Posts Tagged ‘Yamaha’
Did Not See This Coming
May 1, 2024MotoGP 2024 Round One – Lusail
March 10, 2024Welcome back, Qatar
Here we go again. Swarthy miniature European jockeys holding on for dear life to grossly overpowered motorcycles. 20-some rounds all over the world between March and November. Six rounds in seven weeks to end the season, testing the mettle of riders and crews. Teenagers running wild in the lightweight Moto3 class; grizzled veterans seeking the top prize in motoracing in the premier MotoGP class. Half-length Saturday Sprint races on the big bikes making Saturdays on race weekends as exciting as the main event on Sundays.
Saturday
Jorge Martin is pretty much untouchable at short distances like qualifying and Sprints. It came as a surprise to no one that he took pole, breaking the all-time track record in the process, ho hum, then came back in the evening to win the first Sprint of the year. Brad “Skeletor” Binder dogged Martin over all 11 laps for another P2 finish, followed by the relatively ancient Aleix Espargaro. Bagnaia loitered his way into P4 ahead of a resurgent Marc Marquez onboard his shiny secondhand Gresini Ducati.
MotoGP is a great way to hear the Spanish and Italian national anthems.
Sunday
In Moto3, two of the pre-race favorites, Jose Rueda and Ivan Ortola, clattered out of the race on Lap 3. Young Japanese pilot Taiyo Furasato, coming from P18, put himself in contention for a podium in short order. Late in the day, Colombian David Alonso, Spaniard David Holgado and Furasato were clustered at the front of the pack, Holgado having led roughly 95% of the race. A classic Turn 16 overpass handed the win to Alonso. 25 bikes started the race, which seems to me to be half a dozen fewer than in most years.
In Moto2, pre-race favorites Fermin Aldeguer, Tony Arbolino and Aron Canet had terrible days, suggesting that the new Pirelli medium rear leaves a lot to be desired. Belgian Barry Baltus spent the last half of the race dogging eventual winner Alonso Lopez without a single cigar to show for his efforts. Sergio Garcia claimed the last step on the podium, followed by Ai Ogura and Manny Gonzalez. 2024 appears to be the year that the chokehold enjoyed by Kalex for the last thousand years has been broken.
In the premier class, Pecco showed that he learned a lesson on Saturday. He charged to the front from P5 on Lap 1 and stayed there all day, holding off Skeletor, who, in turn, stiff-armed Martin. Marquez finished in P4 ahead of the late-charging Bastianini. Teenage alien Pedro Acosta made a bid for the podium in the first half of the race and spent the second half of the race watching his tires turn to oatmeal, ending the day in P9. Dude will win some races this year and for the next decade.
Matt and Louis spent some time today pointing out how much faster the 2024 contests were than last year. I’m not sure where to go with this, but the elapsed time for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix was 41.43.654. This year, it was 39.34.869, a full two minutes faster. They had been expressing shock over the fact that the Sprint was 11 seconds faster this year than last. Wonder what they will have to say in two weeks at Portimao about a two-minute drop in the grand prix. Every year I get readers commenting about how The Powers That Be are dumbing down the sport in their efforts to make fielding teams more affordable. If this is so, they are failing miserably. MotoGP, it seems, has never been faster nor safer than it is today. Of course, today’s race was shortened by a lap due to Raul Fernandez’ cluster immediately before the start. Thanks to loyal reader Mad4TheCrest for pointing this out.
2024 is going to be the bomb diggity.
MotoGP 2021 – Round 7 The Sachsenring
June 18, 2023OK, it’s Father’s Day and I’m really busy. Wishing all the best to the dads out there. Quit watching motorcycles go round and round and spend the day with your kids.
All I got today is three spoilers. In Moto3, Ayume Sasaki led for 298 out of 299 laps before finally surrendering the lead, and the win, to Turk Deniz “The Meniz” Oncu. I missed the beginning of the race; there was some drama that may have rendered that last sentence inaccurate. I’m staying with it. Dani Holgado finished in P3 to extend his championship lead. As expected, the Turkish national anthem was, um, somewhat unusual.
