June 4, 2025 • 30 mins
This week on Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannons, we’re heading full throttle into the Aragon Grand Prix.
Matt Clayton & Renita Vermeulen break down the Marc Márquez homecoming – can the King of Aragon reclaim his throne in front of the Spanish crowd? Or will we have a 6th different winner this season?
Plus, the Jorge Martín bombshell! With news swirling that he wants out of Aprilia before 2026, we dive into what’s really going on behind the scenes, what it means for the rider market, and where he could land next.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Moto GP heads to Aragon and in the Spanish desert
for Round eight of the World Championship, and the question
on everyone's mind right now is to Caddi's once untouchable
dominance under fire because Moto GP's had five different winners
in a row now in twenty twenty five, so could
this weekend be number six? And while you Caddy haven't
(00:24):
won on a Sunday for the last two Grand PRIs,
if last year's results are anything to go by, it's
hard to not count on Mark Marquez though, stealing the
show in Spain. Pittalk is brought to you by Shannon's Insurance.
I'm your host, Ernita vermuelin here in Barcelona getting ready
to head to Aragon and joining me is let's see
if I can do this in my Spanish accent.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Matt el mador del migrafona.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Matt Clayton, Google Google Translate is a wonderful thing, Renada.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
It's lovely to join you as always.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
And yes, thirty two degrees in Spain about three point
two degrees in Melbourne to somewhere in the middle had
been nice. But I don't envy you this weekend because
that's a hot racetrack at any time of the year,
but we've not been here at this time of year.
So that's going to be one of the big talking
points about this weekend because we know how hot that
place can get, but we're about to find out how
hot it gets.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We're about to find out and also we're about to
find out if Mark Marquez is going to be dominant
again this weekend or if we're going to see a
replay of Coda where he walks in the King of
the Circuit and ends up walking away with zero points, right.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's funny, like there's a few tracks, Like once we
knew that he was going to be on that GP
twenty five this year, my mind immediately went to four tracks.
It was Cota, Saxon, Ring, Philip Ireland and Aragon.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We know how.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Good he is at Aragon, and look, I mean, you
remember what happened last year. I think I wrote one
thousand and forty three days about one thousand and forty
three times, because that's how many times we talked about
it last year after he'd snapped that losing draft of
his But this time last year, it was like the
absolute perfect storm for him. There because we know it's
a left handed track, which we love. He loves the
(02:07):
anti clockwise tracks. But remember being resurfaced this time last
year and it hadn't really sort of bedded in properly.
It's literally the blackest racetrack I've ever seen. Gaze, the
oil right on the surface had all the grip of
a skating rink. Can you think of a left hand circuit?
Slippery as hell? It's just got Mark Marquez's name all
over it, and he made everyone look absolutely ridiculous there
(02:30):
last year on that twenty twenty three Ducati. So you
have to wonder if it's going to be as hot
as you're predicting it's going to be, and that track
surface is super, super slick. It feels like the only
person that might beat Mark this weekend is Mark, because
he's likely to be pretty awesome this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Look, I know you're the statsman, but I wanted you
to clarify this to me because when I was researching
Mark Marquez going into this weekend, we know he's won
a lot here.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Has he won here? Really? Six times? In Moto GP?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's yeah, amazing, isn't it? And you think like this
still to me I mean, I know it's been around
since twenty ten. It kind of surprised me that it's
been around that long. It still feels like a relatively
new race track for me. But there's only two guys
that have won this race more than once, and the
other one's Casey Stoner. Right at the very very beginning
of when Aragon came in, case he won it for
honor to Catti and a Honda, so that shows you.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
How well he was going.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But since Mark got here, he's basically won it or
he's not, and I think, you know, he's been beaten
by guys who've had really pivotal performances in their career.
You rewind a couple of years. This was Peco Banyai's
first Grand Prix win in twenty one, and it was
one of those ones where we looked at it at
the time and thought, huh, he's just beaten Mark Marquez
(03:41):
in a straight fight on one of Mark's best circuits.
So that probably gives you an indicator of Peco's quality,
not realizing at the time what Peco was going to become.
But this track is just absolutely tailor made for Mark
because it's kind of it's a weird layout, isn't It's
like it's two tracks in one. You've got that ridiculously
long back straight goes forever, and because there's no buildings
(04:02):
around this circuit to give you any sort of perspective,
it literally feels like you're just riding into the horizon.
And then that first sector with the elevation changes in
those long left hand corners that he's just so good in.
I reckon, if you gave Mark a blank sheet of
paper and a crayon, he probably draw a circuit that
looked a bit like this, you'd think is his favorite track.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I was hearing he was here in Busselona yesterday for
a ju Caddy event, and what I mentioned earlier, he
was saying that he's going into this weekend quite cautious
because of the whole code incident. We seeing this whole
new Marquez mentality shift, because he's openly said, yeah, he
(04:42):
can see Peco struggling, like he knows what is going on.
He knows everything with Alex, what's going on behind the scenes.
Would you Caddy is a whole new mentality coming through
for Mark?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do you think matter?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I reckon, So this is like sort of you know,
thirty two year old slightly sensible Mark relative to his youth,
where he wasn't content to win back in the day
like he wants to win and absolutely crush everybody. At
the same time, I think he's a lot better now
at playing the percentages. And the race that made me
think of that was Lemon to Grand Prix Goo. He
(05:13):
came out of the pits in that wet weather stuff
that we know he's incredibly good and Jean Zaco was a.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Long way up the road.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I reckon twenty eighteen nineteen, Mark would have said, I'm
going to catch him. Watch this, and Mark actually thought,
you know what, I'm going to have to take too
many risks to try and get on terms here, and
even if I get up to him, am I going
to pass him? And he has played with that championship
mentality I reckon a lot more earlier in the season
than he used to. So you're talking about the fact
(05:41):
we've had these five different winners over the past five rounds.
He's one of the five, but only one of them.
