was a local hero too.Poetic because it was Findlay who had won Suzuki's first GP in the 500 class, in Ulster in 1971. It was also the first-ever two-stroke win in the top class. Not that Jack ever got much help from the Suzuki factory, remaining

and mechanics are swelling the dole queues. At the end of 2005, the same wind of change hit the riders. MotoGP heroes fell off in unprecedented numbers. Not just GP winners like Max Biaggi, Alex Barros and Carlos Checa, and Aussie battler Troy Bayliss; also

track: Phillip Island, which takes over from Assen (pole lap speed 112.79mph) as the fastest track of the year. Last year's Australian pole speed was 110.404mph.But not all modern tracks are Mickey Mouse. Brno remains vast and grand, giving the 990s a

on how to behave lap by lap.He also complained about the paddock atmosphere, having got the cold shoulder from the precious drivers who do so much to make F1 so very, very dull.Their leader Michael Schumacher popped in to the Italian GP for a go

, and the sudden extinction, ensured a memory that lived.Hocking is by comparison a forgotten hero. The only substantial difference is that Jarno died on a motorcycle and Hocking elsewhere, in a car, having turned his back on bikes. Perhaps that is enough to mean

Bike racing fans are smug about comparisons with F1 racing. With good reason. Motorcycle racers overtake one another. They battle it out through the corners. It's proper sport, rather than an exposition of technical prowess where overtaking takes

) rumours that he's highly resistant to the prospect of sharing a garage with the thrusting young Spaniard. And there are lots of reasons. One is Lorenzo's charisma. He's been trained from early childhood to be a motorcycle champion - literally. His father

continent of Australia. Would he return as promised for the Portuguese GP, or did the great scriptwriter in the sky have other plans? The post-viral syndrome that is still the major suspect can be cruelly debilitating. At Portugal for Episode 14 out of 17