Monday’s shock announcement that Suzuki will withdraw from MotoGP at the end of the current season has rattled a number of cages amongst the jet set in the grand prix motorcycle racing community. It puts to rest my conjecture that they would field a satellite team at some point in the foreseeable future; consider my personal cage rattled. It leaves riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins facing homelessness come November. It applies pressure to the Aprilia organization to field a satellite team in the foreseeable future, lest conjecture about their own future starts to circulate, causing jangling nerves amongst their current and prospective riders. Finally, it throws a spanner in the works of an already unclear silly season for 2023.
One thing Suzuki’s withdrawal means: the essential Theory of MotoGP is flawed. To wit, participation, and doing well, in MotoGP appears not to increase demand for the street bikes the OEMs are desperate to sell. Otherwise, the Dorna monster is simply a hole in the ocean where CEOs of the manufacturers go to throw away their money, in addition to getting massive hard-ons when they win a title.
The first bit of scuttlebutt to emerge from this developing debacle is the likelihood that Pol Espargaro will lose his seat on the #2 Repsol Honda to Mir. The permutations and combinations following this likely move will occupy MOrons for the remainder of the season.
Readers are encouraged to speculate/theorize/ take wild ass guesses below. This is one of the biggest developments in our sport in a decade. As usual, please keep it civilized as you let your wild imaginations run free. Once we start preparing for Le Mans, I will collect all of the comments, wad them in a big ball, and toss them over the rail.
Tags: alex rins, Joan Mir, motogp, Repsol Honda, suzuki
Late-Braking MotoGP 
May 3, 2022 at 8:06 am |
Wow,
We did not see thijs coming. With a grid / talent pool so full of qualified riders now we have less seats to fill.
Old Mike in Canada
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May 3, 2022 at 8:47 am |
Suzuki is claiming this financial. Worrisome. They are my fav underdog with the best looking MotoGp bike. Plus they make value-laden consumer bikes. Will another OEM be next and if so, who will it be? The 2008 financial debacle ( Can you fog a mirror? Here’s a loan! ), took Kawasaki out of MotoGp, and things don’t look easy ahead.
Rumor already has Mir going to Honda. That would be great, Pol is, well, Pol. His input was used for the new Honda which even Antman is having a problem making competitive. Bins needs to go to a team with a larger crash budget, although so far this year he’s been better.
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May 3, 2022 at 11:56 pm |
Rins bins… last year. I wonder if he can pull it together. Kind of hope so.
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May 3, 2022 at 10:53 am |
It’s crazy with both Mir and Rins doing so well that Suzuki would pull out. With Rins in fourth and Mir in 6th, both within reach of the championship points wise, it’s terrible timing. I know the link between racing and sales gets weaker every year, and the cost continually higher, still I’m bummed out. Come on back Kawasaki!.
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May 3, 2022 at 12:51 pm |
Mir and Rins will be taking a good look at the other bikes on the grid. I think Aprilia and Yamaha are both reputed to have sweet handling bikes. Either of them may be an easy transition.
If Pop Gun and Morbi continue to underperform, their seats would seem to be easy targets. However choosing between them might be more difficult. Fabio makes the Yam look good, but Morbi, Dovi and Binder give a truer picture of the M1. Things are similar at Aprilia. Aleix proved he can over-ride a crapy bike back when he was on a claiming-rules team. Pop-gun’s failure shows the Aprilia is not as good as Aleix makes it seem.
If the Aprilia and Yamaha are not as desirable as their lead riders make them seem, what of Honda? Nobody is making that bike seem desirable. I guess HRC’s deep pockets will always be persuasive. The rumor mill already has Mir replacing Pol. Sure, why not?
Speaking of deep pockets, Ducati and KTM are big spenders. The Duc is the more desirable of the two. The Factory squad or the Pramac team might be good landing spots. On the other hand, KTM can be attractive because they don’t seem to have a strong lead rider. One of the Suzuki pilots could come in and start calling the shots.
Oh well, this is the fun of the Silly Season.
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May 5, 2022 at 12:31 am |
Didn’t we change Pop Gun’s name to Cole Trickle after the engine incident?
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May 5, 2022 at 3:21 pm |
Oh, you’re right.
Calling him Cole Trickle is perfect
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May 6, 2022 at 12:21 am |
Lol
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May 3, 2022 at 4:14 pm |
This season was too good to be true. Two third of the riders on five diferent manufacturers (and not only on factory bikes) can fight for the podium and even wins. On
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May 3, 2022 at 4:36 pm |
Aleix and Fabio needs to be less greedy. Probably sounds too wild but not even MM seat is guaranteed. Honda saw that making the bike suit only one rider is not very healty and development went in making it more friendly.
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May 4, 2022 at 12:08 am |
The pug is all about Marquez. They will spend his entire career pandering to him. Not sure I blame them.
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May 3, 2022 at 6:40 pm |
As a Suzuki honk, I’m sorely disappointed. But not shocked. The 2008 economic crisis hammered them, so I’d wager they’re retrenching everywhere in preparation for the coming collapse, which will make 2008 look like the salad days.
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May 4, 2022 at 12:10 am |
You are probably right.