But he just keeps building his championship leagues bit by
bit by bit by bit, and you know, even you
look at Silverston last time out. It's not a circuit
he does particularly well at. It's not a circuit that
he particularly likes. He was still the best ducaddi there
where all the rest of them were really struggling, and
(06:03):
he's almost decided, if I'm going to win this title,
this is Yeah. There's going to be headline weekends where
I'm absolutely awesome. Like you remember what he did at
Thailand where he sat behind his brother so he didn't
get a high pressure penalty and they just decided to
pull the pid and disappear in that one. He's going
to have races where he's amazing. But I think this
is a championship that's going to be built by just
stacking results one after the other after the other. And
(06:25):
you forget he's chucked a couple of redecent results away,
had the crash at Harath and came back and finished
twelfth in that. But this is a championship. He feels
like he's trying to win on his bad days, not
necessarily his good ones. That's the difference between twenty and
twenty five Spec Mark and maybe twenty eighteen Spec Mark,
and that just comes with maybe a bit of age
and a bit of wisdom and you know you forget that. Yeah,
(06:45):
he's six times MOORGP world champion. He hasn't been major
GP world champion for six years. It's a long time
in a writer's career. He knows how special this championship
will be if he gets it, and I think he's
just going to tick every box on the way through
to get to it and not leave anything to chance.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was reading another article online about Meto GP and
everything so far this season, comparing it to last year.
I think it might have been GP one an Italian publication.
They were saying, how I think it was this time
last year, Peco Banyaya had probably about the same amount
of crashes out of Grandfrix races as Mark has now.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
But the criticism that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Peco was receiving for those crashes, why is it different?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Why is it that Mark can get away with it?
Is it because it is Mark Marquez?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah? Possibly?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And because you know, seeing Mark back up the front
fighting for something really meaningful. We've not seen it for
a while, like we've kind of forgotten what it's like
because you know, before he got off the Honda, it
was race a couple of races get injured, have a surgery, disappear,
come back. It was so stop start, and I think
once he got on the Decati, like that Grassini thing
last year was just a great story. Like it was like, oh,
(07:55):
Mark's winning again, Marks up the front again. How great
is it to see Mark towards the front in some races?
The race that I loved last year wasn't even one
of the ones that he won. You remember at Lamon
when he qualified about the fourth row and he just
produced these two absolutely incredible starts and got himself in
the podium fight Like that's the Mark stuff that you love.
But yeah, he is maybe escaping a little bit of
(08:17):
the criticism that maybe Peco got last year. But I
think the way Peco raced last year was I think
we're all a bit shocked with how wasteful Peko was
last year, because I mean, the term you love to
use for Peco, he's like the professor, right, He's got
every single thing box, if every box ticked and every
eye dotted. I still feel that we'll look back at
the twenty twenty four world title as a title that
(08:39):
Bangnyai lost, not one that Martine won necessarily, And that's
not discrediting what Martin did because he stayed on the
bike where the other guy didn't. But Bangnyai was the
best he's ever been last year in terms of speed
and number of Grand Prix wins, and he still didn't
win a championship. And so there was this narrative last
year that Pecko was throwing it away, which you know,
the record books will show that he did throw it away.
(08:59):
So Mark's getting a little bit more grace at the
moment because it's been a while since we've seen him
up the front. But you look at what's coming up
on this calendar now, like if Pecko's going to sort
of dig his heels in and really fight against Mark,
I feel this next part of the season is the
period that he has to do it, because you know,
he's not as good as as Mark is an Aragon,
(09:21):
but nobody is. Pecko's still really good here and you
look at what's coming up after that. Peko's won the
last three races at Magello, He's won the last three
races at Assen, like this is his time of year.
And you know you mentioned the way Mark's approaching this
championship fight. I think it'll be super interesting in that
you'll go to Migello and Assen and Mark won't be
(09:41):
the favorite based on what Peko's done the last few years.
And whatever the championship margin ends up being after this weekend,
it's going to be so interesting to see how those
two react to that, because it's a golden opportunity for
van Yaya to stake his claim a little bit. Mark
just has to be just chipping away, chipping away, and
then we'll get to some tracks where we know he's
really really good and he can shine from there. But
(10:03):
I still am not completely counting Peko out. I know
a lot of people have been pretty disappointed with the
way he's been this year, and it's not been great,
let's be honest, But I still think there's too much
class in there to just rule a line beneath him
this early in the season. I think he will get better.
The only question now, I think is how far is
he behind once he gets better.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
That's probably the keeper.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Talking about Aragon, the three things that I think are
when I think of Aaron, obviously that iconic brick wall,
the wall, yes, oh, you can't go past it, right,
The fact that Mark Marquez is so dominant there that
he has that corner named after him, see those iconic shots.
And I also think of that infamous collision last year
between Peco Banyaya and Alex Marquez. Yeah yeah, how do
(10:47):
you think that's going to replay this year? Because when
I was looking at SATs, I'm taking over your job
as a satman.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Alex has never finished on the podium in Aragon.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Correct me if I'm wrong with that?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Ye think I'm going to go back in the memory
books here. I reckon one of his very early podiums
was in the COVID year when he was on the
REP on the Repsole bike. Because I had two races
at Aragon one year, they called one of them the
terror Well Grand Prix or something. I reckon that's where
he might have been on the podium. So I'm not
sure he's had a podium in an Aragon Grand Prix.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
So you're technically correct.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It is, isn't it weekend that.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's funny like you I remember Peco last year. You know,
we all remember that incident with Alex Marquez last year
was actually very scary, like with the bike on top
of him, it was pretty nasty, and that was kind
of the period where you felt that Peco lost control
of last year's World Championship and that for the rest
of the season he was having to rely on Martine
(11:45):
defeating himself because he just put himself too far behind
and he scored one point that entire weekend. It was
a scary accident for sure, and he never really let
that go last year, and that was I remember him
talking about it in Philip, Ireland, which was, you know,
a good month and half after it had happened. He
was still annoyed about the points that he had lost
that day compared to the points that he'd lost at
(12:06):
subsequent races by not going so well or not being
happy with the tire, or not having the feeling or
whatever it was. He kept referring back to Aragon and
this sort of great injustice. And you remember it got
pretty agro between the two of them last year until
they they both calmed down a little bit.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
It was just unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You know, you could sixty forty blame perhaps on Alex Marquez,
but it wasn't great for either. They're both in such
different places this year, aren't they now compared to where
they were last year? Because you know, if we saw
Alex Marquez towards the front last year in that race,
and we're like, huh, that's a novelty. Look at Alex
Marquez go like he's having a really really good weekend.
