#rival!lorenzo

[rotthepoet]

Rival!Lorenzo when he finds you crying in the bathroom at a party, as another boy had been yelling at you.

✊️🫠

Oooh i think i just creamed my $8 thrifted pants

Okay so lets just accept Rival as every sense of the word. Starting from the beginning you and Lorenzo Berkshire have just not gotten along! It actually began on the train, when you sat down in a compartment, only to be rudely interrupted by this 6foot man built like a twink telling you to get the hell out of “his spot”. And let me tell you, Enzo is not very threatening looking, but the way he glared down at you sent shivers through your whole body. And not the good kind. From there it blossomed into academic rivalry, maybe unfriendly competition, glaring at each other from across DADA, shoving better marks in each others faces. and gods forbid you play quidditch. Full contact trying to knock you off your broom to your death🙏

And i’m gonna be real with you. Boys are mean to people they like. And oh boy, while it takes a long fucking time, Lorenzo is SMITTEN. Irrevocably so. In fact, he’s so smitten that he gets meaner. I’ve talked before about how Enzo reminds me of an 80’s movie bully. This is where that comes in. He is PHYSICAL and willing to risk a detention to see your cute little face angry at him from the floor.(he wants to hate-fuck you so bad, but he doesn’t really hate you, and now he’s confused).

Countless hexes and pranks and tricks and the worst of it was when he spent 3 weeks writing anonymous love letters to you as a secret admirer, told you to meet him in the library after dark. He got you hella detention, tipping Filch off to your breaking of curfew. You dumped two full glasses of pumpkin juice on his head the next morning. He took it like a champ(he figured it was deserved for playing with your heart, although each compliment he wrote in those notes was from the bottom of his heart.) and for the first time, you two laughed together. (Later that day you found out that your ink had been charmed to turn invisible every time you wrote. You threw a balled up sheet of parchment paper with an invisible “fuck you” written on it at him.)

If anyone didn’t hear the way you speak to each other, they’d assume you were an item. Lorenzo’s friends have taken to calling you his girl/boyfriend/partner. Lorenzo doesnt correct them anymore.

With that little context out of the way, let’s flash forward to present day!

Lorenzo’s a little on edge, unable to relax on the sofa with his buddies. He feels the high in his body, slow and buzzing, but he felt completely sober in his head. His eyes kept drifting towards you. You looked nice tonight, absolutely glowing. Maybe it was the lighting. He didn’t care. He liked to watch you smile. And he liked to watch you laugh. And he liked the clothes you wore. And he liked the way you flipped him off with a grin when you saw him across the room. What he didnt like was seeing you dance with this… this nobody! It made his blood boil. And god when he whisked you away, Enzo almost bolted to his feet. He had to play it off to Draco, who tried to follow his gaze.

The world seems to move around Enzo in 2x speed while he sat still. He laughed when his friends laughed, and he spoke but couldn’t remember what he said.

He only broke out of his stupor whenever he heard your name strung together with some other words in his ear.

Lorenzo’s head whips around fast enough that he almost headbutts Pansy Parkinson in the face.

“What?”

“I said they’re in the bathroom crying. What did you do?”

And Lorenzo doesn’t even remember when he got up from the sofa. He doesn’t remember Draco bitching at him to come back. He doesn’t remember shoving people out of the way. He doesn’t remember opening the bathroom door. He just remembers how sad you looked, trying to dab away your tears in the mirror.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“No, I’m serious. What happened?”

And you’re quiet when he approaches you. He doesn’t remember when he grabbed the paper towel from you. He doesn’t remember when he reached up to hold your cheek so gently in his hand. He just remembers the wide eyes you gave him as his thumb wiped away tears, and he dried your wet face. He just remembers how hard his heart pounded in his chest when you closed your eyes, crying even harder as you pressed your hand over his.

He remembers when you spoke to him.

“It’s really nothing. I just thought this guy actually liked me but… he just…” and he continues to wipe your tears away as they fall again, “Its just embarrassing. Yknow? That I thought he actually liked me and it wasn’t just for sex.”

Lorenzo doesn’t remember pulling you into a hug, but he remembers the way your hair smelled. The way you shook in his arms. The way your breathing slowed as you calmed down.

“Can you answer me honestly, Lorenzo? Why don’t people like me? What is so unlikeable about me?”

And Lorenzo remembers his heart shattering in his chest. He remembers the wide and confused eyes you gave him when he answered. He remembers the cute blush spreading across your face as you processed his words.

“Nothing.”

Anyways!!!! Idk if this is what you had in mind! I was originally going to write a fight but I had a rough day at work and needed some fluff in my life<3 i kinda deviated from your idea but im gonna keep this in mind more. thank you so much for rival lorenzo tho, im kinda obsessed with him.

[infin1ty-garden]

BAND TOGETHER

✧. ┊ summary: your rival is in a band ✧. ┊ character(s): blaise zabini, draco malfoy, lorenzo berkshire, mattheo riddle, pansy parkinson and theodore nott ✧. ┊ warnings: mention of alcohol consumption ✧. ┊ word count: 847 ✧. ┊ author note: it's a day late. verry sorry

masterlist. & 100 follower celebration

BLAISE ZABINI

✧. ┊ Blaise was a guitarist in the band. Your relationship wasn't exactly a good one but you respected each other. You were surprised one of your friends was a fan of said band.

