selves, to be part of it.
as Marc Marquez qualifies his
Not so his factory rivals, left
Repsol Honda on pole by almost trailing: Rossi and Lorenzo bickthree quarters of a second.
ering and Pedrosa another 20
Pedrosa is third fastest, Loren- seconds behind after recovering
zo between them; and jackrabbit 14 positions in the first three laps.
Dani makes his usual flying get- It's just about the only overtaking
all race long. The established heroes look a touch second rate.
Crutchlow was punted off early after a bad start: got behind
some CRT bikes and couldn't
anticipate how early they were
braking.
On to the new CoTA circuit at
Austin for round two. Marquez
dominated tests there. Dominates the race as well. Again.
This time Pedrosa is second, triumphing by inches over battling
Crutchlow. Lorenzo fourth, then
a slowing Rossi - physically exhausted.
Once again, Marquez's margin
of victory is huge – 23 seconds,
and almost 10 of them gained in
the last eight laps, when he really
put his head down and made a
run for it.
By the time they get to Europe the fans are getting fickle.
Instead of the battles everyone
expected, instead of the new
Golden Age, Marquez is stretching everybody's legs so all they
can do is follow in a disheartened
procession. It's the start of a new
era all right, and it looks like it's
going to be long, predictable,
and sterile.
Already the press, especially
the Spanish press, are starting to
