With the Yellow Tribe
2015 Moto GP, Aragon
John Newman
Have you ever ridden the N232 from Vinaroz to Alcaniz? I haven't, but a number of UK riders and their Spanish motorcycle compatriots enjoyed a slice of its splendid 125kms, winding through the hill country of Valencia and Aragon, flanked by gnarled olive trees and dark emerald conifers stretching to the near and far horizons.
Me; I was trapped in a crummy rental car, and envious each time the two-wheelers came by and disappeared through the next set of bends. We were all making our way to Motorland Aragon, the circuit just outside Alcaniz that was hosting round fourteen of the Moto GP world championship.
Opened in 2009 and sitting on the barren Aragon plain, it was designed by the German architect Herman Tilke in partnership with Foster and Partners, the UK architects. It's not one of those 'sterile' modern circuits – think Qatar – as the construction includes a mix of sweeping and tight turns, a rise of 50 metres from the start finish straight to the circuits high point, before dropping into a 7.2% gradient through turns 8&9: a complex resembling the famous 'corkscrew' at Laguna Seca in California.
The Spanish, with four Moto GP rounds in the calendar, should have had a lot of practice at devising and implementing traffic routes and plans in and out of circuits. On both timed practice and race day, the cops and officials marshalled the thousands of two and four wheelers without too much congestion – race day attendance was almost 115,000.
It's a long time since I've been to a Moto GP round, and certainly not in the era of mass Rossi worship. My partner and I had booked grandstand seats in advance by consulting the circuit map. And we had judged it spot on, with our seats just before the entrance to the bend at the end of the start-finish straight and opposite one of the many well-placed screens.
On timed practice day (Saturday), spectators filled most of the grandstand seats around the 5.078kms (3.155 miles) of the Grand Prix motorcycle circuit. And as we located our seats it became clear we were going to be surrounded by members of the bright yellow tribe supporting number 46: Signor Rossi. Not only that, we were sat next to two very high profile fans. Not only bedecked in yellow, but also carrying other support accoutrements, such as the air horn, a large flag, and a teddy bear sporting a No46 tee shirt.
Shula and Neale
Shula and Neale live in Spain, are both thoroughgoing Moto GP supporters and have serious adoration rights with regard to Valentino. When the banter subsided, mostly due to my scepticism about 'fandom' of any nature, Shula, who has worshipped at the shrine of Rossi in Tavulla, his Italian hometown, described the extent of his merchandising business plus other interests, which adds to the massive wealth (€8.83 million Yamaha contract and €7.35 million merchandising in 2014) he has accumulated. His factory also produces merchandising for Pedrosa, Marquez, Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding.
People who watch Moto GP on TV will be aware of the series yellow ranks of 46 fans waving their flags when Rossi comes round onto their section of the circuit. But each time his name is mentioned, exiting the pit lane and appearing on the giant screens, means a signal for waving, cheering, air horning and general Rossiment. A way of taking part in the proceedings rather than just staying mute in the plastic stand seating. Shula liked to think he was looking directly at her, and Valli has the personality to carry this off.
I decided to take a stroll amongst the merchandise stands - of which the most popular, Rossi and Marquez were always three or four deep with people peering at the display and buying. For €29 you can get a basic tee shirt; €45 will get you a more sophisticated VR racing model, and a cap will set you back €30 (next door but one, Cal Crutchlow merchandise had tee shirts at €55; there were no takers). Shula told me that the best deal for a Rossi fan was to join the fan club. This will get you a tee shirt, cap, key ring and membership card for €48 a year, including shipping your goods.
A Pedrosa fan
So what of the racing? Most race watchers will have seen, or read about, the epic duel between Rossi and Pedrosa for the second and third positions at Aragon after Lorenzo had cleared off and Marquez had crashed. Pedrosa took second, which, as a neutral race fan, was pleasing to me because most commentators had written Pedrosa off in terms of any straight on track tussle with Rossi. But he summoned all his experience, courage and race craft to keep Valentino at bay, and to give the crowd the most exciting and heart stopping few laps of Moto GP racing for a long time – Moto 2 and 3 was good too.
Thanks to Neale and Shula for their grandstand company and information about Valentino, and to the rest of the yellow tribe and race fans for the emotion, buzz and passion throughout the weekend.
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