Steve Parrish
How can we not start with Marc Marquez this month? I could really just watch him race on his own. We watched the Assen race at Goodwood in Honda’s hospitality. Did you see him lose the front coming into the pitlane during the swap over? He does make it exciting, he’s on the edge whatever he is doing, so close to the limit. He does have the luck, too. And when that goes, well, just look at Jorge Lorenzo. It’s time to start thinking that winning every race is a possibility. I can’t see anyone taking it to him...
You think that luck must come to and end soon, and by rights that should have happened at Assen, but it didn’t. A season can do an about turn easily, but with him I don’t think it will. At Catalunya, even if Dani Pedrosa was faster and hadn’t made a mistake, you know he would have had a go at the last turn and made it stuck regardless. Only Lorenzo has come close to really pushing him so far, at Mugello, but even then he likely had it covered. He also has fun, laughs, giggles and makes boring racing as exciting as it can be. And is anyone else close to him just because he allows it?
As for Lorenzo, it seems his demons are back again, you can’t have that much bad luck this much of the time. It’s horrible and embarrassing to watch; it’s almost a Freddie Spencer scenario. But he’s maybe the finest, most precise racer we’ve seen for decades. It’s still there, you don’t forget how to ride a bike overnight, but then again maybe you can. Spencer was a prime example of that. It doesn’t look like mind games either, as Marquez doesn’t have to bother with them. This is all Jorge’s own making by beating himself before the lights go out. Rossi is still going well though, which is cool, even if Jeremy Burgess must have been wetting himself at their cock-up in Assen.
The Suzuki rumours keep on coming regarding their riders, but how good will the bikes be? Battling with the Ducatis maybe? We’re still waiting on hearing whether or not Cal will take the punt, but the bikes will be about as competitive as each other, so I’d take the best money frankly – and hope Dovisiozo doesn’t go too fast and ruin your career.
Moving on to good careers, Tom Sykes is the Marquez of WSB, and is absolutely outstanding. It’s understandable he’s having a go at his team-mate, who knocked him off, but that’s the norm when you have a fast young whippersnapper biting at your heels. I think Tom has him covered at the moment. I must say I’m impressed with the new WSB rules too, barely anyone is screaming and shouting – which means they’re good, and we will still have great racing. Perfect!
I did have fun at Castle Combe this month, I had a great laugh there. I managed to get my exploding-cap contraption under john McGuinness’ boot when he was getting changed and he jumped out of his skin! Then at Goodwood I had a crack at the annual ball. I was on the table next to Charlie Boorman. They mix you up with celebs and the aristocracy, and I managed to get to his table before he did. He had Lady this and Lord that with him, so on his name tag I drew an enormous penis on his place setting. Watching everyone’s faces when they got to the table and walked around it was hilarious. As soon as he came and sat down they were shuffling away from him. He couldn’t even see me when he saw it, but he looked around and said, “fucking Parrish!” He knows me too well… Goodwood is such fun though, and a quarter of a million visitors over three days is astonishing, MotoGP would love that!
Changing tack, Kiyonari is back, and the BMW is singing – who expected that? It was great to watch him at Knockhill, they must have sent a new chip from Japan!
i drew an enormous penis On charlie boorman’s place setting...”