That's just every weekend for him. Now, he's just there
(12:46):
all the time, with the exception of perhaps Silveston where
all that acaddies are a bit lost and Peco. We've
not seen Peko like this, just being so downcast about
everything since before he became a world championship contender. And
it's been a long time now, because you think he
won in twenty two and twenty three almost he pushed
Coatra all the way in twenty one, and he pushed
(13:08):
Martin to the last round in twenty four. So it's
been the last four years that Banyay has either been
the best or the second best rider in Motor GP,
and he churns these results out metronomically, one after the
other after the other. He's looking shakier at the moment
than he's looked since before he became a world championship contender.
So that's why I reckon that this race, if he
can kind of at least minimize the damage to Mark
(13:30):
this weekend and then really try and kick on through
those next two.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
This is the pivotal point of the season. I think
for him, Well, we know.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
That Jucaties are going to be strong here, We know
Mark's going to be strong here, and I would think Alex,
with how the season has been playing out, but what
about the other manufacturers and in particular Joan Zako on
the Honda, how do you think.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
That's going to go here?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Because we know they have that really long backstraight Like
you mentioned that, we're going to see that big difference
between the manufacturers who have the more horse power.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Than the Hohod.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I think if you're looking for someone to sort of
crash the party and be a bit of an interloper
this weekend, he's in such good form at the moment.
He's riding in such a great way. You can just
see how confident he is. We know how good he
is in the early lap battle stuff as well, like
he's a fierce guy to pass in the early parts
of races, like the elbows are well and truly out.
He's got a definitely got a reputation for that. So
(14:25):
I think if you're going to look at the other
manufacturers this weekend.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
A Prillier.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's hard to read what they're going to do. I mean,
Silverston was fantastic, but that's always a.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Great track for them. So is it an outlier. We'll
soon find out.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
But I think Yamaha might struggle a little bit more
here relative to Honda. Yamaha has never gone great at Aragon.
Quatro really doesn't like the place. You remember that accident
he had the other year when he had that big,
big accident with Mark and on the first lap, and
then you remember him getting dumped off the scooter on
the way back to the pits as well. That was
pretty bad. I think he hurt himself more doing that
when he got tipped off the back of the scooter
(14:59):
coming back in that he had two crashes at about
twenty seconds. So that was an ideal. But I think
if you're looking at another manufacturer to perhaps, you know,
get in the mix now, whether that's for a podium
place or a top five or what have you this weekend,
it probably is Honder And it's probably Zarko, to be honest,
because he's in incredibly good form and there's all this
(15:23):
Honda news you know, going around at the moment in
that what are they going to do? You know, luc
And Marine's not here this weekend because he's still recovering
from the injuries from the Suzuka eight hour testing crash
that he had.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
There's a lot of balls near a Honda at the moment.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
And you know, he has said before that he'd like
to be in that factory team, but he's in such
a great spot at the moment. He's with a team.
The whole team revolves around him. He's coming up with
fantastic results for them, and it wouldn't surprise me in
the slightest if we see another good weekend from him
this weekend. And it's telling, isn't it like the championship
standings right now, five of the top six Cycaddy riders,
(16:00):
he's the one non Decati rider in the top six.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
It shows you how well he's going.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But isn't it such a stark difference when you think
of somkiat who's his technique, who's always dead last? Or okay,
sorry I shouldn't be saying so bad, but you know,
he's struggling, he's not there, he's not performing. And then
you see Joan Mia, who's been with the company for
multi four years now, he's still struggling.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Luke Marini.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay, unfortunate events with him with that crash, but somehow
something's just clicked.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
With Zako, right.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
But it's ELSR and we know that those satellite teams
are privateer teams. You have more of a family feel.
It's like you can gel and like you said, the
whole team based around him. So what he wants he's
essentially getting. But how much is he getting or working
with factory Honda? Do you know, Matt, how much?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
I think?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, Look, I think there's a pretty good transfer of
technology and information going backwards and forwards and right now,
if you're Honda, you'll want to listen to what Zarko
is saying because he's the fastest guy you've got and
you know, you me the chance of a thing. I don't
think that's necessarily unfair, Like he has just not really
been on the pace at all, Like it's this significant
drop off. He's just been at the back all the time.
We know he's been injured. But I was reading something
(17:11):
earlier in the week where I think he finished like
thirty seconds off first in the sprint services, like three
seconds of lapse lower than the winner that's not really
motor GP standard. Juan Mir, bless him. We love the
way he goes about it. He's not prepared to accept
the limitations of his machinery and he will push it
until it crashes, and he does. I don't think Juanmir
is slow. I think he just needs to know when
(17:32):
to deploy the speed a little bit more. And we
know that Luca Marini is kind of Banyai light in
that he's like this professor oriole type who wants to,
you know, get the glasses on and squint at the
telemetry and work out how it all works before he goes.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
That little bit harder.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
So it's actually a pretty interesting writer core there. But
I guess the question that's bubbling around is that with
all this Fuja Martine stuff going around with a Prillier,
he would not be agitating to get out of a
priller unless he you where he wanted to go. Let's
be honest, because you're not going to make that much
noise unless you've got somewhere in mind. And it's pretty
(18:06):
clear that the somewhere in mind is going to be Honda.
And if you added him into that mix with the
other writers A, you're going to have to lose one
of them. So do you lose Marini for personnel reasons
or do you lose chance for sponsorship reasons?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
That's interesting, But isn't that.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
A really interesting mix of guys where you've got a
former world champion in Mihr, you've got an injured current
world champion in Martin Zako. He's thirty four, but he's
probably in the form of his life. Like it's a
super intriguing rider lineup. And then when you think about
what's coming for twenty twenty seven, when we change all
the rules to the eight fifties and get rid of
all the right height devices and everything else. If Honda
(18:45):
don't make it work in twenty seven, it won't be
because they haven't spent enough money on it, Because we
know that's a huge operation, and I think if the
current rule set was going to go on for a
number of years, Honda had kind of been in the
wilderness a little bit. They know that twenty seven's like
this hard reset that they get a chance to perhaps
get themselves back up the front again.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You know they're going.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To be pulling everything out of the bag to try
and get there. And you know, the Marting thing. I
still can't get in my head that he would be
agitating to get out unlessing you where he wanted to
go or where he was going. And I think that's
a part of this story that maybe we're not talking
about yet, And maybe the keyword in that sentence is yet.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I'm just thinking that when you were talking about the
potential of Martin going to Honda, then in my head,
I go, Okay, then who steps up to replace him in?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
And prially is it Ayagura? Like how is all the
puzzle pieces starting to fit?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And then we have all those silly season rumors about
top Rack potentially replacing Jacket Pramac and Jack's obviously the
star Pramac writer.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Compared to mcguel. We've got obviously.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Alex Rinz underperforming compared to fabric Dara factory.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yamaha. There's so many moving puzzle pieces here.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And this thing with these contracts is I always say
these contracts are kind of a marriage of convenience till
they're not, Like, you know, it's like, well, you're signed
for two years. Martin hasn't even completed one Grand Prix
for a prelier He's like, no, I don't want to
do this anymore, and you can't help but think that.
