April 18, 2004
South African MotoGP
So I watched the South African MotoGP this morning (right after Meet the Press, what a juxtaposition). It's strange, I haven't really been able to watch much motorcycle racing since I stepped away from it in 1993. That was the same year that Wayne Rainey (3-time World Champion) was crippled at Misano, Italy.
I miss the adrenaline of racing, the smell as dawn comes up at the track and the two-stroke motors are fired up for the first time. The sensation of going out on a new track on new tires. Lots of stuff.
Of course, I don't miss the inevitable crashes and the pain and the expense. I'm far enough away from it now that I can remember those things. Funny that it took some ten years for me to get perspective.
I found a fascinating article where three of the great champions of that period (Rainey, Schwantz, and Doohan) reflected on the nature of their obessions.
I learned to my surprise that Mick Doohan was managing Valentino Rossi's team (the current World Champion). I just wonder whether he made the switch to Yamaha with Rossi--somehow I doubt it.
Rossi did this morning what no one has ever done. Win two successive GPs on different brands of motorcycles. I was discussing with my uncle whether one could list Rossi amongst the greats because he simply doesn't have the competition that Schwantz, Rainey and Doohan had (I think it was Rainey who said that he had to be obessed because he was racing
I begin to think that it is a sad thing that Valentino Rossi doesn't have better competition to measure himself against. Who knows, perhaps his switch to Yamaha was to quiet the doubters who said that his dominance was due to the Honda?
This win will certainly go a ways to disproving that charge.
Posted by artandscience at April 18, 2004 06:16 PM