P94
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
C
an it really be 25 years
since Dorna stuck in its
oar and took over Mo-
toGP? I guess that means the
grandstands and TV couches
are peopled by people who don't
know any different. To whom
the good-old/bad-old days are
nothing more than a few fading
photographs; pictures in which
at least you could tell which
class of bike was involved by
the colors of the easily legible
numbers.
That wasn't the only good
thing about the old days. There
was also an informal camara-
derie. Riders were accessible
and for the most part friendly
too—just ordinary motorcyclists
who happened to be exception-
ally good at it. All part of an often
impoverished and always fraught
traveling circus.
The answer to the question
at the top is: yes. It not only
can be 25 years, but at Assen
a fresh five-year contract was
signed between Dorna and
teams' association IRTA, taking
the cooperation up to 30. This
was announced on race eve,
with much mutual back-slapping
between Dorna CEO Carmelo
Ezpeleta and IRTA president
Herve Poncharal, with IRTA
general secretary Mike Trimby
managing to maintain his dignity
alongside, in spite of a barrage
of syrupy compliments from the
pair of them.
Yet neither the self-congrat-
EXPANDING ON CANTRACTING
