VOL. 51 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 11, 2014 P49
Briefly...
the top MotoGP riders generally de-
plored the idea, but agreed that they
would be prepared to buckle under
if required. "If a factory wants team
orders, we have to respect their de-
cision," Marquez said. "We are rid-
ers, and we don't like to finish third,
but if a factory supports you for some
years…" Lorenzo was unequivocal.
"The factory trusts you, and the fac-
tory pays you," Lorenzo said. "If in fu-
ture that happens, I will help my fac-
tory." Rossi brought in the personal
aspect, in relation to the Baz/Sykes
case, where there had been bad
blood. "For me team orders are very,
very bad, but can be important to a
factory that spends a lot of money,"
Rossi said. "But the relationship be-
tween the riders is important." Ste-
fan Bradl saw the funny side. "You
have to have a meeting before the
race, and make the plan very clear,"
Bradl said. "But we are riders, and
sometimes we forget things."
The wholesale loss of TV viewers in
Britain, Spain and Italy this year, with
coverage shifted to pay-to-view chan-
nels, is something that, as Suppo
said: "Like it or not, this is the trend
in sport." In Britain, for example,
BBC viewership figures of around
two million on a good day have been
slashed to less than a tenth of that,
with BT Sport's pay channel lucky to
attract 150,000 armchair fans; and
the situation is similar in Spain and
Italy. As for the effect on sponsors:
it didn't apply to Yamaha, both of
whom are backed by pay TV chan-
nels, it is Yamaha's Movistar who
took the coverage away from the na-
tional broadcaster this year.
continued on next page
