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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 13, 2019 P135 ingly for its own sake. Even he laughingly admitted it was unnecessarily fast. "Now I realize, especially with the championship position, it was too much risk. My first target was only the first two rows." Among the back-slaps, he'd had a talking to when he got back to the pit from austere team chief Alberto Puig, personally all too familiar with what happens when these things go sour. He could have thrown everything away attempting the unneces- sary. But Marc had a characteristic riposte to the doubters. "It's my ambition. And my mentality." Later, he added that taking too many risks "was one of my weak- est points when I was younger." Twenty years ago, back when those ill-tempered firecracker 500cc two-strokes ruled racing, five-time premier-class cham- pion Doohan had his terminal crash at Jerez. It was on a Friday afternoon in mixed conditions, although it had stopped rain- ing. On slick tires, he touched a damp white line. The con- sequent flick-and-fly flung him high into trackside advertising and smashed him up good and proper. He would never race again. I earned his undying op- probrium by writing that same weekend that he had been going "unnecessarily fast," meaning that there was a full day of quali- fying left (full sessions on both days counted, back then), with a forecast of dry weather. Grid times would surely be deter- mined on Saturday. And any- way, he reigned supreme. The start to his season hadn't been ideal, with a fourth and a second place, while Kenny Roberts Jr. had two wins. But with 14 rounds left, it was far too early for a rider of his stature to worry. The next week, from his hos- pital bed, Mick told a colleague that, "the person who wrote that knows nothing about racing." I take his point. But what I know nothing about is, not rac- ing itself but the mindset of that tiny handful of truly extraordinary champions. The unflinching killer streak that is preserved for the select few and not shared by every rider on the grid. Can anyone really know that, except themselves? Of racing's greatest, Geoff Duke was smooth and con- tained, likewise Agostini. The risks were carefully measured. The great Mike Hailwood's mantra was always to "win at the slowest possible speed." You saw Barry Sheene being brave, yes, but never taking wan- ton risks: his many injuries were not the result of his own mis- takes. Kenny Roberts pushed the limits, but never looked reckless. Freddie Spencer's bike control was magical, not maniacal. And Rossi had enough talent not only to make winning look easy but also the nous to make a show of every race, rather than just galloping into the distance. Slowest possible speed again. One possible exception was Jarno Saarinen. There's some astonishing footage of the 1972 250 champion's exploits, but the Finn died through no fault of his own when he was only just start- ing on 500s and had won every race he finished. Marquez is not the only nota- bly brave rider on today's grid— Crutchlow, to mention just one other. Plus, both Espargaros, Miller and more. What is truly special is when the compulsion to take risks is combined with a level of con- spicuously superior ability. And risks are risks, no matter how good you are. Mick came out on the wrong side of that risk; Marquez on the right side. So far. Some riders measure the risk against the reward and take the appropriate decision. It's not always the right one. But the special ones find the reward is in the risk in the first place. CN