Jorge Martin ran away with the Sprint race on Saturday. The main event on Sunday was taken by Bezzecchi, who went through on Jack Miller on Lap 11 and wasn’t challenged thereafter, increasingly looking like the man to beat in 2023. Earlier, Maverick Vinales and Pecco Bagnaia took each other out on Lap 5 and went to Fist City in the gravel trap, but kissed and made up later on. Shortly thereafter, Luca Marini and Alex Marquez went down together. Joan Mir had his usual crash on Lap 14 today, followed by Alex Rins on Lap 15, as the Honda can only be ridden by Marquez. #93 was in contention for a podium all day until he folded under pressure from Jorge Martin on Lap 26, right after Jack Miller lost the front of his KTM on Lap 25. 21 riders started the race and 13 finished, meaning Jonas Folger now has more points for the season than Mir, who, it says right here, will be spoken of in the past tense at HRC come season’s end.
It sounds like Gresini is planning to replace FDG with Tony Arbolino for next season. Frankie Morbidelli is toast. If Ai Ogura ever gets his wrist sorted out, he may very well take Takaa Nakagami’s seat as the Designated Japanese Rider in the premier class. Likewise, Raul Fernandez is unlikely to remain in MotoGP after this season, with all the young guns making noise in Moto2.
I really don’t have time to do a proper job on the French Grand Prix today, as life is once again intruding on my incessant libeling. Demolition derbies as took place today tend to obscure the fact that some pretty sorry riders end up scoring points. So while someone is bound to point out that Nakagami finished in P11 today, it was due to the fact that six or seven riders who would normally leave him in their wake were missing at the finish. And yes, I know that in order to finish first one must first finish blah blah blah. It’s not just Marquez who is riding on the ragged edge all day. I think the technology has gotten ahead of the riders, that no one is in full control of their machine, and that we are likely to see more heavy crashes–paging Pol Espargaro–yet this season. Still, when you have three riders running abreast in a turn at 100 mph there is nothing else quite like it.
2023 has become another clusterf*ck in Marc Marquez’s late career. Honda has taken the greatest rider since Valentino Rossi and reduced him to a stumbling, fumbling shadow of his former self.
Since it’s a given he will crash several times upon his return–notice the word “possibly” in front of Le Mans–he had better heal completely. Maybe just take the rest of the year off, get prepared for the Ducati in 2024. He can take Alex’s seat.
HRC needs to go away. Take Yamaha with them. Turn MotoGP into a completely European parlor game. Let the Japanese manufacturers concentrate on Moto3 and manufacturing little 80cc and 125cc urban runabouts. They can no longer cut it in the big displacement competition.
Oh, and the Kazakh round has, predictably, been cancelled. Waiting on word of the cancellation of India.
Good thing Pecco keeps falling off his bike. Otherwise, interest in this sport would be zero.
Ducati pilot Enea Bastiannini and Repsol Honda legend Marc Marquez will both miss Round 3 at COTA this weekend. Their inclusion on our list of Helplessly Hoping Pilots is looking better and better. Joan Mir’s recent travails have made him the 12th rider purported to have no chance of winning the 2023 title.
Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will take Bastiannini’s place in Texas, while the erstwhile Stefan Bradl will suit up for the pitiful Repsol Honda team.
Well FP1 & FP2 for the Argentina MotoGP is done. The “Italian Mob” has secured the first 7 positions. A nice wrinkle though, as the “The Grand Ole Man” of MotoGP Aleix Espargaro put’s in the fastest time just over a tenth quicker than his teammate “Top Gun” Maverick Vinales who was 2nd. Obviously, a great venue for the small Italian manufacturer Aprilia. Aleix’s only win a year ago came here, could he do it again? When Maverick is happy, he’s a threat to win. I think he’s happy, a first win on his Aprilia here looks like a possibility, backing up a strong 5/2 tally last week.. The “Rossi Boys”, Marco Bezzecchi 3rd fastest, coming off a podium finish a week ago at Portimao looking for another. His teammate Luca Marini 4th, trying to right the ship after a abysmal start to his season last week with 2 DNF’s. 5th, the new “Flying Frenchman” Johann Zarco, once again a great qualifying run, coming of a well deserved 4th place last week at Portimao. Could he finally win one of these things? I’m hoping so, he’s come so close on a number of occasions. 6th, defending Champ Franco Bagnaia, coming off a perfect weekend and once again in a great position to challenge for podiums in Argentina. 7th, “Mighty Mouse” Jorge Martin, another solid qualifying effort, after a strong second last week in the Sprint race, only to be collected by an overzealous Marc Marquez in Sunday’s feature, knocking him out of a another potential podium. 8th, from “The Land of the Rising Sun”, Takaaki Nakagami, on the first non Italian machine and first Honda. His up and down career has been filled with many crashes, flashes of brilliance and more crashes. Maybe he can have some luck this weekend. 9th and first Yamaha, not who you’d expect, but great to see back in the top ten, former Moto2 champ, Franco Mordibelli. After almost winning the title in 2020, frankly he should have, nothing but injury and poor finishes the past 2 seasons. Hopefully, the likeable Italian can find his 2020 form and get some much needed results. 10th “Mr. Smooth”, Alex Rins on the second Honda. I’ve always liked him, reminds me so much of Jorge Lorenzo, hoping he can come to grips with the Honda and maybe help them make it more rideable.
