Indonesia wins with return of the motorcycle Grand Prix

Race offered a much-needed boost for the local economy

A statue of Indonesian President Joko Widodo on a motorbike at the entrance of the Mandalika MotoGP course on the resort island of Lombok. (Photos by Ian Neubauer)

IAN LLOYD NEUBAUER, Contributing writer

May 8, 2022 08:00 JST

MANDALIKA, Indonesia -- Twenty-five years is a long time in between races.

That's how long Indonesia, a motorbike-crazy nation with some 112 million units in use according to Statista, had to wait for the return of the MotoGP, the premier class of international motorbike road racing.