Malaysian Grand Prix *** SPOILER ALERT***

[the Ferret]

Wet races are so interesting. 5 or 6 different race leaders, and the guy in 6 th makes the podium with no extra effort lol

[Ulvetanna_imp]

If that is what you choose to read into it I suppose. I read a great piece about stresses and pressures of elite level motorcycle racers who are pitted week after week against each other, and how they cope.

Journalism 101 teaches us to draw stark contrasts, create opposing viewpoints, stress and exaggerate conflicts, and draw the reader in so he'll keep coming back to see what happens next, to see if he's safe from enemies, or if his team won, or his candidate was elected. The guy is really good at that. That's politics. That's why I quipped that he could get a job at the New York Times. I wasn't kidding, I really meant it.

For fun, I broke the piece down into its various sub-headings and found an apt quote from each section; it's a very well-written article, with the rhythm and syntax flowing very nicely, reasonably vivid imagery, and myriad cultural memes that instantly and intuitively engage the reader.

2016 Sepang MotoGP Preview - A Year Is A Long Time In Motorcycle Racing

Valentino Rossi seized upon the theory apparently put forward by his friend and business partner Alessio 'Uccio' Salucci (link is external), that Márquez had decided to conspire against Rossi to hand Jorge Lorenzo the 2015 MotoGP title.

Madness ensues

The two biggest egos in the paddock, as one insider who has worked with both men described them, were never going to capitulate.

Dignity restored

Ironically, while the press try to rekindle the controversy, both Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez have handled the issue with remarkable dignity.

Something old, something new

The resurfacing of the track has made a serious difference, posing major challenges to the riders and to the teams.

Who moved my cheese?

That does not mean that the riders were happy with the change.

Lorenzo's last chance?

Lorenzo is embroiled in a bitter battle for second with his teammate Valentino Rossi, and now trails by 24 points.

Best served cold

Valentino Rossi still has an insatiable thirst for victory, and really wants to win.

Advantage Honda?

This is where Marc Márquez will hope to take advantage, using the strength of the Honda on the brakes to make up ground on corner entry.

Boys in blue

The Suzukis are also on a roll. Maverick Viñales scored yet another podium, after coming through the field from thirteenth – an achievement only outdone by Valentino Rossi, who finished in second starting from fifteenth.

Horses for courses

For a moment, the paddock was united. The events of five years ago help to put the events of 2015 into some kind of perspective.

The only real difficulty I have when reading this article is that it demonstrates, in precise academic fashion, every single tactic, strategy, trick, rule, and technique of consumer-grade journalism. Orwell described this in 1984 when he introduced the "Versificator" into the story. Tolkien used precisely the same memes in constructing "The Lord of the Rings." It is very good work.

The announcers do the same thing, using a lot of hyperbole and extreme adjectives with sharply-drawn examples. I finally learned to tune them out or chuckle at their rhetoric, and just watch the action. Sometimes I turn off the commentary and just listen to the ambient noise.

Wet races are so interesting. 5 or 6 different race leaders, and the guy in 6 th makes the podium with no extra effort lol

lol, Crutchlow, Iannone, and Marquez throwing it down the road helped a bit as did Rossi's tire/brakes going off, but it's still a great win for #04.

Marquez was very entertaining; what a lovely shower of sparks, flitting in the mist like errant fireflies, wreathing the Spaniard's frame in lambent fire as he sprung from the turf on the instant, clutching and righting his steed and rejoining the fray, a young Lochinvar determined to finish, defiant and determined, even in defeat...

O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
And save his good broadsword he weapons had none,
He rode all unarm'd, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.

He staid not for brake, and he stopp'd not for stone,
He swam the Eske river where ford there was none;
But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,
The bride had consented, the gallant came late:
For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.

-Sir Walter Scott

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

-William Ernest Henley

All of these came to mind after reading Emmett's piece.

[CB4ME_imp]

The last 2 races in Moto3 have been crash fests. Only 20 riders finished at Phillips Island and only 17 finished at Sapang.

[Elipten_imp]

I was like a bowling alley the way they were falling.


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