Anyone still watching MotoGP?

[DrFfybes]

With BSB and WSBK now over, the only thing left of interest on the weekend of telly appearsto be MotoGP (assuming you're not one to watch people kicking an inflated pig's bladder or like to watch the "one make series" that F1 has largely become).

And rather bizarrely with 4 rounds to go and 100 poiints up for grabs we have 2 classes in which a British rider has a chance (albeit an outside one in Moto3).

The GP is shaping up for an intersting finale, with 4 riders all appearing to try very hard not to win the championship. Mir seems to have the runn of form, but I suspect it will go to FQ20 at the wire even given his result at the first Aragon round.

In M2 Sam Lowes seems to like Aragon, and for some reason the Italian frontrunners seem to be trying too hard, something Sam has fortunately stopped doing.

In M3 it will take some serious good luck for John McPhee to win, and bad luck for Arenas - Ogura seems to be making his own bad luck, although he does have Norman as his crew chief and he's got a history of taking a winning formula and wrecking it by trying something radical (see McPhee's track record in the British Talent Team with the same crew). Still now John has signed again for Petronas and has a fast team mate he gets on with for next year, then he'll be settled for the final 3 rounds and next year I expect to see some darker turquoise bikes at the front.

In fact the only thing I'm ot looking forwards to from petronas is seeing how they blend VR46 yellow into their colour scheme, I suspect Alex the paint man has earned his substantial fee this year.

So, anyone still watching with thoughts on the championship?

Paul

[marronier]

Not me.

I find 2 or 4 wheel racing boringly processional with occasional overtaking which is akin to watching traffic on a eight lane motorway.

For me ,the only interesting motor racing is Ginetta Junior races for 14 to 17 year olds , with the constant shift in placings and the delicacy of the cars if they should indulge in demolition derby tactics.

[airbus330]

Surprisingly, yes I am. Over the years I got bored with MotoGP and WSB and confined my viewing to BSB and the IOM TT, where I thought the coverage and filming was excellent. Something has changed and the both WSB and MotoGp coverage seem to have a new lease of life. So, just a shame its all coming to an end. Rea's win was a bit of an anti climax mind.
We have been a bit spoilt for coverage this year with some excellent coverage of the Irish Road Racing season and Oliver Mount. Hope it continues.

[Redmires]

I find 2 or 4 wheel racing boringly processional with occasional overtaking which is akin to watching traffic on a eight lane motorway.

For me ,the only interesting motor racing is Ginetta Junior races for 14 to 17 year olds , with the constant shift in placings and the delicacy of the cars if they should indulge in demolition derby tactics.

Have you seen Moto 3 ? Sounds just like Ginetta racing on 2 wheels.

Agreed on the GP. It's wide open this year, much to my satisfaction. Young Marquez is coming on strong and could be a contender next season. And I hope that Chaz Davies gets a ride next year in WSB.

[DrFfybes]

I find 2 or 4 wheel racing boringly processional with occasional overtaking which is akin to watching traffic on a eight lane motorway.

For me ,the only interesting motor racing is Ginetta Junior races for 14 to 17 year olds , with the constant shift in placings and the delicacy of the cars if they should indulge in demolition derby tactics.

Have you seen Moto 3 ? Sounds just like Ginetta racing on 2 wheels.

Agreed on the GP. It's wide open this year, much to my satisfaction. Young Marquez is coming on strong and could be a contender next season. And I hope that Chaz Davies gets a ride next year in WSB.

A lot of racing is quite processional - good informed commentry helps with tyre tactics now coming into play and knowing what lap times they should and could be doing and who has what tyres.

However we've always been bigger fans of the small classes - 125 and Moto3. I've slept through the GP on more than one occasion, and that was sat in the grandstand.

FWIW the top 7 riders have been within 1 second of each other after a 40 minute race in 10 of the 11 rounds this year, and there have only been 1 or 2 races where the top 2 have been more than 0.4 seconds apart, and 6 races where they were within 0.1s at the line.

Paul

[DrFfybes]

Moto3 is totally mental.

But what about wee John last week? Crap grid position, long lap penalty and he still managed to finish 5th.

That's what happens when someone else is given your Moto2 ride [2]

It was one of his best rides of the season, he practiced[1] riding the penalty loop in warmup to get a feel but also to clean it up a bit, and then kept his head and his tyres.

Things need to be right for him to be comfortable and perform to his best, but when it is right for him he is very fast. He also likes the team to listen to him and believe him, something that hasn't always happened in the past [3]. He's also his won worst critic and has suffered from having less faith with himself than he should have.

Paul

[1] Is it a verb or a noun? - he practiced riding the loop, or practised the loop? I'm not entirely sure

[2] I think there is a lot more to it than BT Sport are saying. Simon Crafar was the only one asking the right questions last weekend, the BT guys are protecting their jobs.

