first-named, but it is increasingly
delicate, the advantage whittled
away by degrees. Aprilia has
racked up three Sprint and one
feature-race wins so far this
year; KTM is always banging on
the door, with increasing persis
-
tence.
Then the two troubled Japa-
nese teams—Honda and Ya-
maha. Both are looking pretty
feeble right now. Honda espe-
cially dismal. But they are striv-
ing to recover; and considering
their combination of stature and
budget, they must be expected
to succeed. Discounting either
of them in the long- or even
medium-term just doesn't cut it.
The technical boom has noth-
ing on the explosion of talent.
Something to do, without doubt,
with youth training programs
and junior championships, most
especially in Spain, where in the
old days there was just a reli
-
ance on enthusiasm and natural
talent to feed the grid.
Now in MotoGP, a class of
brilliant practitioners is book-
ended by the old and new
geniuses from Spain: Marc
Marquez and Pedro Acosta. You
might think the latter has yet to
prove himself fully, considering
Marquez won not just six races
in his rookie season, but also
the title, against some tasty
M
otoGP is getting crowd-
ed. It's always been
tough at the top. But has
it ever been quite this numer-
ous? Back in the 1950s there
was some variation in machines
and people, and a few different
winners. Then the Japanese
turned up, and the smaller
classes were manic. But the pre-
mier class hasn't seen this sort
of feverish variety for 70 years
or more. If ever.
Machine-wise, the grid is
booming.
There are three strong fac-
tory teams—Ducati, Aprilia and
KTM—jostling for position. The
balance currently favors the
P142
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
IS A GRID
FULL OF
BRAWLERS
BETTER THAN
A HANDFUL
OF GODS?
