Just to recap: with 13 of
22 races run and a potential
maximum of 333 points still
available, we have seven riders
within a points span of just 70.
Mathematically and given
a run of good luck (and
some bad luck for the
others), any one of them
could take the crown.
Shifting fortunes have
buoyed up some, only to under-
mine them again. Early domi-
nance (Aprilia's Marco Bezzec-
chi) was undone with a series of
cruel events, one (and argu-
ably more than one) entirely
self-imposed.
T
he last season of the
1000cc bruisers is accel-
erating to its climax, with
more tension and more possible
champions than for years, prob-
ably ever. And certainly, in the
modern four-stroke MotoGP era.
The fortunes of the top rid-
ers—five, or possibly six, even at
a stretch seven—are intertwined
like embroidery, as one or an-
other has a good/bad weekend,
and the scores shift yet again.
If one were given a cliche, one
might pronounce that "nobody
wants to win this champion-
ship." Of course, the opposite is
true. Everybody wants to win it.
P128
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
Seven riders still have a real chance
of winning this year's MotoGP crown,
but six of them will have to catch and
overtake current points leader Jorge
Martin to do so. PHOTO BY GOLD & GOOSE
