to entertain us race fans."
I take the point. But two of my
own. Firstly, that I only laugh if
the victim is also laughing, which
is more often than you might
think. And secondly, they're not
racing to entertain the fans. They
have their own reasons. We just
happen to be able to watch.
So, open the inbox, and there
is the latest from MotoGP.com:
Falls 2021. I contemplate an at
least partially happy half-hour's
browsing.
I note that there were 950
crashes recorded in 2021, up
on last year's 722, but over 18
rounds, rather than just 15 last
year (14 for the premier class),
and happily down on the 1126 in
2017.
Also, that in spite of missing
four rounds, Marc Marquez was
a strong challenger for the most
crashes. His 22 was outranked
only by KTM's Iker Lecuona.
But humor is absent, because
2021 was a pretty dreadful year.
Fate struck at the lower ech-
elons, the classrooms of Dorna's
"Road to MotoGP," where from
the start of 2021 the lower age
limit was dropped to just 10
years old. The new kids in the
F
alling off motorcycles is not
funny. And yet somehow it
often is. Provided you can
get up, dust yourself down, and
walk away.
If you doubt this, you have
only to revisit the "Flying W"
segment of the classic On Any
Sunday film to be reminded of
the black humor. Or listen to
tales over the bar at club night.
Some time ago, I essayed a
piece seeing the funny side of the
newly released grand prix crash
statistics for the year and got a
kicking. "How dare Mr. Scott
laugh at people who risk their all
P118
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
Hopefully new regulations
will see an end to the
deaths of riders like Jason
Dupasquier.
WHEN
FUN
ISN'T SO
FUNNY
