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III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
"C
rossroads." It's a
classic 1930s Robert
Johnson blues song,
reflecting how he sold his soul
to the devil in exchange for an
otherwise inexplicably abrupt
acquisition of extraordinary
talent on the guitar.
MotoGP's own crossroads are
a little different. But the common
question is: who has sold their
souls? Is it the whispering
brigade of politically correct
disinformation surrounding
electric vehicles? Or is it the rest
of us, with our infernal internal
combustion engines?
The crossroads have loomed
for a while, with news last year
that Dorna was planning an
electric-bike class for 2019. In
February it was flagged up with
greater clarity, with confirmation
of the bike chosen for the
one-make series. It is based
on the Italian Energica Ego, a
145-horsepower 150-mph road
bike. One function will be to
make Moto2 look more varied,
since the new series dictates
not only identical engines but
also identical machines for all 18
participants in the "FIM Moto-e
World Cup," to be run over some
five races, all in Europe.
And who will participate?
There is an element of
compulsion here: Dorna and the
FIM forcing the thing through by
THE SILENCE OF THE AMPS