I find it hard to believe that he'll race for
them even ever again, to be honest, because he's still
(20:15):
out going to be out for a while because he's injured.
I don't see how between now and then they can
come up with some sort of pribly. I want to
hold him to the contract. Martine clearly doesn't want to
be there. This feels like one of those things that
they'll negotiate a settlement and probably walk their own separate
ways at some point. But if you can just blow
a rider market up because you don't like what you've signed,
you wonder what some of these contracts are actually worth.
(20:38):
And so the reason I bring that up is you
mentioned the Razgalioglu stuff. There's been a lot of discussions
that he signed a Pramax Yamaha deal. You know, nothing official,
yet it's been talked about. We've heard this story a
million times before and it's never happened. So I'm still
reasonably skeptical about it. But then you look at the
Yamaha riders this year. Quadro has been the clear standout.
(21:00):
Miller has been Yama half second best rider this year,
there's no doubt about it. Across their two teams. Oliver
has been injured and when he has been there, he
hasn't been on Jack's pace at all. And Alex Rinns
has shown a couple of flashes here and there, but
no more than that. And Alex Rinns hasn't been the
same rider since he's broke his leg at Magello two
years ago. So Rins and olivera have contracts for twenty six.
(21:20):
Jack doesn't. But if in the Martine case, we see
what a contract is worth, which it's just what's a contract.
It's a starting point for negotiations pretty much. This is
this is where we will get together and we work
out how to break this thing. Jack right now should
be in a stronger position than he was in last
year when he was at KTM because he wasn't performing
at KTM and he is performing here. He's having a
(21:42):
huge impact on what they're doing. Yet he's the one
with the least job security out of the four of them,
so something doesn't make sense there. I still think he
he should on Merit get another deal next year, so
they'll be checking to fine print too. Some of these
other contracts I reckon and look as much as we
hear about the Rascut, the Auglu stuff, it all comes
out of the same camp. It comes out of his management,
(22:04):
it comes out of the superbike paddock. We've heard this
story many times before. He's coming over, He's coming over.
Until I actually see him on the grid on a
Moto GP bike, I'm not one hundred percent going to
believe it because I feel like I've been laid down
this path a few times before.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Oh yeah, it's not the first time we've spoken about
soff rack on this podcast, and it's a Moto GP podcast.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah, exactly off tracks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, we've mentioned the Jogem Martine drama, and if you
haven't heard anything about that, you don't know what we're
talking about. Read Math's articles on Fox Taughts dot com
day for Slash Motors Tart or you can actually see
the screenshots that I took of Jorjem Martin's official statement
that he put on his Instagram stories, which was hilarious.
The day before he went and attended the a Prillier
(22:48):
World Writers event where it kind.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Of did look like he had a bit of a
forced smile on his face the whole time. I don't
know if he saw the photos. Look like porgeg.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Martin talk about awkward, I mean literally in the you look,
I mean, how's the prilli has last two weeks been?
They come out with a statement before the British Grand
Prix saying we have a contract with Martin and we're
going to hold him to it and he shouldn't No
one should be talking to him. He's a contracted writer.
They then come out three days later and win the
Grand Prix with Marco Bedzechi. A few days after that,
(23:18):
Martin comes out and says, well, I'm not staying so
bad luck. And then they have to go to this
meet and greet thing at Massado on the weekend that
everyone smiles and shakes hands and kisses babies and smiles
with the cameras. What a bizarre couple of weeks, even
by Motor GP standards. To that manufacturer, they should be
so happy right now because they won a Grand Prix
for the first time in a year. But it's almost like,
(23:40):
you know, we're, what ten days since they won at Silverstone,
We're just going back to other stories off track that
they don't really have a whole lot of control over
and then you have to look back and go, oh, yeah,
they won the last Grand Prix with Marco Beedzeki. It's
been a strange time.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It's so strange.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
But then the other side of a Prillio as we
have Ayagura, who is still in.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
G he broke the top of his tibier his correct.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I heard that he has to get a physical test
on Thursday as well to assess whether he's going to
race this weekend, so it might be down two or
Prillier riders instead of just the regular.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Joe Martine, Yeah, I mean I always the Motor GP
fitness tests always kind of make me laugh. They kind
of make me WinCE as well, like what are they
just going to like sort of flick like pellets at
his leg or something to see if he flinches, like
they what are they actually going to do? I still
remember hearing a story when Cal Crutchlow broke his ankle
at Silverstone one year and to be past fit for
(24:35):
the race, they made him hop up and down the
stairs of the medical center with his full racing kit on,
and if he could actually do that, they were going
to let him ride the bike and crutch, those whole
thing was like, it's the most pain I've ever felt
in my life. But it's my home Grand Prix, and
I'm not going to leave these people disappointed that I'm
not riding, So I'm going to go out there and
give it a go. So, yeah, God only knows what
the fitness test is going to be for Agura. But
(24:56):
you mentioned this about five minutes ago about what would
a Prillier do if Martin left. I'd personally i'd love
to see them give a Gura shot in the factory team,
Like just as you know the thing with you've got
to capture these good young guys when they're still grateful
for the opportunity with a full factory team, but you
don't quite know what they are yet, And I don't
(25:17):
know about you, Like a Guru has been better. He's
been better than I expect him to be and it
was not expected him to be bad. But I thought,
you know standard Moto too, Yes, you won the championship
finally after a few near misses. I thought he would
be respectable, but no more than that. He's actually been
really good, and I'd be super curious to see what
(25:37):
would he be like in a bigger team with more
responsibility and a bigger voice. And also just as a
point of difference in a paddock. We know that it
can turn into the Spanish and Italian Championship from.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Time to time.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It's nice to see a different approach to go about it.
