#tried to search for this on both reddit and twitter and came up empty handed. alas

[batsplat]

What do you think about this fim push to not classify moto2 / moto3 championships towards the overall world title counts? I’m uhhh personally not sure how likely that is to happen / if it would even happen the way people are saying. But I’m seeing a lot of people freak out about it (and find a way to blame one particular rider for it…he really is the busiest man on earth the way he is apparently finding the time to be involved in EVERY bit of drama in current motogp…according to some on here)

icl I'm not well placed to answer this ask because I have zero context for any of this, I haven't seen anything, I didn't know this was a thing. my tried and tested method for following motogp is checking the subreddit like once every few days, having a list of a few journalists on bluesky + listening to podcasts, and having a moan on twitter if something crosses my feed - which means there are swathes of discourse I simply remain unaware of. so idk exactly what's prompted these latest worries and how well-founded they are... I can remember last year when the liberty deal was announced that there was concern about moto2/moto3 being treated as similar in stature to f2/f3, rather than world championships in their own right. obviously we haven't really received much indication on that front one way or the other, so we'll have to see

that being said. in general, ofc the non-premier class categories have gradually declined in significance and prestige anyway, this is a long term trend. angel nieto won.... *sigh* 12+1 championships, which were all in non-premier class categories, and he's widely considered one of the greatest motorcycling racers of all time. back in the day, the lower categories weren't necessarily seen as rungs in the ladder to get you to the premier class, and it was way more acceptable for accomplished riders to remain in a non premier class category. jorge martinez is another obvious example of a renowned rider who never raced in the premier class... biaggi is seen as like,, the master of the 250s - which is also kinda important contextual information for the valentino rivalry, since modern fans will be likely to put too much stock into the 'no premier class titles' thing. even as late as with dani, it really wasn't a foregone conclusion that he'd make the step up to motogp, primarily due to his height; staying in the 250cc class and dominating there was seen as a potentially viable path. that doesn't mean snobbishness about the lower categories hasn't already historically been a thing. doohan didn't think anything but premier class victories counted, as he pointed out when valentino overtook his grand prix win count. casey said in his autobiography that at the end of the day, he was only really interested in the real deal - premier class titles. (a cynic might suggest this stated disinterest did have something to do with losing the 2005 250cc title in rather a painful fashion.) I haven't done a survey but my guess is that there's also a bit of an anglo/non-anglo divide here, probably driven by how american/australian riders were more likely not to have gone through those other classes on their way to the premier class

still, in general, there's been a decline in prestige. there's also been a decline in numbers of classes - fifty years ago, you could compete in 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 1250cc and 50cc. you could also compete in several different classes at the same time, which gave the whole thing a different vibe. do think the professionalisation of the sport probably plays a part in that,, increasing level of competition and more weight placed on the premier class as the be all and end all of achievement in the sport. and the thing is... I mean, this is a battle that was lost a long time ago, but tbh I still think it was a mistake to rebrand the classes to moto2/moto3. having 500cc vs 250cc vs 125cc has a completely different vibe to motogp vs moto2 vs moto3. the former essentially sounds like weight classes comparable in prestige, the latter sounds like you've got a premier class and then feeder series. I like other world championships having weight too! partly because of how it ties into the history of the sport, partly because I like watching all classes and feeling like they really *matter* as more than talent-spotting events. it's ultimately cool to give fans three races on a race day at every single event, as long as you give them good reason to be invested in all three of them. I do get why you needed to rename them to bring it in line with the 500cc -> motogp rebrand (fairly sensible), I don't have any fantastic suggestions for alternatives off the top of my head, but like. I just wish they hadn't gone with That

still, it is kinda inarguable that there's been a pretty steep decline in prestige. nobody rates a biaggi 250cc title in the same way they do the one secured by tito rabat. zarco sticking in moto2 for another year to defend his title was seen as a Big Thing that attracted a big range of opinions. there's an age limit now for moto3... the gradual decline of high level riders who stay in lower categorie - which is a development that dates back to *wiggles hand* maybe around the late nineties - means that the lightweight categories are just inevitably going to be taken less seriously. it's not seen as a career path in and of itself - the goal is always motogp. idk, I personally wish they weren't just feeder series, I think it's fun being invested in several categories with a diverse age profile and competitive spread. kinda torn on this because part of me goes 'well, this is just commercial realities, it's quite likely to continue heading in the same direction, nothing to be done'. but also my main sport has just had one of its traditions butchered in the name of commercial realities and I HATE that and sometimes it's easy to be a cynic for cynicism's sake, so. to be clear. I think this development is Bad. I think the long-term trend is to the sport's detriment, I wish it wouldn't continue. it's probably going to continue, it just reflects how modern sports is set up. we're just trying to chase child prodigies through feeder series now so we can get them as many of the 'best' titles as possible, it's all about relentless maximising of talent and profit and everything else. I'm too much of a romantic about sports for that, I feel like it diminishes the whole sport's soul. so... this is where we're at, but also I don't like it

on the specific point raised in the ask - not referring to overall title counts and just premier class ones, I'm going to assume either in official promotional material or commentary or both. yeah, that sucks, I could imagine that's something that comes from dorna's instructions if it is a thing. apart from anything else, it just feels wrong - valentino is a nine time champion, jorge five etc etc. also, valentino isn't a seven time motogp champion, I suppose you could say he's a seven time premier class champion but that's also not really promoting the motogp brand. it does fall quite neatly into this trend of diminishing the other world championships by use of linguistically re-framing of their prestige/relevance, like with the moto2/moto3 thing, which is pretty interesting from a purely academic perspective. idk if it'll be a thing, I hope it's not a thing, it might be a thing, I could believe it's a thing but also I haven't seen anything suggesting it's a thing. won't radically change anything because it's part of a broader trend, also it'll probably be successful - eventually, enough fans won't care enough to mentally correct in their heads and you'll effectively have redefined what attainment in the sport involves. which is a shame. alas