P136
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
S
o it goes. When the old
order changeth, it chan-
geth properly. It took a
snapped bone to dislodge Marc
Marquez from domination. But it
took their own missteps (com-
pounded by cost-cutting rules
that hamstrung development)
to unsettle the dominant Honda
and Yamaha and open the doors
to KTM and Suzuki.
This is as Dorna intended,
and KTM's progress has been
a massive endorsement to the
concession-team system. With
extra testing and engines, and
the freedom to do what they
like with engine design (along
with engineering prowess and
copious Red Bull backing), the
Austrian company has become
fully competitive in four years.
Two wins, by the way, mean
they have now lost concession
status, and freedom for extra
testing is over, although the
engine-development freeze only
takes effect next season.
But GP racing's two biggest
guns have inadvertently helped
out, with their own missteps,
in turn compounded by rules
preventing them from correcting
their errors.
For some years now, Honda's
deviations, often the conse-
quence of restless over-ambi-
tion, have been masked by the
ability of Marquez to overcome
them. His genius talent and
cat-like reflexes allowed him to
exploit the bike's strengths while
ignoring its weaknesses.
Others have found the RCV a
real handful—take Cal Crutchlow,
who is brave enough to keep try-
ing to repeat his occasional suc-
cesses, but too often crashes
out, victim of the RCV's notori-
ously queasy front end. Or even
more trenchantly Jorge Lorenzo,
the master craftsman who was
driven into premature retirement
by the Repsol Honda's mean
streak.
Currently, the loss of Marc has
left Honda uncomfortably ex-
posed. Crutchlow is riding hurt,
the other 2020 bike is in the
hands of rookie Alex Marquez,
STATE
OF MOTOGP
ENGINES
