also taken to the top step of the
podium, more than any other
manufacturer.
Until 2022. Now, on an
afternoon when traditional rival
Yamaha celebrated a Quartararo
victory as calm and control-
ling as any by Marquez, Honda
packed up their travel cases with
long faces. Not one of their four
bikes had scored a single point.
Nakagami crashed out,
Espargaro retired in pain, Alex
Marquez's ride-height gizmo giz-
didn't and although Stefan Bradl
did finish, he was 16th and last,
after having to back away from
any fights because of severe
overheating.
This was the first time since
1982, the year they returned with
the three-cylinder two-stroke
after the debacle of the oval-
piston NR500. New boy Freddie
Spencer was joined by defend-
ing champion Marco Lucchi-
nelli and HRC regular Takazumi
Katayama, and Freddie was on
the podium at the first attempt in
Argentina. Only in round three
was there not a Honda in the
top 10 (the points-system of the
time). From then for the next four
decades there was not a single
race without at least one Honda
in the points.
Just to put this in proportion,
in the same period, Honda also
T
his has been a particularly
historic season. Not all
the landmarks have been
positive, however. Two of motor-
cycle racing's icons have been
stricken with historic failings
that contradict the high achieve-
ments of many decades.
Honda first—and it happened
in Germany's pocket-sized
Sachsenring, a track where even
before Marc Marquez embarked
on eight years of serial domina-
tion the Big H had staked a claim
for ownership. Dani Pedrosa
won it the previous three years,
and the preceding 10 Honda
riders, ranging from Doohan to
Rossi to Barros to Gibernau, had
P136
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
POINTLESS
CELEBRITIES
