The 8 time world champion in motorcycle Grand Prix racing, Marc Marquez just had one of the worst weekends ever. Today saw his third DNF in a row, something that has not happened in his entire career. For the first time in a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time the sport of MotoGP is absolutely wide open and more unpredictable than ever.

People say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well this picture sums up the last two seasons for Honda MotoGP fans, the winningest manufacturer in the history of motorcycle racing. And yes, since I root for one of the underdog manufacturers that wins a championship about every two decades I’m gonna kick the HRC fans a bit while they are down. After all that winning for all those years it must feel odd to be on the other side and seeing this malarkey happen over and over and over....



Those disenfranchised with the MLB, NFL & NASCAR embracing toxic stupidity aka wokeness if you have any interest at all in a Motorsport that avoids all that mess and is starting a new era I highly recommend watching a MotoGP race. It might surprise you. The races are typically 22-26 laps done as fast as possible without any pit stops (typically). The races typically take only about 45 minutes. The only time you will see a motorcycle pit is if it starts raining. When that happens the riders will go to the pits and get their 2nd bike with rain tires and continue to race in the rain! Why don’t you do that NASCAR? Yeah it’s a crash fest and anything can happen but it’s also exciting as hell to watch. The race will also be stopped if a VERY bad crash occurs but they are often restarted once the track is clear.

These guys are an incredibly rare breed. A rider today (the current championship points leader) Fabio Quarararo unzipped his jacket and tossed away his chest protector DURING A RACE and continued to race the last few laps with his jacket unzipped. The powers that be at MotoGP penalized him mightily for his stunt today but it just goes to show how incredibly unpredictable this sport is, especially considering the fact that a rider died in a horrific crash two weeks ago. These guys are certifiable nuts but they put on a hell of a show.

Douche

Bags

I've seen them at Mid Ohio and it's exciting but I prefer vintage weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Fabio Quarararo unzipped his jacket and tossed away his chest protector DURING A RACE and continued to race the last few laps with his jacket unzipped.

I think it was a wardrobe malfunction. I'm not sure anyone would want to ride around the track at 200 MPH with leather and zipper hitting them. Shit's bad enough at 65

As for Honda....Couldn't have happened to a nicer group of guys Love their products but I can't stand Marc or Puig. Honda's woes fall squarely on those 2. If Honda hadn't thrown all their eggs into the Marquez basket, they could've had a few extra points. I bet they miss Pedrosa I think he's the real reason Honda was doing well for so long. He went away and the Honda hasn't been right since.

stickman428,

You're getting a little too much pleasure in this.

I've been laying low in the MotoGP thread waiting for Marquez to snap out of it.
It might be a long wait.

We have a dedicated thread for this sport in the lair. Why the need to create endless threads in the lounge?

If this thread bothers you prefontane you can take comfort in that much like your boi Valentino Rossi this thread won’t be anywhere near the top in two weeks.



Mutedblade, I think you are on to something. While HRC has had moments of brilliance without Marquez it’s been a rough ride for the most part. Then when you look how KTM is doing with Dani helping them develop their bike. It makes you go hmmmmmm. Maybe the little guy was contributing more to HRC than people knew. Either way seeing KTM make tremendous progress with their bike is wonderful.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stickman428,

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
We have a dedicated thread for this sport in the lair. Why the need to create endless threads in the lounge?

Are you serious?



stickman428,

With all the crap going on with Major league sports, now is an excellent time for those who never watched MotoGP to give it a try.

A year or two ago Spike lee spouted off some nonsense about racism when a rider who isn’t “white” won. The MotoGP fans on every major social media page I was on universally told Spike lee to shut the hell up about racism and leave his politics out of their sport. It was refreshing as hell to see. Morbadelli made some sort of anti racism helmet because of it but overall I’d say it wasn’t received too well by the fans.

Due to the extreme international nature of the sport where they are often in a different country every week the sport of MotoGP takes strides to avoid politics and politically charged subjects as much as possible. It isn’t in their benefit to be overly political and I believe they are aware of this fact.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Due to the extreme international nature of the sport where they are often in a different country every week the sport of MotoGP takes strides to avoid politics and politically charged subjects as much as possible. It isn’t in their benefit to be overly political and I believe they are aware of this fact.

That's the way it should be. I grew up having sports heroes of every color and religion. No place for politics.

Exactly. Politics and entertainment can be a volatile and problematic combination. Just look at how the Olympics fixed the BLM problem with quickness by just banning them. Boom! Problem solved. It’s not often I find myself saying good job Olympic committee but in this case they made the right call.

MotoGP race direction probably saw how the premier league’s embrace of BLM and toxic politics pissed off a lot of fans and said we don’t want to make that mistake. They want to grow their fan base not shrink it. Being entertaining and not political is a sure fire recipe for success. We used to consider stuff like this common sense before people got so damn stupid and perpetually pissed off.

I never look(ed) this cool during an unintended get off.


Well, maybe I have but the photographic technology was not attendant.

The Suzuki boys have elevated crashing to an art form.

Nice recovery!

"9.9 for finishing!"

mutedblade, you’re not he only one to think Pedrosa is a big part of KTM’s recent success. Did you catch this interaction between Pit Beirer (KTM’s motor sports director) and Dani Pedrosa?

I love this!

Yeah, Pit made a great choice sniping Dani from Honda (not that they fought too hard). He's a true asset when it comes to sorting out a bike. How many championships would Dani have if Marc wasn't riding a bike that Dani set up?

It's fun to watch him provide feedback to the techs. How they understand what he's trying to get across? I have no idea, but it's fun to watch....



Also would like to add that next year is gonna be awesome for KTM I think. Tech 3 is bringing Remy up (and probably Raul Fernandez). Those two as teammates again on GP bikes will make for some great racing. Honda better find another Dani if they want to be competitive for '22.

Honda still has one motorcycle rider at the top.
Toni Bou - FIM Trial World Champion
This guy is incredible.

https://youtu.be/ebm7_bxsavw