Tomorrow will be Q1 and only 2 will advance to Q2. Some fast guys that really need to get to Q2 to help their chances this weekend. Alex Marquez 11th, just missing the cut today. Brad “The Grinder” Binder, 12th after a good run in last Sunday’s long race. Joan Mir 13th, still struggling with the Honda and needing something to build on. 14th Fabio Quartararo, the former champ in desperate need of some good news. Today, for the first time in a couple of years, being out qualified by his teammate. 15th FDG, a name to long to type, still looking for some speed on his Ducati. 16th, “The Thriller” Jack Miller, looking to pull a “rabbit out of his hat” tomorrow, as it appears the KTM’s are having issues in Argentina. Augusto and Raul Fernandez rounding out the slightly deleted field 17th and 18th.
Qualifying has become a “premium” this season as your grid is set both days by your final Q1/Q2 tally. With the top 15 being separated by less than a second, the days of the come from behind rides are almost over. Looks good for Aprilia and Ducati this weekend. They’ve qualified well and if their FP3 race set up pace is solid, it’ll be a long weekend for any brand not made in Italy. I’m hoping Honda, KTM or Yamaha can come up with something to be more competitive to liven up the series. Finally, Q2 qualifying will once again play a major role in both of this weekend’s races for the reasons mentioned above. Also, I’m thinking we’ll have a couple of different winners this weekend, to be continued…
2023 may prove to be the year when the MotoGP title was decided earlier than ever before. Rather than being the most competitive year in history, as was widely anticipated during the off-season, we may find ourselves twiddling our thumbs by early October.
It is fair to say that after the first of 21 rounds of racing the number of plausible contenders for the championship has been cut from 22 to 11. Let’s discuss.
First, there never were 22 actual contenders, as at least seven riders never had a snowball’s chance in hell of capturing the title:
Augusto Fernandez
Raul Fernandez
Franco Morbidelli
Fabio Quartararo
Alex Rins
Takaa Nakagami
Fabio di Giannantonio
Making this little list involves some combination of a lack of riding talent and lousy machinery. There is also the fact that I’m looking to stir the pot a little by including the 2021 champion herein. So sue me.
Events in Portugal added another four names to this miserable list, as follows:
Pol Espargaro–Dude is going to take a long time to get back to racing. He was a long shot before getting crushed on Friday. We wish him all the best, but he needs to be thinking 2024. Or just walking away from racing while he can still walk.
Enea Bastiannini–Things looked great for EBas during winter testing, having joined Pecco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati team. He was having arm pump issues before getting collected by Luca Marini during the Sprint on Saturday and fracturing his right shoulder blade. His people report he will not need surgery, which is a surprise. Missing the first two rounds of 2023 and rushing back at way less than 100% spells trouble.
Miguel Oliveira–The victim of Marc Marquez’s reckless aggression early this past Sunday, Oliveira will not return to action until Round 3 at COTA. Before getting skittled on Sunday, he looked capable of a top six finish for 2023, but that would have necessitated absolutely everything going right, which it never does in this sport.
Marc Marquez–Dude is his own worst enemy, which is saying something, as he is roundly loathed by a number of other riders and millions of MotoGP fans. His bike is terrible. He recorded a DNF in Portugal and will record a DNS in Argentina. When he returns at COTA (his second-favorite track on the calendar next to The Sachsenring) he will be wounded and saddled with a double long lap penalty, putting him squarely behind the eight-ball before the season is fully underway. His slim prospects heading into the season have been reduced to none.
It may be fun to keep track of the hashtag #MotoGPContenders this year if I can ever figure out how to format the hashtag. Heading into Round 2 it stands at 11. It is likely to decline steadily as we move through the calendar. There will be occasions when the current favorites–Bagnaia, Vinales, Aleix, maybe Jack Miller–crash, which might see the number go up. But if events unfold as expected here, that number will fall to “1” before October, at which point we can all get together and whistle “Dixie.” Practice in Argentina starts in a few minutes. I’ll be back with some stuff on Saturday. Ride on.