✧. ┊ All in all their music was pretty good and you ended up listening to their songs. That's what you were doing in the library, when Blaise interrupted you.

✧. ┊ "You like my voice that much," he just had to interrupt you as one of his rare solo parts came on. For weeks he didn't let you live it down. He visited you after class and shoved a ticket in your hand. Didn't say anything else.

✧. ┊ He couldn't keep his thoughts straight. You are listening to his voice. Well, songs but same thing. The scene kept replaying in his head. Do you like him? Does he like you?

DRACO MALFOY

✧. ┊ You were in rival bands. Known to dislike each other. Most of your songs containing lines to make fun of the other band. What you didn't expect was finding Draco in your dressing room.

✧. ┊ "What are you doing here?" He didn't say anything as he made his way to you. Stopping right in front of you. His expression is unreadable. "I wanted to ask you out on a date."

✧. ┊ Your head was spinning. Your rival is asking you out for a date. What has the world come to?

✧. ┊ Draco didn't really hate you. How could he? You were talented, great, caring and just awesome. He had to ask you out if he'd end up waiting for too long. He didn't want to regret not asking you out sooner.

LORENZO BERKSHIRE

✧. ┊ Lorenzo was trying to impress some girls with his guitar skills. You rolled your eyes as they swarmed around him. A sensible person would run in the other direction. "I could do better."

✧. ┊ "Try," he heard you, passing you the guitar. Everyone was looking at you but then the gryffindors crashed the party. Saving your ass.

✧. ┊ "I still wanna hear you play," Lorenzo insisted. A few days after the incident, Lorenzo asked you to play him something. You prepared in advance and asked one of your friends to teach you something simple.

✧. ┊ he was mesmerised, watching you play. He isn't sure why he feels like that. He hates you, doesn't he?

MATTHEO RIDDLE

✧. ┊ You had gotten drunk at another slytherin party. Barged into a random unoccupied room. To find a drum set and decided to fool around.

✧. ┊ Mattheo stumbled in with a girl in his arms. Confused once he spotted you on his drum set. Ignoring the girl he'd been making out with a moment ago.

✧. ┊ "What are you doing?" You stopped. Looked around finally realising this was Mattheo's room. "Sorry, I d-didn't..." you left the room. Letting them continue what they were doing.

✧. ┊ Mattheo was so confused. Why were you in his room? Why didn't it bother him? He cornered you. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was your room and I was drunk."

✧. ┊ "Would you like to learn how to play?"

PANSY PARKINSON

✧. ┊ Pansy was a great singer. You randomly found out she was apart of a band. You can't deny her singing capabilities. You can't stand her but she is talented.

✧. ┊ You decided to go to one of their shows. It was a small venue. You still hoped she wouldn't see you. Just your luck as soon as she got on the stage, she spotted you.

✧. ┊ She kept looking at you while singing certain parts of songs. You thought she hated you. Clearly you thought wrong.

✧. ┊ After the show she came up to you. "What did you think?" She'd placed her hands on yours. "I...um loved it?" You were uncertain what she wanted to hear your opinion on. "Yeah?"

✧. ┊ Pansy didn't realise her feelings for you until one of her friends pointed them out. What she thought was hate was actually love? She couldn't deny it anymore.

THEODORE NOTT

✧. ┊ "What's this bullshit," you found Theo in the courtyard writing. You assumed it was an essay or something but it was lyrics. You grabbed his notebook and started running. "Is it about a girl you're madly in love with?" He chased you as you read the lyrics. Slowly coming to the realisation that they were about you.

✧. ┊ "You can't come up with a better title than I hate you, die," he took back his notebook and ignored you for the rest of the week. "Hurt, I read your little diary?" He threw a paper at you. You read the top 'I hate you, die'. The lyrics had been reworked to include a certain event. Despite this the song was a love song. He loved you?

✧. ┊ Love and hate can be mistaken for one or the other and Theo knew he loved you. He just didn't know how to say it. Words left him when he was around you. He felt like a fool. It was a dumb idea but he did it anyway. Writing a song for you.

Thanks for reading!

[kgetb]

can you see right through me...? ||>> Lorenzo Berkshire

song to listen :

The Archer (Taylor Swift)

summary :

No one seemed to notice how off Y/n has been these past few weeks, no one but Lorenzo Berkshire. He somehow noticed every little detail when it came to the girl who absolutely despised his whole existence

brief mentions of ed, fluff, comfort, mentions of sh, academic rivalry

›(for my academically burnout girlies! I think I got too carried away...)‹

lover masterlist !♡

⤷ : : YANNA'S MAP .. : :

Y/n Y/l/n, deemed as one of the Model students of Hogwarts. The school of Wizardry, and Witchcraft. She was much above, and advanced compared to the average Student of Hogwarts.

