CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
P120
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
P
erfection versus passion.
Exactitude versus adapt-
ability. Lorenzo versus
Rossi. What a surprising season
this last of (almost) full factory
bikes has turned out to be. Actu-
ally, considering the age of one
of the protagonists, more than
surprising. More like surreal.
The Aragon GP brought the
season past the three-quarter
mark and closed out the Europe-
an sector; and while Marquez's
fifth race crash of the year
finally put paid to the last remote
chances of taking a third title in a
row; the narrowing of the focus
to just the two Movistar Yamaha
teammates has taken nothing
away from an increasingly com-
pelling year.
Rather the reverse. This is
now a classic two-man fight, with
overtones.
The margin between the two
after that race was just 14 points.
In Rossi's favor, against all odds.
After all, Lorenzo has taken six
wins this year, Rossi only four.
And, rather amazingly, at Aragon
he failed to beat Pedrosa in a
fierce battle. That was a first; but
the Honda man was helped by
having the extra horsepower to
get it all back down the straight.
No such differences exist be-
tween Rossi and Lorenzo.
It is one of racing's oldest
clichés that the first person
PASSION VERSUS PERFECTION
