Jorge Lorenzo: 2010 Champion
With the Championship already tied up for Jorge, I have already started my Moto GP mourning for the end of this season… I can’t help but get ahead of myself with anticipation for 2011; caught in a limbo where I don’t want the MotoGP to end – but, boy, I can’t wait for the new challenges and variables 2011 is due to bring!
There are of course still two races left this season – and actually still a lot of drama left to be resolved. Just because Lorenzo has sped away with the title, with an especially dominent end to the season, does not mean that all the loose ends have been tied.
We have this weekend, a Hallowe’en trip to Estoril, and at the start of November we bid a final farewell to the 2010 season at the traditional Valencia circuit.
Estoril is famed for thrilling overtaking manouvres, with riders making daring cuts – unfortunately the heavy rain of this weekend could limit the bravery of the riders, as risk of a fall multiplies in the unpredictable and greasy conditions. While there are no titles to lose – points, and pride, still remain to be won.
The Spanish East Coast is a place where Jorge will want to end his first Championship season with a win in front of his home fans; Dani will be back from his latest injury – a multiply fractured collarbone – looking to claw back those lost points while he was away, prove he is not so far behind title rival and compatriot, Jorge Lorenzo, and set a statement for how he is looking to begin 2011. Pedrosa is still second in the Championship, just 23 points ahead of last race’s victor, Casey Stoner, and 31 more ahead of Valentino Rossi.
Yes, The Doctor. Not one to ever shirk the limelight – and with these being his final two races for Yamaha, you can bet Vale will be desperate to end his season – and Yamaha career – with a victory, or two. Just as he did when he left Honda in 2003.
This is a large reason I am excited for 2011 – Rossi, 46, on the Ducati.
We have no more superlatives left to describe Valentino, he has set such a huge precedent and changed the face of MotoGP. He proved the importance of the rider, how having a ‘fast bike’ was not all that ensured victory. His, as seen, ‘step down’ to Yamaha seemed a folly move that would be suicidal to his career. The bike was so far behind Honda; the dominant force, the best and the beast in the paddock. No one could understand the motives or logic of such a move – and certainly did not expect him to be so immediately successful (a first race victory and first season championship).
Valentino enjoying his Yamaha success
I digress, we all know Valentino’s success story. This is why we should not be alarmed that he has chosen to move to his dream team, Italian manufacturers, Ducati.
While his motives for leaving perhaps this time involve less animosity and apathy, most certainly the ones he had about needing a new challenge have resurfaced. Somehow, seven years have flown by. It was such a personal shock to realise he had been at Yamaha so long – as it meant I had been watching MotoGP for over a decade, and at 22, I thought that was quite excessive, in that I had no idea I had been following since my childhood – but the numbers don’t lie! It’s even crazy to realise he was at Yamaha – risky, deficient, unpredictable Yamaha – for nearly twice the time he was with Honda (from 500’s to MotoGP). A fair reflection of where Rossi’s happiest years have been.
At 31, with six MotoGP titles and a Championship in each 125cc, 250cc and 500cc, nobody can begrudge a move to the Italian manufacturer – and even fewer can question his “balls” (as he refers to so often in his autobiography), for making this move now.
I will admit to not being a fan of the Ducati – I blame this, in part, to being a female and preferring a less muscular-looking bike. I feel even worse about the street BMW’s… I can only blame it on wanting a sexier aesthetic.
But it’s not just that – the bike is so different; so idiosyncratic and disobedient. It seems a real wrestle, and like the sort of bike that embodies the idea that victory can only come when the rider is 100% in-tune with his bike; the sort of bike where success can only come via a harmonious relationship between man and machine.
It’s such a romanticised notion: the compatriot manufacturer, another challenge, a new beginning – and all the time in a league that has some of the best young riders currently competing, and some of the toughest challengers Rossi has had for years: Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Marco Simoncelli, Ben Spies…
The move-up from Moto 2 to MotoGP ‘proper’ is a, reletively, easier adjustment to make than from 250cc to the former 500cc series. The four-stroke MotoGP bikes are easier to control and have less attitude than the 500’s.
Dani Pedrosa celebrates a victory
I have split loyalties now, for who I want to succeed next year. For the brave and exciting reasons I have stated above, seeing Valentino do it again and prove his dominance in MotoGP would be immeasurably rewarding.
But it cannot be ignored that I have invested a lot of time and emotion into the success of Dani Pedrosa. I was already into my MotoGP when a fresh-faced, teeny-tiny, Dani climbed upon his first Honda in the 125 class. He became a quick, and firm, favourite of mine – especially when he was racing 125 alongside Rossi’s 500 season.
And because I have championed him, ached for him to win and despaired everytime he fell off – usually for just seeming too tiny for the bike! – something I want more than anything, and I think that he deserves, is for him to win a MotoGP Title.
I still love the Repsol Honda’s – after carrying Rossi and Nicky to victories. I hope still for the same for Dani. Though I fear the competiton, with the garage switchovers, will be tougher than ever.
I’m anticipating a positive, and emotional, end to this season – but more than that, cannot wait for 2011’s to start. Another exciting chapter in the life of Valentino Rossi, and hopefully a rightly memorable one for Dani Pedrosa too…
Pursuit of Nattiness 