Yet no matter how above, or advanced she was seen as, she will never be as best as Lorenzo Berkshire. generally, and academically everything. He was always managed to be one step ahead, or maybe even beside her

Even of how much effort she put, trying and trying.. it never seemed to be enough to outweigh the bitterness she continues to feel at the mere thought of that boy from Slytherin. Who doesn't even realize how much his presence, and performance affected the girl mentally, and physically

---

Y/n sat silently in the corner of the library, alone. As everyone was already in the Great Hall, eating their meals filled with delight, and talking with one another almost having no worries about failing academically, or even failing anything. How Y/n dreaded just to feel what a normal teenager should.

Instead of being out for lunch, like everybody else, she buried her face deep into the book she read. Flipping through each pages, skimming through all of them carefully, her eyes wide as her attention was only focused on the book. While she also ignored the growl of her stomach yearning for her to eat, The obvious shaking of her hands, and the dizzying exhaustion her whole body felt, except her.. how could she even have the appetite to even eat, sleep, or even rest knowing she doesn't deserve it?

No matter how starved she got,

No matter how much sleep she loss,

along with her blood, and tears, she knew none of it was worth it enough to bring her head out of the books, and to show herself Infront of everyone. What would all of them think to see a once so beautiful soul, then gradually ravaged inside, and out all because of greediness, pride, and envy?

As for a few minutes of Y/n lost in the wonders hundred pages the book included, she was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as she heard familiar shoes, walking in the quiet library, along with a few voices, she recognized one of the voices vividly. it was no other than that Slytherin she 'despised' the most, Lorenzo Berkshire

She immediately closed the book she held shut, and picked up all of the other books that was scattered Infront of her, then, she picked up her test papers and her potions notes scattered everywhere, some even slightly wrinkled due to her tight, and rough grasp on it

Y/n then slung her messenger bag over her shoulder, which included the rest of her supplies, Then she somehow managed to stand up with a swift manner. Brutal waves then came crashing over her body after she did so. Her legs then began wobbling as she tried her best to stand up, as her vision went black for a few seconds after she stood up Her breath quickened, after she felt her chest tighten, her carelessness suffocating her roughly.

She tried to brush off the overwhelming sensations she felt over her body, and tried her best to make her way out of the Library. Taking peeks of each corner, expecting to see Enzo. She shook away her thoughts, as she placed a hand on her temple while she looked down on the cold floor that caused the loud pitter patter of her shoes, a sign of her presence.

Lorenzo, along with his friends all lingered around with each corner of the Library, his presence haunting Y/n with each step she took..

Just as she was about to exit the Library, to study else where. Somewhere far away from everyone. Her whole body collided with another person, she looked up, her e/c eyes widening at the sight of no other than Lorenzo Berkshire who looked at her, with nothing but concern, and confusion at the sight.. he immediately noticed her eye bags, and how she got even paler the last time he saw her.. along with her demeanor, it was off to say that least.

"Y/l/n? you alright?" Lorenzo immediately said, as he first glanced over at the girl who just stared deeply into his eyes, their gaze lingering on each other's features..

Y/n then quick snapped out of her thoughts, and widened her eyes as she realized what she was doing. She took a few seconds to process what Enzo said and nodded quickly, her breath fastening as the time slip through their fingers.

"I'm doing fine, Berkshire." She replied with an obvious bitter tone, Lorenzo raised his eyebrow at the obvious lie of the girl who was obviously not fine

Enzo leaned closer to match Y/n's gaze

“Really, Y/l/n ? I don't think you skipping meals, and losing sleep is 'doing fine.' don't even get me started with...” He nodded his head over to Y/n's wrists, which she quickly covered by hiding them through her books, and other belongings..

She cleared her throat, and now avoided looking at Enzo. “Those are nothing, I just had.... Errands.” She muttered with a softened tone, yet loud enough for Enzo to hear. but of course, it was an obvious lie. Enzo could tell just by her tone, and expression...

“Merlin, what do they make you do so you could achieve such deep cuts?” Enzo scoffed, clearly not buying whatever lie Y/n could thought of. He wasn't dumb, of course he wasn't. That's what Y/n hated about him, he was just so... perfect... Ughhh!!! what was she thinking?!?!!

“i-it's none of your business! Leave me alone, Berkshire!” She snapped, and tried to move pass Enzo who's blocked her way with one eyebrow raised, and with his arms crossed.

He shook his head, he may seem very annoying right now. But he was just concerned for a fellow.. 'classmate' afterall. “Y/l/n, tell me what's wrong, what's gotten into you?” Enzo furrowed his eyebrows as he asked her, his lips pursing afterwards.

what's gotten into you?!

what's GOTTEN into you?

what's gotten into YOU?

y/n?

those exact words rang into Y/n's ears, seriously. what's gotten into her? why was she so caught into being better than... him? ..why?

"There's nothing wrong with me, Berkshire. There's nothing up with me!” The girl responded defensively, as she tried to maintain a low voice..

She shook her head continuously, as she tried to steady her breathing. Why was she being like this? Y/n gripped on her books tightly, as she desperately tried to move past Enzo yet it was no use..