And you would have seen this being in the paddock
for the last few rounds. He's a super quirky interview
like he's actually really really funny but incredibly dry at
the same time, so you can't quite work out whether
he's taking the piss or not. He's actually very very
funny to talk to. So just another point of difference
than another personality in the paddock.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I think it's good, Oh definitely, I think you know,
we need it. I was reading an article on crashdot
net this morning where they were saying that they're talking
with Ferman Audiget, who's been the most difficult person to
race against, and you're thinking he's going to say Mark
or a Peco and he goes, oh, Jack Miller, trying
to pass Jack has been so hard, and think, ah,
(26:31):
you don't expect to hear this from them because we
don't get to see it, or we don't hear these stories.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But to hear that.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
About I, to hear that about Jack is what we need.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So it's not just the Italian and the Spanish championship.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Well yeah, it's a world championship. That's what we want.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And the more faces and accents and voices and surnames
and things, which is part of the appeal with top Brek.
Let's be honest, it's a completely new audience and we
know how popular the guy is and the commercial backing
he brings that would be another great reason to have
him on the grid.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Now again, has he signed something?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Only only about two people will actually know this, and
I'll believe it when.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I see it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
But if we see him on the green, I think
it's great for MotoGP. It's not great for world superbikes.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Just be honest. He's the biggest thing in world superbikes.
But it's great for MotoGP. But I'll just be super curious.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
If he's coming in, then someone has to make way,
and who is that someone and where does that someone go?
And the game of Musical Chairs starts again.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
That it does that, it does well. That pretty much
wraps up our Aragon preview. But Matt, as we always do,
here at the Pit Talk podcast, which is sponsored by
Shannon's Insurance. Who is your prediction for this weekend? Matt?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Can I make a prediction for the other two podium
positions behind Mark Marquez?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Is that allowed?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I was almost gonna say, are you gonna just say
Mark Marquez? But I like this, Maybe we should start
predicting who's gonna be like fifth or something.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
But yeah, yeah, exactly who's going to finish eighth this weekend?
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I am saying, all right, I'm going to say we're
going to have one of the vir forty sixty catties
on the podium on Sunday, okay, And I think it's
going to be Fabio to gen Antonio. And this goes
back to something that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
I think you're going to start seeing the GP twenty
five start to climb now as they just bring more
and more performance to those bikes, And the twenty four
(28:19):
is not going to just not going to go backwards,
but it's going to flatten out a little bit. So
I'm not saying that Alex Marquez is suddenly going to
fall off the pace, but I'm not sure he's going
to be on this super upward trajectory that he had
at the start of the season. I think the twenty
fives will start to come good the longer the season goes.
So I'm picking Digia on the box this weekend, but
probably not first, second or third perhaps, But now that
(28:40):
we're doing crystal ball gazing, are you is there anyone
other than a do Caddy that's getting on the podium?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Is that what you're thinking?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Nah, album is going to call that as is no
way not at this style circuit, unless unless it's like
you mentioned about the grip and now that it's not
just a brand your assphold on there and they've actually
had some like of bikes and cars and things on there.
Maybe maybe I'm gonna say it was Pedro Acosta was
(29:12):
on the podium there last year. It was yes, do
you go Pedro or Maverick?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Just to throw something else.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
In there, Oh, Maverick would be interesting, wouldn't it. I
mean he's been he's blown so hot and cold this year.
On his best days, Maverick looks like one of the
best three riders in Moto GP, and then on his
worst days you look at the results and forget that
he was in the race, So if he gets one
of the former weeks, I mean, look, we've seen it
this year already a couple of times, and yeah, that
was an inherited podium last year for a Costa after
(29:38):
the Alex Marquez banoy kerfuffle there. But yeah, look, maybe
it is a KTM and Maverick's been riding pretty well,
so maybe your crystal ball is working better than mine.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
We'll soon find out.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Look, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I'm just going off all in there because I didn't
want to say Zaka. I didn't want to go what
we've been talking about the hype train there. But you
just never know with Maverick, and that's what we love
about Maverick Vinilla's and what we love about Moto GP.
But like we said, that is our prediction and our
preview for this weekend's Aragon Moto GP race. So I'm
gonna be there on site so you guys can follow
(30:12):
along me on all the Fox Sports social channels at
Fox Motorsport everywhere, and Matt is going to keep you
guys updated on our website, Fox sports dot com dot au.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Forward Slash Motorsport.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
We got some fun things coming this weekend, Matt, We've
got some behind the scenes with Joel Kelso he's gonna
take us around the track and show us what it's
like inside a Moto three garage. And maybe, just maybe,
I've convinced Jack Miller to let me hang out with
him on the weekend as well, so we'll see what
we can get from there. But guys, that is all
the time we have for Pit Talk, which is sponsored
(30:45):
by Shannon's Insurance, from myself, Needavan Villain, and Matt Clayton.
We're gonna be back real soon with more Moto GP
Pit Talk.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Very nice
Moto GP heads to Aragon and in the Spanish desert
for Round eight of the World Championship, and the question
on everyone's mind right now is to Caddi's once untouchable
dominance under fire because Moto GP's had five different winners
in a row now in twenty twenty five, so could
this weekend be number six? And while you Caddy haven't
(00:24):
won on a Sunday for the last two Grand PRIs,
if last year's results are anything to go by, it's
hard to not count on Mark Marquez though, stealing the
show in Spain. Pittalk is brought to you by Shannon's Insurance.
I'm your host, Ernita vermuelin here in Barcelona getting ready
to head to Aragon and joining me is let's see
if I can do this in my Spanish accent.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Matt el mador del migrafona.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Matt Clayton, Google Google Translate is a wonderful thing, Renada.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
It's lovely to join you as always.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
And yes, thirty two degrees in Spain about three point
two degrees in Melbourne to somewhere in the middle had
been nice. But I don't envy you this weekend because
that's a hot racetrack at any time of the year,
but we've not been here at this time of year.