Round One of the 2023 MotoGP season produced a dominant performance by defending world champion Pecco Bagnaia, who took the inaugural Sprint race on Saturday followed by a wire-to-wire win on Sunday. He has confirmed the predictions of many followers who pegged him to successfully defend his 2022 title. But Marc Marquez, once again, will be the main topic of conversation this week after a mistake on Lap 3 clobbered Miguel Oliveira and ruined the day for Portuguese racing fans.
Pretty much everyone knows that Marquez, the most talented rider of the last decade, has an albatross of a bike in the 2023 Honda RC213V, described by the knowledgeable Simon Crafar as having no redeeming qualities whatsoever. In order to be remotely competitive on a grid teeming with fast, agile Italian bikes, he must over-ride for every moment of every race. He must take risks most other riders would eschew. His temperament doesn’t allow him to back down; “go hard or go home” is in his DNA. On Saturday, we witnessed what happens when his luck holds–an all-time track record in qualifying followed by a podium finish in the Sprint. On Sunday, we saw what happens when it runs out–he makes contact with another rider (in this case Jorge Martin, whose day was also ruined) which leads to a dangerous crash and collateral damage for an innocent bystander, in this case Aprilia pilot Miguel Oliveira. If Oliveira is not seriously hurt, it is only because of his leathers, his airbag, his helmet, and his superb musculature.
We will not pile on Marquez here, leaving that for others more inclined to journalistic histrionics. Marquez will receive a major penalty next week in Argentina which he will serve on behalf of his employers. Little brother Alex is demonstrating what happens when a Honda rider climbs aboard a Ducati Desmosedici and goes from utter irrelevance to podium contention. Today may be the day on which Marc Marquez decided to cut the cord with Honda moving forward and defect to Borgo Paginale. Put him on a (new or used) Ducati, and he could easily win a dozen races per season. He could also avoid the regret and embarrassment resulting from crashes such as occurred today.
What About the Race, You Nimrod?
Right. Oliveira took the hole shot and led after the first lap, followed closely by Bagnaia, Martin and Marquez. Bagnaia went through on Lap 2 for the duration. It was on Lap 3 that Marquez attempted to go through on Martin, misjudged the angle, and made contact with the Pramac pilot. His Honda lost contact with the tarmac and plowed into the hapless Oliveira, with both riders going ragdoll and both bikes left in tatters. Martin recovered in, like, P15 while Pecco left the chaos well behind him. The crash opened the door for Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi and Brad Binder.
The rest of the day saw the resurrected Vinales furiously dogging Bagnaia on his way to 20 points. Bezzecchi went through on Miller’s KTM on Lap 5 and finished the day on the third step of the podium. Behind this trio was some great racing, as Miller, Alex Marquez, Brad Binder and, late in the proceedings, Johann Zarco mixed it up. Zarco had been riding in P9 early in the race and was still in P8 at the end of Lap 21 before mounting a huge charge over the last four laps on his way to 13 points. I seem to have underestimated his prospects for the season. He seems to be shaving more frequently than in years past. And how nice was it to see young Alex Marquez fighting near the front and enjoying life on a 2022 Ducati. Miller and Binder seem capable of winning somewhere other than Red Bull Ring. And Bezzecchi, heir apparent to Marco Simoncelli, at least in his coiffure, may prove to be the best of the young Italian riders making their way up from Moto2.
Along with the shredding of track records came attrition unseen since the gruesome days of Paul Bird and CRTs. With Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastiannini (fractured shoulder blade) recording DNSs, there were only 20 bikes on the starting grid. Exit Marquez and Oliveira; a thoroughly miserable FDG retired on Lap 11; Martin crashed out on Lap 20 trying like hell to get back in the points; Luca Marini threw it at the scenery on Lap 22, followed by Raul Fernandez on Lap 24, leaving 14 bikes to take the checkered flag. This was great news for the suppurating Franco Morbidelli, who is now assured of scoring at least two (2) points in 2023. No wonder Lin Jarvis looks like he swallowed a fish hook, with Fabio Quartararo having become a second division afterthought and Morbidelli turning green.
The Undercards
Moto3 is back to its usual frenetic self. Today’s race was wicked awesome, with more lead changes than you can count, and seven or eight riders jousting for the win. Sensational sophomores Daniel Holgado, my boy David Munoz and Brazilian teenager Diogo Moreira landed on the podium, celebrating with non-alcoholic magna of the obligatory prosecco.
Moto2 offered, unfortunately, a preview of what could very well be one of the dullest seasons in recent memory, in which Pedro Acosta, KTM’s Next Great Spanish Rider, led Aron Canet on a lonely, fruitless chase all day on his way to the first of what promise to be numerous wins and the 2023 title in advance of his inevitable promotion to MotoGP in 2024. Canet has become the poster child of a racing bridesmaid, with ten second-place finishes and no wins in his career. With Canet, it’s always something, or someone, or two KTM guys, standing between him and success. I can’t help being put off by the extravagant ink on his neck. Call me old-fashioned.