Enzo let out a sigh softly, stepping a little closer to Y/n, yet still respecting her personal space. Even though he just wanted to held the girl in his Arms, and tell her everything's going to be fine, and she wasn't at fault for her behavior..

He opened his arms, welcoming Y/n into an embrace as he saw how distressed, and.. paranoid she looked. The girl noticed, and let her shoulders that were once so tensed relax. She placed down the books she held that were once covering her wrists by an empty shelf, and accepted Enzo's invitation for an embrace..

It was embarrassing. Y/n felt embarrassed. As she quietly sobbed in the chest of he, who she hated the most. he, who was the main reason why she was like this. She felt guilty, and ashamed of herself. “..'m sorry.” She apologized out of the blue, her voice was muffled with her quiet sobs, along with how tight Enzo held her..

“for what?” He asked with a much more softer tone, after he's realized Y/n was mentally breaking down... He began to caress the back of Y/n's head with his thumb, muttering soft 'shh's' to somewhat calm her down

“for being... selfish.” she responded and hid her face deeper into Lorenzo's chest, yet Enzo couldn't understand on what she meant by.. 'being selfish'.

“...I don't understand, Y/l/n.” Enzo noticed his friends and silently plead them to go without him just by his gaze..

“Y/n. Call me Y/n.” She mumbled, as she tried to calm her heavy breathing.. “a—and.. the only reason why I'm like this is.. b—because I couldn't handle the fact that you were just so much.. better than me.. -she let out a sigh in embarrassment- I just don't understand how you're great academically, in quidditch and even as a person. I don't know why I'm acting like this, 'm sorry. Berkshire,”

Y/n stiffled with a frown, just now realizing how careless she's became with her health..

Enzo was taken aback by Y/n's words, mouth slightly agape as his cheeks warmed up. She thought he was... better than her..? Y/n Y/l/n thought that he was... great..?

“Y/n.. you're genuinely one of the best people I've met. believe it or not, but really.. don't ever think so low of yourself again, because you're much... much... better than me” Enzo smiled softly, meaning each word he's said.

“and really.. I don't mean the words I've said to you before, just noticed how pissing you off was the only way to be noticed by you.” Enzo admitted with a sheepish smile, embracing the girl tightly letting her somewhat rest.

Y/n hadn't realized how long it's been since she felt relaxed, without having to think of her academics.. she smiled lightly to herself. “you're really an idiot, berkshire.” she joked, as she finally let her eyelids close shut..

“call me enzo from now on..” he whispered, and intertwined his fingers with hers. adoring the sight of Y/n finally getting her well deserved rest, with him as the reason..

mentions: @helendeath

[batsplat]

wait, is there a dovi/jorge feud???? i didn't know this!! also thank you so much for all you do for this community ❤️

not the only ask I've gotten about this and... look, rather than doing a proper write up that would take forever, I'm just gonna give my top ten fun... facts? bits of trivia. tidbits related to the two of them. quite long tidbits, on second glance. the highlight reel, if you will

(1) that time andrea dovizioso made 14 year old jorge lorenzo cry

the two of them already raced each other before the start of their grand prix careers, competing for the first time in 2001 in the cev when dovi was around 15 and jorge around 14. in riveras tobia's biography, here's jorge talking about their first fight:

I led the way at the start and Dovizioso and I escaped. It was our first head-to-head encounter, the first time we raced each other. My dad had heard that Dovi was a really clever rider and he warned me before the race. But just like in 1998 at Jerez, with Olive, I acted like a dummy and pushed for the whole race. I kept looking behind me to see the bastard still there! It was impossible to shake him off, he was watching me the whole race until the last lap. Three comers from the end I could hear his engine getting closer and I saw his shadow to my left, but he didn't come past. I thought to myself "This guy is going to try something in a second!" I decided I had to on a tighter line and close the door. Sure enough, Dovi went wider through that comer and then dived up the inside. I didn't close the door in time and tried to get in his slipstream, desperately hoping I could get him the next corner, but I ran wide and he won. I came back in tears, I didn't even want to go to the podium, I felt so cheated. I'd been on the limit for the whole race and I felt like I deserved the win more than he did.

so that's a nice and positive start! there's something charming about how even fifteen year old dovi was an absolute menace on last laps

also about that race:

'Jorge beat Dovi in Braga but in the previous race at Most, what a tantrum!' recalls Juanito, laughing. 'He didn't even want to go to the podium, he was crying like a baby! I can still see Dani (Antatriain) talking to him, trying to convince him. In the end he went but he didn't want to look at anybody.'

