A TOTAL of 163,567 spectators thronged the grandstand over the three days from Oct 21 that the MotoGP festival lit up Sepang.
It's a slight drop in attendance from the days when Malaysian riders featured on the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP categories, but if you discount those free tickets and cheap seats, this year's event can be considered a roaring success.
In 2019, Friday Practice was a quiet affair, attended only by die-hard
fans. But this year, you could hardly walk to the grandstand due to the huge crowds.
Sunday was even worse. Weaving through the Mall area, dodging punters looking for the odd bargain T-shirt and ogling the new models (bikes, of course), you could be forgiven for thinking that the Covid-19 pandemic never happened.
Ducati, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, KTM and Yamaha came in full force. Also present were MV Agusta, Fantic (yes) and a plethora of oil, parts, eyewear and apparel booths.
All the manufacturers (not just motorcycle manufacturers, mind you) with bases in Malaysia had their convoys arriving almost simultaneously on Sunday, adding colours to the event.
Trudging through the booths, my vote goes to Ducati (despite having to scan their QR Code to enter), especially for having the best bargains (70 per cent off original Ducati apparel).
The best coffee goes to the Ipone booth and the best entertainer is
Kawasaki with its wheelie machine and dyno running almost through the day.
There were product launches by Kawasaki and KTM while the KYT stand launched new helmet designs and colourways. There was no time to stand around and almost no one ever did, until the racing started, of course.
Yes, there was racing. A tense affair it was and drama unfolded in the two categories that had still not crowned their champions.
The Moto3 saw a dramatic race, with John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing Team) coming from 22nd spot to win.
Moto2 saw championship leader Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team) throwing the chance to increase his lead into the Turn 9 gravel trap on the final lap.
MotoGP was a nail-biter, too. All three championship protagonists would start from mid-pack qualifying spots with everything to play for.
Mathematically, if Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) won this race and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha Racing Team) came in fourth, the championship would be Pecco's and Ducati's.
Pecco got through Q1 qualifying only to crash during Q2 while Quartararo was nursing a broken finger on the left hand courtesy of an FP4 fall.
As the lights went out, Pecco got a flyer of a start from 9th into 2nd by the first corner and Quartararo also got a great start to slot into 5th from 10th on the grid.
The hapless Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team) could not improve his position by much and steadily lost ground throughout the race.
Meanwhile, the Ducati steamroller was marching up front. Jorge "The Martinator" Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati Racing) led by a fraction of a second, with Pecco and Enea "The Beast" Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) running close (very, very close) to each other.
Behind Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda HRC Racing) and Quartararo was another Ducati in the hands of Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) coming up fast.
The rest were squabbling in a large group further behind. Marc was quickly despatched by Quartararo and Bezzechi as he could not make the Honda RCV213V bend to his will.
Then "The Martinator" saw fit to throw his Ducati into the Turn 5 gravel trap and all bets were off. "The Beast" then made his move on Pecco and this prompted much agitation in the Ducati Lenovo garage.
The tension was thickening fast but then it appeared that "The Beast" could not make a break and was promptly overtaken by Pecco.
Bezzechi was also closing fast on Quartararo (now in third) and if Bez could get past, the championship would be done and dusted in Sepang. But broken finger and all, Quartararo held on.
There was a final dramatic turn in the last lap as "The Beast" attempted a pass on Pecco at Turn 9 but had to settle for second at the flag.
Thus, the championship continues on to Valencia and Davide Tardozzi re-packs the Pecco #1 T-shirts for the flight to Spain.
All Pecco has to do now is finish 14th or better (easier said than done) and he will win the coveted trophy even if Quartararo wins the final race.
By the end of Sunday, everyone was spent (and even the money) but left truly satisfied.
