‘A year we’ll never forget!’
How motorcycle racing faced down the pandemic and delivered race upon race of incredible close action
2020 is a year that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Covid-19 swept the globe and life as we knew it came to a halt but one silver lining to come from the pandemic was a season of almost unprecedented racing action in MotoGP, WSB and BSB.
First of all the desire and determination shown by series bosses Dorna and MSV has to be commended – they not only got the show back on the road, they made it an absolute classic.
Yes the season was shorter and had fewer races, but the quality of each and every lap more than made up for it. The stats speak for themselves, especially in MotoGP where in a 14-round series, nine riders won races and five of them were first-time victors.
It also gave us a new world champion for the first time since Marc Marquez in 2013 as Spaniard Joan Mir claimed the title in only his second season. His victory onboard the beautiful Suzuki GSX-RR was also one for the ‘little guys’ of MotoGP who triumphed against their bigger budget rivals to win their first premier class title in 20 years – it’s also Suzuki’s centenary year, which must have placed a particularly thick layer of icing on the cake. BSB and WSB threw up fewer surprises but both were intense, nail-biting and gave a glimpse into the future with new riders coming to the fore. In both championships it was a case of cream coming to the top with Jonathan Rea ruling once again to bag title No.6 and edge tantalisingly close to securing a peerless 100 race wins.
BSB belonged to Josh Brookes, but he didn’t have it easy thanks to Jason O’Halloran, Christian Iddon and Glenn Irwin forcing the title to go down to the final round. No Showdown was needed in 2020.
As the year comes to a close, every rider, team member and fan should feel proud of being a part of one of the most unpredictable, yet highly entertaining seasons of racing in recent memory. Bring on 2021!