Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
Is It (Another) Turning Point For the U.S. GP?
Are you getting ready for COTA? MotoGP’s new owners Liberty Media will be hoping that you’re packed and loaded for Austin. Or that if you’re not actually going to make the journey to Texas from wherever you are, you will be glued to all possible media sources to follow every minute of action at the Americas GP.
Devotees will know that it’s likely to be worth it. Long, fast and varied, the Texan track is something of a highlight when compared with (for example) pocket-handkerchief Sachsenring or silly-billy Balatonring. A track to be valued all the more, with the looming loss of Phillip Island after this year’s forthcoming last tango at the Australian wonder-track.
With the postponement (or, more than possibly, the eventual cancellation) of the war-hit Qatar GP, originally scheduled a fortnight after the U.S. round, the COTA race is even more than usual a landmark event, as the last season for the big-bore 1000cc aerodyne monsters gets off to a so-far somewhat shaky start.
Especially important for Marc Marquez, needing to prove that his shoulder injury will not give hungry rivals any more hope of upsetting his (and Ducati’s) dominance. This was after the Thai season-opener, when a penalty robbed him of a Sprint win, and a disintegrating rear wheel ended a Sunday race when he was battling even to make the podium on Ducati’s worst day for years.
Marc was previously the undisputed master of the complicated COTA track, winning as if by right, and generally by miles from 2013 to 2018, and again in 2021, one of only three victories in that injury-hit year. He should have won in 2019, too, leading by far when an electronic glitch tipped him off. (The 2020 race didn’t happen.)
Since then, no joy, summed up when he crashed out of the lead last year, handing a rare win to ill-starred Ducati teammate Bagnaia. He needs to get back to COTA control.
But racing this year is, for once, not all about Marc. Ducati rivals Aprilia and KTM both appear to have stepped up in a more-than-meaningful way.
For Aprilia, that puts the latest rising star, Marco Bezzecchi, into the spotlight, after his winning end (in Marc’s absence) last year. But he is not alone, with factory teammate Jorge Martin, another Aprilia notable. Last year, Martin’s defense of his hard-won 2024 championship was ruined by early and repeated injury, and the Spaniard has plenty to prove.
For KTM, the heat is being applied mainly by Pedro Acosta, who left the opening Thai round leading the championship, a first for him and for the Austrian marque.
There is also a resurgent Honda, and lots of interest in new Yamaha rider Toprak Razgatlioglu, although the company’s new V4 has been a disappointment early on.
These are not the only candidates, of course, at a time when many have hailed the changing of the guard. So, the chances of a lively Americas GP are strong.
But it needs to be strong—and strongly supported—for it’s not only among the riders that there is a feeling of change. More important overall is the management. And for Liberty Media, a first chance to grab hold of their domestic U.S. market and start rebuilding.
Not that motorcycle GP racing was ever particularly strong in the USA, even back in the glory days when a small army of riders seized control of the premier class. The first was Kenny Roberts (with apologies to Pat Hennen and Stevie Baker), leading a full generation including Randy Mamola, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz.
All of them, however, were more famous in racing’s European heartland and in Japan than at home. Even when a series of U.S. GPs ran at Laguna Seca from 1988 to 1994.
Concerted efforts by Dorna a decade later saw the Californian track rejoin the calendar between 2005 and 2013, and from 2008, there was even a second U.S. round at Indianapolis, a venue that outlasted Laguna, until 2015, and even overlapped with COTA after that track was inaugurated in 2013.
But the interest wasn’t enough to sustain two races, and it took a strong will to keep just one going.
Maybe this year will mark a turning point. Some Liberty pizzazz and financial clout could see MotoGP follow the media giant’s other property, Formula One, in adding more Stateside races to this lone survivor. Giving what devotees already believe is the correct status to the sport.
The first major innovation for 2026?
Harley-Davidson Baggers. COTA marks the opening round of the new American-flavored series. But with, at the time of counting, only nine riders on the grid, it doesn’t have the feel of a great epiphany.
The best thing for us fans is to pay attention to this event and spread the word. CN
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