No Japanese motorcycle manufacture has ever asked for special Moto GP rules. They win or lose on their merits and take pride in doing so. Ducati on the other hand asks for and gets special rules. We can argue forever about the merits of different rules to make the racing better, to get more bikes on the grid and so on. But in the premier world class? In a prototype class? This is not stick ball.

There are lots of good reasons for handicapped events of all kinds. When you play catch with your kid you don’t throw the ball as hard as you can. Fine. But what value does a front row start, a pole position, a podium finish or a win have if you can only get it because of special rules?

I feel best when I do my best. If that earns me a win, so much better. But I don’t race a 600 in the 250 Ninja class even though I’ll win for sure.

Suzuki did not ask for special rules, they regrouped and they will be back. They will get spanked but they will not ask for more fuel, softer tires or anything else. When they stand on the top step you will see in their faces, pride for a job well done, pride earned.

Better to take your lumps, then to take special treatment. It’s a good thing Ducati has a special customer base.

My friend MG over at  http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ agrees with me on this.  Here is what he has to say:

Photo from NPR, thank you.

A little over a hundred years ago Great Britain won a war with China and more or less stole the island of Hong Kong for 100 years. Britain wanted a naval base and trading center in that part of the world. All part of their successful scheme for world power.

Over the course of the 100 year deal Hong Kong changed from a Colony ruled by a far away power into a representative government and an economic power house.

Now the people of Hong Kong are helping to speed political change in China. It won’t be fast and it will be messy but it will happen. The result will not be what we except, it will be what they want.

The list of problems caused by the British is long but the list of good work is longer. There is a reason that the Prime Meridian is in England.

I’m surprised by how little I’m seeing on FB about the Aragon race. I’m sure there is more social media going on than I’m seeing but when that much stuff happens I except to see more ranting from haters.

I think I know why there is so little BS about this race. It was a well organized event. It was run using the rules and the rules make sense. The track is challenging and low risk.

How low risk is the track? So low risk that first and second in the world championship were willing to keep going on slicks till they crashed. So low risk that of 3 crazy high speed crashes 2 resulted in no injuries to the riders and little damage to the bikes. One crash dazed the rider when his head whacked the ground. It must be said that one rider had to run so far to get back to his bike that he may have been a little out of breath. How is that for good run off room?

The Flag to Flag rule won’t work for most and it sounds a little odd but it sure is better than stopping the race. This rule has passed the only test that matters, it works.

How good are these guys? One guy was so much faster than everyone else that you wondered what the point of showing up was. But racers all know that it’s called racing for a reason and they are all racers.

Even the haters sometimes know when to keep their mouths shut.

Yes, I think I will watch that race again. Right now.
I really like being able to watch races on my computer whenever I want as many times as I want. I like it so much that I happily pay extra for the privileged. Right now there are no ads but as long as you don’t cut away from the racing, I do want to see the ads from companies that support racing.
Hint. Hint! HINT!

This note just in from Bill, the owner of the FZ-09 that I posted about his forks:

“Ed
Thanks and it’s always a pleasure doing business with you. I’ve already been out on a few fast sweepers and am completely happy with the work.
Bill”

Bill has four bikes, I now have his BMW1000S, it’s the last of the 4 to get the LE touch.

Thank you Bill!

Over at http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ my friend MG is bitching about how the MotoGP officials messed up when they made Folger give up a position then gave him a ride through plenty on the last lap because he did not give up the position in time.

It use to be that we raced on dangerous tracks, on unreliable bikes with useless gear. It use to be that when you cut the course you lost a lot of time off road riding. Now we race at nice tracks with paved run off room on fast bikes with great gear. Now when you cut the course you don’t crash and many times don’t even lose any ground but that’s not fair to the riders who stayed on the track.

So Folger cut the course somewhere. He knew he cut the course and he knew he did not give up the position. When he later got the give up one position board after pulling away from those guys he should have slowed way down so that they caught him at the slowest part of the track giving him the best chance of letting only the one guy past and the best shot at getting back ahead and the most remaining laps to go after the next guy. Instead he kept going like a track day rider waiting for his slow friend who is on the other side of the track.

Folger caused and compounded this problem. He should be penalized for messing up the battle behind him and for not following the rules, not fussed over because the officials looked like poor parents trying to deal with a bratty six year old.

As to what MG says about DMG’s last AMA Pro weekend, he is spot on.

Up-dated with MG response:  By the way, he is right.