P126
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
B
ack when he was just a
boy, rather a strange one
but very, very fast, the
Spanish used to call him "Round
The Outside." For obvious rea-
sons.
In 2018, "Gorgeous Jorge"
Lorenzo earned a new nick-
name. "Up The Blind Side."
His switch from difficult Ducati
to hairs-breadth Honda caught
everybody napping.
It was in Mugello, where he
went on to take his first win
since leaving Yamaha, that Jorge
revealed that he was leaving
Ducati. This much had become
obvious with his poor results
over the preceding races, espe-
cially when Ducati Corse Sport-
ing Director Paolo Ciabatti had
remarked crustily at Le Mans
two weeks earlier, that "There is
a big gulf between his fee and
our budget."
Lorenzo went on to spike the
curiosity by saying that he would
be returning "on a competitive
bike" for the next two years.
This triggered a frenzy of
speculation, among a racing twit-
terati already dizzy from a wildly
spinning silly season. Guessing
who would go where seemed al-
most as important as the racing.
For some people more so.
LORENZO: THE TEAMMATE FROM HELL
