Any Moto GP Fans?

More silly season rumors. Rins to factory Honda. P Esparargo out at Honda, going to KTM under the team name Gas-Gas. I know GG from supercross but didn't know it was KTM. Interesting. And what's this? MotoGP to do saturday sprint races in 2023? 10 lap tire burners?

 

I'm kind of surprised more racers like the idea of Saturday Sprint races than not. Seems that the top 2 (Fabio and Aleix) are not in favor. Probably because they have the most to lose, while others have more to gain.

My guess is that Dorna is trying to bring more people in for more than just race day. I went to all the GP races at Indianapolis, minus one year, and I was pretty surprised how many people only come on Sunday for the races, some even forego the moto 3 and moto 2 races and just want to see the big boys.

 

Sprint races start in the 2023 season and will be at every race weekend. The sprints will be half the distance of the main race and half the points will be awarded. Moto2 and Moto3 are unaffected and will continue regular schedule.

 

Although I don't see it from TV, I understand MotoGP has taken an attendance hit with Rossi gone and Marquez off the roster. Sprint race will be fun, get to use the qualifying tires. I predict it will be 100% different than the actual race with some madman riding like Haga for the win.

 

And Mir has fractured his ankle in yesterday's highside. What a shit season he's had.

 

More silly season news. And I had such high hopes for the kid-
Remy Gardner has revealed that he has lost his KTM MotoGP ride for 2023 because the brand believes he's "not professional enough".

 

Is Oliviera going to Aprilia gonna save him?

 

I lol'd...

Mir can come off that list though, haha. Definitely not one of the *greats* of MotoGP.

Lorenzo was never the same after he had that horrific crash into T1 due to mechanical error of the front brakes. Poor Pedrosa had the same issue years before and he was in strong contention for winning the championship. That should have been Pedrosa's year.

This meme would be more accurate with Yamaha and Rossi, Dovi, Morbidelli, Vinales and eventually Quartararo with his eroding championship lead.

Speaking of burying careers, Grazie Dovi! Today was his last MotoGP race. I still can't believe Ducati let him go when he was MM's #1 competitor for years. That next year would have been his when MM got seriously injured. But Mir won with a weak sub 180 point season.... Ugh...

Today's race was really good. Not tons of passing, but good, close racing. I think Vinales had some braking issues. Going in a bit too hot and deep or braking early seemed to be his dilemma. And despite this, another top 3 for him. He needs to thank Yamaha for letting him go at the post race interview in park ferme.

 

So, who thinks Quartararo is gonna hold on and win the 2022 MotoGP Championship?

Who thinks Bagnaia is going to come up and take it from Quartararo?

Or maybe someone else???

I know I said back in January I think Ducati is taking the Constructor's Championship and one of their riders will take the Rider's Championship, and I'm still pretty certain that's gonna be the case. I believe Fabio is going to regret re-upping this last contract. I just hope Yamaha (and Honda) can get their bikes more congruent with rider's needs and styles. And soon.

 

Never underestimate Pecco’s ability to throw away a championship.

As of next year, the Yamaha will be the only bike on the grid with an inline 4. At what point do they develop a V4 for MotoGP?

 

With the recent hire of Luca Marmaroni as a consultant (an unusual move for a Japanese manufacturer) I'd guess sooner than later.

 

Imagine a V4 powered R1…oh my!

Not holding my breath as we still haven’t gotten a production version of Honda’s V4 in a super bike chassis.

 

I'm not much for math but if Quartararo consistently gets 5th place finishes and Asparargo and Pecco finishing the top 3 for the rest of the season I can really see that 30 point lead dwindling down to a last race finale. Next year I'm really keeping my eye on the Beast.

 

Maybe Yamaha is making forward progress here....

MotoGP Misano test:. Quartararo happy with new 2023 Engine, chassis.

"Today we had three bikes: one was the standard bike, one with a new chassis, and one with the first prototype 2023 engine.

The first steps with the 2023 bike were good. It works pretty well in the areas of acceleration and top speed, so I'm happy. Considering that this is just the first step, I'm looking forward to the next engine improvement.

I'm happy because for the first time this afternoon I could look on the top speed [chart and see that we were] more up than down the page! So I'm pretty happy.

This is a good step. It's the first time that we really feel that we made an improvement. Now we need more steps. I know that the other steps are not going to be as big as this one, but at least I know that the first step is really good and I think we are in a good way for the future.

Yamaha are confident that they can improve a bit more, so hopefully they will do it."

 

More rumors- Razatglue (you f'n try to spell it off the top of your head) to Yamaha MotoGP Factory team in 2024. Why 2024? Both he and Morbidelli have a year left on their contracts. Also in the rumor mill. Aprilia has already started romancing Toprak.

 

WTF Dorna…


…but seriously…Miguel, Taka and Raul could get it

 

Rumor- Gardner to WSBK.

 

Marquez and Mir returning this weekend for Aragon. Could we possibly see Crutchlow step in for the retired Dovi? Win it or bin it Crutchlow!

 

I think the Crutchlow announcement was made at the same time as Dovi's retirement announcement. He'll be finishing out the season on that bike assuming he doesn't run through their inventory of spare parts.