(2) the photo finish

in 2004, they were rivals in 125cc - a year in which dovi claimed the title and jorge was p4 in the standings. in the very first grand prix ever at the lusail circuit (pretty eventful weekend, you have to say), jorge and dovi crossed the line at the exact same moment

(3) dovi's top three favourite career win

dovi and jorge progressed through the categories at the exact same rate, and after their 125cc rivalry they continued fighting in 250cc. they were title rivals in both 2006 and 2007, with jorge's aprilia winning out both times against dovi's underpowered honda. (the general pattern was that dovi clawed back a bunch of points from jorge in the wet - jorge, with perhaps the exception of a few years in the premier class until around 2013, has never been much of a wet weather racers, while it's always been one of dovi's strongest traits.) for dovi's 300th career start in 2019, he was asked what his top three wins were - and one of his picks was from way back when in 2007

I'd recommend the race! which... well, I did in the race rec post - and I can only reiterate that these two kids do not acknowledge each other, not good vibes at all

(4) jorge's thoughts on young dovi from 2008

Jorge has a lot of respect for Andrea Dovizioso and feels that his two 250cc world titles have even more prestige because he had to beat the Italian to win them. 'You wouldn't label Dovizioso as fast, particularly, but he's much faster than he looks. He doesn't set many pole positions but he is always up front in a race, fighting to win. He is very intelligent and you can't trust him an inch on the last lap. He has been faithful to Honda, he has great belief in them. His negative side is that he tends to play the victim too much. He'll say that if his bike had a better engine or if it was a bit faster he would win. He's even said that if he was on the same bike as me he'd give me a hiding. I think he looks for excuses too often sometimes, but as a rider and a person I don't have a bad word to say about him.'

some dovi traits read as very familiar, from how he's a better racer than qualifier to the intelligence to the last lap prowess. as for jorge saying dovi plays victim too much? well

also this:

ER: Don't you think that Dovizioso wanted to be World Champion too in 2006 and 2007? Don't you think he gave everything to achieve it? JL: He will think he gave his maximum but he will be lying to himself because nobody does that. Nobody gets close to their maximum, not even me. He will think that he didn't win because he was riding a Honda. There are very few sportsmen who will say, I deserve what happened to me and there are no excuses. I didn't know how to do any better and I've done things wrong.' That is the only way to be the best, the only way. People who make excuses don't get to the top. I know riders who haven't made it for just that reason.

plus ça change

(5) jorge's thoughts on young dovi from 2018

when they were doing their thing as ducati teammates (bickering), here is one of the things jorge said about dovi:

dovi's been trying to undermine jorge's morale his WHOLE career... even when they were but teenagers... love it when you can really tell someone's been sitting on something for over a decade

(6) "also lorenzo is not my friend"

both of them moved up to motogp in 2008, jorge with factory yamaha and dovi with satellite honda. dovi had a very strong rookie season and finished in p5, only sixteen points behind jorge in p4 (who after a promising first few races had spent a lot of time that season crashing). after that, their fortunes diverged. dovi did not have a particularly happy time in the factory honda team and needed to do some shrewd negotiating to be retained by them for 2011 in that three-man squad, while jorge of course won the championship in 2010

here's a deep cut from 2011, a season where much of the excitement and drama was caused by marco simoncelli alone. jorge had exchanged tense words with sic in estoril, one race before simoncelli was responsible for a crash where dani broke his collarbone. the crash and sic's subsequent penalty meant that the three-way fight between jorge, dovi and valentino became one for the podium, with dovi and valentino eventually grabbing the two remaining spots behind casey. but during the race, jorge had executed a... questionable manoeuvre on dovi, one that did have some similarities to the sic/dani incident. given jorge's strong previous comments on racing standards, unsurprisingly the journalists pounced on this incident in the post-race presser and ask the podium sitters about it. here is the clip:

in this clip, dovi essentially says it was a dangerous move from jorge, but he wasn't sure what jorge's intent had been and he needs to watch the footage again. valentino (who had been the most outspokenly critical of sic of the three of them earlier in the presser) takes the opportunity presented to him to have a bit of a potshot at jorge. he says that dovi doesn't have the best relationship with sic but jorge had done something pretty similar in the race... at which point dovi goes "also lorenzo is not my friend"

which, you know. not exactly a major incident, but I find it very charming dovi felt the need to clarify that, actually, he doesn't like either of them. valentino also adds that by jorge's own standards, surely he too should have gotten a penalty. not exactly a meeting of jorge's biggest fans hm

(7) mapping eight-gate

well I can't leave it out, can I

so in 2017 jorge switches from yamaha to ducati and does not have a great time of it. a lot of weekends, he's just too slow, other times he shoots to the front of a race at the start (typically not great news for the rest of the field in his yamaha days) and then chews up his tyres before gradually dropping like a stone back through the field. at some point that year it became a bit of a running gag - especially when you saw he was the only big name to be picking a soft tyre and just went... buddy we ALL know how this is gonna end....