Moto2 was a repeat of Mugello. Pedro Acosta led every lap, coasted to the win, followed by Toni Arbolino and Jake Dixon.
MotoGP was another two man show. Pecco Bagnaia led early, yielded the lead to Jorge Martin on Lap 3. Martin led a merry chase until Lap 21 when Pecco took it back. Martin stayed with it and chased the championship leader down again on Lap 24. Pecco stayed directly on Martin’s ass until the final turn on Lap 29, when he finally made contact with Martin’s rear wheel, lost a few tenths, and trailed the Spaniard at the wire by 6/100ths. Martin is making a case for the argument that Ducati chose, last year, the wrong rider to team up with Bagnaia on the factory team. Martin reminds me of a young Romano Fenati, only less psychotic.
Marc Marquez’ fifth crash of the weekend in the Sunday morning warm-up was sufficient to have him declared unfit for today’s race. Fabio Quartararo finished in P13. This illustrates the psychological and metabolic difference between the two riders, both of whom find themselves saddled (lol) with terrible bikes. Fabio has accepted the obvious and looks ready to play out the string until such time as he can secure a European ride. Marquez refuses to go quietly into the night and has become a hazard to himself and those around him. People who mildly disliked him in the past are now hating on him for what he has become. People who actively disliked him in the past now seethe at the mention of his name. Me, I just want to see him on a Ducati or KTM and get back to riding like a normal person and winning a few more titles. Sorry, John Burns, but I refuse to hate him. He really can’t help being who he is.
Next week is Assen. I hope to have enough time to do a proper job of this. The mid-season report on Motorcycle.com should appear in early July.
MotoGP 2023 Round 4 – Jerez
April 30, 2023Saturday
Premier class qualifying took place in the middle of the night, Eastern Daylight Time, and, accordingly, our erstwhile reporter missed it entirely. Apparently the schedule had been massaged to allow the big bikes to run in the dry which, of course, failed. A few early showers gave way to sunny and dry conditions for the rest of the day. Pecco Bagnaia and Brad Binder made it through Q1, abandoning Marco Bezzecchi and Alex Rins to the great unwashed. Q2 was great fun, riders on rain tires at the beginning recording Moto3 times, gradually switching to slicks late in the session and threatening the ATTR.
Grizzled veteran Aleix Espargaro left it to way late before sticking his Aprilia on pole, joined on the front row by KTM NKIT (New Kid in Town) Jack Miller and Fast on Saturday Jorge Martin on his Ducati. Row 2 featured Brad Binder, whose name will come up again in a minute, Pecco Bagnaia and one Dani Pedrosa, guesting on the shiny new KTM at age 37. Farther down on the qualifying food chain were Bezzecchi, the woebegone Fabio Quartararo (P16) and flash in the pan Alex Rins (P18). Enea Bastiannini, the hard luck second bike on the factory Ducati team, tried to race with his knitting right shoulder blade, but withdrew from the festivities after the third practice session.
The Saturday Sprint was great fun for the first 30 seconds until Frankie Morbidelli lost the front in Turn 2, collected Alex Marquez and skittled Marco Bezzecchi. The action completely spooked rookie Augusto Fernandez, who pooped his pants and fell off his satellite KTM. The red flag waved as Bezzecchi’s Desmo went up in flames. A few minutes later the restart found KTMs crowding the front, Binder and Miller leading the way with Mighty Mouse included in the lead group. Round and round they went, with Pecco Bagnaia liotering in the top three. Aleix crashed out on his own on Lap 6, joining Marquez, Nakagami and, a few moments later, the downtrodden Joan Mir in the Have Nots. Miller, Binder and Bagnaia jousted over the last few laps for podium steps, with Martin, Miguel Oliveira and Pedrosa lurking. In the end, it was the surprising Brad Binder claiming the title of Sprint Maven, joined by Bagnaia and Miller on the podium.
