One of the joys of writing about MotoGP for nothing is that it frees me from the shackles of editorial restraint which often chafe and prevent me from expressing my true feelings, at least regarding subjects for which I have feelings, which aren’t many.
Let’s use Assen as an example. Instead of doing my sworn duty as a mototrashjournaist, I spent the weekend driving 1400 miles and speaking briefly at the memorial service for my oldest childhood friend, since 2nd grade. Had I been slaving away under the heartless Evans Brasfield things would have gotten complicated, Evans might have been inconvenienced, my wages could have been garnished, John Burns might have elected to flame me on MO. Nothing good, and my boy Bobby B is well beyond caring. But if we blow off these milestones, especially the exits, who are we? If we decide that the details of our lives are more important than the people who comprised them, who are we indeed?
So, here are the facts. Top ten at Assen. Top six year to date.
Assen MotoGP Race:
pts
1 25 63 Francesco Bagnaia
2 20 72 Marco Bezzecchi
3 16 12 Maverick Viñales
4 13 41 Aleix Espargaro
5 11 33 Brad Binder
6 10 43 Jack Miller
7 9 89 Jorge Martin
8 8 36 Joan Mir
9 7 88 Miguel Oliveira
10 6 42 Alex Rins
Year to date
- 20 Fabio Quartararo 172 NC = 1
- 41 Aleix Espargaro 151 NC = 0
- 5 Johann Zarco 114 NC = 1
- 63 Francesco Bagnaia 110 NC = 4
5 23 Enea Bastianini 105 NC = 3
6 33 Brad Binder 93 NC = 1
Moto2 Race:
1 25 37 Augusto Fernandez
2 20 79 Ai Ogura
3 16 96 Jake Dixon
4 13 13 Celestino Vietti
5 11 64 Bo Bendsneyder
6 10 21 Alonso Lopez
7 9 14 Tony Arbolino
8 8 16 Joe Roberts
9 7 18 Manuel Gonzalez
10 6 12 Filip Salac
Year to date:
1 C Vietti 146
2 A Fernandez 146
3 A Ogura 145
4 A Canet 116
5 T Arbolino 104
6 J Roberts 97
Moto3 Race:
1 25 71 Ayumu Sasaki
2 20 28 Izan Guevara
3 16 11 Sergio Garcia
4 13 24 Tatsuki Suzuki
5 11 43 Xavier Artigas
6 10 96 Daniel Holgado
7 9 82 Stefano Nepa
8 8 6 Ryusei Yamanaka
9 7 53 Deniz Öncü
10 6 27 Kaito Toba
Year to date:
1 S Garcia 182
2 I Guevara 179
3 D Foggia 118
4 A Sasaki 113
5 J Masia 107
6 D Oncu 98
One thing I’m sure to comment on, under the paragraph entitled “Parity” is the dead heat among the top three contenders in Moto2. Never seen three riders separated by a single point at the top of any chart. Another thing will be your boy Aleix shattering, on lap 15 of the race, the existing all-time lap record at Assen, NOT JUST THE RACE LAP. Up until the moment the all-time record was broken later in the race, Aleix posted the fastest lap ever recorded at Assen, DURING THE RACE. Pretty amazing.
That’s all for now. Need to get started on the mid-season report coming your way on Motorcycle.com in the near future.
Tags: Aleix espargaro, Assen, duth tt assen, fabio quartararo, motogp, pecco bagnaia
Late-Braking MotoGP 
July 2, 2022 at 3:09 pm |
An easy decision. You will remember that memorial till the day you die. An Assen wrap-up? Lunch money from MO? Not so much.
I like El Diablo, but a Aleix/Aprilia Championship would be a double Cinderella story. It would also put Pol and Pop Gun on the spot. It already has.
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July 2, 2022 at 3:46 pm |
Ugh. Am voting no because I’m not an Aleix fan. I thought he might have been learning to pull his head in, until his panty rant about Jack Miller falling off on the last lap in qualifying and totally harshing his squee. Dude, that’s racing. How about instead of y’all messing around looking for tows and playing mind games, you just get out and set your best time at the five minute mark? You know, how Marc Marquez and Fabio like to do. I will give you that was a hell of a ride though, and that last overtake on Binder and co was a thing of beauty. It really does look like the Ape is the package this year. Shame I can’t stand the pilots.
