MOTOGP : EXPLOSIVE SEASON BEGINS THIS WEEKEND!

If you want to know how crucial a player is to a team, examining the performance of the team when he is absent is a good place to begin. A lion of European football was humiliated and booted out of the competition by Ajax! Heads and everything else will roll! C. Ronaldo – one of the greatest footballers of all time!

MARQUEZ

Marc Marquez, is without question, the best MotoGP rider in the current era. He has single-handedly sidelined previously dominant riders, including World Champions, the affable Rossi and the surgical Lorenzo.

Marquez’ introduction to the championship led to a brand of vicious, purposeful, frantic riding not seen for eons. He owns the record book at present and even when his machine is not the best or the quickest on the grid, he somehow wrestles the demon, vanquishes his foes and gnaws his way to the top step of the podium. He is the substance of which legends are comprised.

DOVIZIOSO

Pleasure, I am certain, is not a wind which invades the sanctuary of the other teams each time Marquez buries their faces in his achievements. It has been evident for some time now, that the Ducati is a rapid machine and Dovizioso has shown that he wears a NO FEAR T-shirt when Marquez appears.

As a result we have seen instances of fairing-bashing and front wheel intimacy as the riders trade more than paint on the final corner to snatch a victory. ‘Dovi’ is the real deal. The Ducati is definitely a MACHINE!

But, ever so often, when it matters most, Marquez twists that throttle and rips off into victory’s sunset. Having said that, the tantalizing treat which is on offer in 2019 is a glutton’s present!

Marc has his plate laden with rivals, all seeking to claim what he might tell you is his by birth. But, as fate dictated, with the departure of Pedrosa from the Honda stable, one of Marc’s most significant nemesis is no longer in a distant garage. Jorge Lorenzo is Marc’s current team-mate! Lorenzo’s ego exceeds the dimensions of any receptacle!

The implications of Lorenzo’s ‘mad-move’ cannot be overstated. If ever a gift was presented to fans, the fireworks expected when all of these monumental forces collide, is definitely it!

Rossi retains an inextinguishable flame and if he receives the improvements he seeks for his Yamaha machine, we can expect him to reside comfortably in the shark-infested pool. Pre-season testing is over. Qatar, this weekend is no test – WWWWAAAAARRRRR!

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM!

Ambition has a habit of altering what is possible. Crutchlow, Vinales, Rins, Zarco and Petrucci have their own carefully laid plans. Will any of them successfully displace the World Champions?

Who will strike first? Dovi? Lorenzo? Really? Lorenzo? Rossi? A dark horse?

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer