Late-Braking MotoGP

19 rounds. From the 18th of March to the 18th of November.  Eight full months. A single back-to-back–Brno and Austria–until the flyaway rounds.  Thailand shoehorned in between Aragon and Motegi, with two weeks on either side.  OK, I guess.  Perhaps the teams can leave some of their shish in Thailand and not have to schlep it all over creation again a week later.

The “Circuit to be announced” stuff around the British GP is becoming hilarious. As if Ebbw Vale is EVER going to get built. Personally, I see no reason why the government needs to help fund a racetrack that will have a temporarily nice effect on the local economy during construction but then will have a few low-wage jobs a few times a year thereafter. In a region that has perhaps 20 really nice days a year.

Surveying the venues, the one that looks out of place is Austin. The US is a terrible market for MotoGP and motorcycles in general. Plus Marc Marquez wins every time out.  I love the track itself, despite its being in Texas and the presumptuousness of its name (COTA) and motto (Get thrown off a mechanical bull on Saturday night!). Not sure about the length of the current contract between Dorna and the Texas folks, but I’d be reluctant to bank on it continuing much longer.

In the spirit of internationalism, we will ignore the location of Rio Hondo, a million miles from nowhere, in favor of extending a hand to our Latin brothers, who buy a lot of motorcycles and have only soccer to look forward to the rest of the year.

2018 is the year, I believe, when I finally convince the powers that be at Motorcycle.com to cough up the expenses for a Brno/Spielberg junket next summer. What this racing stuff needs is more local color, more interviews, more in-person photography, better writing…the list goes on and on. A reward for ten years of loyal performance does not seem out of order.

Tags: Chang International Circuit, MotoGP 2018, MotoGP Calendar, Thailand

This entry was posted on September 13, 2017 at 6:39 am and is filed under Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Moto, MotoGP, MotoGP 2018, MotoGP 2018 Calendar, Motorcycle Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.