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May 4, 2022 at 8:24 am |
Where did you study global macroeconomic forecasting? Me, I went to Washington University in St. Louis and grad school at Michigan State. Economists have accurately predicted nine of the last five recessions.
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May 4, 2022 at 11:17 am |
My secret is to ignore anything economists say and go with my own eyes and brain.
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May 4, 2022 at 11:53 am |
Wise.
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May 3, 2022 at 8:49 pm |
Excuse my French but whut the fuck? If they were uncompetitive I would totally understand but they just won it all 2 years ago.
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May 3, 2022 at 11:53 pm |
Three open holes, fill them in.
2023 lineup…
Honda: Marquez/Mir
Yamaha: Quatararo/Rins
Suzuki: Sucking the big one.
Ducati: Bagnaia/Martin
Aprilia: Espargaro/Vinales
KTM: Binder/Miller
LCR: Orura/Espargaro
RNF: Binder/
Pramac: Zarco/Bastianini
Tech3: Gardner/Fernandez
Gresini (Aprilia):
VR46: Marini/Morbidelli
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May 4, 2022 at 8:43 am |
Can Yamaha really dump Morbidelli from his contract? I wonder if Martin is crashing his way out of a factory Ducati slot? Not convinced that Jack would be a good choice for KTM.
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May 4, 2022 at 11:39 am |
If Aprilia get a satellite squad, I wouldn’t be surprised to find Pol there. If Pop Gun keeps his seat on the factory team, I would be surprised.
I think Bastianini and Team Gresini have a strong bond. I don’t think Bastianini would leave them for anything less than a seat with Factory Ducati.
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May 5, 2022 at 11:45 pm |
You might be right abouut Bastianini, but I feel he will be on a current Ducati.
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May 4, 2022 at 12:26 pm |
Ducati will retrench Miller before they let go of Martin. That boy is the next big thing, when he learns to curb his enthusiasm everyone else is in trouble.
Aprilia won’t field another team, they don’t have the budget. You think Suzuki had issues, Aprilia can’t be far behind. KTM is really the only manufacturer with pockets deep enough to step up that I can see.
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May 6, 2022 at 12:18 am |
You know the beauty of KTM? This is what they want to do. It isn’t a bunch of stock holders listening to a team boss. The team boss is in charge. PASSION, where did it go? The world is fucked. A bunch of individuals voting by buying stock, and someone in charge trying to make everyone happy. How dystopian, right? There are guys at Aprilia that are finally getting what they need, and some bean counter is thinking “let’s cut our losses “.
I dare any of you to wring the shit out of a Superduke and not absolutely love it. God I hope passion wins.
Go to 2:15 minute mark.
This is what Suzuki is missing.
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May 4, 2022 at 6:13 am |
Too many permutations for me. I’ll just wait and see. You’re pretty sure Aprilia will field a satellite team? I dunno.
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May 4, 2022 at 11:40 am |
C’mon Brucey, you economists specialize in financial models. Give us your predictions!
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May 5, 2022 at 6:21 am |
The acronym SWAG applies to this exercise–Sophisticated Wild Ass Guessing. I don’t have the energy, don’t want to embarrass myself.
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May 5, 2022 at 3:25 pm |
Don’t want to embarrass yourself?
No worries. Leave it to us! 😀
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May 5, 2022 at 11:41 pm |
Wimp
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May 5, 2022 at 11:39 pm |
You got me on Morbidelli, andI just like the Jackass and KTM is cool.😎
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May 7, 2022 at 11:38 am |
Costs are escalating like crazy across the board. Team budgets will get squeezed.
NASCAR has the new car this year. Team owners wanted a spec body to reduce costs. Wind tunnels are expensive.
NHRA drag racing used to run two qualifying runs on Friday and two on Saturday. Friday is down to one run because things like nitro methane are crazy expensive.
The question will be how can MotoGP reign in costs and not become World Superbike?
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May 7, 2022 at 12:38 pm |
We’ve been here before. Carmelo is going to have to undertake another round of the changes years ago (i.d., to the common computer on every bike). Everyone will bitch. Everyone will comply. Everyone will start cheating immediately. They will ban winglets, which must absorb a lot of wind tunnel time.
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May 7, 2022 at 6:09 pm |
Oooh, maybe they’ll all have to be claiming rules teams.
Can you imagine HRC telling Gigi, “We’re buying your bike”?
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May 7, 2022 at 6:18 pm |
Motorsports.com is reporting that Mir will sign with Repsol and P Espargaro will be looking for a seat somewhere.
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May 7, 2022 at 7:11 pm |
Called it! Ha! One time in a row!
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May 7, 2022 at 8:05 pm |
My head is full of blind squirrels running around with acorns.
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May 10, 2022 at 1:19 pm |
My head is full of umbrella girls.
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May 12, 2022 at 6:54 am |
It’s official now
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May 12, 2022 at 6:55 am |
https://www.suzuki-racing.com/motogp/SUZUKI-ANNOUNCEMENT.138681.cms?fbclid=IwAR3MQke8LIjmSJFQ2nMztnHukm5oB1UPI3by8fCj0F5WrpYp-DKt1SYnhJc
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May 12, 2022 at 6:56 am |
Nothing like a press release a fortnight after the news.
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