Until his tires cried "enough" 19-year-old reigning Moto2 world champ Pedro Acosta was looking every bit like a future MotoGP superstar yesterday in Qatar. He ran it in on the brakes on Marc Marquez and nearly everyone else on the grid but Bagnaia in the MotoGP race after lapping well back in tenth place in the opening laps. It's tough to dispute that Acosta is the future of the MotoGP class and a bellwether for older riders. Pol Espargaró is gone to test rider and TV analyst land. Many current MotoGP riders, including Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales, Joan Mir, and others, are at risk of becoming obsolete. The dominant force in the universe is youth.

Legendary rider Doug Chandler summed up how he saw things after his long racing career: "When you're young there is no question that once you find the speed you should be fast every session, or at least as fast as the guy leading the race or the rider in front of you. But as you get older and see guys getting hurt or get hurt yourself it can become very hard to find that same speed."