KTM has arrived. Binder has won two of the four Sprints. Miller has added something to the overall team effort. It was interesting to note that the top 10 qualifiers and top 11 finishers all rode European bikes. These are, indeed, lean times for Honda and Yamaha. There are bound to be some high profile riders defecting from the Japanese teams–Fabio and #93 at the top of the list–which will put huge pressure on the lower-ranked Aprilia, Ducati and KTM riders wishing to hold on to their seats in 2024. Ten years ago one wouldn’t have been able to give away a Ducati, and neither KTM nor Aprilia were even involved in the premier class. What a difference a decade makes.
Sunday
The changing of the guard amongst the manufacturers continued in full force today. It was not that many years ago that the KTMs were only competitive at the Red Bull Ring, MotoGP’s equivalent of Daytona, with eight turns instead of three. The bikes were fast in a straight line, but impossible to turn. Today, they showed that they are both quick and nimble, at a track where riders spend a third of their time on the brakes and only hit sixth gear once, perhaps twice at the max. In a replay of the Saturday Sprint, the main event was red-flagged after about 30 seconds, during which time, Fully Frustrated Fabio dumped the hideous Yamaha and, in the process, sent Miguel “The Victim” Oliveira tumbling into the gravel, where he dislocated his left shoulder and had to sit out yet another round due to no fault of his own. All this while the factory KTMs were flying at the start, with Pecco fending off Austrians on the left and more Austrians on the right.
The restart was a replay of the first, with Miller and Binder hauling Bagnaia around the circuit, the three of them taking turns in the lead. Bagnaia settled into P2 for the bulk of the day behind Binder, finally going through on Lap 21 for the lead and, ultimately, the win. Binder and Miller took steps 2 and 3 on the podium, followed by Jorge Martin and Aleix. Dani Pedrosa finished a very respectable P7 in between the satellite Ducatis of Marini and Marquez. Takaa Nakagami was the top finisher for Honda in P9 followed by Quartararo, who survived not one but two long lap penalties–the second assessed for his having screwed up the first–for a gritty P10. Crashers for the day included Alex Rins and Joan Mir, both of whom are coming to terms with the Honda RC213V in gravel traps, Zarco, and Bezzecchi, with your boy Cole Trickle retiring with a mechanical on Lap 24, for God’s sake. He helped my fantasy team get hammered today.
The Moto3 tilt was a fire drill, as usual, with Ivan Ortola, rookie David Alonso and my boy Jaume Masia ending the day on the podium. In Moto2, Sam Lowes avoided his usual brain fart to win easily in a procession, followed in due course by a stunned Pedro Acosta and Alonzo Lopez. Tony Arbolino, Aron Canet and Jake Dixon took P4 – P6.
I thought the Aprilia contingent would have a better day today, but it was not to be. Sure, Aleix took pole, but spent the day pedaling hard in P5. Ducati claimed P1, P4, P6 and P8, to no one’s surprise. But the factory KTM effort is starting to resemble their dominating little brothers in the lightweight and intermediate classes. If history is a teacher, we can expect better things in the not-too-distant future from both Honda and Yamaha, at which point Dorna will need to start measuring times to four decimal places.
2010 Spanish Grand Prix Results – Repost
April 27, 2023The second of two throwbacks in honor of this weekend’s Jerez round.
Lorenzo enjoys a late lunch at Jerez
Filet of Rossi on Lap 21; roasted Pedrosa on Lap 27
The Gran Premio bwin de Espana at Jerez de la Frontera on Sunday was a hash of the worst and the best that MotoGP has to offer. The first 22 laps were an absolute parade with virtually no lead changes and little drama, aside from guys pushing 200 mph on two wheels. The last five laps were a masterpiece by Jorge Lorenzo, who moved from fourth place to first for his first win of 2010. In the process, he again demonstrated the patience and strategic thinking he has lacked until now. It appears that his development as the heir apparent to Valentino Rossi may now be in its final stages.
Sunday was a perfect day on the dazzling Spanish Riviera. The usual suspects had qualified well on Saturday, led, somewhat surprisingly, by homeboy Dani Pedrosa, who apparently solved the suspension problems that had plagued him all year. Pedrosa was on the pole, followed by Lorenzo, Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Colin Edwards completed Tranche One on this round, and it looked as if the long-suffering Pedrosa might enjoy his first day in the sun since his win last year at Valencia.
