Macau GP, skyscraper madness: Davey Todd dominates; Maurizio Bottalico, what a debut!

The Macau GP is the craziest motorcycle race there is, even more than the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. Here you race between buildings and guardrails in the Monte Carlo of the East.

In its golden years, appearance fees and prize money attracted top-class champions, so much so that among the winners there’s a certain Kevin Schwantz, who put on a show on the Guia Circuit boulevards in 1988 at the controls of the Suzuki 500. Riding a 2-stroke GP beast between skyscrapers—go tell today’s MotoGP riders about that...

Even though safety has made huge strides and modern motorcycling tends to conceal risk, it’s undeniable that courage and the rebellious thrill of pushing the limits remain essential elements of our sport. Road racing is the romantic expression of this philosophy, and the Macau GP even more so. If at the Tourist Trophy the margin for error is razor-thin, in here it simply doesn’t exist.

The 57th edition of the Macau GP saw only 14 riders take the start: a small but high-caliber grid, with some of the best road racing aces, chief among them Davey Todd and Peter Hickman. Todd dominated free practice, qualifying, and the race, finishing ten seconds ahead of Hickman: a supremacy that feels like a passing of the torch. Last year he went home with the winner’s trophy without racing: the Macau GP was canceled due to adverse conditions and qualifying times stood. Todd thus crowns a stellar season, having won the TT Superbike after a fantastic duel with Michael Dunlop. But Hickman can celebrate too: he hadn’t raced this kind of event for five months, that is, since he gave everyone a scare by being thrown off at Kerrowmoar during TT practice. The podium was completed by Finland’s Erno Kostamo. A BMW M1000RR sweep which, after Toprak Razgatlioglu’s double World title, the myriad of wins in national championships and in road races, can be considered the Superbike to beat.

Among those invited to the grand ball of the East was our own Maurizio Bottalico. The multiple Italian and European hill climb speed champion is earning great respect in the international road racing scene and he was quick on the Guia streets at his very first attempt. He finished sixth in the race, riding a BMW M1000RR, an absolutely surprising result. At this point, nothing scares our incomparable Maurizio anymore!