Moved by Motorcycle Racing

Yours Truly is truly smitten with motorcycle racing. Growing up a Formula One fan, he was spoilt by the once-in-a-millennium 1982 season (you may refer to the excellent recap by Don Capps on Atlasf1 website here: Prelude, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V & Part VI, or the season review video on Youtube here) where anything that could happen did happen, and foolishly believed that every Formula One season will follow that script, if there is a script at all.

Sadly, it took him decades to realise that something that even remotely resembles THAT 1982 season will never happen again (even though the 2020 MotoGP season somewhat came close, only minus the tragedies, and with much less drama, etc.), as Formula One seasons are more than often predictable.

Luckily, he still pays attention to other forms of auto-racing and in recent years, he is absolutely fascinated by Moto3, two levels below MotoGP which is the very top class of motorcycle racing. If you have doubts, just spend 30 minutes watching a Moto3 race live and you WILL BE hooked. You will instantly appreciate how skilled these teenagers are and you will scarcely have any idea who will come out on top at the end.

Yours Truly always have his favourite riders at each level, and this season is no different. In Moto3, he is fascinated by 17-year-old Spaniard Maximo Quiles who, in the four races he has taken part so far, has secured a pole position and two podium finishes. Over the weekend, he came close to winning in Aragon but finished just 0.05 seconds behind fellow Spaniard David Munoz for second place. Showing his immaturity, he was wildly erratic during several stints leading the pack, and Yours Truly simply could not keep his eyes off him. He was for sure lucky not to have lost his second place as he, already given a warning, clearly crossed the track limits on the last lap. Nonetheless, like what the TV commentators said, he is "box office" and surely will find great success in years to come.

In Moto2, Yours Truly has his eyes on second-year man Diogo Moreira from Brazil. He took pole in Aragon, and was also painfully close to winning his first Moto2 race. Believe it or not, the margin of his loss was even smaller than Quiles' as he was beaten to the finish line by just 0.003 seconds at the hands of Turkish rider Deniz Oncu in the closest ever Moto2 finish. Picking out Moreira in a race is easy. His leather and helmet design are highly similar to that of The Doctor, Valentino Rossi. While it will take time for Quiles to move up to MotoGP, Yours Truly believes that Moreira's time for MotoGP will come sooner rather than later as MotoGP will more than likely target him, as well as fellow Moto2 rider David Alonso of Colombia, to attract the South American audience and tap into the Latin American market further. Indeed, there has been no star Latin American rider for a long time, and we have to go back two decades to find the last Latin American rider to have won a race in the top class: Alex Barros from Brazil.

For some reasons, Yours Truly always has a soft spot for Johann Zarco in MotoGP. The 34-year-old Frenchman has always been underappreciated, and never has the chance to stick with a truly good team. Amazingly though, he found his form with the underperforming Honda this year and won in front of his home crowd in Le Mans two races ago, and followed up with a second place in Silverstone last time out. Despite crashing in Aragon, he now sits sixth in the standings, being the top Honda rider with more points than the two factory Honda riders, Joan Mir and Luca Marini, combined.

Yours Truly simply loves underdogs. It is a good thing that these riders have not won that often. Or else they will turn into another Marc Marquez or even Rossi. They have simply won way too many times.