[3] We've sponsored John for several years so have a vague inkling about what happens behind the scenes. He never says anything untowards about anybody, but after a while you can interpret what he is actually saying

[Redmires]

Another year over. Well done to Mir, and especially to Suzuki. Good luck to Crutchlow as well, I believe he's set to become a test rider for Yamaha.

Question for anyone - why are Brit racers historically strong in WSB but weak in Moto GP ? Is it ability, preference, politics or are other factors at play ?

[DrFfybes]

Another year over. Well done to Mir, and especially to Suzuki. Good luck to Crutchlow as well, I believe he's set to become a test rider for Yamaha.

Question for anyone - why are Brit racers historically strong in WSB but weak in Moto GP ? Is it ability, preference, politics or are other factors at play ?

There are 2 reasons for this.

Firstly the harsh reason, GP is the top level, and very few UK riders are good enough to make it.

However this is largely/partially down to how we develop riders and our culture and infrastructure.....

In Southern Europe there are kart tracks open nearly all year round, go out on a March evening and they are full of 7 year olds on mimimotos. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them out there having a go. In the UK we have Roger Keys running FAB racing on pretty much a shoestring bringing through a couple of dozen a year.

This is being addressed by the Dorna backed Talent Cups, Northern European and Asian, and now them taking over the UK Moto3 class in BSB in order to help with costs.

Then there is our racing culture. For UK riders the norm is to go via modified road bikes, minitwins, then 600s, then supersport, then up to Superbike. These are very different to purpose built race bikes, which are more complex (expensive!), stiffer, need more setting up, etc. In the GP paddock teams are always looking towards riders with experiance on similar machinery. In Spain there are National Moto3 and Moto2 championships, Spain has the CEV Repsol series which is run on GP machines, often by the same teams. Italy does still have a Superbike series, like USA and Australia, but also CIV. Any rider from the UK wanting to get into the GP treadmill needs to go to Spain and race there. This costs a lot of money, and 90% don't make it through to GP - Kyle Ride, Charlie Nesbitt, Dan Jones, Rory Skinner, Chaz Davies, Josh Whatley, Bradley Ray, etc). All fast riders, but didn't quite make the grade.

Look at the entry list here from the CEV (now called the Junior World Championship) from 2015. Look at the names now familiar in GP, and the ones that aren't
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIM_ ... ampionship there are 4 World Championships in that list, and another 3 runners up.

Look at what happens when riders leave GP and move to Superbikes - Scott Redding, Bautista, Rory Skinner Locatelli, Oettl, Cluzel, etc. They tend to do very well on a roadbike based series. Kenan Sofuoglu moved to Moto2 and did very little (except virtually cripple Julian Simone at Catalunya), Tarran McKenzie was dominating in BSB 600s but was routinely 2-3 seconds off the pace in Moto2. Apart from Cal Crutchlow and Sam Lowes nobody else seems to have made the transition with any level of success. GP racing is expensive, well into 7 figures for a low level moto3 team, so teams want proven riders and don't look outside of the proven routes.

However, things are now changing. Dorna have taken over GP and WSBK and have a lot of control and say in who gets a ride. They are running an international business and want viewers in all markets. They are forcing teams to cast their nets wider. Alberto Puig has a huge influence on rider selection, John McPhee has benefitted from Dorna input to keep him in the paddock with the British Talent Team, Jake Dixon got his Petronas ride, and there are others in the pipeline. Rory Skinner might yet get a Moto2 offer, although with 2 fast British riders in the class I think there will be enough for now.

And Dorna do need to do something. In GP next year there are 22 riders. 1 Aussie, 1 South African, 1 Japanese, 1 Portuguese, 2 French, 9 Spanish and 7 Italian. That limits their international appeal, especially once Rossi retires and Jake Dixon gets his seat

Paul

[MonsterMork]

At Chateau Mork we know Moto3 by another name - Nutty Boys Racing Absolutely love it

MM

[Redmires]

Another good round. Well done John McPhee (and Jake Dixon).

[DrFfybes]

Another good round. Well done John McPhee (and Jake Dixon).

Bonkers Moto3. Halfway round the final lap I just couldn't see how John could win. A fitting end to his moto3 career (too auld now apparently!)

Yes, a couple of tight corners on the last lap (including going from 5th to first) that could so easily have gone wrong. Ogura tried the same thing in Moto 2 and got it wrong, the difference being John had nothing to lose. Ogura turned a 10 ish point lead going into the final round into a similar deficit.

John's always careful with his words, and interestingly said "one last Moto3 win" rather than "GP win", so that sounds like there is still a Moto2 option.

