Nine points is all Valentino Rossi needs to become world championship for the tenth time. Nine. No problem then. Easy peasy, my duck. Except that nine points is how many more he needs than Marc Marquez at each of the remaining MotoGP race this season to take the championship.
Until the start of this season, when Marquez was still in his rostrum-or-hospital pomp, it would have been feasible. Rossi is a master of most conditions, usually calm and well used to accepting points scores when a win is out of the question. Marquez, on the other hand, was win it or bin it. With the emphasis on was.
A way more measured approach from the little Catalan has seen consistency replace bravado and he has accrued a 43-point lead over The Doctor with five races to run - starting this weekend at Motorland Aragon. Motorland hasn’t been kind to Marquez after his win in 2013 as he has collected just a 13th place since.
Rossi, on the other hand, has taken two podiums and one non-finish while soon-to-be-not-champion Jorge Lorenzo bagged a second and two wins. But that was on different tyres and with what looks like a different head on. And hostilties between the two Yamaha men have now broken out after the Misano pass.
Marquez, on the other hand, has Dani Pedrosa up his sleeve. Repsol Honda’s other little Spaniard roared through the Misano pack to bag his first win of the year, setting fastest lap after fastest lap as he was able to make the soft front Michelin work with the high track temperatures. It was something of a masterclass.
So far this year, the 50-kilo wonder has struggled to get heat into the front tyre to give the required grip and feel. Temperature shouldn’t be a problem with 31°C forecast for Sunday at Alcaniz but there may be thunderstorms to go with that.
Pedrosa might just be what Marquez needs foil any aspirations that Rossi has of beating him at Aragon. Of course, there are no team orders in motorcycle racing until there are. Whether Pedrosa can continue his form at the colder Phillip Island and Motegi, and rainy Sepang, is a different matter but with Marquez’ new strategy, Rossi has a massive problem as he is not only scrapping with Marquez and Pedrosa, he has to cope with his own team-mate too.
Lorenzo is leaving Yamaha at the end of the season and will be in no mood to do Rossi any favours, whether his team tell him to or not. So, it’s Rossi v the Spaniards until the chequered flag at Valencia.