The first rule of racing's that you must finish to gain any points., but what a result from number 23.
Wasn’t the best of Sundays was it. Even the moto 3 was split out early doors. Mac flea did well to get points but another shit weekend in general for “the brits”. Mad how we’re 7 races into the season and only 2 or 3 riders across all 3 classes have scored 100 points or more. The championships are tighter than the races seem to be rn, lots of dove tailing going on.
Atmosphere was great. Rained for, …30 seconds. Second degree burns from the sun (for whitey white brits) None of the races were outstanding. A well deserved win for Bastianini. The bikes sounded superb. The French were/are mega friendly. It looked as though Fabio settled for points. Each time he got close to Aleix, he was gapped with the power deficit. MM. He just looked very, very…ordinary. This championship is WIDE open…
The days of the one rider dominating for many seasons has perhaps gone for now short term, but Fabio is chipping away nicely for his second championship.
Bit of a shocker for Suzuki, maybe both Mir and Rins were trying to prove their worth to other teams (well they are lets be honest). Pecco.... I just don't know what to say, he could have waited, there were enough laps or just settled for 20 points and claw some of the gap back to Fabio etc. Marquez, well part of it has to be the bike when you look at the other Honda's, but he's not and will not be the man of old.
Last years bike still beating this years bike… not so good. Pecco going down because of that….he had the points in the bag. Bloody disaster for him and the factory team. Looks like poor old Jack will be out.
Another race that I think shows that in MotoGP you have to have a V4 90 Degree engine, Aprilia are coming to the front now, Ducati dominate with drive off the corner and braking stability, the only thing they loose is flickability but let's face it they are in the corner by that point. With Suzuki going, and as much as I like the Cross Plane IL4 concept, Yamaha are going to need to go to a V4 to compete. Fabio is maximising what the bike can do yet again but a horrendous time for the other 3 Yamaha's propping up the last places, that's even more extreme than the Honda situation has been with the likes of Cal often finishing top 6 when Marquez was winning. I saw the Jack Millar to KTM rumour, if he does it's for money and to be somewhere that feels more like a family as he has great connections there. However KTM are in serious trouble. Marquez says the bike has 'too much' rear grip on entry, no front feel, then no drive grip. Only works when the tracks are cold.... Oh Dear... In summary, basically all the teams apart from Suzuki who are leaving, have bikes where only a very particular rider can ride...
But even they have a similar situation, the guy who's won 3 races this year is on last years bike, factory riders are struggling with the new one, still scoring good points but like Pecco, crashing and making errors.
I tend to agree with you, but then I look at Suzuki Il4 speed and general balance and is not so easy to decide. Ducati vs. Yamaha and clearly the v4 is a better option. Ducati vs Suzuki the picture is not so clear anymore. Maybe is actually down to Yamaha not spending enough to develop the engine. Could also be that Suzuki have spent so much that now decided to pull out. Ducati are lucky to have Audi behind otherwise, who knows where they would be. (not saying monies is all that it takes) but certainly helps to have good financial stability.
Maybe Suzuki just achieved what they set out to do with Mirs WC and couldn’t be bothered/afford to keep shelling out just to keep up. A bit like when Casey retired. Did what he needed/wanted to and moved onto the next project.
Bastianini on the third string Ducati continues to look streets ahead of Pramac & even the works riders. I’d have him as the next superstar, not Fabio as things look at the moment
Bastianini certainly looks to be quality. Fabio though, I think it is important to look at where the other Yamahas are finishing in a race. FQ is working miracles on that bike. You could see each time he got in striking distance of Aleix and his Aprilia at Le Mans, the Aprilia just had a bit more performance available. The Ducati, they are just plain fast. If they start in front of the Yamaha, the Yamaha will have big problems. Going forward, I do hope Yamaha are prepared to put the required money in to development. An all new bike? Maybe. It has been left well behind and as said above, maybe the iline 4 is no more..
