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/1511059
VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P113 naia versus avenger Jorge Mar- tin, still burning inside at being passed over in favor of the sadly injury-prone Enea Bastianini for the factory Ducati seat. Stalwart defender versus a pushy attacker. And Italian ver - sus Spaniard. Very tasty. Martin is without doubt the faster rider, measured in single laps and over shorter-distance sprint races (seven wins to Bagnaia's four) Then came the Spaniard's tactical error (and a race just one lap too long) robbed him of a crucial win in Australia, where Pecco's care - fully managed race was just the opposite, itself following a crash out of the lead in Indonesia, some have dubbed the contest Brain versus Brawn. There is some truth in this. But to me, it's a bit over-simplified. Brainy Bagnaia also makes mistakes: four Sunday race crashes for example, versus just two for Martin. And Brawny Martin's main tactical skill may be to gallop away from the start, to win from the front, but it is still an effective tactical choice, playing on his strengths. Effec - tive often enough, anyway, to be poised just 13 points behind in the championship, with a maxi- mum of 111 still on the table over the last three races. The pre-eminent pair, aside from the things that separate them, have quite a lot in com- mon. Pecco, one year older (almost exactly—he was born on Janu - ary 14, 1997, Martin a year and 15 days later) has two more years of GP experience and two more years in the premier class. That aside, there are similari - ties in their career paths. Each has one junior-class champion- ship—Martin in Moto3, Bagnaia Moto2. Each has 10 wins in those classes. In MotoGP, in five years, Bagnaia has taken 17 pole positions, while in three years, Martin has amassed an impres - sive 13. No points, of course, but bragging rights for sure. When it comes to race wins, Pecco has a big start and gets the bragging rights back in spades. With 17 wins from 83 starts in MotoGP, that's a good 20 percent hit rate. Take all three classes, and all wins it drops to 14 percent, but still has him ahead. Martin's stats of five wins from 51 MotoGP starts nudge just 10 percent; in all classes, the figure is just over 10 percent also. But before the math has Pecco walking away with it, we have to remember the human factor. It's a matter of form. And it must be said each of them is in the best form of their careers so far. It makes for a fascinating contest, very finely poised. The real winner is Ducati. Having already scored the con - structors' title, one of its three teams will win the teams' prize as well, unless KTM can man - age 1-2 results several times in the remaining rounds. Currently, Pramac is the most likely to succeed. Or are we fans the biggest winners? Moto3, the reliable provider of heart-in-the-mouth racing, is equally poised over the last three rounds. With seven differ - ent race winners in a series of ultra-close battles, points leader Jaume Masia has a slender 17-point advantage over Ayumu Sasaki (interestingly without a win this year), with two more another eight points behind. They are David Alonso, a rank rookie with five stunning wins in his first season and the first racer from Colombia to achieve any such distinction, and Daniel Holgado. The last two are both teenag - ers, proof (if any were needed) that there is a lot more talent coming up than there is retiring, securing a bright future for the series. Overstretched calendar or not, 2023 has the makings of a vintage year. It's hard to see how adding two more races and even more grueling travel next year could make it any better. CN THE CLIMAX TO THE YEAR COULD HARDLY BE MORE EXCITING.