R
ain, Rain, Come Again. And Come Again
Another Day.
Thus we rewrite an old nursery rhyme
for modern times. For modern grand prix racing,
anyway. Wet races are much more interesting
than those in the dry. For two main reasons.
First, it removes the technical advantage held
by the factory guys, especially with the use of
control tires. Every rider is always living life on
the edge, even the guys coming last; but when
it's wet the edge comes back to meet you all on
more equal terms.
Second, and this is a consequence of the first,
it emboldens lesser rider to feats of derring-do
that might normally seem out of reach. With (as
the old Carry On film posters had it) predictably
hilarious results.
Third (though this is not a main reason), it gives
the mechanics something to do, other than lean-
ing over pit wall grinning and whooping inanely
when their rider comes by after a half-decent
result.
Races that go dry-to-wet midway through (or
vice versa) are reliably even more entertaining.
Certainly so since the advent of flag-to-flag bike-
change rules, which did away with much confu-
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
RAINY DAYS AND RACE DAYS
P140