Recall that Round 1 in Qatar had left Casey Stoner gasping for air, Valentino Rossi looking impregnable, and Jorge Lorenzo sporting the long-awaited maturity he had lacked as recently as last season. Lorenzo’s balls-to-the-wall racing style had secured second place in the world in 2009, but the three DNFs he recorded in his reckless (not wreckless) style had probably cost him the championship. At Qatar, Nicky Hayden looked rejuvenated, Andrea Dovizioso looked threatening, and rookie Ben Spies looked ready for prime time.
As they say here in Spain, “Bienvenido a Espana.”
For the bulk of the first 20 laps today, it was Pedrosa, Rossi, Hayden, Lorenzo, Stoner and Dovizioso going round and round. There was some action in the seven-to-eleven spots, but I’m generally too busy to pay much attention to that stuff. Several riders went walkabout early on, including the soon-to-be-late Loris Capirossi and Aleix Espargaro. Pramac Racing’s Espargaro recovered and re-entered the race, only to spend most of his day working feverishly trying not to get lapped by Pedrosa. Ben Spies retired on Lap 7 with mechanical issues. By Lap 20, the guys in the row front of us started passing big joints around, noticeably bypassing us. One of the gorgeous brunettes (a dime a dozen in these parts) in the stand next to us was fiddling with her split ends. “Off in the distance, a dog howled.”
Suddenly, it became obvious that Jorge Lorenzo had found something.
On Lap 10 he had passed Hayden without breaking a sweat, and began patiently lining up Rossi. By Lap 21 he was on top of Rossi, and then past him. Pedrosa, who led all day by more than a second—plenty in MotoGP time—led Lorenzo by .8 at that point. I was thinking it would end up Pedrosa/Lorenzo/Rossi, a nice day for the hometown crowd, when Lorenzo left Rossi in his wake and drew a bead on Pedrosa.
Everyone knows the depth of enjoyment Jorge Lorenzo experiences passing teammate and arch rival Valentino Rossi. Judging from how Lorenzo handled himself on the last three laps of this race, it’s possible he enjoys taking down Dani Pedrosa equally well. Teammate or countryman? Countryman or teammate? Who really knows what’s going on in Jorge Lorenzo’s head?
Not that it matters. Both Lorenzo and Pedrosa performed as expected in the last five laps of the race. Lorenzo exerted his will on his bike and his countryman. Pedrosa rode well in the lead and folded when it mattered, running wide in a late right-hander and allowing Lorenzo through, conceding the path to the win. Talking a brave game all week long and then lacking los cojones at the moment of truth to hold his ground and force Lorenzo on to the brakes. The book on Dani is “doesn’t like to mix it up in the corners.” The book had it dead right today.
All in all, it was a great day to be a Spanish racing fan. Early in the morning, it was 18-year old Spaniard Daniel Ruiz starting the day by winning the first Rookie’s Cup race of the season. Pol Espargaro took the 125cc race while many of the fans were still finding their way to their seats. Toni Elias, fresh off his crash in Qatar and nursing a bad wrist, battled Thomas Luthi and Shoya Tomizawa all day and finally prevailed for his first Moto2 win before his home fans, most of whom were delirious with joy at the end of the race. Lorenzo and Pedrosa took the top two spots on the premier class podium. And although the fans claim to prefer Pedrosa to Lorenzo, as Jorge hails all the way from Barcelona, for God’s sake, it appears they’ve grown a little weary of Pedrosa’s mad Chihuahua routine, his underdog-singing-the-blues rap. There was no shortage of Lorenzo fans in today’s crowd.
Elsewhere on the grid, Pramac’s Mika Kallio had a great day, starting dead last and finishing 7th. Marco Melandri recovered from a dreadful outing in Qatar to finish 8th today. LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet qualified 6th and finished 9th, making him two for two this year qualifying better on Saturday than he raced on Sunday. Alvaro Bautista recovered from a last lap fall in Qatar to finish 10th and claim the Top Rookie of the Week award from Hiroshi Aoyama, who won it at Losail but struggled today, finishing 14th.
