I expected there to be more news over the winter break but the dominant discussion is KTM. They are more or less in the doo-doo but there are attempts being made to save their racing program in MotoGP.

https://www.motorsport.com/mot...News&utm_content=www

Bajaj owns the minority stake and they could buy them out. Then there are rumors that RedBull will take over the MotoGP program (huge, deep, pockets). KTM have a share holders meeting at the end of January. Other rumors are Lewis Hamilton is involved (with his management company), Mercedes as well, what a fucking mess. Apparently the root of the problem is Pierer who warned of a sales decline in 2024 but didn’t curb production to offset. They have 250,000 bikes (MX mostly) sitting in warehouses somewhere, not even shipped to stealers. They keep stating that the MotoGP program is a completely separate company from KTM and that they will remain, at least for the 2025/2026 seasons.

The 2025 team presentations from every mfr. are to be in the next few weeks and I’ll try to post them. At least we will get to see the new liveries for the coming season.

Here are the preseason testing dates:

Shakedown Test (Sepang): January 31st – February 2nd, MotoGP
Sepang Test: February 5th – 7th February, MotoGP
Buriram Test: February 12th - 13th, Moto2™ & Moto3™

Team reveals:

January 14th, Trackhouse (Aprilia), Charlotte, NC (USA)

January 16th, Aprilia (Factory), Milan, Italy

January 18th, Gresini (Ducati), Imola, Italy

January 20th, Ducati (Factory), Madonna of Campiglio, Italy

January 25th, VR|46 (Ducati), Jakarta, Indonesia

January 30th, KTM (Factory and Tech 3), Sepang, Malaysia

January 31st, Yamaha (Factory and Pramac), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

February 1st, Honda (Factory), Jakarta, Indonesia

February 8th, LCR (Honda), Bangkok, Thailand

February 9th, MotoGP season launch, Bangkok, Thailand

There will also be hoopla central around Assen this year. They are celebrating their 100th anniversary even though they haven’t been racing there for a full 100 years. Wars, Covid, etc caused breaks. MotoGP as it is now called started in 1949.

2025 Trackhouse Team Presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/live/7...?si=rJD6XmiSeiBR-6AT

July 18th is Brno!

Man, I had a good time at that track.
The elevation changes are awesome.

Glad to see it back, the Cz fans were both friendly and a shit-ton of motorcycles ridden there.

Factory Aprilia team presentation for 2025. Jorge Martin is not only using the #1 plate on this bike, he has it “all over the place”. He is definitely rubbing salt in Ducati’s pending wounds. This is worth the watch.

https://www.youtube.com/live/3...?si=ij8Z_jW8JOCElV1G

Gresini Team Presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/live/6...?si=IQ67z8fcF0FRO-jB

Ducati Factory Presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/live/M...?si=HKLr5qqkKcpMF2IR

VR|46 Presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/live/J...?si=mEaBxcwj-WXXsUjJ

The rest of the team presentations are on the MotoGP channel on YT if anyone cares to watch them.

First day of real preseason testing started today. Wrecks dominated the day.
Jorge Martin riding the Aprilia for the first time high sided. He crashed on turn 1 in Sepang. Remounted, and later on turn 5 he high sided himself to the moon. Busted his right hand and left ankle all up to shit. He went to the hospital and they are releasing him Thursday to fly home to Barcelona for surgery on both. His 2025 preseason is fucked. Sepang was colder than normal today and the riders should have been more cautious warming up the tires. Jorge was on some bullshit message deal trying to prove something when he should have just worked himself up to speed on a brand new machine.

Raul Fernandez, for the 2nd year in a row crashed himself out. His left hand is fucked, and he is also headed back to Spain for surgery. Like Martin, he’s pulled himself out of the Sepang test.

Fabio Di Giannantonio likewise did the same, he’s out of the Sepang test as well. He was doing practice starts, which turned into a wheelie, and he put the bike down, and broke his collarbone. So he is also flying home for surgery.

Fabio Quartararo was fastest on the day, Marc Marquez was 2nd, but the times don’t really mean a whole lot right now as all the riders are in shakedown mode on their new machines. They’ll matter more on Friday but even then people will be putting in softs to set qualifying times for press headlines. It’s tricky to see who is really the fastest out there with stacked lap times.

Highlights and the highside are here:

https://youtu.be/B2AI80ZgOps?si=44E3trDRT6OyHl2k

I’d embed the videos but Dorna doesn’t allow that. It would just say “blocked” and you have to watch it on YT. Kind of silly since it’s free content on a free platform. They’re just hurting their own exposure.

