MotoGP with Boris | A new king of COTA is crowned

MotoGP 2022 – Round Four – COTA
Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas

Stay up for the race by swallowing truck-driving pills washed down with coffee, or go to bed early and get up at stupid o’clock with eyes full of sand instead? Borrie picked the latter…

There are not many things I’m all grateful for when I have to get up at three am. But that race, the 500th Grand Prix, sure was one of them. It was simply brilliant – at both ends of the pack – right from the get-go.

The big news was that Marc Marquez was back. His diplopia had receded to the point where he was deemed fit enough to race. And why wouldn’t he? If there was any track where he would be strong, the Circuit Of The Americas was it.

The track itself had been largely resurfaced, but that didn’t stop those Pom wankers who call the race referring to it as the ‘Horsepower Rodeo’ so many times, I felt like tying them to a mad horse and dragging them from El Paso to Dallas. There were still a few bumps, but nothing like the jackhammer bounce-fest the riders were complaining about in previous years.

I watched Marc closely during Practice and Qualifying, and saw he was constantly on the lookout for a tow. He’d had very little time on the all-new HRC Honda, and it’s not like his team-mate Pol could offer any insights, other than how hard it hits the air-fences. Pol himself was not on his game, average as it is. He’d declared himself awash with food poisoning, and thus not capable of his usual stellar performance.

Last week’s surprise winner, Aleix Espargaro, quickly reverted back to his usual mediocre self – but managed to wave his arms angrily at Morbidelli during Q1, before munting himself into the rocks, and thus qualifying in his normal place on the grid, 13th, just ahead of his old friends, Maverick and Dovi.

The front of the grid looked a lot more normal than it did the previous round. Jorge Martin had secured pole, just ahead of Jack and Pecco. Fabulous, suffering from a noticeable top-speed deficit, still somehow managed to wedge his Yamaha into fourth, while two other Ducatis, the Beast’s and Zarco’s, finished off the second row.

Behind them sat the Suzukis of Rins and Mir – and you’ll recall Rins was the only other rider to win at COTA other than Marc Marquez, so expectations were high in Hamamatsu, and Marc himself was in ninth.

But once the lights went out, a mechanical issue saw Marc flubbing about in last place as Jack Miller took the holeshot, pursued by Jorge Martin, and the other Ducatis. The Beast smashed his way into third by the fifth corner, and the race very quickly got very exciting.

Martin got around Miller in Turn 19 on the first lap, but Miller passed him back almost immediately. Marquez had instantly started passing people the second his bike started behaving and had made up seven places before the end of the first lap. Chasing Miller and Martin was the Beast, who was in turn pursued by Pecco and Fabulous.

Bezzechi, easily the best rookie out there so far this year (unless you’re from South Africa), ran off, then rejoined blowing slight puffs of smoke, and was black-flagged. This gave him a chance to watch Marc work his way into 14th, a mere five seconds behind the leading Miller.

The front pack closed up a little on the next lap – and it was Jack, Jorge, Beast, Pecco, and Zarco, with Rins exchanging places briefly with Fabulous, who was wringing whatever happiness he could out of his Yamaha. His team-mate, Franki, was having no such luck at the back of the field.

The next lap saw Zarco being the fastest bloke on track, but these flashes of speed never seem to last very long with the Frenchman anymore. Still, he hurtled past Pecco, then gave it all back to the factory Ducati rider, before making it stick and grabbing fourth spot behind the Beast.

Marc almost sent Vinales into the sand with a savage passing manoeuvre, outbraked himself, but managed to keep it upright, and just charged on. Mir chased Rins for seventh, but no-one seemed able to make any kind of break.

Last week’s winner, Aleix Espargaro was holding a decent ninth, and probably wondering why last round’s winning performance was not being repeated. Marc had worked his way up to 13th, then passed Brad Binder and took 12th. Mir also took this opportunity to get around Fabulous and secured seventh.

And the race was barely getting started. By the next lap, Marc was in 11th, and Rins was now in fifth, having put paid to Bagnaia. I didn’t know where to look. Certainly Marc’s charge from last place was otherworldly, but nothing Marquez does surprises me. That Rins was still upright though, was amazing.

Fabulous was squeezing everything he could get out of his Yamaha, as Rins began torturing Zarco for a few corners, before securing fourth for himself. He then let Zarco past, but it was not for long. He block-passed the Frenchman on Turn 11, and it stuck. Now Zarco was going to have to worry about Pecco, who was also closing on him.

Marc was now in tenth and lapping faster than Miller, who was still keeping Martin at bay up front. This is when Rins came up against the Beast. The Spaniard passed him, but the Beast outdragged him down the back straight and kept third for himself. Marc had put paid to Aleix Espargaro, and was now in ninth and closing on Fabulous.

The Beast was clearly of the view he had to get past Martin, and put that Pramac Ducati in between himself and Rins, who was just not backing off. Rins re-enforced that view by passing Enea once again in Turn 11, and again losing the drag-race down the back straight.

Beast duly dialled it up a touch and sailed past Martin. On the next lap, Rins also passed Martin, and Bagnaia fed Zarco another vicious block-pass to secure fifth. Now it was Fabulous’s turn to torment his fellow Frenchman, who was making a habit of running wide in corners.

Miller had eked out a whole second’s worth of lead over the Beast, and Marc was now the fastest man on the track. Zarco’s day got worse. Both Fabulous and Marquez passed him eight laps from the end of the race. Rins relegated Martin to fourth, then Bags shunted him back another spot.

Marc had also passed Fabulous and was now in seventh, while the Beast was closing in on Jack by three-tenths-of-a-second a lap – and there were more than enough laps left to make that count. Rins was solidly in third, just over a second behind him, so it was becoming very edge-of-the-seat stuff as the sun still sat behind our eastern horizon.

There was no doubt in my mind the Beast would pass Jack. You could just see it. Enea was making that 2021 Ducati work so much better than Jack’s 2022, you gotta wonder what kind of conversation Gigi will be having with his bosses after the race.

Marc went sailing past Fabulous, then he went around Martin, which also allowed Fabulous to get past the Pramac rider. This is when the Beast pulled the trigger, did Jack, and within two corners had half-a-second on him.

As Fabulous fought with Marquez for sixth place, Rins was coming up on Jack three-tenths-of-a-second faster, just like the Beast had previously. And on Turn 11, he went by, but Jack out-dragged him down the back-straight – it was all he could do. And he held Rins at bay, back in third, until Turn 19 on the very last lap, when the Spaniard did the deed, and grabbed second off Jack. It was mean, but clean.

The Beast finished two seconds ahead of Rins, and declared to the camera “I push like a bastard! And now is time for hamburger.” Which is maybe what he thinks is Texan for supermodel.

Marquez finished in sixth, a scant six-plus seconds behind the winner. It was an astonishing ride. Had he not bogged his start, he would have been at the pointy end – in fact, he would have been the pointy end. But that takes nothing away from Enea Bastianini’s phenomenal display on an old satellite bike.

The championship ladder could not be tighter as we now take a breath and head to Europe, where the weapons will be re-sharpened and unsheathed on the old battlefields, and our Sunday nights become normal once again.

2022 Aragon MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

MotoGP Constructors Points Standings

MotoGP Team Points Standings

2022 MotoGP Calendar