The top five finishers in a great 17 lap Moto2 race today included Elias, Shoya Tomizawa, Thomas Luthi, Yuki “Crash” Takahashi and Simone Corsi. The race was red-flagged early due to a pile-up involving some nine bikes, the first of what promises to be many such collisions in the overcrowded Moto2 field.
The crowd seemed as interested in the 125s today as they were the big bikes. Espargaro claimed the top spot on the podium, flanked by two other Spaniards, Nicolas Terol and Esteve Rabat.
2010 Spanish Grand Prix – Repost
April 26, 2023I attended the Jerez round in 2010, wrote a couple of my favorite articles while there under the influence of vino tinto. This is the first of those pieces.
Getting to the Spanish Grand Prix is half the fun
For a couple of gringos, the road to MotoGP Jerez is a blast
Last January, four of us decided to take a family vacation to southern Spain in early May. I worked out a deal with my editor at Motorcycle.com to pay me handsomely to cover the Gran Premio bwin de Espana, subject to my securing press credentials, providing some extra copy and photos, and giving them way more than my usual vapid kitchen table rant. In mid-April, after reserving and paying for airfare, hotels, rental cars, etc., it became fully clear that Dorna, the Spanish company that owns the rights to MotoGP, was not going to sully their pressroom by credentialing the likes of me. What had started out as a slam dunk junket had become a longshot.
Four of us left for Spain from O’Hare on Friday afternoon. I/we were lacking several of the necessities for most respectable journalists: press credentials, tickets for the race, journalistic skills, and/or a clear idea of where the track was actually located. When I say “we”, I’m including my intrepid son-in-law and budding photojournalist, Ryan Collins, who had the good sense several years ago to marry my youngest daughter Cate. Ryan, who knows even less about motorcycle racing than I do, told me he was pretty much up for anything, up to and including trying to find the track, trying to get into the facility, and trying to provide some semblance of “covering” the race, as opposed to just missing a day on the beach, and instead sitting around with 130,000 drunk Spanish racing fans under a hot sun for eight hours.
Ryan and I set out from Cadiz, a jewel of a town that sits on the southern coast of Spain where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, on Sunday morning. [By this time we had missed Friday practice and Saturday’s qualifications. We had also survived a monstrous case of jetlag and the drive from Madrid to Cadiz in which I came uncomfortably close to getting us included in Spanish highway fatality statistics not once, but twice. And although we missed the action at the track on Saturday, we caught the action on the strip in Cadiz on Saturday night, eating tapas amongst a bunch of riders and listening to the music of big bikes turning high RPMs on the seaside street in front of the restaurant all evening.]
Cadiz sits about 25 miles south of Jerez, and we had passed several Jerez exits on the drive down from Madrid on Saturday. Once we cleared Cadiz on Sunday, the task of actually finding the track became pretty simple: stay with the hundreds of bikes on their way to the race that morning. Which sounds easier than it actually is, in that these bikes were mostly traveling in excess of 100 mph while the Guardia Civil politely turned a blind eye. Finally, we were one of a handful of cars in a veritable sea of motorcycles, and getting to the parking lot was a breeze. The way getting from point A to point B in a mosh pit is a breeze: make no sudden movements, don’t resist, and go with the flow.
Problem #1 solved.
Problems #2 and #3—no press credentials, few journalistic skills—weren’t going to get solved this day. This left Problem #4—no tickets to a sold out race. On the walk from the parking lot to the track itself, I kept an eye out for ticket “vendors” on the street, and was finding none. Plenty of guys and ladies selling a lot of other junk—Spanish flags, food, water, trinkets, belts (?), etc., from little improvised roadside stands. No guys holding tickets in the air yelling “Got Four!” in Spanish and looking furtively over their shoulders for the aforementioned Guardia Civil who, one suspects, take a less generous view of ticket scalpers than they do speeders they’re unable to catch anyway. A mile in and it was looking bleak, when we noticed a trailer set off on a little side “street” with a big sign on it reading “Taquillas”. Ryan, my interpreter, said he had no idea what a taquilla is. I, by this time, was hoping it was Spanish for “tequilas”, as I was ready to give in and spend the day drinking shots and eating limes. It occurred to me that “tequilas” is already a Spanish word, and one very rarely used in the plural, but I shook off this notion.
