THE DUEL IN THE SUN
Isigned off last month by suggesting that the second half of the season was set to be a belter. Well, it seems that for once I might just be proven right.
Where Silverstone 2018 was an unmitigated disaster of a GP weekend, 2019 was an instant classic. The duel in the sun between the unflappable mighty Marc Marquez and one of the sport's young pretenders to his crown, Alex Rins, will live long in the memory. In many ways, the finale was like a rerun of the 1979 duel between Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts – only this time it was the Suzuki in the hands of Rins that claimed the victory where Sheene's Suzuki had missed out at the very same corner.
A huge amount of credit has to go to Silverstone supremo Stuart Pringle. The events of 2018 were largely out of his control, but he confronted the situation, the understandable anger from the paying punters and a barrage of criticism (some well justified) from all quarters head on. Refunds were processed swiftly and efficiently, and aside from all of the ongoing legal wranglings, he and his team set about employing the best in the business to rectify the situation, resurface the track and salvage the situation, and in the process secure the future of our home GP.
The new surface was absolutely incredible. Valentino Rossi described it as "almost perfect". So incredible, in fact, that another one of my usually unreliable predictions came off. I predicted that lap records would go – and boy did they go. The Moto3 lap record was smashed
in the first session of the weekend. In fact, the circuit lap record, pole record and race lap record were broken in all three classes. There was scarcely a negative comment to be found all weekend.
An even bigger amount of credit has to go to the lifeblood of the event – the fans. They shelled out hundreds and turned out in their thousands, despite the events of last year. It was awesome to catch up with so many Fast Bike readers over the weekend. You are a brilliant and bonkers bunch and I was more than a little tempted to swing a leg over some of the machines that you turned up on. Of course, the weather helped too. The track temperature during the race was the third highest of the season so far with only Catalunya and Mugello recording higher temperatures.
You've all seen the race by now, but I still can't shake it. It had everything. The Suzuki, in the hands of the elegant Rins. Dancing and weaving relentlessly. With an incredible ability to turn and point wherever Rins wanted. And the aggressive, violent, angry Honda. Bucking, jumping and spinning. Wrestled into submission by the masterful Marquez. In the event, Rins miscalculated his laps run and mistakenly showed his hand a lap early, firing round Marquez, through Woodcote, crossing the line for the penultimate time an incredible 0.001 ahead of Marquez. But try again he did, a couple of minutes later, this time turning the Suzuki tighter than Marquez's Honda with its now screaming rear would allow. Will Marquez lose much sleep over it? Probably not as he strolls towards his 8th World Title. However, another final lap, final corner where he has been outfoxed into second place will definitely sting. Rins is starting to look every bit a genuine title contender. No longer riding in awe of his heroes, he's ready to go toe-to-toe with the quickest in the world. He could definitely be the sport's next big star.
Oh, and next season has been extended to accommodate 20 rounds with the addition of Finland at the brand new KymiRing circuit. For the viewing public the action will come thick and fast with at least one GP every two weeks from the curtain raiser in Qatar on March 8 through to round 11 at Finland on July 12, after which the summer break kicks in. The calendar has been shuffled a bit with the flyaways being split up – Thailand now moves to round 2, Assen and The Sachsenring have been swapped around and Aragon moves to the first weekend in October. There has never been a better time to get to an overseas MotoGP. Race day on foreign soil is one of the most special feelings going. Fast Bikes will be covering all of the action so be sure to give us a shout and let us know where you're planning on going in 2020.
I have been told more than once that my predictions coming true can be construed as harbingers of an impending apocalypse, but If Silverstone 2019 is a harbinger of the future, and what's to come next year, we could be in for more than one instant classic. Can anyone take the fight to Marc Marquez in 2020? Maybe, just maybe, he'll get Rins-ed.