A dismal English winter granted a reprieve for our favorite Briton to stretch his G.50's legs at Anglesey.
It’s been a long, cold winter in England. During December, the whole country froze up – we were actually colder than Moscow at times – and entering a bike shop was like walking into a tomb. Things didn’t get much better in the new year and one major dealer I know very well sold only one bike during January and took $21 on accessory sales during a whole Saturday’s trading. This was not good.
Occasionally, some hardcore 24/365 acolytes of our own Dr. Frazier could be seen, buried beneath electrically heated, Gore-Tex layered suits, riding their salt encrusted steeds. But for the girlie boys who make up most of the motorcycling population – including me – bikes were not on the agenda.
Then, for no apparent reason, God got bored with destroying the bike industry and quite literally out of nowhere has come weather sufficient for Team Melling to break out the barbecue and eat by our pond. How miraculous is that in an English March?
And with the sun has come a whole new world. Last week we ran in the G.50 at Anglesey. Goodness, I needed that fix sooooooo badly.
G.50 for the track and reliable Suzuki V-Strom for the street, our man arranged a jaunt through the Welsh countryside.
Then I caught our
V-Strom smiling at me from the back of the garage so this weekend we’re off for a couple of hundred miles riding in the Welsh hills.
We are in the midst of a severe recession in England – despite what the politicians say. Added to this there is so much sadness in the world with the tragedy of the Japanese tsunami, the civil war in Libya and the endless futility of the Afghanistan conflict. All these things are enough to make any sentient person sad.
But on the other side of the scale are our bikes – and the unbridled joy they bring. So, here’s to motorcycling – in all its many forms from custom cruisers to classic racers – and a great season ahead.
Like me, you no doubt tuned in to watch the first round of
MotoGP and, probably also like me, you had mixed feelings. I know that it is very unprofessional, not to say unkind, but did you join me in having a quiet smile at
Ducati? They – or more accurately, Malborough – have, allegedly, stumped up some $36 million for Rossi whilst, equally allegedly, Honda stole
Casey Stoner for a mere $8 million. As the “All You Can Eat” restaurants might say – a bargain at twice the price.
Valentino Rossi on a Ducati for 2011. Will the Italian marque get the most out of it $36 million dollar investment?
The bizarre thing about this Alice in Wonderland world which is MotoGP, is that Ducati have, allegedly for the third time, shown a net profit on the
Rossi/Ducati deal. The downside is that when your top rider is in seventh position and his teammate two places further down the pack, the message comes across loud and clear. Ducati’s GP success was 100% down to the precocious genius of Stoner. This is not good for sales and already the Italian arm of the Ducatisti are getting restless.
If, as Rossi claims, he needs three months to get fully fit, and the Ducati GP11 demands a full re-design, then I predict tears before bedtime for both factory and rider.
There were no tears for
Cal Crutchlow and Tech 3 after Qatar. Normally, Cal would be suicidal with an 11th position in any race, but in MotoGP this is considered a rabid success. On a personal level, I need Cal to do the business quickly because I have a $10 bet with Ken Hutchison, MCUSA’s Boss of All Bosses, that Crutchlow will run in the top 10 within the first three GPs. And with the current parlous state of the Melling household following the G.50’s winter re-build, that $10 could be a make-or-break payment.
The racing was spectacular – even with the depleted field – and the bikes technically interesting but I do worry about the racing world eating its own seed corn. Several hundred years ago, when I was a young man, spectators at Grands Prix came from right across the age range from kids to senior citizens. These days, the crowd is heavily compacted into middle-aged males – and older middle-aged, too.
A key reason for this shift in demographics is the cost of taking kids to race meetings. This has been bad in the past but this year the costs are quite simply horrendous.
In Portugal, a full-price ticket kicks in when the kid is 14 years old and half-price tickets start when the little one is just seven. If your child occupies a grandstand seat then that’s full price – and no excuses.
Silverstone kindly allows babies up to two years old in free of charge. Our daughter Elizabeth was as tuned in to bike racing as any kid in the galaxy but I doubt even her ability to follow a 45-minute GP race when she was 18 months old.
Pinching Casey Stoner from Ducati seems like a steal for HRC, at least if Qatar is any indication.
One of the most generous of circuits is Laguna Seca where sub-13 year olds come in for free – provided that they are tough enough to deal with the threat of sunstroke caused by standing out in the general admission areas.
The saddest thing is that this constant battering of families is not going to generate any extra income for organizers. In the current economic climate, families are not going to bankrupt themselves to watch MotoGP live and that’s certain. The most likely scenario is that Mum and kids will stay at home whilst Dad goes on his own. How does this help the food vendors or t-shirt sellers?
What is even worse is that those kids who stay at home won’t become the next generation of GP fans and this is really worrying – not to say terribly sad. So, a plea to Dorna: Let all kids under 16 years of age, who are accompanied by an adult who has paid full admission price, come in for free. Then, on the day before the race, arrange a special kids only session for them to meet the stars along with a free pen, badge, or whatever. That’s the way to ensure that you still have an audience 15 years from now.
