HRC’s MISANO MISERY...
Many years ago I read some heavy tome on military history. One scene described has always stayed in what’s left of my mind: An aide was having an intense discussion with Napoleon - lauding & extolling the talents & ability of a young, thrusting Officer being considered for serious promotion to command. An impatient Napoleon interrupted with, “Yes, yes – but is he lucky?”
This scene & it’s seldom acknowledged truth immediately came to mind after Lap 1 @ Misano. Dani Pedrosa simply has to be the unluckiest bloke this side of the fabled Black Stump!
One has to wonder if he is destined to be like Stirling Moss & Chris Amon - two of the very best drivers in F1. Moss never won a World Championship – while Amon, the Kiwi Ferrari driver, couldn’t even win a F1 GP to save his life. Amon’s luck was such that fellow driver & legendary F1 Champ, Mario Andretti once joked that "If Chris Amon became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Excrement happens! And to some far more than others ...
2012 was Pedrosa’s BIG chance at a MotoGP Title. Anything could still happen – but most pundits would agree that his chance seems to have now evaporated forever.
Pedrosa, Alberto Puig and HRC’s Suppo & Nakamoto must have literally been spitting blood & farting sparks after Misano. HRC has gone from being in the box seat at the start of the season with their riders testing fastest & dominating – especially Casey Stoner - whom seemed set for a ‘three peat with another Championship Title - to grasping at a handful of sand. Since then, Dorna’s meddling with ballast, which unsettled the RC213V’s chassis & then Bridgestone’s abrupt introduction of new tyres & fast removal of the only casing & compound that worked for Stoner, put a major crimp in all that. Just when Stoner found his mojo again – he got seriously injured. And now this...? At least young Mr. Rea stayed-on & professionally did the business as expected. Good on him too!
Casey Stoner’s absence has (and will) leave a giant hole in MotoGP. Anyone notice Pedrosa’s qualifying time on the 1,000cc RC213V for Misano was almost a second (7/10ths to be precise) slower than Stoner set last year there on the 800? I appreciate conditions were difficult with so much down-time but there is still a lesson here in this. Once Dani was out it degenerated into a 1 horse race & as boring as batshit. Cheers
