NOT the MotoGP News #SanMarinoGP
Photo: motogp.com
It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola*
Firstly, a serious note
Mike Trimby was more important than any rider of any era. His death is a big loss to Irene and his family. It is also a loss to the whole of the racing community past and present. More people would have died without Mike Trimby. Less people would have raced and less watched it. He and IRTA’s achievements are extraordinary. A truly great man and a great loss.
And now back to the rubbish
In the bunker not even Gareth (hello – ed) can hear you scream. No idea why we’d be screaming, it’s just that sometimes the stream of unconscious waffle tends to overwhelm. Luckily as an antidote we have Misano.
The thing about Misano (as if a thousand others haven’t already told you a hundred times), it’s run backwards. No, not in reverse; the race is run around a circuit the other way to which it was designed. So, corners that used to open up onto a straight now tighten up onto a straight. Mixed up, muddled up, shook up – that’s my Misano.
Of absolutely no importance, but it was nice to see, the Ducati factory team ran in a tribute to Suzuki’s WSBK team of Corona Astana – a yellow and blue paint job for Bagnaia whilst Bastardsurnametospell opted to not be seen dead on the bike and didn’t race having conveniently declared an injury to himself. Gresini also tried to get in the game of tribute paint jobs, but no one saw the bikes on TV, so we only have their word for it.
Today the world of diversity rightly sits alongside us trying its hardest to keep our attention. And doing his bit for a section of humanity was diminutive Dani Pedrosa. KTM had decided to reward the old samurai with a race on a prototype prototype; a carbon fibre framed bike probably with 2024’s engine too. Older folk got a little teary eyed and Puig slipped back into his coffin whilst enclosing himself in his full-length cape. Dani would finish in fourth. He’s either still an alien or the rest who finished behind him are fops who would probably be beaten by Foggy. He’s definitely better than his teammate, Jackeroo who may or may not have fatherhood on his mind. T’other KTM rider, Binder, had problems, fell off, re-joined and did himself some good by just being Brad.
Marc Marquez spent the weekend playing games with the media, his team, Honda, Gresini and many, many others. His “will he, won’t he” over the useless Tokyo Bay boat anchor was at times annoying and amusing in equal amounts. His erstwhile rival Fabio Q is suffering almost as much, and probably wishes he was garnering as much attention. Amazingly they both had better races than was expected with Marc 7th and Fabio 13th; still not good really.
Whilst Dani was making a few older fans teary eyed, Jorge Martin was out front smoking everyone and everything. He’d had a great race (sorry, sprint) on Saturday, and continued in the same vein on Sunday. Two other Ducatis followed line astern. The injured Pecco and Bez. TCP and paracetamols are amazing. Without Pedrosa being exquisitely present, we’d have been bored numb by the race to be honest.
The Marc Marquez shenanigans were probably the most fun thing at Misano. The race was slightly improved by the presence of Pedrosa. Next time Stoner had better come out of retirement.
*The girl, not the car. Well, they say girl, but you know *shrugs*
