Suzuki is now also withdrawing from MotoGP
On Monday, after the MotoGP in Jerez, the members of the Suzuki team were called together to receive very bad news. In Hamamatsu it was decided that the manufacturer will withdraw from MotoGP at the end of 2022. The news still has to be officially confirmed by the brand.
The news hit the motorcycle world like a bombshell. Since 2015, Suzuki has been active again at the highest level after a break of three years. A difficult start was slowly turned into a success because in 2020 Joan Mir became world champion in the MotoGP class on a Suzuki. Mir is currently ranked sixth in the standings.
This is not good news for motocross fans. Suzuki pulled the plug on their motocross project at the end of 2017. Stefan Everts' MXGP team was sacrificed and since then the yellow color has faded further from the paddock. After some hopeful messages last year, it is very quiet about a return. That certainly doesn't seem to be happening now that the MotoGP project is also being buried.
We saw another bad sign appear on social media last year. Akira Watanabe, the Japanese 125cc world champion of 1978, switched from Suzuki to KTM as a teaching bike at his driving school in Fukuyama. He had always maintained a strong bond with Suzuki since his world title, but changed tack last year in October. The current Suzukis are no longer up to date and that is an understatement. They have too little power, are too heavy and do not have an electric starter. In other words: no R&D money is invested in the further development of the RM-Zs.
If Suzuki no longer allocates budgets for a sport like MotoGP, no money will go to the much smaller and less visible MXGP circus. For those who hoped for an imminent return, this is yet another dampener on the celebration. Yellow is becoming less and less visible in motocross and will remain that way for a while.
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