We approached the trailer, and people were, indeed, stepping up to a window and purchasing SOMETHING, but we couldn’t really tell what. Apparently, by this time Ryan and I were looking fairly furtive ourselves, for it was at this moment that a guy in a Lakers shirt approached me and asked, in pretty good English, if we needed tickets. He, it turned out, was getting comped by Repsol (a friend of a friend of a friend…) and was going to stand with the great unwashed in the Pelousse, the fans’ and riders’ favorite section of the Jerez track, between Turns 10 and 11, where the crowd gets right on top of the riders. We negotiated a mutually satisfactory price for his tickets and, suddenly, Problem #4 was solved.
We still don’t know what folks were buying at that trailer; I’ll try to report back on that later tonight. We do know that we sat high in the stands between Turns 12 and 13 with a great view of the race. We spent plenty of time wandering around the facility mingling and taking pictures of a few of the gorgeous women you find in quantity at these events. We watched one helluva Moto2 tilt and a premier class event that was a procession for the first 22 laps and a heart-stopping thriller for the last three. We made it back to the parking lot and thence our hotel in one piece without dying of dehydration or getting T-boned by any of the nutjobs they issue drivers licenses to in Spain. And we captured the story; a beautiful day spent 4500 miles from home in a second language, with a manual transmission, on the road to Jerez.
MotoGP 2023 – COTA, Round 3
April 16, 2023Practice and Qualifying
Before I forget, I want to salute Jack Miller, waxing euphoric about the KTM during one of the incessant time-filling videos, then going out and crashing five times before the Sprint race.
Friday was indicative of the New World Order in MotoGP, in which the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Pecco Bagnaia finishing first in Portimao and 16th in Argentina. Alex Marquez being unable to find his ass with both hands and a flashlight for three full seasons on the Honda suddenly becoming A Force to be Reckoned With in year four on a used Ducati. Marco Bezzecchi winning in the rain at Rio Hondo before having to go through QP1 (which he did) in Texas. At the end of the day the results looked like this:
Here’s a couple of dispatches from our trackside reporter Buzz:
Update #1.
The wife and I decided to walk around a bit and Shazam! Two vans pulled up to our hotel and a bunch of Mooney VR46 team members were checking in to our hotel! I didn’t see Luca or Bez (not that I would have recognized them immediately) and certainly the legend himself isn’t staying here or even in Austin with a pregnant woman at home.
I’ll keep my eyes open. Gonna spend the rest of the evening digesting my mound of meat from Terry Black’s BBQ.
Day 1. I’ll let you read the inter webs for a report on how today’s action unfolded. My behind the scenes look at the action was pretty incredible today.
Update #2
We met a British couple at the hotel bar last night and they are here for the race as well; first time in Austin. I told them I would show them around the track since I’m a vet and they offered a ride in their rental car. In addition, they happened to meet a man on the flight over who handles all the awesome camera technology like the bike cams, shoulder cams, etc. He offered a behind the scenes tour.
After marching them all over the track and walking 8 miles according to our Apple watches, they were contacted by camera guy, and he invited us all back. We were given security credentials and walked through the paddock back to the tech area. He showed us how they use all the camera technology and how most critically, they managed bandwidth. With all the cell technology and other demands for wireless, it is a huge part of the job.
We returned to the stands to finish watching practice and walked back to the paddock once it was over to return our credentials. At that point all the riders started moving from the garage to the paddock offices. It’s a gauntlet of fans with paddock access and was pretty fun watching people run back and forth seeking autographs when a rider would appear. Personally, I got a fist bump with Pecco, a high-five with Jack Miller and helped others get photos with Fabio and Cole Trickle. I also said hello to Brad Binder. Total fun! Wife was overwhelmed.