On to Argentina
Back-to-back weekends start the season as the flying circus heads to South America for Round Two. Michele Pirro will undoubtedly fill in for Bastiannini on the factory Ducati. With any luck, we’ll get to see Jonas Folger or Mika Kallio or–be still my heart–Dani Pedrosa subbing for Little Brother on the GasGas entry. We will return on Saturday with Sprint coverage and the usual slanderous blah blah blah.
The first Saturday of the 2023 MotoGP season left me shaking my head in wonder. All-time track records fell like tenpins. Ducati Desmos were casually flexing their muscles all day. HRC has reduced Marc Marquez from the dominant force in the sport to playing the role of the wily veteran, having to rely on tows and wizardry to stay in the chase. Jack Miller appears to have found a home with KTM. And the first ever MotoGP Sprint was frantic, and breathtaking, while sowing seeds of doubt upon its ultimate effect on Sunday racing. In short, there was something for every taste and budget.
Premier class qualifying was as exciting as ever, with four manufacturers ending up on the first two rows. Marquez and homeboy Miguel Oliveira made it out of Q1, with #93 laying down a vapor trail early in his first run, allowing him to ignore the last seven minutes of the session, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He then spent most of Q2 lollygagging in P12 until a last lap tow from EBas slingshotted him into a new track record and onto pole for the 64th time in his premier class career. Even on the atrocious RC213V, you still don’t want him on your tail late in the game, as we would see again later in the day.
Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin (for whom the Sprints seem to have been specifically designed) filled out the first row. Oliveira, an ecstatic Jack Miller and disgruntled Bastiannini ended up in Row 2. Cole Trickle captured P7 followed by the dangerous VR46 kids. Row four contained a suicidal Fabio Quartararo and two senior citizens, Johann Zarco and Aleix Espargaro. (Pol Espargaro would miss the weekend after getting folded, spindled and mutilated in a bad crash on Friday.) The stage was set for the debut of The Sprint.
Marquez took the hole shot from pole, but was soon swallowed up by Pecco, and Martin, and Oliveira, and Miller, who held the lead for a few seconds on Lap 7. Otherwise, it was mostly Bagnaia and Martin, with the Pramac pilot appearing to hold the upper hand. A five bike lead group became seven around Lap 8 when both Vinales and Espargaro appeared on the scene. Earlier in the race, rookie Augusto Fernandez threw it at the scenery, and Joan Mir Honda-ed himself for not the last time this year, causing Fabio to fall to around P19 on a humbling day for the 2021 world champion. Luca Marini skittled EBas and Marco Bezzecchi took some soil samples, making my fantasy pick of the Mooney team look ridiculous. The plot would thicken for the last three laps.
Bagnaia went through first on Miller, then, on the last lap, on Martin, who had run wide. In between the action, on Lap 11, Oliveira and Miller were enjoying a close encounter when Marquez, who had been keeping his powder dry in P5, ordered up a double, going through on both riders on the way to the podium and seven points, clearly the best overtake of the day. Oliveira got over-excited on the last lap, dropping from P3 to P7, and taking the air out of the crowd. In the end, it was Pecco, Martin and, yup, Marquez on the podium.
The sprint format allows riders the luxury of not having to conserve either fuel or tires, allowing young fast movers like Martin to go balls out and rendering the skills of more experienced rides moot. It places even more emphasis on qualifying than was already the case. It opens up the opportunity for, say, an Enea Bastiannini to get nicked up, harming his prospects for Sunday’s main event. But it IS cool, and bolsters the arguments of some fans who strongly disapprove of the pace-reducing effects of tire and fuel conservation and the always dreadful processions that can occur on Sundays.
Allow me to crow for a moment over the fact that the first four rows this weekend include 12 of my 14 top picks for the season. I’m probably wrong about Miller, Alex Marquez, FDG and Binder; we’ll find out more as the season progresses. Today gave credibility to Simon Crafar’s observation that Italian bikes are likely to dominate 2023. See y’all tomorrow.
The muffled, rhythmic, pneumatic sound you hear in the background comes from the equipment keeping Fabio Quartararo’s 2022 MotoGP title hopes alive. Mathematically speaking. People with a dog in this fight will tell you the championship is now down to an exciting shootout in Valencia, despite Quartararo’s indisposition. As if. Young Pecco must now endure another two weeks of nightmares, in which, being dogged by Quartararo, he crashes late in Valencia, and lies there in the gravel watching the Italian punk him and win the title. Whereas Fabio has had to endure a long late-season decline, Bagnaia’s deep set fear must be choking in his One Shining Moment.
