P128
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
I
was struck again in a close din-
ner-table encounter at Le Mans
at just how small and delicately
built is Jorge Lorenzo. On screen
in leathers, you'd have no idea.
Especially if he's crashed and is
all puffed up in his airbags.
Have another look at Mar-
quez. At 5'6" he only looks big
when standing next to Dani Pe-
drosa. In fact, aside from three
6'1" giants—Rossi, Petrucci and
rookie Mir—it is clear that small
is better. The smallest being
Dovizioso, at 5'5".
Who'd have thought? It's easy
to forget that MotoGP's super-
heroes are just ordinary blokes,
but with unusual (indeed excep-
tional) talents, and perhaps even
more importantly, obsessional
drive.
Lorenzo's drive is particularly
obsessive, ever since his fresh-
faced start back in 2002, when
he had to wait until the second
day of practice before he was
old enough.
With Jorge, there's always
been a special intensity, in word
and deed.
This is obviously not just from
the way he keeps changing his
THE LORENZO SANCTION
Don't write off Lorenzo just yet.
