The Rescogs MotoGP Review of 2013

It was a year that people will seldom forget, mostly because it was the last year that the whole population of the UK had actual access to all of the races without having to sign up to that company who, on the face of it, are worse than Murdoch.

Anyway, it was a year where stars rose and faded, where the divide between factory, satellite and CRT deepened and everyone had so much of an opinion MCN turned off their comment functionality. So, amongst all the debate and finger pointed, I’m going to do mine:

 

 

MotoGP 2013: The Biggest Surprises

Well, it had to be the new Spanish Sensation, the Chosen One, the elbow sliding, traction control slicing grinning man child: Marc Marquez. Not since Kenny Roberts, blah, blah…..

Marquez’s achievement this year was unbelievable. Adapting to a MotoGP bike, different team, qualifying, different tyres, carbon discs and everyone in the world wanting to meet him, he brushed it all aside with his elbow and surprised and excelled in equal measure. Sure, you could say that Pedrosa and Lorenzo literally threw the title away, but that was due to the pressure and brilliance of Marquez. His wins, especially in Texas and Laguna where phenomenal, no other way to express it.

He also kept it all together when it counted and kept his head to win the title. The big question now is that will he go Rossi or will he go Spencer? They say there’s nothing as cruel as an ambition achieved, so when there are no more continents to conquer, what will he do next?

My other big surprise goes to Scott Redding. Ok, he lost the title in the end (Espargaro would’ve won even if Scott hadn’t broken his wrist in Australia or was taken out in Motegi) but Redding showed moments of pure class, his win at the British Grand Prix was surely a highlight and he is indeed one of the UK’s greatest riders ever, period. Already. Keep it up.

The Best of the Rest

The Espargaro brothers were both incredible, Alexis on his Aprilia and Pol on his Kalex were both worthy champions, and Alexis did wonders on his Aprilia, and is as deserving as Crutchlow to a decent bike for 2014, but unfortunately, neither of them have one and it’s incredible to see that Pol actually has a better bike than his brother, without having raced in the class yet. Surely they’re expecting the Marquez affect?

 

MotoGP 2013: Biggest Disappointments

Well, where do we start? Rossi is perhaps the obvious choice. On a bike that wasn’t as good as the Honda’s but pretty damn good, Rossi’s performances were below par in the first part of the year and average after his (soft) win in Assen. Rossi, the once undisputed master of MotoGP, PR and everything has lost his shine this year. You could say the Ducati was a dud, but coming back to Yamaha and the way he behaved has left a bitter taste in one’s mouth. The firing of JB was a last resort, a man who has won him every one of his premier class titles. Rossi should be reminded that JB is not on the bike, he’s not twisting the throttle, and at the point where his team mate won the most races in the class, Rossi needs to look at himself and consider if he’s just a fading star and wants to go out like, well a champ, and not like Schumacher, battling and crashing and generally making a fool of himself.

Ducati is next. It’s been years since they’ve been competitive and the team looks as much at a loss now as they did when they started with Rossi. Again they decided firing people was the way to go, firing their new replacement and replacing them with Gigi. The way the class and their bike is going, they won’t win another championship this decade. They may win a wet race though. At Lydden Hill.

Talking of Ducati, another massive disappointment was the Pramac team. Spies, whom I’ve always rated, had a torrid time and eventually retired and Iannone, an excellent rider couldn’t do anything on a machine that has now broken more bones than the Krays.

Another big disappointment was the general competitiveness of the MotoGP class. Every race but one was won by a Spaniard and every race was won by either a Repsol Honda or a Factory Yamaha. There is a depth of rider talent (why Crutchlow didn’t win this year is beyond me) but the bikes are just not up to it. This doesn’t make Marquez’s achievements any less impressive, but if there were eight people able to win as opposed to three and a half, it would certainly be a better series.

Dorna did try to jazz the series up, with the Bridgestone/Australia debacle, but they do need to even the field up a bit.

 

MotoGP 2014: Looking good or bad?

I’m depressed. I know that there will be three riders battling for the championship next year, and nothing will change much. It will be a Spanish lock in where nobody from this country watching it. Doesn’t seem that good does it?

MotoGP needs to be more inclusive lest it becomes an extended Spanish Championship, the amount of rounds and riders who are Spanish makes the series look too nepotistic. The teams need to be looking beyond their own backyard for talent and races. Why there are no decent Americans on decent bikes there is beyond me, and how about the Italians, Finnish, German, Malaysian?

I’m sure it’s fine for Dorna, but when you’re on the inside, it always looks good doesn’t it? The rest can go hang.

Saying that, I will try and watch it and hope for it to be ok. I still love this sport. I still have my heart in my mouth when the warming up lap is coming to its conclusion. I can’t imagine life without it. But 2014 will be the first time in many a year that I won’t be watching all the races. Perhaps a trial separation will make the heart grow fonder; I just hope we don’t have a divorce.

 

Note: All pictures kindly supplied by fellow Rescogs contributor Sean Allen.