Saturday
I was working my grandson like a field hand in the yard most of Saturday–paid him handsomely and fixed his lunch, gave him a few free secrets of life etc.–and so missed most of the action from the track. I’m now ignoring Moto3 and can’t stand the suspense of Moto2, so I’ll focus on the big bikes this week. This is, after all, where Fabio Quartararo’s dream of repeating as MotoGP world champion was going to go up in smoke, courtesy of a miserable second half of the season, a hand injury at exactly the wrong time, and the blinding dominance of the bikes manufactured by Ducati Corse. Marquez said after qualifying he is losing 3/10ths to the Ducatis in the main straight. The Yamaha is losing 3/10ths to Marquez. The writing has been on the wall for some time in the premier class. Fabio will not repeat as MotoGP champion in 2022.
Qualifying was another master class by two riders clearly at the top of their respective games, Marc Marquez once again, Pecco Bagnaia at last. My favorite interviewer, Simon Crafar, was in the booth today, observing that the Honda RC213V does not have a single winning characteristic, yet there goes Marquez, putting it in places no other rider can even conceive of, ending up in P3 for the start of the race. In Q1 with double zeroes on the clock, he steals a ticket into Q2. Afterwards, he is surrounded by the resurgent Alex Rins avec his soon-to-be-extinct Suzuki GSX-RR and another quartet of the damned Italian engineering marvels, starting in P1 where Jorge Martin calmly set an all-time track record (by 6/10ths!) in Q2. EBas sits in P2 looking frisky, with Rossi’s wild boys, Bezzecchi and Marini, sitting pretty on Row 2. Marquez gives the impression of being close to 100% again. His bike gives the impression it needs to be taken back behind the garage and shot.
For those of you keeping score at home, the top three contenders for the 2022 MotoGP title–Pecco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro–would be starting Sunday’s race in P9, P12 and P10 respectively. Disrespectively. How this happened would take a while to explain, but my theory of untimely crashes is coming into clear focus. I’m looking forward to writing the season recap, as events seem to be unfolding as expected, other than Aleix is probably doomed. Oh, and the fact that the north star of my predictions, and worldview, is on its way to being proven exactly wrong.
Sunday
There were moments in the middle of the race in which the tension was absolutely superb, moments which offered us a glimpse of the immediate future–Bagnaia and Bastiannini dominating the 2023 championship season–as well as my own vision of the future, in which Ducati Corse makes the decision to stop supporting all these random teams and simply becomes the engine supplier for the premier class, the rest of the OEMs reduced to Moto2 status, building their brand entries around a single engine. The superiority of the Italian machines is occasionally blinding and was on full display at Sepang after taking six of the top eight spots in Australia a week ago (minus the top two, for whatever reason.) Today a podium closeout was shaping up until Jorge Martin, who had destroyed a longstanding track record during QP2, casually crashed out of a comfortable lead on Lap 7, doing a reasonable impression of Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy.”
For me, the most interesting part of the race occurred during laps 9 through 14 when Bagnaia and EBas were arguing over the lead and young Marco Bezzecchi, spawn of the Valentino Rossi clan, suddenly appeared on Quartararo’s tail. The sitch at the time was if Bezzecchi could overtake Quartararo and Pecco hold on to win, the championship would be over. The announcers theorized that MB’s tires were going off. My own thought was that he was thinking, “Step three on the podium, or make the factory bitch win it on his own in Spain?” To me, it looked like he backed off, but that’s just me. Same way I looked at Martin’s off–my notes read ‘team player,’ promoting Bagnaia to the lead. Silly.
My new favorite metaphor for crashing out of the race came courtesy of Louis Suddaby, describing Bastiannini’s decision “not to throw it at the scenery,” a phrase which is bound to show up in future articles…By Lap 2 it looked as if we were going to see an electric face-off between Quartararo in P5 and Marquez in P4, but it never took place. Quartararo went through early while Marquez faded, as expected, ending his day in P7. It was a set-up ripe for controversy, had the two mixed it up while the Ducati contingent was busy getting away. Maybe next year.
Thinking about how Ducati has seemingly found a way to solve the economics of MotoGP, compared to the quandary endured by Suzuki, having experienced recent success but unable to make the numbers work for even a single team…Brad Binder, with his skeletal air, his shaved head and beard looks like one of the South African mercenaries so often found in modern action films. Don’t mess with him on the track… I had to post the photo of Carmelo Ezpeleta and Sultan Somethingorother, Carmelo, the Big Cheese of MotoGP, doing an excellent job of not sweating through his trousers, while the Sultan, Grand Gouda of the locals, looks cool as a cucumber in the equatorial steam bath…The rain expected by the announcers never materialized, to the dismay of fans like myself who love the entropy of flag-to-flag tilts…
On to Valencia
Before Round 18 at Phillip Island, there were five combatants–Pecco, Fabio, Aleix, Miller and EBas.
