You have to say whatever Alvaro thinks of this years regs its certainly done the trick with regards shaking up the pile. Dont think anyone predicted 4 different manufacturers in the top 5 nearly halfway through the season. Its only because Topraks been so exceptional since the last race at Assen that the gaps opened up a bit. CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 241 NICOLO BULEGA 200 ALVARO BAUTISTA 186 ALEX LOWES 165 ANDREA LOCATELLI 116 ANDREA IANNONE 88 DANILO PETRUCCI 85 REMY GARDNER 83 MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 77 DOMINIQUE AEGERTER 61 JONATHAN REA 57 AXEL BASSANI 50 SCOTT REDDING 42 GARRETT GERLOFF 38 SAM LOWES 36 XAVI VIERGE 26 NICHOLAS SPINELLI 25 MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 24 IKER LECUONA 24 TARRAN MACKENZIE 7 PHILIPP OETTL 5 TITO RABAT 4 MICHELE PIRRO 3 BRADLEY RAY 2
I've hardly seen any racing this season, but Topcat on a BMW that's good news for the neutrals in my opinion.
Good news for the other beemer riders too if SR45's rise up the ranks this weekend was anything to go by. Just need gerloff and mvdm to follow suit.
Apparently he has offers in both BSB and AMA and I would imagine a WSB one wont be far behind if he keeps riding like he did this weekend until the end of the season.
one swallow doesn’t make a summer though…. He was in a factory Ducati team and moaning, then in BMW and saying the bike wasn’t good. Now Toprak has come along and kicking on and he’s still a decent amount behind. Worth also remembering that was BMW’s best track historically. soz but I agree with the other comments, I’ve always found Scott a bit ‘big time’ in his attitude outward facing.
Toprak was imperious during the whole weekend. He did say at one point, I think on the grid before the last race, that he was trying out a new seat that let him sit lower in the bike. I remember one race in his Yamaha days where he rode without a seat, as he prefers to sit in the bike not on it. No surprise Alvaro is finding it difficult riding a bike with an extra 6 bags of sugar on it. It affects handling, fuelling, braking, tyre wear and his physical fitness after an injury that what was played down at the time but was quite serious. All those things that made him dominant in 2022 and 2023. Bulega doesn’t seem to struggle because, IMO, he knows no difference having not ridden the bike before this season and isn’t penalised on his weight. The overall performance of most of the bikes (not including the woeful Petronas Honda) during the weekend was IMO, flattered by Donington’s new surface, it’s a huge step forward. Alex Lowes had a good weekend and is no longer in the shadow of JR, however, Sam went from bad to worse. Our station picked him up at Coppice and his frustration was very evident. I’ve never been a Redding fan but it’s telling when a rider who is out of contract suddenly buckles down and makes an effort. There is little doubt in my mind that BMW has certainly paid a part in Toprak’s current success but for me by far the biggest difference is all Toprak. BMW champions with Toprak and Alvaro retiring, as he said he was going to do before signing a single year extension to his contract, unless Ducati sack him. Andy
I like SR but i think he is his own worst enemy and lets his head do bad things to his form and he can't see he is doing it to himself so will blame everything else. He obviously has some proper skills given who he beat in his youth and he has won on the Ducati and BSB title in his only season there. Toprak like MM can make a bad or average bike great, they are a different breed. Like Casey as well on the Ducati. I see Scott doing another year in BSB to close out the contract for 2025 and then settle in the US with the new baby and family close by. maybe ride some AMA or just cycle.
Add 10% of your body weight to the bike you have been riding for 2 years. All small fractions but you don’t accelerate quite as fast, you to have brake earlier, your tyres wear differently, your turn in changes, your physical effort increases. Add in recovery from injury that stopped you training for 3 months and Alvaro usually trains every day, in and out of competition. Andy
The rider-bike weight rule is an interesting one. AB, as a lightweight, needs more body mass to be able to move the bike around. Adding weight to the bike means that he has more work to do to get the heavier bike to move around, with only the same body mass. There is thus a double challenge for the lightweight rider imo. Lighter riders probably also have short legs & arms, making things more difficult unless the bike has extensive modifications. AB's tank doesn't look any shorter than his teammate's, so his reach to the bars must be a challenge. No dropped seat for him!
Who though? More moto 2 failures? More BSB no hopers? Its the same with moto gp no real stand out for an obvious promotion right now.
Toseland said they've raised his seat specifically so he could turn quicker/easier and dropped Toppers (as Andy said) for the same reason.
The Ducati was/has been/still is (for most) the bike to be on. The bmw never was and still isn’t on the whole. If u gave Alvaro the beemer and Toprak the ducati what do you think the outcome would be?
I think you have put your finger on it. I definitely feel that putting Alvaro on the Ducati in 2022 was like fitting 2 pieces of the jigsaw together. Toprak and the BMW is like making 2 pieces of a jigsaw fit regardless Andy
Toprak would still be winning but3 years ago, Bautista would be running away from him like he did all the Ducati riders. And that’s my point: he’s a high end talent coming to the end of his career who’s now had all his personal competitive advance removed, and at a time when he’s probably quite past his peak
