T. S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruelest month, but for grand prix fans, it’s November when the season ends. We’re eight weeks away from the final pre-season test at Losail International Circuit just outside Doha, Qatar, and a week after that test, the first race of the 2011 season will take place under the Musco lights in the desert. We’re over halfway through the drought and the anticipation for the start of Jorge Lorenzo’s first premiere class championship reign is growing.
Each season we seem to look at what has changed since the last and say to each other, “This season is going to be the best in years!” Rule changes, riders going to new teams, progressing technology and the politics within the paddock always seem to join forces to begin the season with so much promise we can barely stand to wait for the first race. Sometimes at the end of a season we look back at the promise it showed and must admit that it didn’t really live up to the possibilities we saw nine months before. But 2011 seems sure to deliver a very, very interesting 18 races.
Rossi to Ducati. Stoner to Honda. Spies to Rossi’s Yamaha seat. Pedrosa with one more chance to prove his potential at HRC. Hayden to build on his progress with a bike now reborn and developed by Rossi and Burgess, the best in the business. Simoncelli looking to continue the consistency and progress he showed in the last six races of the year. And of course, the man to beat in 2010 returns with the same package all others will have to find a way to defeat if they want to take the crown: Jorge Lorenzo was unstoppable with an astounding season of nine victories and only four times off the podium. He simply crushed the best motorcycle racers in the world last year. Can he do it again? Can Rossi elevate the Ducati package from that of the bike only one man could ride to the level of balance and temperament of his beloved Yamaha? Will Stoner being even faster now that he’s free of the Ducati’s idiosyncrasies? Will Spies use the factory equipment and a year’s familiarities to join the elite group of four riders and make it five? Will Pedrosa finally have a healthy season?
If Lorenzo can deliver the same mix of speed, control and consistency, he’s going to be very tough to beat, indeed. And if 2011 doesn’t deliver on its amazing promise for entertaining racing, then we have the liter bikes coming back in 2012. Now THAT’S a season that will surely be the best in years…