Saturday
Bezzecchi and Zarco made it through Q1. Jorge Martin, he of the new all-time track record at COTA, crashed twice in Q2, leading to the first four rows of the grid, as follows:
The Sprint was pretty much of a snooze. Bagnaia got his mojo back, took the lead on the first lap and was never challenged. Alex Rins, making the LCR Honda look, well, competitive, chased the Italian for 10 laps but was never a threat; his nine points were a sigh of relief for HRC, as nobody else went anywhere. Poor Fabio over-rode his Yamaha into the gravel on Lap 5; it’s going to be a long year for the former world champion, Martin moved his Desmo from P12 to P3 to capture the final step on the podium. Aleix dogged him after getting passed on Lap 7 but couldn’t track him down. Alex Marquez came back down to Earth, sliding out on Lap 7 after throwing up in his helmet OMG. The Mooney boys finished sixth and seventh behind Brad Binder. And that was that.
Sunday
This was one of those race days when I should have been covering Moto3 or Moto2 instead of MotoGP. Moto3 was incredible, four young riders battling on the absolute limit over the entire race. The eventual winner, Ivan Ortola, somehow avoided an excruciating high side at Turn 2 of the first lap, dropped back to around P23, then sliced his way through the field to engage with Jaume Masia, Xavi Artigas and Diogo Moreira before taking the checkered flag in P1, as good a win as you’ll ever see in racing, two wheels or four. Even horses. The ultimate order of finish was kind of random, as each rider performed well enough to have won on any day. Ortola, it seems, is the Next Next Next Great Spanish Rider, behind Pedro Acosta and Izan Guevara.
Moto2 provided another nailbiter, as Tony Arbolino and Pedro Acosta put on a terrific show, with Acosta eventually prevailing, and Arbolino declaring in Parc Fermé that “this ain’t over.” Both riders are slated for MotoGP next season, where they will pay dues for a season or two before raising the level of competition yet again.
MotoGP on Sunday was, in a word, terrible. Eight riders crashed out, leaving 14 on the track to see the chekered flag. Here’s how bad it was: Jonas Folger scored three (3) championship points subbing for Pol Espargaro. Rookie Augusto Fernandez scored five (5) points. Pecco Bagnaia, putting the screws to everyone who had him on their fantasy team, crashed out of the lead on Lap 8 under relentless pressure from LCR Honda pilot Alex Rins, who went on to win on the only Honda to finish the race. Luca Marini found the podium on his Ducati, as did Fabio Quartararo, who was giving up amazing yardage on the long back straight, then gaining some of it back on the twisty parts of the track. Rather than summarizing the results, let’s just look at the dunnage:
Lap 1: Jorge Martin shits his pants and takes Alex Marquez out with him in Turn 1, while Aleix slides off and out at Turn 12.
On Lap 4 my notes read, “When will Jack Miller crash?” Answer: Lap 7.
Pecco threw it at the scenery on Lap 8. Raul Fernandez retired with a mechanical around the same time
Joan Mir crashed, again, on Lap 9.
Brad Binder crashed on Lap 11 and remounted, ultimately gathering two championship points, which is an editorial statement in itself.
Takaa Nakagami crashed on Lap 12, as if anyone cares.
Stefan Bradl, subbing for #93, crashed on Lap 19 in order to get mentioned in this article.
A brutal day in the premier class. Alex Rins, it says here, will not factor into the 2023 championship on his execrable Honda. Nor will Fabio on his equally bad Yamaha. At the end of the day–who doesn’t hate that phrase?–the championship top ten looks like this. Bagnaia has thrown away 45 points in the last two rounds, making the chase look more competitive than it really is. Vinales had another terrible start before climbing back into P4 at the finish. And anyone who doesn’t have Ducati as their choice for the constructor in Fantasy MotoGP is dreaming.
Two weeks until the flying circus arrives in Europe, at Jerez, when things start to get real. Let’s hope that today’s MotoGP spectacle doesn’t get repeated. Personally, I may shift my attention to the undercards where there is real competition and not every rider scores points.
