Steve Parrish
Hi everyone, how good was MotoG P at Assen? At last we’ve had a freight-train cracker from there. We’ve often had a couple of guys going at it in the premier class, but not almost the entire top ten riders at one point or another!
Assen is one of those places where each rider usually has one spot where he can make up some time again, so you have this great see-saw effect which promotes overtaking, too. P lus some of them chose tyres they never usually would, which tossed things up in the air further with nobody quite knowing what would happen towards the end.
I loved seeing J orge L orenz o sticking it back to anyone who overtook him, H onda must be well pleased seeing this, while D ucati must be sat there going ‘Oh, shit… ’! Okay he ended up finishing seventh, but he’s got his mojo back hasn’t he? I loved all the race long pushing and shoving, and even weirder nobody seemed to moan about anything anyone else did, which in MotoG P ’s modern era is something of a miracle.
The cream rose to the top though, with Marc Marquez besting the lot of them and the next race up is Sachsenring which he really loves, so who knows how big his points lead will be coming out of there, with everyone else being rather inconsistent.
H ave any of you ever ridden there in G ermany by the way? I did last weekend, and I can’t imagine how they get G P bikes round there, it’s like a go-kart track, it’s so nadgery, there’s no way they are allowing anything near the full 2 5 0bhp they’re capable of at the wheel, half the time you’re short-shifting and holding off getting on the gas, and that was on an old Suz uki RG 5 00! I marvel at how well the G P guys race there, it’s ridiculous in fact.
I was there with a bunch of other old racers like K ork Ballington for a bit of a whip around at a classic event run by the man who started WSB, Steve McL aughlin. It was a good laugh, but I digress. I can’t see past Marquez for the MotoG P title right now, I know Rossi is 41-points behind him (post Assen) and I love him to bits, but he does seem to
get a bit beaten up these days and he needs to do better than thirds to give Marc any issues. I can see him wrapping things up with a few races to go, I really can.
Now, last month I ran out of room to talk about the L owes twins. But, given Alex won his first ever WSB race the following weekend, It was probably a good thing! I was pleased for him and P ata Y amaha though, brilliant stuff. As for Sam, well, what’s going to happen with him? H is return to Moto2 was supposed to revive his career, but he’s ended up back where he was last time he was there – crashing a lot, but this time without any wins or podiums. H is few finishes haven’t been great either, which makes me wonder where he will end up next year.
P lus, what about Bradley Smith and Scott Redding? Who will be rushing to scoop up either right now? Bradley could possibly do something left-field to bring his career back like go win World Supersport, or get some kind of success to get himself back on track. I heard Scott doesn’t want to do BSB and I can completely understand that, though he did say in a press release he was dim as a donut and couldn’t get any other job than racing bikes. Bless him, but I’ve always thought winning titles takes intelligence, so I do wonder if he hasn’t shot himself in the foot here! I hope both get good rides, though.
Speaking of blowing your own toes off, Tom Sykes publicly alluding to P ere Riba as maybe not making life easy in the K awasaki camp could have finally ended his time with Team G reen. And Shane Byrne... I wonder if he’ll even come back. H arsh as it may sound, the best thing that can happen to BSB is him and H aslam not being there next season. Since the great exodus of 2 008 /9, when C amier, C rutchlow, Rea et al moved to world level, we’ve only had one rider make really make the move in ten years – Alex L owes. A changing of the guard will help, in this regard.
L astly, I was on a flight the other day and managed to sneak my fake dog poo in the hostess’ life-belt, you know, for when they do the safety briefing? When it fell out during her routine she completely freaked, and the place erupted in laughter – the old ones are always the best!