Over the last few seasons the premier class of Motorbike racing has all been a bit too nice. What it has been missing is a thrilling and gripping rivalry, something that can add that special ingredient that adds a little extra spice to the event. It happens in football when Arsenal play Manchester United, or in Rugby when London Wasp’s play Bath. A good rivalry is something that has really been missing from MotoGP for a while now. A good rivalry can turn a good race into a great race.
There have been many great rivalry’s over the years. Sheene and Roberts, Rainey and Schwarz, Rossi and Biaggi to name just a few. But since then it’s all dried up a bit. Rossi and Gibernau have exchanged differences of opinion in the Jerez paddock before, but it never really developed into anything that the fans could get hold of or excited about.
Then Dani Pedrosa moved to the top flight from 250cc and everyone was billing this as the next intense rivalry, Rossi and Pedrosa. Well if anything that was another false start. On track the two have rarely had an altercations and both are often quick to complement the other in the press when asked. Even the Stoner, Rossi rivalry stalled before it really got going, a few exchanged words about tyres and backhanded comments has now turned into complements of each others riding ability.
There was however one hope left. In 2008 Jorge Lorenzo would be moving up to the premier class. The fans lit the paper, stepped back and held their breath in anticipation to see what would happen. Already after just two rounds of the season sparks are starting to fly.
There has been some bad blood between the two riders going back through the lower litre classes which is reminiscent of Biaggi and Rossi, but no one was quite sure how either would react in the premier class. Was the rivalry merely the result of an adolescent stage that both had been going through? would there still be a spark now they were both in their twenties? Well we didn’t have long to wait.
Lorenzo spent pre-season dismissing his chances of success, often refusing to be drawn into a discussion linking him with a title challenge, claiming that he needed time to adapt to the class, throwing the media a curve ball which most of them were reluctant to take. Although bearing that in mind Lorenzo’s performance in Qatar was incredibly impressive. Taking pole position and battling through in the race to finish second, a feat that was also achieved by Dani Pedrosa in his MotoGP debut back in 2006.
Dani on the other hand had struggled all weekend with the bike and with little to no testing at all because of a testing accident was only able to qualify on the third row. If rumours are to be believed HRC was a hive of activity in the week prior to the Qatar race as requests were made by both HRC riders for more competitive equipment. Reports now claim that HRC manufactured a new chassis which has improved the fortunes of the RC212V no end.
Dani managed to finish third at Qatar, which meant that both riders would have to be on the podium, and despite the evening temperatures of the Qatar air the coolest thing on this night was the atmosphere on the podium with neither Lorenzo nor Pedrosa willing to acknowledge the other.
With Qatar finished the scene was set for round two to unfold in front of 130,000 fans at the Circuito de Jerez and it didn’t fail to disappoint. The weekend turned into a two way battle between the two Spaniards. They exchanged pole position several times during the qualifying hour before Lorenzo struck home with a killer blow to win round 1.
As the race got underway Pedrosa managed to shoot to the front just like at Qatar and made a break with Lorenzo in hot pursuit. Unfortunately the battle on track didn’t materialize on this day as Pedrosa was able to gap the two Yamaha’s and take his first win of 2008 and win round two.
With both riders on their cooling down lap, the eyes of the world's racing fans were fixed on whether there would be any interaction between the pair. There appeared to be no congratulatory hand shake on the warm down lap, no words were spoken between the two in park ferme and this was something that the guest of honour and trophy presenter for the day King Juan Carlos of Spain noted as he tried to act as peace maker before the podium ceremony, taking the two riders hands and placing them together. He may have managed to put their hands together but as the TV cameras could see there was clearly no love lost and nothing was going to make the two shake as they both pulled there arms away smiling.
We clearly haven’t seen the last of this rivalry and I’m sure there will be many more twists and turns throughout this season and those that follow. A good rivalry will put bums on seats in the grandstands and will send viewing figures soaring. Let just hope that it doesn’t get too out of hand as Lorenzo is only twenty years old and Pedrosa is only twenty two. Roll on Estoril.
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