As a racer, Mat is an Isle of Man TT winner and lap record holder. As a scribbler, he’s been at it since the late 1980s and has written acclaimed biographies of Valentino Rossi and Mick Doohan – plus he’s an award-winning commentator too.
The third of our four Hall of Fame blogs examines the dazzling skills of the so-called natural riders: Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz and Casey Stoner People often talk about naturally…
Who to blame for the poisonous end to the 2015 MotoGP season: (in alphabetical order!) Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Márquez or Valentino Rossi? Or how about none of them? How about…
I blame it on Kenny Roberts, but it would’ve happened anyway. When ‘King’ Kenny arrived in Europe in the late 1970s he upped the ante: he rode harder, trained harder…
Call me sick and twisted, but I’ve been enjoying my favourite document of the year: the MotoGP crash report. This isn’t because I like to spend the winter hibernating beneath…
Sheene, Dunlop, Duke… it would be difficult to find three more different motorcycle racers, let alone three more different human beings. We all know the iconic images of these three…
Michelin may surpass Bridgestone, but not for long because Dorna’s long-term plan is to reduce MotoGP corner speeds At Valencia last week Michelin more or less matched Bridgestone’s lap times,…
I’ve never done this before, but I think now the time is right. It’s time to come out: as a Valentino Rossi fan. Social media has been so poisoned by…
I wish Hunter S Thompson was still alive for many reasons. I particularly wish he had been at Sepang, because no other writer could have written better about MotoGP’s weirdest…
Here is photographic evidence of how nasty things are getting inside the Movistar Yamaha pit as the Rossi/Lorenzo title fight approaches its heart-pumping climax. Above we see Rossi crew members…
Mystery 1: Yamaha’s qualifying capers The world of MotoGP holds thousands of mysteries, many of which are way beyond my ken. But there is something that has bothered me for…
When manufacturers go racing they learn from other manufacturers; that’s half the point of the exercise. Often this knowledge is gained fairly, other times by more nefarious means and sometimes…
Cue the Jaws theme tune, because Jorge Lorenzo is coming to get Valentino Rossi. The Spaniard took a nine-point chunk out of Rossi’s championship lead at Aragon, at which rate…