So that's going to be one of the big talking
points about this weekend because we know how hot that
place can get, but we're about to find out how
hot it gets.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We're about to find out and also we're about to
find out if Mark Marquez is going to be dominant
again this weekend or if we're going to see a
replay of Coda where he walks in the King of
the Circuit and ends up walking away with zero points, right.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's funny, like there's a few tracks, Like once we
knew that he was going to be on that GP
twenty five this year, my mind immediately went to four tracks.
It was Cota, Saxon, Ring, Philip Ireland and Aragon.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We know how.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Good he is at Aragon, and look, I mean, you
remember what happened last year. I think I wrote one
thousand and forty three days about one thousand and forty
three times, because that's how many times we talked about
it last year after he'd snapped that losing draft of
his But this time last year, it was like the
absolute perfect storm for him. There because we know it's
a left handed track, which we love. He loves the
(02:07):
anti clockwise tracks. But remember being resurfaced this time last
year and it hadn't really sort of bedded in properly.
It's literally the blackest racetrack I've ever seen. Gaze, the
oil right on the surface had all the grip of
a skating rink. Can you think of a left hand circuit?
Slippery as hell? It's just got Mark Marquez's name all
over it, and he made everyone look absolutely ridiculous there
(02:30):
last year on that twenty twenty three Ducati. So you
have to wonder if it's going to be as hot
as you're predicting it's going to be, and that track
surface is super, super slick. It feels like the only
person that might beat Mark this weekend is Mark, because
he's likely to be pretty awesome this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Look, I know you're the statsman, but I wanted you
to clarify this to me because when I was researching
Mark Marquez going into this weekend, we know he's won
a lot here.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Has he won here? Really? Six times? In Moto GP?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's yeah, amazing, isn't it? And you think like this
still to me I mean, I know it's been around
since twenty ten. It kind of surprised me that it's
been around that long. It still feels like a relatively
new race track for me. But there's only two guys
that have won this race more than once, and the
other one's Casey Stoner. Right at the very very beginning
of when Aragon came in, case he won it for
honor to Catti and a Honda, so that shows you.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
How well he was going.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But since Mark got here, he's basically won it or
he's not, and I think, you know, he's been beaten
by guys who've had really pivotal performances in their career.
You rewind a couple of years. This was Peco Banyai's
first Grand Prix win in twenty one, and it was
one of those ones where we looked at it at
the time and thought, huh, he's just beaten Mark Marquez
(03:41):
in a straight fight on one of Mark's best circuits.
So that probably gives you an indicator of Peco's quality,
not realizing at the time what Peco was going to become.
But this track is just absolutely tailor made for Mark
because it's kind of it's a weird layout, isn't It's
like it's two tracks in one. You've got that ridiculously
long back straight goes forever, and because there's no buildings
(04:02):
around this circuit to give you any sort of perspective,
it literally feels like you're just riding into the horizon.
And then that first sector with the elevation changes in
those long left hand corners that he's just so good in.
I reckon, if you gave Mark a blank sheet of
paper and a crayon, he probably draw a circuit that
looked a bit like this, you'd think is his favorite track.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I was hearing he was here in Busselona yesterday for
a ju Caddy event, and what I mentioned earlier, he
was saying that he's going into this weekend quite cautious
because of the whole code incident. We seeing this whole
new Marquez mentality shift, because he's openly said, yeah, he
(04:42):
can see Peco struggling, like he knows what is going on.
He knows everything with Alex, what's going on behind the scenes.
Would you Caddy is a whole new mentality coming through
for Mark?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do you think matter?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I reckon, So this is like sort of you know,
thirty two year old slightly sensible Mark relative to his youth,
where he wasn't content to win back in the day
like he wants to win and absolutely crush everybody. At
the same time, I think he's a lot better now
at playing the percentages. And the race that made me
think of that was Lemon to Grand Prix Goo. He
(05:13):
came out of the pits in that wet weather stuff
that we know he's incredibly good and Jean Zaco was a.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Long way up the road.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I reckon twenty eighteen nineteen, Mark would have said, I'm
going to catch him. Watch this, and Mark actually thought,
you know what, I'm going to have to take too
many risks to try and get on terms here, and
even if I get up to him, am I going
to pass him? And he has played with that championship
mentality I reckon a lot more earlier in the season
than he used to. So you're talking about the fact
(05:41):
we've had these five different winners over the past five rounds.
He's one of the five, but only one of them.
But he just keeps building his championship leagues bit by
bit by bit by bit, and you know, even you
look at Silverston last time out. It's not a circuit
he does particularly well at. It's not a circuit that
he particularly likes. He was still the best ducaddi there
where all the rest of them were really struggling, and
(06:03):
he's almost decided, if I'm going to win this title,
this is Yeah. There's going to be headline weekends where
I'm absolutely awesome. Like you remember what he did at
Thailand where he sat behind his brother so he didn't
get a high pressure penalty and they just decided to
pull the pid and disappear in that one. He's going
to have races where he's amazing. But I think this
is a championship that's going to be built by just
stacking results one after the other after the other. And
(06:25):
you forget he's chucked a couple of redecent results away,
had the crash at Harath and came back and finished
twelfth in that. But this is a championship. He feels
like he's trying to win on his bad days, not
necessarily his good ones. That's the difference between twenty and
twenty five Spec Mark and maybe twenty eighteen Spec Mark,
and that just comes with maybe a bit of age
and a bit of wisdom and you know you forget that. Yeah,
(06:45):
he's six times MOORGP world champion. He hasn't been major
GP world champion for six years. It's a long time
in a writer's career. He knows how special this championship
will be if he gets it, and I think he's
just going to tick every box on the way through
to get to it and not leave anything to chance.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was reading another article online about Meto GP and
everything so far this season, comparing it to last year.
I think it might have been GP one an Italian publication.
They were saying, how I think it was this time
last year, Peco Banyaya had probably about the same amount
of crashes out of Grandfrix races as Mark has now.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
But the criticism that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Peco was receiving for those crashes, why is it different?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Why is it that Mark can get away with it?
