on Friday afternoon. But being
forced to perform pre-race Dor-
na- and fan-pleasing stand-ups
shortly before going into action,
when they'd rather be getting
mentally and physically pre
-
pared 'for racing at 300 km/h'
was disrespectful, inconsiderate
and potentially dangerous.
"But it is mandatory. We
must do it, otherwise we will
be penalized," observed the
always thoughtful and articulate
Frenchman.
His concerns were underlined
by the early race-day spectacle
of MotoGP riders in full leath
-
ers shepherded onto a massive
Texas-sized truck and trailer, to
be hauled round the long COTA
track at jogging speed, waving
dutifully at early-call marshals
and grass banks quite empty of
spectators, all the while submit
-
ting to lame interviews more
suited to half-baked reality TV
(Love Island, anybody?) than a
pinnacle motorsport.
No wonder the cultured, multi-
lingual and intelligent Miguel
Oliveira looked bemused. He
was not the only one.
There were at least crowds
present a bit later on for the
equally compulsory pit-lane
"meet the heroes" spectacle,
where cash cows get their mon
-
ey's worth by getting close to
teams and riders. But, closer to
race time, it was another unwel-
come interruption to preparation
for the main event.
T
here were several great
takeaways from the US
GP—and more than just
damaged bodywork from a
huge number of crashes. Both
Saturday's Sprint and Sunday's
feature race were tense and
unpredictable, and the results
added further variety to a so-far
intriguing season.
Less pleasing was the spec
-
tacle of how the riders are
increasingly treated like per-
forming monkeys. Shop-window
dummies. Show ponies, rather
than finely honed racehorses.
These thoughts were trig
-
gered by pre-race remarks by
Johann Zarco on this very topic.
"Of course, we understand that
this is a show," he said, speaking
P130
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
MotoGP's
Monkey Puzzle
