Look at this Gringo, that's real good coffee.
Strong blend, great taste : the real deal
And with such coffee, we make THIS !
Take ten world champions from various disciplins such as MotoGP, World Superbikes,
Supermoto, Speedway and enduro
Store them into a tiny paddock.
Add some road-race nutters, some European dirt track specialists and a few MotoGP young guns
Spice it up with the two best dirt-track racers of the world.
Tie a metal sole called « hot shoe » to their left foot
Lower the suspensions of their 450 cc motocross bikes
put on rain tyres runing an air pressure of 0,7 bar
racing exhausts, and get rid of their front brakes.
There you are !
Split up the racers into two groups : roadracing and off-road
and let them fight through twenty-two heat races of six laps each on a 200 meters long dirt oval
equaling to 1,10 minutes sprintraces, completely sideways
Three hours later, the eight best among those 44 gladiators access the superfinale
whose winner grabs the Superprestigio trophy
Second last year, Marc Marquez wants to win, but has to face even tougher challengers
Australia's 2014 dirt track champ', a certain Troy Bayliss, 45 years old, also three times world superbike champ
GP racers Johann Zarco and Bradley Smith, who both seriously improved in the dirt since last year
and newcomers like Scott Redding
The 2014 Grand National champion Jarred Mees, that's to say the current N°1 dirt-track racer in the world
and last year's Superprestigio winner, Brad « the bullet » Baker, US number one in 2013
who switched from KTM to Honda, but didn't lose any speed.
There are also a few minute guests
the tiny American Shayna Texter, 450 single dirt track champ at home
World supermoto champion Thomas Chareyre, who quickly understood that he had the wrong suspensions settings
Or the multiple enduro world champ Ivan Cervantes, who suffers with the lack of front end grip
But according to the American specialists on hand, in less than a year
Marc Marquez significantly upped his game
But why such a dirt track passion for the mumber one roadracer in the world ?
The audience, way bigger than last january, with a crowd of 9 000 instead of 6 000 people
quickly invades the grandstands before a Supercross style intro
with lightshow, rider's presentations, and hostesses
Before the acclaimed arrival of the « Rufea team »
Marc, Alex Marquez and Tito Rabat, the three 2014 GP champions,
who train all year long on their Catalan dirt track oval
As soon as the presentation is over, at 6.30 PM, heat races fire away, with one start every four minutes
Vamos !
The show's rhythm is intense
the riders totally committed
contacts are quite tough
And the timing impeccably controlled by MC Kevin Clark
fearless flagman, who dares to wave his flags inches away from the riders on every runs
Brad Baker out due to a nasty highside in practice, the evening turns into a Marc Marquez show
Even if he crashs in finale N°3, and thus finishes sixth
it's with three final wins out of four that Marc lines up to the Superfinal
But this time, he will have to face the US Number One
Real tension at the start, and in turn one, both stars clash
which in turns throws Thomas Chareyre to the ground. Damned !
Forced out wide, Marquez and Mees find themselves midpack
far behind the Spanish/American leader Kenny Noyes, Spain's Superbike champ
and former dirt-track racer in the USA
But Jared et Marc are faster, and claw their way back to the top
On the sixth of the twelve lap race, Marquez and Mees sharply pass Noyes to fight for the lead
Marquez gives his all, and controls a ferocious Jared Mees
« I was on the very edge » admits the American rider
twice best lap holder on the 8th and 11th lap : 12.254 secondes, faster than Marquez's 12.296
Despite Mees's late surge, Marquez wins, celebrating his victory with two flat out laps
before throwing his googles and gloves to the fans, and party with his team like he did in Motegi
where he clinched his second MotoGP title last october.
After the Podium… and the Champagne
Marc explains in the press conference how he managed to beat the world's best dirt-track racer
Do not miss the next Superprestigio, set on december 12th 2015
hopefully with the presence of a certain Valentino Rossi !