Is it because it is Mark Marquez?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah? Possibly?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And because you know, seeing Mark back up the front
fighting for something really meaningful. We've not seen it for
a while, like we've kind of forgotten what it's like
because you know, before he got off the Honda, it
was race a couple of races get injured, have a surgery, disappear,
come back. It was so stop start, and I think
once he got on the Decati, like that Grassini thing
last year was just a great story. Like it was like, oh,
(07:55):
Mark's winning again, Marks up the front again. How great
is it to see Mark towards the front in some races?
The race that I loved last year wasn't even one
of the ones that he won. You remember at Lamon
when he qualified about the fourth row and he just
produced these two absolutely incredible starts and got himself in
the podium fight Like that's the Mark stuff that you love.
But yeah, he is maybe escaping a little bit of
(08:17):
the criticism that maybe Peco got last year. But I
think the way Peco raced last year was I think
we're all a bit shocked with how wasteful Peko was
last year, because I mean, the term you love to
use for Peco, he's like the professor, right, He's got
every single thing box, if every box ticked and every
eye dotted. I still feel that we'll look back at
the twenty twenty four world title as a title that
(08:39):
Bangnyai lost, not one that Martine won necessarily, And that's
not discrediting what Martin did because he stayed on the
bike where the other guy didn't. But Bangnyai was the
best he's ever been last year in terms of speed
and number of Grand Prix wins, and he still didn't
win a championship. And so there was this narrative last
year that Pecko was throwing it away, which you know,
the record books will show that he did throw it away.
(08:59):
So Mark's getting a little bit more grace at the
moment because it's been a while since we've seen him
up the front. But you look at what's coming up
on this calendar now, like if Pecko's going to sort
of dig his heels in and really fight against Mark,
I feel this next part of the season is the
period that he has to do it, because you know,
he's not as good as as Mark is an Aragon,
(09:21):
but nobody is. Pecko's still really good here and you
look at what's coming up after that. Peko's won the
last three races at Magello, He's won the last three
races at Assen, like this is his time of year.
And you know you mentioned the way Mark's approaching this
championship fight. I think it'll be super interesting in that
you'll go to Migello and Assen and Mark won't be
(09:41):
the favorite based on what Peko's done the last few years.
And whatever the championship margin ends up being after this weekend,
it's going to be so interesting to see how those
two react to that, because it's a golden opportunity for
van Yaya to stake his claim a little bit. Mark
just has to be just chipping away, chipping away, and
then we'll get to some tracks where we know he's
really really good and he can shine from there. But
(10:03):
I still am not completely counting Peko out. I know
a lot of people have been pretty disappointed with the
way he's been this year, and it's not been great,
let's be honest, But I still think there's too much
class in there to just rule a line beneath him
this early in the season. I think he will get better.
The only question now, I think is how far is
he behind once he gets better.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
That's probably the keeper.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Talking about Aragon, the three things that I think are
when I think of Aaron, obviously that iconic brick wall,
the wall, yes, oh, you can't go past it, right,
The fact that Mark Marquez is so dominant there that
he has that corner named after him, see those iconic shots.
And I also think of that infamous collision last year
between Peco Banyaya and Alex Marquez. Yeah yeah, how do
(10:47):
you think that's going to replay this year? Because when
I was looking at SATs, I'm taking over your job
as a satman.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Alex has never finished on the podium in Aragon.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Correct me if I'm wrong with that?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Ye think I'm going to go back in the memory
books here. I reckon one of his very early podiums
was in the COVID year when he was on the
REP on the Repsole bike. Because I had two races
at Aragon one year, they called one of them the
terror Well Grand Prix or something. I reckon that's where
he might have been on the podium. So I'm not
sure he's had a podium in an Aragon Grand Prix.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
So you're technically correct.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It is, isn't it weekend that.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's funny like you I remember Peco last year. You know,
we all remember that incident with Alex Marquez last year
was actually very scary, like with the bike on top
of him, it was pretty nasty, and that was kind
of the period where you felt that Peco lost control
of last year's World Championship and that for the rest
of the season he was having to rely on Martine
(11:45):
defeating himself because he just put himself too far behind
and he scored one point that entire weekend. It was
a scary accident for sure, and he never really let
that go last year, and that was I remember him
talking about it in Philip, Ireland, which was, you know,
a good month and half after it had happened. He
was still annoyed about the points that he had lost
that day compared to the points that he'd lost at
(12:06):
subsequent races by not going so well or not being
happy with the tire, or not having the feeling or
whatever it was. He kept referring back to Aragon and
this sort of great injustice. And you remember it got
pretty agro between the two of them last year until
they they both calmed down a little bit.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
It was just unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You know, you could sixty forty blame perhaps on Alex Marquez,
but it wasn't great for either. They're both in such
different places this year, aren't they now compared to where
they were last year? Because you know, if we saw
Alex Marquez towards the front last year in that race,
and we're like, huh, that's a novelty. Look at Alex
Marquez go like he's having a really really good weekend.
That's just every weekend for him. Now, he's just there
(12:46):
all the time, with the exception of perhaps Silveston where
all that acaddies are a bit lost and Peco. We've
not seen Peko like this, just being so downcast about
everything since before he became a world championship contender. And
it's been a long time now, because you think he
won in twenty two and twenty three almost he pushed
Coatra all the way in twenty one, and he pushed
(13:08):
Martin to the last round in twenty four. So it's
been the last four years that Banyay has either been
the best or the second best rider in Motor GP,
and he churns these results out metronomically, one after the
other after the other. He's looking shakier at the moment
than he's looked since before he became a world championship contender.
So that's why I reckon that this race, if he
can kind of at least minimize the damage to Mark
(13:30):
this weekend and then really try and kick on through
those next two.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
This is the pivotal point of the season. I think
for him, Well, we know.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
That Jucaties are going to be strong here, We know
Mark's going to be strong here, and I would think Alex,
with how the season has been playing out, but what
about the other manufacturers and in particular Joan Zako on
the Honda, how do you think.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
That's going to go here?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Because we know they have that really long backstraight Like
you mentioned that, we're going to see that big difference
between the manufacturers who have the more horse power.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Than the Hohod.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I think if you're looking for someone to sort of
crash the party and be a bit of an interloper
this weekend, he's in such good form at the moment.
He's riding in such a great way. You can just
see how confident he is. We know how good he
is in the early lap battle stuff as well, like
he's a fierce guy to pass in the early parts
of races, like the elbows are well and truly out.