Before Round 19 today, there were four–Pecco, Fabio, Aleix and EBas.
Heading to Round 20 in Valencia, there remain but two contestants. The Italian holds every card in the deck; the Frenchman, with a broken finger on his left hand, can’t even hold the few cards he has. The Italian, with his fellow Ducati teams, will have, in effect, up to seven wingmen watching his six should the need arise. The Frenchman is all on his own, his teammate mired in the muck all year, the satellite guys ready and willing but unable to help fend off the swarm of Desmos. On paper, it looks to be no contest, Pecco riding the last two laps with one hand on the handlebars and the other blowing kisses to the irritated fans, who want, above all, to see a Spaniard on the top step and hear their beloved anthem one more time in 2022. This November, the contest writ large will not involve a Spaniard, not that the fans care that much. The rumor expected to be circulating in the stands at the finale will assure all those in attendance that, like the swallows to Capistrano, #93 will be back next year, and the anthem is likely to get a good workout once again.
See you in two weeks.
Brolly #1Brolly #2SepangThese Frenchmen are incorrigible. Don’t do it, Johann.Big Cheese and Grand Gouda.Then there were two…
Fabio’s downfall continues; Bagnaia seizes series lead
MotoGP fans around the world enjoyed a feast of two-wheeled drama in Australia today as the 2022 championships–Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP–approach the last dance in Valencia next month.
Moto3 crowned its latest Spanish racing savant as 18-year-old Izan Guevara sealed his first grand prix championship in fine style, battling Garcia, Sasaki and Dennis Oncu the entire way. Guevara showed the world what he’s made of by riding his ass off for the win when he didn’t need the win to seal the championship.
In doing so, Guevara was able to avoid the awkward podium scene we saw back in 20?? involving your boy Jorge Lorenzo and one Marc Marquez. In the race, won by Lorenzo, Marquez had clinched the championship. During the podium celebration, Lorenzo was blowing celebratory gaskets, flexing and yelling about his nice win. Marquez, on step two, stood by, quietly watching The Lorenzo Show. After the anthem, Marquez and his team celebrated their most recent world championship. This was not a scene young Izan wanted to see repeated.
The reborn Alonso Lopez won Sunday’s Moto2 tilt by laying down a vapor trail around Turn 6 of Lap 1 and was never challenged, despite having to serve an Australian long lap penalty–similar to just going wide at a number of tracks–on Lap 3. The real action, involving the last two riders standing in 2022–Augusto Fernandez and Ai Ogura–showcased the volatility inherent in motorsports. Late in the day, Fernandez was cruising in P2, looking to put Ogura away while the Japanese rider was stuck in the mud in Single Digit Point Land. Suddenly, without warning or need, Fernandez lost the front and slid out of nirvana, while Ogura, limping home in P11, took over the series lead. For Fernandez, what should have been a 16+ point lead heading to Sepang is a four point deficit. Let Valencia decide.
MotoGP
The main event at Phillip Island in 2022 was exhausting, exhilarating, enervating and enduring and will likely be mentioned in conversations about the best races ever for years to come. My notes look like a process map for a Rube Goldberg device, arrows pointing up, down, and right, square boxes around crashers, deltas where standings were changing. When the smoke cleared and the cheering died down, Fabio Quartararo had surrendered his series lead to the increasingly inevitable Pecco Bagnaia (P3), who kept his composure while those around him were losing theirs. Let’s discuss. PS–Suzuki, with Alex Rins riding like a banshee, won the race today. One more turn of the screw piercing our sense of right and wrong, that such an ascendant program as Suzuki’s would be unable to continue their participation.
While the riders waited for the red lights to go out, Fabio led Bagnaia by two points; the Frenchman possibly distressed over the memory of leading Pecco by 66 points after Catalunya. The second half of the season has seen a steady erosion of El Diablo’s dominance; he has failed to score points in half of the last eight races. We are happy to speak of, and unhappy to observe, young Fabio’s descent into mortality, as we (and others) have seen it coming all year, #20 trying to milk all he can from an under-powered Yamaha M-1. He has been over-riding all year, holding on for dear life, trying to manufacture a winning recipe of his riding style with the bike’s strengths, but it has appeared to be a losing battle since mid-season. One fears that during the next two seasons, Fabio Quartararo will learn the lessons learned by all those who married for money.
