quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Thinking in F1 terms, 18mil seems pretty 'cheap' to buy out an existing [and recent champion] team.

They didn’t buy the team, the bikes, or the personnel. All they bought was data from the GSX-RR’s. That’s it.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:

That's a shame. I have nothing against Ducati. I just hate to see the Japanese bikes fade away from MotoGP. I keep hoping something will wake up the HRC sleeping giant.

They are fucked. From 1998 when I started watching this sport until 2021, HRC was considered NASA in the paddock. I can remember when they tried to fuck Valentino over in 2003, telling him even though he’s a generational talent (at the time, the greatest ever in the premier class now), and won 3 championships in a row for them, he’d have to share the #1 slot amongst all the other Honda riders. He said fuck that, not fair, and fuck you, left, went to Yamaha, and won the first year on it, and this is with Honda denying him the ability to test the Yamaha until after winter break, so he didn’t even get to test the M1 until 2004. Well the joke was on HRC, Valentino won the first race and championship, and continued to dominate on an inferior motorcycle for years. Burgess and Rossi handed all that development over to their rivals, and still beat them all. But the RC211v remains the best MotoGP bike ever invented by anyone. The V5 was that good.

Anyway that lasted through the 2021 season, and HRC finally got beat. They are in a free for all, and have been ever since. Never seen anything like this either, where you fail a full season, go to the next season and zero improvement. They are lost and have been lost for 3 years with no end to it in sight. Yamaha, we are seeing glimmers of improvement but that’s it. This is a constant Space Race, and Ducati has everyone’s number. I said for years, when the GP21, GP20, GP19, were racing, if Gigi can get that thing to turn, it will decimate the field. And that’s exactly what he did. The change started with Valentino and Burgess in 2011/2012. Ducati was stuck on this carbon fiber chassis with the headstock bolted to the front of the engine, and the swingarm bolted to the rear of the engine. Burgess and Rossi were yelling at Corse telling them to make a twin spar, that this shit will not work. You saw it in even Stoner’s seasons. 2007 he wins, because Ducati outsmarted everyone else with fuel usage (Desmo valves more fuel efficient than springs or pneumatics), and electronics. But every year after that his in season wins decreased and he only won that first championship on it. By the time Valentino threw a leg over it, it was a POS. They just had a long interview with Loris Capirossi last round, as an intro to the race weekend and he talked about what a POS it was then. But Burgess/Rossi’s comments stuck when Gigi took over and ever since they’ve been developing a twin spar. Farming it out at first to Moto2 chassis builders to now, where it’s in house IIRC. Now it turns, and turns well, so decimation is here.

Yamaha will make some ground up, Honda looks completely lost, still, after several seasons. If anyone is going to catch Ducati, it’ll be Aprilia. The Italians just have this ingenuity where the Japanese are too risk adverse and too resistant to change. Just too set in their ways. Take Yamaha for example. They should have already abandoned the crossplane 4 (which I own an example of and as a street or superbike, it makes sense for cost reasons) in favor of a V4, because that is the best motorcycle engine and what everyone else is using. Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, and Honda, all V4 motorcycles. Yamaha remains resistant to this, and it’s why all they are doing is small improvements here and there. Say moving Fabio from 12th to 8th or something. He can still get a top 5 position at the riders tracks of say, Portugal, Phillip Island, or Assen, where the rider counts more than the bike. Everyone else they are fucked too. Only KTM has the spite for Honda enough, and enough $ to keep throwing money at their bike. Even with a generational talent, the Rat, they aren’t doing jack shit this year. It’s a sad state of affairs but the Corse fans are doing backflips.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Thinking in F1 terms, 18mil seems pretty 'cheap' to buy out an existing [and recent champion] team.

They didn’t buy the team, the bikes, or the personnel. All they bought was data from the GSX-RR’s. That’s it.

Gotcha, misread it.

Well that was the most boring race in recent memory. Even Matt admitted it was no good for the fans. Was to easy to FF through portions of the race.

Congrats to Pecco though. Bagged the Sprint too and has a lead on the points for the championship finally. If he hadn’t crashed in so many Sprints this year, the championship would already be over. Fuel to the fire, the top 4 were all on Ducati, and Ducati held 7 out of the first 10 riders to finish. The Ducati Cup vs. a boring ass circuit = dull racing.

KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha, and Honda, one or two of them need to pull their finger out. The race today reminded me of the processional 800cc era.

Interesting development. I'd like to see things tighten up even more with the top 4. Could you imagine what the end of the season would look like if Pecco, Jorge, Enea, and Marc were within 10 of each other? Fans, commentators, and the riders themselves would lose their ever loving minds!

I have never been a MM fan but this win was a long time coming and he is a generational talent. Too bad for Pecco and AM as I wanted to se AM get a podium. I have always read this thread but not participated in it until now. I have been riding and racing (1 year mx pro in 1975) and motorcycles have always been my passion. I haven't raced in about 15 years but with retirement looming who knows. Life is short!

Race direction ruled it as a race incident with no penalties. Yeah, had that been an Italian in the rear, ramming into a Spaniard in front, they’d be starting the next sprint/race from -3 positions or the back of the grid. I bet Pecco is pissed. Thank God that bullshit move didn’t fuck them both up with injuries. Bags got pinned underneath the bike. Could have been 1000% worse.

Passport bros strikes again. BS!

Well Misano was eventful. Pecco recouped quite well from the Marquez bowling ball incident. Two 2nd places and with Martin butchering the race coming in early on the flag to flag, puts Pecco back in this thing. But Marquez is something like 53 or 56 points adrift and with a shot to make a play in this championship by Valencia.

All the riders are in a full on post race test at Misano as well. Unfortunately Honda is still in the rear in the gear with a fully updated ‘25 bike, and the riders are far from impressed. Fabio on the Yamaha is doing quite well. Yamaha has new chassis, engine, and swingarm, and Fabio seems to be doing quite well on it. Interviews should be available soon. This is the first test for ‘25 for all mfr’s sans Ducati who won’t roll out their GP25 until Valencia.