Posts Tagged ‘MotoGP Calendar’

About the 2024 MotoGP Calendar

September 30, 2023

Testing the limits of human endurance again, but more

After a cursory examination of the provisional 2024 MotoGP calendar, we are once again going to get all up in Carmelo Ezpeleta’s business. We thought (think) the 2023 calendar is brutal enough to get a few riders and crew members hospitalized. The Powers That Be took our comments to heart and produced a calendar for next year which is even worse.

22 rounds. Four back-to-back rounds. A late season Pacific flyaway with six rounds in seven weeks, including four hotties–India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Round 9 in central Asia–Kazakhstan, of all places. 12 European rounds and 10 outside Europe. 11 rounds before the summer break and 11 following. 44 races counting the Saturday Sprints.

Here’s a reference I’d wager NONE of you will understand. Rumor has it that there will be two additional rounds on the 2025 calendar, one in Irkutsk, the other in Kamchatka. Anyone?

For 2024, Lusail gets moved back to Round 1, followed by the annual demolition derby at Algarve in Portugal. After a week off comes the first back-to-back in Argentina and COTA. Then comes Jerez, followed by Le Mans. The second double of the year goes from Barcelona to Bologna. Then comes Sokol, which has two asterisks, designating it, once again, as the annual loss leader, The Round Most Likely To Get Cancelled. Teams get a week off to prepare for the third double in Assen and East Germany, followed by the summer break, during which everyone loses interest in motorcycle racing in general.

The back nine starts at Silverstone, then on to Austria. The last doubleheader of the year takes us from Aragon to Misano. Then the teams spend mid-September girding their loins for the dreaded and dreadful flyaways. In quick succession India, Indonesia and Japan. A week off to hydrate and spend time in the hyperbaric chamber. Then, boom, Phillip Island, Thailand and Malaysia. The last men standing will have a week to convalesce before the usual finale in Valencia.

We haven’t really gotten into the hard part of the 2023 calendar yet and the riders are begging for mercy. Aleix is not happy, Fabio is stressed out. The weather in India forced the truncation of races in all three classes, with only 16 riders even finishing the main event. Alex Marquez and Luca Marini ended the weekend in the hospital with fractures. The brolly girls were exhausted from fighting frizz all weekend. And it will hit the fan for real on 13 October when things get ginned up in Indonesia.

Whatever happened to the 18-round season? The occasional back-to-back? The three round Asian flyaway? Time to rest between qualifying on Saturday and the Sunday race, except for Assen? Inquiring minds want to know. These are our heroes out there getting their brains bashed in and having their life expectancies shortened in Ezpeleta’s incessant quest to overtake F-1 as the preeminent racing league in the world. Something’s gotta give.

Any of you planning to attend Round 9 please extend my warm regards to Borat’s sister.

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Posted in Dorna, FIM, Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Marc Marquez, Motegi, Moto, Moto2, Moto3, MotoGP | 3 Comments »

Provisional 2018 MotoGP Calendar Released

September 13, 2017

2018 Provisional FIM calendar

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.

 

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Posted in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, Moto, MotoGP, MotoGP 2018, MotoGP 2018 Calendar, Motorcycle Racing | 1 Comment »