Once again, for the third round in succession, Marc Marquez appeared ready and able but unwilling to challenge seriously for the win. In Motegi it was a mostly relaxed P5. In Buriram it was a rather leisurely P4. Today, he was firmly ensconced in the lead group all day, yet it appeared he was hovering or hesitating, resisting opportunities to go through on opponents he would have gleefully seized three years ago. Today, with a credible P2 he achieved his 100th grand prix podium. He tells us the new aero package in development for the RC213V is the way to salvation, intimating he will be back in full fighting trim next season. I, for one, would be glad to see it.
Alex Rins had one of those days riders dream about, in which he had the best bike on a fast track with the sun shining and the wind blowing and it all just worked out and he fought his way from mid-pack at the start into the lead group and finally into the lead and the win with a remarkable performance. It was one of those days riders might think of as easy, as if anything is really easy on two wheels at 200 mph. My friend Don tells me that 60 mph equates to 90 feet per second. Ergo 180 mph equates to 270 fps. So the guys can travel the length of a football field in a second, give or take. For me, simply breathing at 180 mph would be a serious challenge. We are glad to see Rins enjoying himself during a year in which his house came down around his ears.
Elsewhere in the top five, Bastianini struggled all day before finishing an uninspiring P5, still alive mathematically but dead in every other respect. His future, however, remains so bright he’ll need shades. Frightening to consider how good the factory Ducati team could be next year… Aleix’s late season fade continues, his seven points today not feeding the beast… Jack Miller got hammered by Alex Marquez on Lap 9, putting an end to his faint championship hopes, but allowing him an opportunity to jump the fence and party with his friends at the brand new Jack Miller Corner…Valentino Rossi’s two young guns, Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini, continue to impress during the second half of the season. Bezzecchi claimed P4 and Marini P6 today. This was Bezzecchi’s first visit to Phillip Island on a MotoGP bike and he was mostly sensational during the last half of the race, wearing his big boy pants, grinning at the veterans as he went by.
A lot of other stuff went on and you can read about it almost anywhere. Here at Late-Braking MotoGP we are looking for meaning, trying to find our place in the universe, seeing things through our little out-of-round lens. For us, Fabio is a one-man passion play, a champion and an underdog at the same time whose obvious virtue and competitive spirit are not enough to overcome the voracious appetites of the suits at Ducati Corse. Pecco is handicapped by his inability to recognize life-threatening situations, the result being that he either wins or gets helped to his feet by the marshals. When he retires, he should go into advertising. Aleix should be sprawled on the floor in a corner of his garage with a guitar, singing, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me.” After years of struggle, he once again allowed his heart to get the better of him, believing in mid-season that he had a legit look at the championship. ‘Tis better to have loved, and lost…
So, we’re down to it now. One championship decided, two to go. Moto2 is anyone’s guess, but I’m staying with my mid-season pick of Fernandez to finish on top. I was jocking Aleix during the summer break, just as my own sentimental favorite. Today, you have to believe Bagnaia will be the 2022 champion. He is likely to eat Sepang for lunch (while Quartararo struggles) and render Valencia meaningless once again.
We look forward to your comments and constructive criticisms. lol
We here at Late-Braking MotoGP have admittedly become something of a clanging gong on the subject of Fabio Quartararo and the likelihood of his repeating as world champion in 2022. Such concerns arrived in full force today in the steam bath that is Buriram, in a part of the world that offers one a choice of climatic conditions. Not a range, mind you, but a choice–heat found only on hell’s front porch or torrential downpours that raise the humidity above 100%. These come and go with reckless abandon, causing events such as we saw today in Round 17.
Doesn’t the editorial We above sound better than some mope sitting at his kitchen table clattering away about stuff he doesn’t really understand?
I suppose I should mention somewhere that Miguel Oliveira won the race.
I have our crack research staff examining 2022 records for help answering the following question: Is a rider’s fate on Sunday largely decided by the events in FP3 and Q1, or are you stupid? Of course it’s decided on Saturday, from top to bottom. I’ve decided I love the current qualifying format in that it is progressively Darwinian. You have to make the top 10 in the combined FP1 – FP3 sessions. If you fail to do so, it is imperative that you battle through Q1 to make it to Q2. [When was the last time a rider won in MotoGP starting outside the top 12? The nerds are looking into that, as well. No they’re not.] Once in Q2, it is ultra-helpful if the rider can finish the session above the 50th percentile, i.e., in the first two rows. Only then does one get a credible chance for the win.
One example of this (not a very good one) was Johann Zarco today, who got pistol-whipped at the start from P5 and spent his day trying to get his wipers to work in traffic, with a notable lack of success. Until Lap 15, when he laid down the first of five consecutive fastest race laps and put himself up with the big dogs for the last half dozen. He would overtake Marquez, who appeared to develop grip issues late in the day, but was unable to penetrate Bagnaia for a place on the podium. Likewise, Marquez missed a decent chance to capture his 100th career podium, but he looked fit doing it. He barged into a couple of riders along the way today, but escaped penalty, unless he’s the rider given three extra seconds for bashing directly into Marco Bezzecchi without so much as a by your leave on Lap 8. Just sayin’.