Otherwise it is World Supersport, where with Manzi leaving the largely British PTR Triumph team (sponsored by Dynavolt who will fund John's current Moto3 team next year) then that might be a good fit

As for MotoGP, Fabio bravely clings on, but when nearly half the grid are Ducatis then the odds on at least one of them winning the championship are pretty good

Paul (just organising for Portimao in March)

[DrFfybes]

Jealous re: Portimao

We regulalry used to go to the Moto2/3 per season test in Jerez, obviously not done it for the last couple of years.

There's usually free access to an open grandstand at the tests. The teams don't tend to bring catering so most will eat in the circuit cafe. All the team passes are usually only available at the first test, so It's pretty easy to blag into the Teams car park as, and Test paddock passes are pretty easy to come by if you ask the right person nicely (in Jerez most of the nicer mid price hotels had a couple of teams staying there).

We've made a few contacts and helped a few riders over the years so if John doesn't get a Moto2 ride then we can tap up Rory Skinner, and Alain Bronec at CIP is always pleased to see us [1].

Paul

[1] When John was riding for CIP we went to the test, and were introdcuced to Alain as "One of John's personal sponsors", and Alains ears visibly pricked up at the magic word. The previous year we'd done a few rounds and as we loitered at the end to avoid the traffic, to kill time help we'd stack chairs and help pack down the unit once the Package VIPs had gone back to their shuttle buses. Consequently we had got quite friendly with the chap running the catering. That year they were training up a new catering team so usually had a catering unit at the test, so we all went in for a coffeee. The caterer rushed over all smiles, gave MrsF a big hug, and went off to get us some coffee. Alain looked astounded, and I just said "always a good idea to make friends with the people who make your food". He's no idea if we sponsored a hundred Euros or 100k, but CIP are not a well funded team so every little is of interest to them.

[Tedx]

Ah, this weekend. What a weeked it's going to be. We get an extra hour of daylight, the weather is better (sort of) and MotoGP is back.

This year it's back with a twist. A sprint race on the Saturday and a full race on a Sunday (although technically that's a sprint race too because they don't stop for fuel or tyres - unless it rains)

So who's going to win? motomatters.com answered the question in full:

Who is going to be 2023 MotoGP champion?

Pecco Bagnaia. Or maybe Fabio Quartararo. Or possibly Enea Bastianini. You know, Jorge Martin has had a good preseason. Alex Marquez has been surprisingly strong, and he's only just got on the Ducati. The Aprilias are looking good, and Aleix Espargaro was outstanding until the flyaways last year. Miguel Oliveira is coolly confident and in a much better place on the Aprilia RS-GP than the was on the KTM last year. And you can never write Marc Marquez off, no matter what he's riding...

So basically anyone on an Italian bike is in with a decent shout. Anyone on an Austrian bike, probably not. Anyone on a Japanese bike...again...probably not. Unless you're Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) or Marc Marquez (Honda). I reckon 10 (ten) riders are in with a really good chance and with those new fairing bashing, brain out, sprint races to contend with, injuries could turn things upside down in a second.

[pje16]

great write up, you've piqued my interest
what channel and time is it on

[Tedx]

It's on BT Sport 2 pretty much all weekend (which is great for the wall to wall coverage they offer, but it doesn't have the audience it had (in the UK) when it was on the BBC)

Still, here's 8 minutes of last years Australian MotoGP

https://youtu.be/4YAuaWu2A70

[pje16]

It's on BT Sport 2 pretty much all weekend (which is great for the wall to wall coverage they offer, but it doesn't have the audience it had (in the UK) when it was on the BBC)

Still, here's 8 minutes of last years Australian MotoGP

https://youtu.be/4YAuaWu2A70

Thanks Tedx
I don't have BT Sport I'll look at that link later

[DrFfybes]

I was looking at the pre season testing the other day, the 2 British riders in Moto3 were giving a good showing, 'ess so Josh Whatley but Scott Ogden was in the top 10 most of the sessions.

Similarly Sam Lowes and Jake Dixon well up in Moto2, if only either could string a whole season together without hurting themselves they'd be in with a shot.

Rory Skinner seems to be taking his time to adapt to the machine, but then again Sixon's first season wasn't exactly stellar.

Paul

[Redmires]

It's on BT Sport 2 pretty much all weekend (which is great for the wall to wall coverage they offer, but it doesn't have the audience it had (in the UK) when it was on the BBC)

For non BT subcribers, there are highlights on ITV4 on Monday night (22:15).

Looking forward to the new season but I've got to admit that I've found WSB to be more thrilling in recent years, with Bautista, Toprak & Rea battling for the top honours.

[DrFfybes]

Ah, this weekend. What a weeked it's going to be. We get an extra hour of daylight

Only because we get an hour less in bed

[pje16]

Ah, this weekend. What a weeked it's going to be. We get an extra hour of daylight

Only because we get an hour less in bed

I won't notice as I'll be fast asleep