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Why I don't like the 180-second Grand Prix races anymore

The thrill but not the risk. A mini-endurance with a thrilling final sprint. But are we sure the audience wants these 20-lap trails?

Why I don't like the 180-second Grand Prix races anymore

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MotoGP? No, mini endurance. Or, if you prefer, sprint races.

Today, the premier class Grand Prix lasts one and a half, two laps. A couple of overtakes when braking, one or two attempts to pass in a double bend, and then a final sprint with your nose to the rev counter.
Exciting? Well, not really.

When we'll look at the rankings in twenty years, with the first five - Dovi, Marquez, Crutchlow, Rins, and Valentino - and with only six-tenths separating them, our great-grandchildren will say: Fantastic! But it’ll be an illusion.

Even if the numbers tell a different story. In fact, Dovizioso beat Marquez by 27/1000 in 2018. This time he did it by 23. But how long did the race last, 22 laps or two?

Really, it's as if two boxers in the ring went round and round throwing just a few light jabs.
Not even a hook, an uppercut, or some heavy blows. A skirmish. One that, however, is worth 5 points more and the victory.

Five points are not a lot, but the personal satisfaction you get is enormous, and it's worth more than the mathematical result that, instead, counts for the ranking.
But these are no longer races with a pure speed, and we don't like them.

No one goes to the max from the very start anymore. They wait, they study. Strategy is more important that pure speed. And this even minimizes the risk.

They'll be saying: with these 280 hp beasts, you have to ride like this, but that's not true. You have to ride like that, otherwise, after ten laps, everyone will be left with tires worn to the belts.

Only an ignoramus person with the subtle art of unstable equilibrium can judge these MototGps as exciting. The thrill exists, of course, but for two or three minutes. The time for a lunge, a thrust, a parry.

A premature ejaculation.

Entertaining?

So-so.

My 5 cents.

 

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