while this was happening, his teammate dovi was for the first time in his premier class career in championship contention. an extremely close title fight throughout the year with five protagonists until pretty late in the season, it eventually went to a title decider in valencia between dovi and marc. you know, the kind of year where every point counts. the race where marc put a bit of daylight between himself and dovi was phillip island, with marc winning a great dogfight out front while dovi had a bit of a horror show of a weekend. this meant that a lot would have to go right for dovi to have a chance of still winning the title... and sepang was already a match point race for marc

ducati had not won a championship since their 2007 title, courtesy of one casey stoner. after that year, their bike became steadily less competitive every season, reaching a nadir around the 2011-13-ish period. so by the time 2017 rolled around, they wanted this so so badly - even if they wouldn't have expected dovi to lead the charge. dovi had only narrowly beaten out iannone in the 'who's going to be fired for our shiny new lorenzo hire' contest of 2016, and really it was supposed to be jorge who was carrying ducati's dreams on his shoulders. but, never mind, they were throwing everything behind dovi now... no stone left unturned

which brings us, of course, to the subject of team orders. this discourse really took off at the penultimate race of the season at sepang, but was already brewing before that - and in phillip island, satellite ducati rider redding had been told early in the race to let dovi past

here from marc at sepang:

dovi had been in great form all weekend at sepang - and with his wet weather prowess being what it was, really there shouldn't have been any need for team orders at all. but he got a sluggish start, and the race unfolded from there... until eventually jorge was in first, dovi was in second and marc in fourth. in those positions, marc would have clinched the title there

and then, jorge got a message on his dashboard. suggested mapping: mapping 8. pit boards and dashboards and all sorts of boards will feature various codes during races, most of them completely innocuous - but of course they are a healthy source of all sorts of conspiracies. the timing of this one was certainly... notable, and speculation immediately started about how it might be a way of telling jorge that he should swap positions with dovi

jorge didn't end up letting dovi pass - it is questionable whether he really would have done so with what would have been his first ducati win on the line. in the end, he made a mistake that let dovi through so that dovi claimed the win anyway, keeping himself in mathematical contention in valencia. and jorge did say afterwards he was keeping dovi's title hopes in mind, kind of

jorge also said he hadn't gotten any message indicating team orders, and of course nobody at ducati confirmed that mapping eight did have anything to do with team orders

for what it's worth, this is what dovi said about their relationship at this stage:

lovely! let's see what the vibes are like a few months later

anyway, onto valencia. this race was pretty boring despite being a title decider, but the jorge/dovi bits were just unequivocally the weekend's most enjoyable aspect and rather nicely spiced up the whole thing. dovi's chances were always slim going in, given he'd have to win the race and marc would have to barely get any points at all... but still, you never know, right? marc could always crash (narrator: he did almost crash). jorge plays coy early in the weekend about the whole 'helping dovi out thing', and basically just started putting in place...? ... very specific conditions...? under which he'd help:

so during the actual race, dovi got stuck behind jorge in p5, with marc ahead of both of them. valencia is traditionally not a fantastic track to overtake at... so even if dovi had been faster, it's not like he'd have an easy time clearing jorge and cracking on. but they were beginning to drift further away from dani in p3 as ducati watched on, increasingly unamused by what was happening - and the tv cameras were of course kind enough to repeatedly show the ducati box looking deeply unamused. again, they went for the good old mapping eight message, which, hey, that could mean anything! they sure did keep showing it to jorge though, almost like he wasn't paying attention to it

eventually, they abandon all subtlety and go for a pit board message that does just straight-up tell jorge to swap positions. jorge kept ignoring the messages, lap after lap, and he never ended up letting dovi past. eventually they both crashed and marc claimed the title with a p3 finish, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway, but... still. the feeling was that this might things rather awkward inside of ducati

publicly, ducati was extremely keen to smooth over the whole controversy, saying they totally weren't mad at jorge blatantly ignoring team orders. jorge had, after all, explained to them (and the media, repeatedly) that he had totally been intending to help dovi by dragging him closer to dani

Giving his take on events, Lorenzo acknowledged that he ignored Ducati’s instruction because he felt Dovizioso’s chances would be boosted by having him directly ahead. “Even looking at this [dashboard] suggestion, I keep pushing until the end, because I knew it was the best thing for me, for Ducati and for Dovi,” said Lorenzo. “I helped him to improve his pace by one or two tenths, to be as close as possible to the first group. My intention was, and it was the case, that we arrive at the first group. If he had the option to win, I would have gone wide and let him pass. But unfortunately it was not like that. Maybe in some corners Dovi was close and I slow down a little bit his pace, but in general terms, having my wheel in front of him made him improve slightly his pace. I helped him stayed closer to the front group. “I knew Dovi was struggling, I knew his pace during all the weekend, and I knew he was making the best pace of the weekend just in the race. It was [because of the] help from my wheel. I’m happy because I was not wrong. If I was wrong and slowing him, I would be very sorry. But it’s not like that, my feeling was true.”

which, you know. is it really that easy to tell how much faster you are than someone who's sitting on your rear tyre? who's to say. dovi did certainly seem rather keen to get past

anyhow, of course there were plenty of fun dramatics post-race:

'our rider ignored team suggestions not team orders' is a great line, fairs. there's plenty more of this from ducati, some excellent spin doctoring - and dovi was extremely magnanimous about what had happened:

the whole thing was pretty undignified from all non-dovi parties, but it was also very funny so who's to say if it was bad or not

