D
orna is just one year
away from the great
standardization dumb-
down that will, at least in
theory, iron out any technical
advantage by making all the
bikes more or less just the
same.
Never mind that racing de-
velopment, as history shows,
tends to end up all more or
less the same anyway. Regu-
lar rule changes for MotoGP
four-strokes (990cc, then
800cc, now 1000cc, among
other things) have deferred
this eventuality, but one only
has to look at the last days of
the 500cc class to see that
V4 configuration became the
norm, in yet another triumph
for the Universal Japanese
Motorcycle (UJM).
Dorna's new standardization
rules represent triumph in a
long campaign to create the
Universal Dorna Motorcycle,
or UDM; and an important
step in a quest to ensure that
all races will end with a mass
dead heat.
But haven't our Spanish
master's forgotten something?
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
HANDICAP ME
P120
