P92
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
I
f you'll forgive a moment of
self-indulgence, I can reveal
that one of my high points, at
the end of the season, is get-
ting the mighty annual tome of
Motocourse to print—all 320-plus
glossy pages of it. It has to be
done mighty quickly. Christmas
is coming, after all.
And one of the pleasures of
editing it for the past 25 years or
so is the chance to nominate the
editor's choice of top 10 riders.
This is both easy and difficult.
Easy because it is a whimsical
and often obvious choice. By
and large, it goes in champi-
onship order. The criteria for
being chosen, after all, are not
that different from competing
in the championship. You have
to be really good at motorbike
racing. Consistently, and really
determined, prepared to give up
almost everything for it.
There is a certain efficiency to
the talent-spotting mechanisms
of modern racing. Serious candi-
dates for the premier series tend
not to get overlooked. Unless,
like the obviously brilliant Jona-
than Rea, they get sidetracked
into World Superbikes. But this
list is about the grands prix.
The hard part is: who do you
leave out? And how do you ex-
plain it to them, if called upon to
do so—and it does happen, more
often than you might expect.
Why no Jack Miller, for
instance, when he improved
so radically? Answer: Because
TEN OF THE BEST
It's not surprising that
Marc Marquez is the top
of Michael Scott's 10 best
GP riders of the year list.
