Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 25, 2014 P99 tino Rossi beating him to second overall. There was nothing wrong with the tactics. It was a caprice of the weather (or the unreliabil- ity of his Yamaha pit's weather forecast) that undid them. And as he explained, he had nothing to lose. He had to win the race, and Rossi to finish off the podium. Failing that, he was unassailable in third. The noth- ing-to-lose factor is important. It's still embarrassing when a plan goes wrong, and converse- ly a disproportionate joy when an unorthodox strategy turns out to be right. As it did for Eddie Lawson at the Hungaroring in 1992. In the twilight of his career, the four times champion had joined the perennially underachieving Ital- ian Cagiva team. It was almost a sort of lucrative hobby, but for his trademark perfectionism. And a nothing-to-lose gamble. The 500 race was at the rick- ety Hungaroring. Rickety? It had been so thoroughly washed before the event that it was still coated with detergent, and bikes left trails of foam in first wet prac- tice. The race was rickety too, with a false start when a downpour struck halfway through the first lap. The restart was threatened as another heavy storm hit the grid. All the fast guys hurriedly switched to wet tires. Except for Eddie. Intermediate front, cut- slick rear. The first laps on a sodden track tested his skill to the limit. No rear grip, carbon brakes not working. He soldiered on in seventh, more than a minute behind. Then halfway through, it started to dry. There were still four laps to go when the red bike, out of nowhere, sliced past flabbergasted leader Doug Chandler's Suzuki. The history was cool; but maybe more amusing was Ralf Waldmann's extraordinary last- corner win at Donington Park in 2000. The race started damp, then dried. Most were on intermediate tires. The Ger- man was on chunky full wets and dropped back hopelessly. Halfway through the 27 laps, he was 18th, and almost a full lap behind. Then it started to rain again and he was in heaven, and sig- nificantly fastest. But could he really pull back seven seconds a lap. Well, yes, but only just. He caught leader Olivier Jacque into the final hairpin, and while the Frenchman floundered with a spinning rear tire, accelerated alongside to win. There were just three tenths of a second in it. The pleasure we take in it endows the feat with great vir- tue. By these achievements the riders display a sort of owl-like wisdom, oracular foresight, and the tactical brilliance of Alexan- der the Great. When the gamble goes the other way, they're left to wipe egg off their faces. Like Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa at Aragon, sprawling through the puddles in a race where they could easily have finished one- two. I've always hated the old rac- ing saying: "you make your own luck"; but it is so often true. Especially in instances like these. But where does it come from, the confidence to be lucky? If we knew that we'd only have to tell our favorite rider and take a rake off the profits. But we can certainly see whether it is there or not. For Lorenzo, it went AWOL in 2014 and it will be interesting to see if he can get it back. For Pedrosa, it never seems to be fully present. He made his own luck in Australia, failing to qualify well or start strongly, to leave himself in line for a costly kicking by Iannone. The illustration of what hap- pens when it does come back came from the rider who did beat Jorge into third: the re- newable resource that is Rossi. With every fresh success the aura around him grew, Jorge's shrank. It was almost like the days when he had everyone beaten before the start. If only it wasn't for Mar- quez... CN

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