If the true purpose of professional roadracing is the development of technology, then MotoGP -- even with only seven bikes finishing on the lead lap at the Australian Grand Prix (last time this happened was at Salzburgring, Austria, in 1991) -- is working just fine.
Four Hondas powered away with Casey Stoner clinching the title to go with the Constructor's Championship on a track where some savage new bumps sprung up over the Australian winter to knock out both the hard-pressed Yamaha riders before they even managed to get to the grid on Sunday. No question that the final evolution of the 800 class has produced some magnificent machines and that these are certainly the most sophisticated racing motorcycles ever raced in the premier category.
The truth is that, however, much as this upsets some folks, the cost and difficulty of trying to keep up with the Hondas is bankrupting the MotoGP class. Does 'something' have to be done or is this just survival of the fittest in the evolutionary history of racing?
I respect and share the opinion of those who say that MotoGP should not 'dumb down' in order to improve 'the show.' But I also remember what Bernie Ecclestone said to Carmelo Ezpeleta over dinner at Donington Park, 1992. I think I can recall just about the exact words (I was working in Dorna back in the early days): “One thing I know, that I have learned, is that you must never permit the manufacturers -- especially the Japanese manufacturers -- to have their way with the rulebook because they think like competitors, which is all well and good for them, but they know absolutely nothing about the business of professional motorsports.”
It is not that the current Dorna CEO (he was general director and #2 in Dorna the day of that post-race dinner hosted at Donington by track owner, the late Tom Wheatcroft) ignored or disagreed with such sage advice. Unlike Formula 1 with its strong base of 'constructor teams,' Grand Prix motorcycle racing was, in 1992, as dependent upon the participation of the Japanese giants as it is today -- except that in '92 the technology costs for two-stroke 500cc development were miniscule compared to today’s four-strokes.
Although the arm wrestling that is currently going on between Dorna and the MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association) over the future of MotoGP has been depicted by the Italian press as a 'war,' Honda, the big dog of the MSMA, now reduced to four participating members (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Ducati), understands that teams without major sponsorship can no longer afford to lease factory satellite bikes -- and the factories cannot afford, they maintain, to lower their lease costs. And without a thriving MotoGP series for prototypes, Honda and the rest would have nowhere to apply 'blue sky engineering' (Japanese for free thinking) to the sport of roadracing.
