R
acing, like all sport, is bet-
ter when you don't know
who is going to win. My
question is this: Is it still better
when you literally haven't got a
clue? When it could be almost
any one of the 24 on the grid?
Or does that reduce it to the
level of a junior-school sport-day
egg-and-spoon race?
MotoGP, this year more than
ever, has become just such a
lottery. In the first four races,
there were three different win-
ners. And for the first three of
them, nine different riders on the
podium. Not a single repeat.
Bike-wise, all six manufactur-
ers have made it into the top
P146
CN
III IN THE PACCOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
Fast forward to now, leapfrogging six
Marc Marquez years of domination, and
we arrive at the present day. The new
anything-could-happen era.
MOTOGP'S
EGG-AND-SPOON
RACE
This seems to be the year
that anyone can win.
three. Even Aprilia, until now the
poor relation.
Carry on like this, and the same
will be true of the championship.
Anyone could win it. Although
probably not, as happened in
2013, one of the five rookies.
Bemused riders confirm the
precariousness. Qualify off the
first three rows and your week-
end's effectively over. Run wide
once, and you lose three places.
It's just so, so close, and it is
quite without precedent in the
premier class.
Tales of the unexpected, and
a surprise at every turn. But what
happens when you take a bit of
perspective.
Looking back over racing his-
tory, the so-called Golden Age was
in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This was the heyday of 500cc two-
strokes—which those who were
there at the time are still prone to
call "real grand prix bikes."