Day 2 times complete.

https://www.crash.net/motogp/r...sults-day-2-thursday

Looks like Yamaha and Honda have actually got some of their shit together. Fabio on the Yamaha has been at the top of the timesheets both days so far and Mir on the factory Honda is stating this is the best, most comfortable, he’s been on the Honda. Apparently both Japanese bikes have solid front ends now. Riders for both proclaiming how solid the front ends are. Jack Miller riding on the satellite Yamaha, but is a factory bike has been telling the press how rock solid the front end is on the Yamaha. I hope the Japanese are finally digging themselves out of the holes.

https://www.crash.net/motogp/r...sults-day-2-thursday

Wow, the highside where he slammed his head on the asphalt knocking off his shield looked like a banger.
I'd need serious painkillers and PT after that.

Hate seeing Marq in red.....

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I’d embed the videos but Dorna doesn’t allow that. It would just say “blocked” and you have to watch it on YT. Kind of silly since it’s free content on a free platform. They’re just hurting their own exposure.

I've always wondered about that, F1 does the same.
I'm guessing $/click must be different if not viewed directly on YT, vs linked on a site.

Martin out for the Thai GP due to training injury. Not a good start to his time at Aprilia and definitely makes a back to back championship unlikely.

Typical hot headed Spanish rider. This same thing is what caused him to miss the entire preseason. Now both hands are fucked up, surgery, and the ankle as well. And this latest injury is a very slow healer. Will take a lot of time and there is no medicine available to speed it up as very little blood flow comes to this area. The oxygen chamber won’t even speed it up. Yeah I would say he is screwed. This is a Pecco vs. Marc championship before the first practice session of the season Friday. Martin is damn lucky that Marco is level headed and his teammate. Bezzecchi was the story of the preaseason outside of the Marquez brothers. He is developing the new Aprilia and riding extremely well, showing his talent that saw him winning races in 2023 and being a championship contender.

I almost want to start a betting pool for this year. Who is going to highside themselves to the moon first during the season? Marc Marquez or Jorge Martin? Typical Spanish riders with hot blood, hot tempers, and trying to be the man. Preseason injuries have hit most all of them. MX riding causing injuries via wrist, collarbone, shoulder, etc. But this is the first time I’ve seen someone highside on a GP bike then wreck again on a supermoto training bike causing more injuries before the season has even started. At this rate he’s going to break his leg too, by Mugello.

Prefontaine,

It looks like MM is off to a fast start this year. I hope it's not going to be a one or two man show. I would truly love to see the championship be up for grabs by at least a few riders this year late in the season.

There are members here like yourself that have probably forgotten more than I'll ever know about the sport of MotoGP. I have always been a casual viewer and didn't really start watching the races until around 6 or 7 years ago. When I first started posting in the MotoGP threads here, I was a huge Honda fan. With good reason if I may add. They have a long history of success across the motor sports. I was also a fan of Marc Marquez mainly because he rode for Honda. I really didn't know a lot about the man other than he seemed to be a fearless World Champion several times over. My opinion of the man has changed slightly after the years of reading these threads which lead to further research. No doubt about it, MM is a great rider but I do understand why you might not care for his racing style or tactics.

Marc has always been a prick. He’s done unsportsmanlike shit so many times it’s too numerous to count. And he went out of his way to cost Valentino his championship in 2015 when Marc knew he couldn’t win. And unlike Valentino leaving HRC, and the best bike in class, and the best racing motorcycle I’ve ever seen, the RC211v, to go to a lesser performing motorcycle, the Yamaha at the time, in 2004, Marc went from best bike on the grid, to best bike on the grid.

So it’s not surprising of the results this weekend. The Sprint and Race in Buriram were the exact same.

Marc Marquez
Alex Marquez
Pecco Bagnaia

Pirelli to replace Michelin in MotoGP in 2027

https://www.motorsport.com/mot...er-in-2027/10700793/

Good. I hate fucking Michelin.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Good. I hate fucking Michelin.

lol

Michelin [Pilot Road 4, IIRC] & Metzeler are the majority of my mileage on the road. No complaints with either from a cruise/commuter perspective.

No high performance experience on 2 wheels.

Overpriced to me. 4 wheels I use Contis for hipo summers and hipo all seasons for winters. 2 decades of hipo motorcycle experience, track, and twisties. I run Bridgestones or Pirellis on 2 wheels. The Germans, Japanese, and Italians don’t charge what Michelin does and their tires are as good, or better. Bridgestones were damn good before they were the official MotoGP control tire. Even better afterwards. Their tires are so good for twisty work I run a supersport tire on the front and a sport touring tire on the rear of my bikes, that way the wear matches 100%. I save my supersport rears for track days. Each to their own however.

I liked the Bridgestone HPAS tires I had on my Mercedes. Coworker had a twin car on similar Michelins, comparable performance with the Bridgestone being about $300 cheaper per set.

I liked the Road 4 on the Vulcan S, but there's not much to push them around Houston. Good road manners, though.