Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 4, 2015 P113 ful 250s with growing despair. The porky machines with their bulky Honda CBR600 motors not only make a ghastly shriek- ing noise, all of them identical, and all stuck with widely spaced road-bike gearing, but they also put the riders in the most terrible bind. I've been lambasted in the past for describing the class as "a graveyard of talent," but I stick with that view, reinforced by a number of former World Champions who find themselves languishing mid-field. Here are some names of past 125/Moto3 champions from the current en- try list: Sandro Cortese, Thomas Luthi, Julian Simon, Alex Mar- quez and Alex Lowes (World Supersport). Only Lowes and sometimes Luthi figure with the front men. And current runaway Moto3 title leader Danny Kent had to go back to the smallest class to be able to express his blatantly obvious talent. Overweight, over-tired and underpowered, Moto2 riders have their wings clipped by—for example—an inability to draft past identically powered bikes in a straight line. This is one of the weapons that good riders should be able to exploit, but the op- portunity is denied them. And in the pits, race mechanics should be able to help by tweaking the engines and electronics, and finding the ideal permutation of gearing. Also not available. This is not to undermine the abilities of those who do achieve serial success. Johann Zarco's massive title lead has not been gained by luck. But what about the others? Nor is it a serious training ground for MotoGP, where electronic and gearing variations are still (just) possible. Moto2 riders who have moved up, like Marc Marquez, Stefan Bradl and Bradley Smith, all sing the same song: it's not the extra power that imposes the steepest learn- ing curve. It's the extra possibili- ties offered by a proper grand prix racing bike. Put all this together, and con- sider the case of Jack Miller—the first in modern times to skip the "senior apprenticeship" of the middle class. His sole predeces- sor, by the way, was also Aus- tralian: the redoubtable sultan of slide Gary McCoy, who went on to win three Grands Prix on a private team… a good omen, if ever there was one. Consider also Miller's close pal Maverick Vinales. He spent just one year in Moto2, won four races, and got the hell out as fast as he could, to join Suzuki in MotoGP. These are good examples for riders, if they are lucky enough to get the opportunity. Linger too long in the mono-motor series, and you are liable to get stuck in the mud. I was deeply disappointed when at Assen the always engaging FIM president Vito Ippolito told me that, of all the many changes in racing, Moto2 was entirely the responsibility of the federation. Granted, the 250 class was in danger of disappearing up its own backside, with two-strokes becoming extinct, Aprilia having a stranglehold, and costs sky- rocketing. Something had to be done. The same is true now. Some- thing needs to be done to regain the dignity of an important grand prix class and to restore the nat- ural order of riding talent. Moto2 may be knockabout fun for the undiscerning, but a Grand Prix World Championship class? Moto3 is brilliant living proof that in spite of cost limitations and technical restrictions, prop- er grand prix racing is possible. Moto2 deserves to be brought into line—open to rival manu- facturers, and with regulations that ensure a proper place in the technical hierarchy. Moto3 and MotoGP share maximum bore size—in effect, a 1000cc MotoGP engine is four Moto3 250cc singles on a common crankshaft. Moto2 should be a halfway house: twin cylinders and 500cc, and genuine racing engines. The riders deserve it, and so do the fans. Please, Mr. Ippolito, do something. CN

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