Keith Huewen

The last time a #MotoGP round was due to take place in a war zone was the 1991 Yugoslav GP at Rijeka, a few months after the Balkans War had started. Riders and teams weren't keen to go, so three weeks earlier, during the German GP, it was decided to move the race to Jarama, Spain. At that time the riders and teams were consulted about the calendar. In other words, today's MotoGP riders have less power over deciding their own destiny than their predecessors had 35 years ago! The majority of riders have voted in secret to skip Qatar but we still didn't know whether it's on or off. Carlos Ezpeleta just said during a CNN event in Doha that "it's definitely safe to have the race here". But that may change following Tuesday's US mid-term elections, after which Trump has hinted he will renew attacks on Iran, which will inevitably defend itself, which will make the entire region unsafe. Obviously, there are so many problems, not least the fact that - assuming the event is still scheduled to go ahead - riders and teams will fly into Doha on Monday or Tuesday, so if hostilities do break out on Wednesday, it will be too late to avoid the region and most likely the paddock will be stuck there for some while - with all the freight - which could jeopardise the last two races in Portugal and Valencia. One important factor that's not been talked about so far is this: if Qatar MotoGP doesn't happen, then F1 drivers will have a good excuse to skip the upcoming Qatar and Abu Dhabi F1 GPs, and it is at Middle Eastern F1 races that Liberty Media makes a huge amount of its money, which is why the company's value has dropped $2 billion since the war began, which is why Liberty is so desperate for these races to happen. The 1991 Jarama race (the Grand Prix of Europe) was won by Rainey from Doohan and Gardner