(8) runner-up-gate

let's check in on them in 2018, the second and ultimately last year in which they were teammates. remember that 'undermining morale' quote from above? those are from early 2018, after dovi says he wouldn't be surprised to see jorge elsewhere the following season. so, once jorge has complained that dovi had been trying to put him down his entire career, comes this:

so that's something. jorge, dovi and dani have a three-in-one crash in jerez, after which some fingers are pointed but it all remains fairly civil, and a bit later dovi says that jorge's approach doesn't work at ducati:

by the summer break, jorge's results had gotten better, but it was already too late to save the relationship with ducati and they parted ways. anyway, here's dovi and jorge having another go at it:

And while a rough patch for Dovizioso coupled with breakthrough back-to-back wins for Lorenzo in Mugello and Barcelona have now left the pair just three points apart in the standings, Dovizioso refused to back down from his claim when speaking to Spanish sports daily Marca ahead of the upcoming Brno race. “He’s won two races,” Dovizioso said. “Winning two races does not solve the problem of a year and a half. Lorenzo was not signed to win two races. Therefore I do not change my mind.” When the comments were put to Lorenzo, the three-time champion offered an ardent retort, stating that Dovizioso's rhetoric was proof of the claim he'd made back in April. “I'm a bit fed up with this situation, mainly because when I had trouble and he was winning, I was down there applauding,” Lorenzo told Spanish broadcaster Movistar. “What I said in Argentina - and the comments caused a big surprise - you can see that I was right. “He tried to undermine me, or downplay what I achieve or just attack me. As you can see, I wasn't lying. He's still doing it and now he says my method is not good, according to him.” Lorenzo intimated that Dovizioso was in no position to criticise him, as the Italian could do no better than runner-up to Marc Marquez in a 'perfect' 2017 season. He said: “I think my method has not worked too bad in my career. I've won three MotoGP titles and have 46 wins.” “In my second year in Ducati I'm usually faster than him, but maybe I should look at his method closer if in his best season, with everything going perfectly, he was second. Otherwise he's fourth or seventh usually. I'd tell him to leave me to go my way and to focus on his own and everything will be better, because when you have an angry Lorenzo it's usually worse for you.” 

fair to say that by this point the pretence at civility has mostly been dropped. I'm rather fond of the "lorenzo was not signed to win two races" line, though "when you have an angry lorenzo it's usually worse for you" is also really strong stuff. dovi tries to restore a little bit of peace:

Responding in turn to Lorenzo's tirade, Dovizioso sought to play down the conflict. “Jorge has his ideas and I think they are based on particular things. I don't think like him, but it's not a problem,” he told Movistar. “Everybody creates their own ideas based on what they see and how they live. “I don't think he has everything clear in his head about what's happened, but we continue the relationship that we started last year with respect, there's no particular problem. If he thinks this way, that's his problem."

so basically the classic 'idk what he's on about but it's not my problem' approach to attempting to defuse feuds

(9) twitter-gate

there's a few more on-track battles where it's nicely obvious how badly they want to beat each other, with jorge beating marc just ahead of dovi in austria and then dovi beating jorge in brno. jorge's season is increasingly derailed by injuries, which sets the stage for their next big spat:

The row was sparked by Dovizioso's comments to Sky Italia after qualifying at Sepang on Saturday, as he was asked what he thought of Lorenzo having to pull out of the Malaysian GP weekend with injury. "I don't know the details, I don't want to get into this, it's a bit of a strange situation," said Dovizioso."It happens often in Ducati or to certain riders, but I don't understand the details and I don't want to get into it and give my opinion." When it was put to him he was offering 'cryptic words', he added: "I leave things there, it's not my problem."

pretty vague, yeah. but anyway, I'm sure jorge had a proportionate response to this

Dovizioso's comments prompted a series of irate posts from Lorenzo on Twitter, with his first reaction being "Thank you very much @AndreaDovizioso! You are a real gentleman!". In his next post, he went on to call Dovizioso "an exemplary teammate", adding: "You applaud him under the podium when he wins and then... (That's right, he does not give his opinion, it's not his problem)." After that, Lorenzo labelled Dovizioso "envious" and described him as "a world champion... in 125cc."

the podium thing really bothered him, don't you think. their ducati in-fighting follows that general pattern where dovi says something... a little shady, a little ambiguous, where his intentions aren't entirely obvious... at which point jorge goes all in at fighting back and has a go at dovi - often not as much for what dovi is actually saying, but what jorge thinks dovi is implying. which is based on his understanding of dovi, the image of dovi he's built up in his head over the years, so that he is... predisposed to think ill of the intentions of the 'intelligent' dovi who always knows exactly what he's saying

again, dovi tried to downplay the argument, while simultaneously not exhibiting much patience for jorge's stance:

After the Malaysian GP, Dovizioso was asked about Lorenzo's responses to his comments, and the Italian accused his teammate of reading too much into headlines. He said: “Why should I talk to Lorenzo? I do not waste time on these things. He makes the usual mistake of giving too much importance to what is written, even without the context. "I have not pointed my finger at anyone and I have no problem with Jorge."

if I were ducati, I probably would've let the whole thing blow over given jorge was off soon anyway. but they decided the whole thing was so bad they had to organise a peace summit

