P124
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
H
alfway through the three
pre-season tests, at mid-
day at the Chang circuit
at Buriram, the heat was oppres-
sive. So too the omens.
After the two most varied,
open and competitive seasons
in modern MotoGP, there were
strong hints of a return to a more
sterile past. A time of one-bike/
one-rider domination. A syn-
drome that had its most stifling
expression back in the last de-
cade of the 20th century, when
Mick Doohan and his Honda
were so much better than every-
body else that pre-season and
even pre-race speculation was
confined to who might come
second.
Racing was horrendously pre-
dictable and (yes) actually boring
as a result, as Doohan himself
actually said (he later denied his
"boring as shit" comment, only
for Britain's MCN to put the tape-
recorded interview on line).
Wasn't Doohan's fault that
he was so much better than
the rest ("What do you want me
to do," he once asked testily.
"Slow down?"). I have no doubt
his towering talent would have
STEAMROLLER RACING AND
THE MARQUEZ EFFECT
