McPint on MotoGP mayhem
Moto3 is amazing entertainment, but riders are taking liberties
We’ve seen riders weaving down the straights in the smaller classes for years, but it’s getting worse. It was actually my lad Ewan who summed up Moto3 when we were watching it together from Qatar, when he said: “They think the racing is safe!” And I think he was spot on, that’s exactly what’s happened. They have great big run offs, there’s no grass on the edge of the tracks, the green paint is grippy, the kerbs are grippy. People used
‘They are all wearing airbags so they think it will be alright’
to nick a bit of the kerb in racing but now riders are taking liberties plus they’re all wearing airbag suits so they think that they’ll be alright even if they do crash. They’ve been brought up on Spanish tracks in rider academies and riding like that has been driven into them with a stick. In a away it all started with Marquez, because he’s all in, and always has been. He’s smashed into a few over the years, hasn’t he? He’s made some epic mistakes but it’s all brushed under the carpet because of what he’s achieved. At the end of the day if that’s the way you’ve got to ride to progress and be world champion then so be it. But if you’re going bar-to-bar in a pack of riders at 140mph then you have to roll the dice… and I respect them for that.
Look, the racing is great, it’s spectacular, but while it’s all OK at the minute, it won’t be when something goes wrong. And the way some are riding it’s brewing for something to go wrong. I hate to say it, but someone is going to get hurt and when that happens we’ll all be up in arms, pointing fingers and saying what we should have done to prevent it.