Asked about the situation, Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti admitted to Motorsport.com that the Bologna marque has already planned to sit its two riders on Tuesday in Milan to make it clear what its priorities are. Ciabatti said: “It is clear that the interests of Ducati come before personal problems between riders. On Tuesday we will be together in Milan, for the EICMA [motorcycle show] and we have in mind to spend half an hour to sit and talk to Jorge and Andrea. "We want to avoid similar things to what happened last weekend. "I understand that these kinds of situations can happen. Sometimes riders get nervous during a Grand Prix weekend and on a rainy day, with tricky conditions, sometimes they say things they shouldn’t have said."

god knows how that turned out

(10) wow, you guys aren't gonna let this go, huh

late 2020 and jorge's career is already over, while dovi's looks like it will be... paused, at the very least. which is always a good time to check in with riders on how they feel about their rivals - if they're still being nasty you know that shit was personal. from december:

some quality petty material here. "I can't understand his somewhat peculiar mind" vs "he was envious of me since 250cc, but I wanted to give our relationship a chance". note too jorge talking again about how generous he had been in the face of dovi's 2017 successes, and how he feels like this was not reciprocated at all. jorge's complaints don't stop there:

merry christmas!

not the only rider jorge has beefed with post-retirement, but compare and contrast with how he really hasn't been doing any of that with some of his biggest career rivals. valentino, marc, dani - sure, he still talks about the controversies he's had with them pretty regularly (to put it lightly), and he's hardly free of complaints... but mostly it's a distinctly nostalgic tone he's adopting with these guys. admittedly, it helps that none of those three have gone out of their way to say anything particularly inflammatory about jorge. still, the absolute lack of any sort of rapprochement with dovi of all people is pretty funny

bonus: that time when jorge skittled all of marc's rivals

you know how in catalunya 2019, jorge took out like? all of marc's major rivals in that era including himself in one go? with half a decade of hindsight, this was kind of hilarious, and it did also feature jorge having to eat a hell of a lot of humble pie and go to the three other blokes to apologise. anyway I have a lovingly assembled set of screenshots of all three of them emoting in their boxes after the incident, all suffering some form of an existential crisis. here is dovi contemplating the bleak realities of our brief lives on this planet:

truly one of the world's least enthusiastic waves

bonus 2: another one for old time's sake

already posted this elsewhere, but this from late 2023 made me laugh

"jorge came to ducati and thought he was going to beat everything, but in the end he didn't" uh huh

[onedegreeofsoniccomics]

Void Rivals #1

Creative Team

Writer: Robert Kirkman Pencils/Inks: Lorenzo de Felici Colors: Matheus Lopes Letters: Rus Wooton

Editorial Team

Editor: Bixie Mathieu

[evilhorse]

Void Rivals #9

[khakilike]

Void Rivals #11, Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici

[muxas-world]

Vale the biggest hypocrite to ever exits I'm rewaching some old races and God he was just as aggressive as Marc, literally, I think what he does best is hand-to-hand ride but gor forbid a girl(marc) does the same cause the word ends

[42bakery]

Jorge just sounded unhappy ti have Vale and Daniel in the same track while he's in Spain

[keycomicbooks]

Void Rivals art by Lorenzo De Felici

[smashpages]

Skybound ‘stealth launches’ a new Transformers/G.I. Joe universe

‘Void Rivals,’ which arrived in stores today, also kicked off the Energon Universe, which will feature both Hasbro properties.

above: Optimus Prime by Daniel Warren Johnson

[kururu418]

Sugar Rush: Rival Rebellion Chapter 6: Track Trouble

The others begin to explore the tracks around the Sweet Tooth Kingdom, meeting some new faces, but coming across some difficulties as well.

Art by @dreamerawaken

[marcsnuffy]

When I'm in the abnormal about rivalries competition and my opponents are Ubers

[batsplat]

following on from this. not to always bring marc into everything (sorry marc) but if assen 2015 had happened against jorge, valentino would have very likely pulled something similar again imo. rather than what he actually did, which is approach marc almost immediately for a nice normal friendly handshake and backing off during the podium celebrations. should be noted that during laguna seca '08, valentino was very much committed to yapping at casey on the podium with the world's biggest smuggest grin on his face

partly that disparity is because jorge not marc was the direct title rival, partly it's because valentino was treating marc with kid gloves right until the second that he wasn't, which marc was seemingly entirely oblivious to. if anyone other than marc had said what he said in that presser, had then continued on with similar rhetoric during sachsenring, valentino would quite likely have gone nuclear. he's done it over less than that. his fondness for marc made him continue to exhibit uncharacteristic restraint... except that fondness unfortunately is what left valentino feeling so very betrayed when (to his eyes) marc could not leave well enough alone

[ramblingcompany]

I come bearing gifts! Just some isolated images from Void Rivals for your viewing pleasure :). I've been out of comics for a while but back in the day I loved reading the walking dead and invincible, so imagine my excitement to find that Robert Kirkman is involved in the Energon Universe right when I want to learn more about transformers!

[evilhorse]

Void Rivals #8