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/279052
M any years ago I noticed that motorcyclists in gen- eral are more steeped in culture than they would like peo- ple to believe… like the Hell's An- gel I once spotted on public trans- port. He was reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. This being so, when Dorna gained total control of World Superbikes as well as MotoGP some 18 months ago, I gave CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta the nickname "Grand Poobah." I was confident that readers would immediately grasp the reference to the high- and-mighty character in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado" – First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Archbishop of Titipu, Lord Mayor, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Back Stairs and Lord High Everything Else. Events of the past few days, however, suggest there may be a better nickname from a more re- cent musical genre – Abba. Maybe Carmelo should from here on in be known as "The Dancing Queen." Please don't misunderstand. There is nothing remotely queenly about the Spanish businessman; nor from the look of him would he be much good on the dance floor. But the speed of his fancy foot- work gives the lie to his solid ap- pearance and bluff and blustery management style. Ever since Dorna took over rac- ing in 1992 Ezpeleta has pursued a campaign against factory con- trol of the World Championships. It has taken many years and encompassed many threats and much table thumping. It has been marked on both sides by false promises and failed initiatives. It has engendered an ever-increas- ing deluge of rule-changes and revisions, of technical restrictions. And finally, for the last two years, the indignity of the production- powered CRT generation. For 2014, Ezpeleta had achieved a major victory: his threat to ban the factories and turn MotoGP over to the unlovely CRT clunkers bore fruit, in a new factory agreement to a sort of sub-factory "Open" category, that must be available to independent teams at an affordable price. Even Honda agreed, setting to work on their works-replica RCV1000R. Here was something familiar: lower-level production racers for sale, with a built-in guar- antee that they wouldn't be fast enough to threaten the factory prototypes. The plan went wrong even be- fore a wheel had been turned in anger. Firstly, Yamaha broke "the spirit of the rules," mainly by be- ing wrong-footed. They planned to make only engines available. Force of circumstances (i.e. no alternative) meant they ended up furnishing the NGM Forward team with full ex-factory bikes, as used by the Monster team last year. And at first tests Aleix Espargaro was as fast as or faster than the top factory Hondas and Yamahas. At the next tests, an even big- ger surprise. Two, actually. The first was new-generation control software from Magneti Marelli. With an uncanny resemblance to that al- ready developed hand in hand with Ducati. The second was less unexpected. Ducati reworked their entry papers: no more were they Factory bikes. Instead, they BY MICHAEL SCOTT III IN THE PADDOCK THE GRAND POOBAH GOES DANCING P160 CN