Congrats to Bags & all of the Ducati faithful on winning the championship! That was a long time coming. Fabio put in a hero’s effort for Yamaha but that bike needs to be more like the Suzuki in bridging the gap with Ducati & straight line speed. Ducati’s prospects look good going forward.

The Hollywood ending for Suzuki was something I was not at all expecting. What a way to end your adventures in Grand Prix racing. To pull the plug on a team like this is an opportunity that doesn’t come often. Hats off to Team Suzuki Ecstar for showing their grit all the way to the end. Watching Rins defy all expectations and get one last win for the Gipper Gixxer was spectacular. It won’t be as fun without two gorgeous Triton blue & silver bikes on the grid.

Chaotic race, with a lot of early attrition.
Crazy that Bags was stuggl8ng that much from losing the aero bit(s).

Congrats to Rins for the flag to flag win, Binder was on a flyer & might've had it with another 2-3 laps.
Sad to see both Aprilia out.

I wonder if Suzuki as a motorcycle company will survive long enough to regret quitting MotoGP?





I hope Mir and Rins can find success at Honda and I hope this guy ^^^^^^^ is a title contender again next season!!!!

Suzuki GP Bikes to be Crushed

quote:

“Unfortunately, it is not a possibility, but a certainty. A couple of these bikes will end up in some museum, others will be crushed, along with spare parts and everything. All the Japanese manufacturers do it for a matter of taxes, because otherwise there would be assets on which to pay taxes. As they are no longer usable, they make this choice of always crushing everyone.”

Hope Mir & Rins get a shot of taking one home.

Read that earlier today. Such a waste. Could be sent to countless museums, but no, let's just send them to the landfill

I'm not a tax lawyer and don't play one on TV, but couldn't they sell them at some break-even price, buyers chosen by lottery?

Rumor mill has a bunch of the Suzuki parts (and personnel) may end up at BMW as they may be trying to get a team on the grid for '24 or '25. You know how these things go though, so who knows what actually happens. I really would like to see the stuff put to good use, but even a folded team probably doesn't want their design secrets out there for all to copy.

A few full race replays on YT.
Quiet week at the office, caught a few.
2016 Japan
2015 Britain
2012 Valencia
2001 Australia

Philip Island sure does give a good race. 2022 was the first I saw there, IIRC. The 2001 race was great, too.

Apparently Suzuki corporate had already planned on killing the MotoGP project and stayed because of the surprise 2020 championship win.

Interesting take on the Suzuki MotoGP exit

Another quiet day in the office.

2018 Thai GP on stream right now.

Another quiet day so far.
2014 Australia - PI is becoming my favorite GP track.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P250UA5,

Yamaha releases 2023 livery for the M1

Hopefully for Fabio it runs. Poor guy didn't have much to work with last season

The camo is a slight improvement but the M1 is not what I would call a good looking bike with those colors. Yamaha should be brave and bring back the red and white colors even if it’s just for one race.

Man you have to look to find Yamaha’s other rider Franco Morbidelli being mentioned when you Google Yamaha M1’s new colors. A few of the first images that pop up don’t even have Franco pictured. I hope he can have a better season than last year.



It’s kinda hard for me to get overly excited about the 2023 season. I’ll be rooting for HRC and LCR and hoping Aprilia’s two lads can build upon their incredible progress.

I am curious to see how the Joan Mir / Marc Marquez teammates thing plays out.

HRC & Honda fans have a good reason to be hopeful in 2023. They have IMO the best rider on the grid when he is healthy and picked up two new riders that are able to help develop one hell of a good bike.

With Mir Honda got an incredibly disciplined rider who will help extract speed near the limit without going over too often. With Rins they have a more aggressive rider who will push past the limit to fight with Ducatis at the front.

That along with MM is one hell of a bullpen. So long as the new guys can quickly adapt to the RC213.

I’ll be interesting.

It was a looooooong dry run for Ducati for years.
I would be happy to see them take the top five every race.
There I said it and I am NOT ashamed.