P100
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
S
o it goes. Dorna and co-
horts were admirably per-
sistent last year, mounting
a worthwhile championship in
spite of The Virus. This year,
The Virus is kicking back, with a
stubborn streak and unpredict-
able malice all of its own.
Cancellations and postpone-
ments have already begun,
Argentina and the USA the first
casualties. A double-up week-
end at Qatar is key to the first
proposed rescue attempt, and
with a well-advanced vaccination
program spanning the emirates,
and if all personnel stay put after
the preceding tests (presuming
they can get in for them), that
might even happen.
The other late insert, a pro-
posed third round at popular
Portimao, has since been
undermined by a growing state
of emergency in Portugal, with
the border with Spain suddenly
closed a week after the an-
nouncement.
All flyaway GPs remain seri-
ously in doubt, particularly the
Australian, while Europe remains
in the grip of tightening travel re-
strictions and quarantining. Dif-
ferent countries have their own
different approaches. But for
MotoGP, essentially a traveling
circus, traveling between them is
more fraught than ever.
With no possible finalization
of the calendar and the threat
of another year without paying
spectators to make events finan-
cially viable, the so-called new
normal doesn't look like it will
give bike racing a much easier
time than it did last year, when
the strictures at least had the
benefit of novelty.
Thus, it's refreshing to see
some racing traditions are still
alive, albeit in a modernized and
modified form.
Back in the day, before most
of us can remember, there was
still a traditional world cham-
pionship—you know, proper
dead-engine push starts (oh,
the atmosphere of a silent grid!)
and at least four solo classes,
with riders frequently taking part
in several of them at the same
weekend. And sidecars, which
served a special purpose.
Whenever things got tricky—
most especially track conditions,
whether it was fog, standing
water, ice and hail and even on
at least one occasion snow—the
solution was simple: Send out
TRICKY GOING?
SEND OUT
THE SUPERS
