Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1487488
ment Alonzo Lopez. Ghost at the Feast – Val- entino Rossi, busy elsewhere, who attended only three GPs. Or was it many ghosts, the missing spectators in Italy? Ghost Leaving the Feast – Suzuki, with the (to race fans) unaccountable decision to walk away from MotoGP, as well as off-road and World Endurance. Supreme irony that Alex Rins won two of the company's last three races. Prehistoric Innovation – seat-back fins for Ducati, to be copied by all. Well, they worked to keep the stegosaurus stable in hard braking. Didn't they? Precocious Talent – Step forward 18-year-old Izan Gue- vara, elbowing aside a platoon of other hopefuls. A dominant upcoming Moto2 season prom- ises a bright future for the latest Spanish shooting star. Family Fortunes – the Ezpeleta clan, with nephew Tome Alfonso Ezpeleta joining son Carlos and daughter Ana in Carmelo Ezpeleta's Dorna. A Step Too Far –Ducati's front-dipping ride-height control to be used out of corners. Con- fused the riders so much it was canned, then banned. Must Try Harder – everyone except Ducati and Aprilia. Spe- cially all of them. Dupe of the Year – so many candidates, but the winner is whoever commissioned Dorna's lame internet fan survey. It revealed that bike racing fans love bike racing, and either go to races or watch them on TV. And have access to the internet. Climate Change of the Year – not to belittle the topic, but in Indonesia a rain shaman had to come out and chant awhile to allow the main race to happen at all. And in Thailand similar tropical cloudbursts had the MotoGP race very late, and Moto2 truncated for half points after two false starts. Whats In a Name? – KTM entered Moto3 bikes under its own name, plus Husqvarna, GasGas and CFMoto. Next year formerly Spanish maker GasGas moves into MotoGP, with full factory status but on rebadged KTMs made in Austria. CN VOLUME 59 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 6, 2022 P121 chicane and in Austria, when Quartararo bamboozled him at the new chicane. Jack made up for it with his series of round-the- outside outbraking moves for his brilliant win at Motegi. Junior Overtake – Moto3 full of them, like new champion Izan Guevara's magnificent round- the-outside at the final Jerez hairpin. Personal favorite from John McPhee, up from 22nd on the grid at Sepang, and from fifth to first at the last corner. Gaffe of the Year – Aleix Espargaro celebrated second place a lap early at home in Catalunya and dropped to fifth. Runner up, his Aprilia team, leaving the fuel-saving program engaged at the start at Motegi for his only no-score. Riding Clot of the Year – Ai Ogura, for throwing away the Moto2 Championship in a mad last-lap bid to win in Malaysia, crashing out when second would almost certainly have been enough. If It Wasn't For Bad Luck – Moto2 rider Aron Canet not only had a genius for falling off while in top positions, and for having to pull out of the Dutch TT with an unstoppable nose-bleed from a car crash before the race, but also switched from Italian Boscoscuro chassis to dominant Kalex just as the independent constructor found a new level of success, with five podiums in- cluding two wins for late replace- Izan Guevara has a promising future in Moto2.