MotoGP 2023 – Argentina Results
April 3, 2023Saturday qualifying was fascinating, as the risk/reward ratios changed along with track conditions. Alex Marquez and Fabio Quartararo passed through a wet Q1, but the rain quit at the end of the session. Q2 took place under the most difficult conditions possible, a cool track drying on the racing line. The session opened with all 12 riders on rain tires, and Frankie Morbidelli, defining “anomoly,” set the benchmark time, sitting briefly on pole.
The riders entered the pits after their first pass. Nine re-emerged on wets, but three brave souls–Marquez, Bagnaia and Bezzecchi–came out on slicks with their hearts in their throats, slipping and sliding. As the session drew to a close and the track continued to dry, their bravery (which is virtually indistinguishable from stupidity) paid off. All three made it to the front row, with Little Brother claiming his first premier class pole and a shiny new Tissot watch. Bezzecchi claimed P2 and Bagnaia P3. The Ducati lockout of the front row produced dancing in the streets in Borgo Paginale. The entire grid was as nervous as Mike Tyson in a spelling bee waiting to see what the weather would be like on Sunday. There would be, however, the matter of a Sprint race before any of that.
The 12-lap Sprint was, for a little while, somewhat biblical, as the last were briefly first. Early on, it was Morbidelli in P1 for the first time since the Truman administration. The two Mooney VR46 youngsters, Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi, had good starts, swapping paint on the first lap, looking very comfortable on their year-old Ducatis. The big surprise early, mid-race and at the flag was KTM veteran Brad Binder. Starting from P15, he made his way to P3 by Lap 2 and took the lead from Morbidelli on Lap 3. He held off the best that Ducati Corse has to offer to take the win by an eyelash from Bezzecchi, who would have won a 13-lap race, and Marini. Morbidelli managed to salvage P4 in front of polesitter Marquez and series leader Pecco Bagnaia.
Joan Mir, it says here, is already ruing his decision to join Repsol Honda after last season. He barely qualified at all, at the bottom of the last row, and crashed out on Lap 1 before heading for the medical center. He re-injured the ankle he broke last year; if he is unavailable on Sunday, he will join 11 other riders with no chance of winning the 2023 championship. Last year’s Argentine winner, Aleix Espargaro, went walkabout on Lap 8. He was not hurt physically, but the same cannot be said for his championship aspirations. He’s still in the hunt, but appears to have ceded the #1 seat on the factory Aprilia team to #12, our boy Cole Trickle.
Sidebar: I agreed to watch my daughter’s dog for six days, starting Friday. On Saturday, and again on Sunday morning, he evidenced his displeasure at the situation by defecating all over my white sofa and two chairs in the living room. I was up until midnight Saturday night putting a full load of cushion covers through the wash, and had to repeat the process again on Sunday WHILE THE RACE WAS BEING RUN. Accordingly, I had to scramble to catch the news about the race and watch the video. This week’s race report is, unhappily, terrible. As my Jewish forebears say about The Holocaust, “NEVER AGAIN!”
The race took place on a drenched track. Marco Bezzecchi got away early and was never challenged. Franco Morbidelli spent the entire weekend in P4. The two Frenchmen on the grid, Pramac Ducati pilot Johann Zarco and former world champion Fabio Quartararo, rallied furiously late in the race after lackluster starts. Zarco, running in P8 at the end of Lap 7, ended his day on the second step of the podium and was gaining on Bezzecchi at the close of festivities. Quartararo, tagged by Takaa Nakagami early in the race, completed Lap 1 in P16. By the time he saw the checkered flag, he sat in P7. Hats off to both riders, and to Bezz on his first premier class win; he also leads the 2023 title chase after Pecco Bagnaia lowsided out of P2 and into P16 late in the race.
All in all, a forgettable weekend for yours truly. Let’s hope COTA has more excitement and less excrement.
One more thing. Unsurprisingly, the MotoGP Fantasy game is user un-friendly to the max. I spent 15 minutes on Friday changing my picks for the weekend. Last night, I checked in to discover none of the changes had stuck. I’m going to try this one more time, but, seriously, why can’t these guys get it right the first time?
Guest commentary from FB friend Earl Roloff
April 1, 2023Well 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…
MotoGP 2023 – Portimao Results
March 26, 2023Round 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.
Late-Braking MotoGP 