I guess what I’m suggesting is that my idea back in 2008 when the Indianapolis round was busy failing due to Hurricane Ike that new venues, like the IMS at the time, offer free admission on the first Saturday of racing. Give the uninitiated a dozen or so sessions during the day, saving the best for last. In the absence of a tropical depression, such a promotion could have brought 150,000 paid admissions on Sunday; it would have instantly become the best-attended race on the calendar. A full day of MotoGP, all three classes, is enough to get any 4 wheel gearhead interested in two-wheeled racing. Although the thought of offering free admission on Saturday during the dubious India round could result in six or seven million people crashing the gates. Not a great idea after all, I suppose.
Today’s race was highlighted by the fact that the riders had virtually no practice time whatsoever, at all, no how no way. None. A couple of extra sighting laps before the race. The notable mudders on the grid–Miller, Oliveira, Marquez, Alex (!) Marquez, Zarco–were going to have a good day, being veterans comfortable on rain tires. Oddly, rookie and Valentino Rossi protégé Marco Bezzecchi took pole on Saturday, joined by Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia for an all Ducati front row. Duc Duc Duc. Young Marco took the hole shot and proceeded to get mauled by pretty much everyone, ending his day in P16.
By Lap 4, Jack Miller had established a clear but unconvincing lead, with KTM wet weather ace Miguel Oliveira sniffing around his tailpipe. Oliveira took P2 from Bezzecchi on Lap 7 and seized the lead from Miller on Lap 8 as Aleix Espargaro was being assessed a long lap penalty for, as I understand it, “being kind of an asshole all day,” as it said in the FIM press release. I overheard the announcers say that someone had been assessed a three-second penalty for conduct unbecoming, but missed the rider’s name. One of you, I’m sure, will inform me. Wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was #93.
Quartararo’s day was awful in several ways. He gave up 16 of his 18 point lead and now is in a dogfight with Bagnaia for the title. Aleix sits in third, any momentum he enjoyed early in the season largely gone. EBas had a quiet P6 today, his ten points taking him to within 18 of Bagnaia. And along comes Jack, suddenly, having secured 45 points in the last eight days, sitting in a somewhat menacing P5. Conceding the win to Oliveira late in the race, Miller appeared somewhat circumspect about the prospect of trading paint with the rider he will replace on the KTM factory team next season.
For me, the highlight of the day occurred after the conclusion, when Simon Crafar, World’s Worst Interviewer, was sufficiently at sea, all deer in headlights, such that he could only manage to ask Pecco, “How happy are you?” I suspect Simon is moonlighting for some magazine, maybe Us or Forever21, and that he bootlegs these clips into articles about relationships and feelings and leather.
OK. I heard Matt Birt allude to the possibility the 2022 title could be decided in Valencia. So, we Dummies, we Morons, can look forward to that prospect today, when six weeks ago it seemed unlikely. Reality, it seems, has caught up with your boy Fabio and I’m afraid it’s downhill from here. Phillip Island and Sepang are happy hunting grounds for the Ducati phalanx. As usual, the primary question remains, “Who is composed enough to stay out of the gravel during the last four rounds?” Which is why we watch this stuff. I wish I had it in me to share my thoughts on Moto3 and Moto2 today. All I can say at this time is that the Moto2 race was shredded by the weather and, accordingly, for the first time in my memory, awarded half points to the riders of the truncated fiasco. The main beneficiaries of this decision, it would appear, are the bookmakers who can now avoid pushes using full point spread increments. There’s a sentence in there somewhere.
A week off before heading out to Australia and Malaysia. It appears plausible to believe 2022 will be one of those years when two riders head to Valencia within three points of one another, perhaps with a third another ten points back. A race in which the three riders will push all of their chips into the middle of the table, look each other in the eye, and say, “All in.” The guys who are making the videos recapping each MotoGP season will get their teeth into the jangling nerves and rampant obsessive compulsive disorders on display behind the scenes in Valencia on Friday night. One guy on the team stress-refreshing the Accuweather forecast. Fabio getting his roots done. Vinales on the phone for two hours with his infant daughter discussing race strategy. Jack Miller getting well into the beer before arm-wrestling members of his team. The young VR46 guns, Marini and Bezzecchi and Bastiannini, sitting with The Great Rossi listening to stories about 2008, barely able to keep their eyes open other than the breathtaking number of, um, encounters with, ahem, female admirers.
The hits just keep coming in MotoGP. Stay tuned for more up-to-date expressions of wild speculation.
Late-Braking MotoGP 