The main race was a bit of a snoozer. Nice to see Pecco keeping it together and not going for a gravel facial from a big lead, as he’s done a few times before. That will help his chances in the back end of the season, but he’s going to need some luck to fight for the title. Fabio looks good for a back to back, although he won’t have earned any brownie points for his jab at the stewards after his crash – which was absolutely his fault. Maybe he should consider that karma for not getting back flagged while riding bare chested last season, and keep it zipped.
Moto2 looks tight this time around, I’m almost regretting not watching. Moto3 was a good result for me, Tatsu in 4th – he’s having a semi decent season this year, which is nice given that last year was a horror show. Garcia v Guevara is going to be a slugfest of pure entertainment.
I see silly season is well underway too. Lots of musical seats going on right now, it’s gonna be interesting to see who’s without a ride when the music stops. I thought it might be Rins, but he’s already locked and loaded, so now I’m thinking Miguel Oliveira. Votes on who gets the factory seat? I hope Bastianini, because I really think Jorge Martin can live without the pressure and will be far better off staying at Pramac. I still have faith in Martin’s enormous talent, if he can sort his head out.
Anyway, welcome back Bruce! Glad that Bobby got a great send off, the beach where you were looked divine.
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July 2, 2022 at 5:57 pm |
I dig the underdog, but I admit the long crying jag he went on that had his kids and wife crying because he F’ed up and lost three spots was a big disappointment. Big boy pants and all. I get the huge pressure to perform, but he’s not 21 anymore.
The El Diablo sniveling is based on Naka’s TWO previous bowling ball incidents which he wasn’t penalized for. “Racing incidents”. But not for El Diablo. RD hasn’t been consistent. Get it together Freddie.
You would have thought that the leathers upzipped to the crotch comments from the paddock and press would have dissuaded El Diablo, but no. lol. Ah, youthful exuberance…..
Enjoyed your comment.
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July 3, 2022 at 1:58 pm |
Good post. I hadn’t known that Rins signed a deal. Very interesting situation. If Mir goes to Repsol Honda as has been rumored, and if Rins gets a factory bike at LCR as has been reported, we’ll continue to enjoy a direct rivalry between the two.
I also learned that Alex Marquez is off to Gresini Ducati. I suppose that means Beastie will announce his move to Factory Ducati soon.
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July 3, 2022 at 1:44 pm |
Have a look at the Fabio-Aleix incident from the aerial view: https://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2022/06/26/the-reason-quartararo-has-received-a-penalty-for-silverstone/428477
From this perspective, it looks to me like Fabio did nothing crazy. He set his pass up, and he had the line the whole way. He just couldn’t hold hit. Perhaps he misjudged the readiness of his front tire. It was still early in the race.
No doubt it was his fault, but it was nothing crazy, unfair, or particularly risky. Look at it from the aerial view at the beginning of the video.
Oh well, them’s the breaks. Roll with the punches. Have a good summer. I’m sure Bruce can think up more cliches.
PS: reading Jarvis’s response to the penalty, it seems the stewards focused more on the result of Fabio’s crash than the crash, itself. Seems they said, “Even if you did nothing wrong, your crash happened to affect they guy who’s chasing you in the championship. We have to penalize you.” But penalties are supposed to reflect the severity of the violation, not the outcome. https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2022/06/28/yamaha-boss-issues-statement-on-quartararo-penalty/428760
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July 3, 2022 at 3:43 pm |
As I said to a friend. Name a more iconic duo than Cam Beaubier and crashing out of podium contention.
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July 3, 2022 at 4:25 pm |
Also watching Aleix run up the field on a bike that 3 years ago would have struggled just to leave the place he got knocked down to was just amazing.
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July 4, 2022 at 1:27 pm |
LOL! I’m a big Cam fan and it’s great to see him doing so well this year, but yes. He’s becoming a Jedi master at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
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July 5, 2022 at 5:31 pm |
Aleix was incredible in this race. After Quartaro knocked him from second to 15th, coming all the way back, setting the lap record while passing multiple riders, and climbing back to finish 4th including passing Miller and Binder on the last turn, simply an incredible race. One of the most incredible rides ever.
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July 18, 2022 at 10:02 pm |
Okay Brucey, whenever you’re ready!
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July 20, 2022 at 1:16 pm |
I just read that Alex Rins has signed a two-year deal with LCR Honda Castrol. So you take a guy who is known for crashing and put him on a bike that is known for being difficult to ride. Good thing Rins’s deal is directly with HRC. He’s going to need a lot of spare parts!
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