THE RETURN OF MYSTIC MOTO
Another month gone means we’ve edged another month closer to the 2019 MotoGP season and lights out at Qatar. The MotoGP nuts among us in the Fast Bikes office are already showing signs of cabin fever waiting for the big kick-off. Let’s face it, with a distinct lack of any really juicy news, it’s hard to get properly excited over new team livery presentations and an incessant stream of Instagram posts from the MotoGP millionaires’ snowboarding holidays and luxury retreats in the Maldives. So, in an attempt to break the monotony, I would like to present my top MotoGP predictions for 2019*.
*Disclaimer: No obvious predictions allowed; e.g. Marc Marquez will win at COTA and the Sachsenring, Andrea Iannone will post more topless/pouting/private jet photos on social media than anyone else and at least one media outlet will refer to Mugello as a ‘natural amphitheatre’…
1. Romano Fenati wins the Moto3 title
Nobody can forget Manzi-gate from Misano last year. Fenati grabbed the brake lever of his rival at 140mph: Manzi narrowly avoided disaster, Fenati was sacked by his Marinelli Snipers team, MV Agusta tore up his Moto2 contract for 2019. Fenati promptly announced his retirement. What he did was completely off the scale. Some would say unforgivable. Yet, he’s back in Moto3, reuniting with Team Snipers in the form of Team Zero (he’s ‘starting from zero’). What isn’t in question is his undoubted talent. The boy is quick. The 2019 Moto3 championship should be wide open – Martin, Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio, and Bastianini have all graduated to Moto2. With such a big power vacuum at the top Fenati will sweep in and win the title at Philip Island in October. Expect him to be on his best behaviour.
2. Pecco Bagnaia crowned 2019 Rookie of the Year
The Rookie of the Year battle is set to be a corker. In the shape of Joan Mir, Pecco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira a solid case can be made that this is the strongest crop of rookies in living memory. Oliveira has drawn the short straw insofar as his Tech3 KTM is still very much a work in progress and won’t give him the platform to challenge the other three. At least not for a while. The really exciting duel looks set to be between 2017 Moto3 champion, Joan Mir on the full factory Suzuki and 2018 Moto2 champ, Bagnaia on the Pramac Ducati – a bike that he told us a few weeks ago was “possibly the best bike” currently on the grid. Bagnaia’s incredibly cool, calculated and viciously fast style will see him pip Mir – although it may go down to the wire.
3. Fireworks, fallouts and finger-wagging at Honda
The hottest topic pre-season has been the prospect of Marquez vs Lorenzo in the same team, duking it out on the same bike. Arguably the two fastest and most complete riders in the field – and of the last 10 years, it is surely just a matter of time before it all ‘goes off’. Now that Lorenzo has been released from his Ducati contract and is able to speak freely about the Honda, the signs for Marquez are that he may just have his work cut out. Lorenzo has looked instantly at ease with the notoriously difficult RC213V. It will be all sweetness and light until they start beating each other. Qatar, Argentina and Texas are often a bit of a false start to the season but by the time we get to Jerez – a favourite of Lorenzo – he should be fully up to speed. I’m saying that Lorenzo will start winning far quicker than he did on the Ducati, and when he does Marquez won’t like it. I give it until Mugello before the touch paper is lit.
4. Dovizioso crowned World Champion 2019
You heard it here first. Dovizioso will win Ducati’s first MotoGP World Championship since Casey Stoner pulverised the opposition in 2007. Both Ducati and Dovi have been on a steady upward curve both in terms of the development of the bike and Dovizioso’s growth as a rider. This marriage of man and machine should be perfectly aligned in 2019. I fully expect them to make another step.
Sure, Marc Marquez has looked pretty much invincible – but having a team mate who is the only man to have taken a championship off him during the ‘Marquez Era’, coupled with World War 3 breaking out at Honda (as above) I fully expect Marquez to find himself distracted. We know how closely matched the bikes currently are – there are at least 10 guys capable of taking podium places on any given Sunday. There should be far more scope for win-or-bust battles. It is this that will see Dovi’s analytical approach bring him to the fore once more as he claims the top prize in Sepang.
Give us a shout if you think I’m well off the mark. We’d love to hear your predictions. Keep your eyes peeled for our season preview next month…