He's got a definitely got a reputation for that. So
(14:25):
I think if you're going to look at the other
manufacturers this weekend.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
A Prillier.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's hard to read what they're going to do. I mean,
Silverston was fantastic, but that's always a.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Great track for them. So is it an outlier. We'll
soon find out.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
But I think Yamaha might struggle a little bit more
here relative to Honda. Yamaha has never gone great at Aragon.
Quatro really doesn't like the place. You remember that accident
he had the other year when he had that big,
big accident with Mark and on the first lap, and
then you remember him getting dumped off the scooter on
the way back to the pits as well. That was
pretty bad. I think he hurt himself more doing that
when he got tipped off the back of the scooter
(14:59):
coming back in that he had two crashes at about
twenty seconds. So that was an ideal. But I think
if you're looking at another manufacturer to perhaps, you know,
get in the mix now, whether that's for a podium
place or a top five or what have you this weekend,
it probably is Honder And it's probably Zarko, to be honest,
because he's in incredibly good form and there's all this
(15:23):
Honda news you know, going around at the moment in
that what are they going to do? You know, luc
And Marine's not here this weekend because he's still recovering
from the injuries from the Suzuka eight hour testing crash
that he had.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
There's a lot of balls near a Honda at the moment.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
And you know, he has said before that he'd like
to be in that factory team, but he's in such
a great spot at the moment. He's with a team.
The whole team revolves around him. He's coming up with
fantastic results for them, and it wouldn't surprise me in
the slightest if we see another good weekend from him
this weekend. And it's telling, isn't it like the championship
standings right now, five of the top six Cycaddy riders,
(16:00):
he's the one non Decati rider in the top six.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
It shows you how well he's going.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But isn't it such a stark difference when you think
of somkiat who's his technique, who's always dead last? Or okay,
sorry I shouldn't be saying so bad, but you know,
he's struggling, he's not there, he's not performing. And then
you see Joan Mia, who's been with the company for
multi four years now, he's still struggling.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Luke Marini.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay, unfortunate events with him with that crash, but somehow
something's just clicked.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
With Zako, right.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
But it's ELSR and we know that those satellite teams
are privateer teams. You have more of a family feel.
It's like you can gel and like you said, the
whole team based around him. So what he wants he's
essentially getting. But how much is he getting or working
with factory Honda? Do you know, Matt, how much?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
I think?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, Look, I think there's a pretty good transfer of
technology and information going backwards and forwards and right now,
if you're Honda, you'll want to listen to what Zarko
is saying because he's the fastest guy you've got and
you know, you me the chance of a thing. I don't
think that's necessarily unfair, Like he has just not really
been on the pace at all, Like it's this significant
drop off. He's just been at the back all the time.
We know he's been injured. But I was reading something
(17:11):
earlier in the week where I think he finished like
thirty seconds off first in the sprint services, like three
seconds of lapse lower than the winner that's not really
motor GP standard. Juan Mir, bless him. We love the
way he goes about it. He's not prepared to accept
the limitations of his machinery and he will push it
until it crashes, and he does. I don't think Juanmir
is slow. I think he just needs to know when
(17:32):
to deploy the speed a little bit more. And we
know that Luca Marini is kind of Banyai light in
that he's like this professor oriole type who wants to,
you know, get the glasses on and squint at the
telemetry and work out how it all works before he goes.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
That little bit harder.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
So it's actually a pretty interesting writer core there. But
I guess the question that's bubbling around is that with
all this Fuja Martine stuff going around with a Prillier,
he would not be agitating to get out of a
priller unless he you where he wanted to go. Let's
be honest, because you're not going to make that much
noise unless you've got somewhere in mind. And it's pretty
(18:06):
clear that the somewhere in mind is going to be Honda.
And if you added him into that mix with the
other writers A, you're going to have to lose one
of them. So do you lose Marini for personnel reasons
or do you lose chance for sponsorship reasons?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
That's interesting, But isn't that.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
A really interesting mix of guys where you've got a
former world champion in Mihr, you've got an injured current
world champion in Martin Zako. He's thirty four, but he's
probably in the form of his life. Like it's a
super intriguing rider lineup. And then when you think about
what's coming for twenty twenty seven, when we change all
the rules to the eight fifties and get rid of
all the right height devices and everything else. If Honda
(18:45):
don't make it work in twenty seven, it won't be
because they haven't spent enough money on it, Because we
know that's a huge operation, and I think if the
current rule set was going to go on for a
number of years, Honda had kind of been in the
wilderness a little bit. They know that twenty seven's like
this hard reset that they get a chance to perhaps
get themselves back up the front again.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You know they're going.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To be pulling everything out of the bag to try
and get there. And you know, the Marting thing. I
still can't get in my head that he would be
agitating to get out unlessing you where he wanted to
go or where he was going. And I think that's
a part of this story that maybe we're not talking
about yet, And maybe the keyword in that sentence is yet.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I'm just thinking that when you were talking about the
potential of Martin going to Honda, then in my head,
I go, Okay, then who steps up to replace him in?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
And prially is it Ayagura? Like how is all the
puzzle pieces starting to fit?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And then we have all those silly season rumors about
top Rack potentially replacing Jacket Pramac and Jack's obviously the
star Pramac writer.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Compared to mcguel. We've got obviously.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Alex Rinz underperforming compared to fabric Dara factory.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yamaha. There's so many moving puzzle pieces here.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And this thing with these contracts is I always say
these contracts are kind of a marriage of convenience till
they're not, Like, you know, it's like, well, you're signed
for two years. Martin hasn't even completed one Grand Prix
for a prelier He's like, no, I don't want to
do this anymore, and you can't help but think that.
I find it hard to believe that he'll race for
them even ever again, to be honest, because he's still
(20:15):
out going to be out for a while because he's injured.
I don't see how between now and then they can
come up with some sort of pribly. I want to
hold him to the contract. Martine clearly doesn't want to
be there. This feels like one of those things that
they'll negotiate a settlement and probably walk their own separate
ways at some point. But if you can just blow
a rider market up because you don't like what you've signed,
you wonder what some of these contracts are actually worth.
(20:38):
And so the reason I bring that up is you
mentioned the Razgalioglu stuff. There's been a lot of discussions
that he signed a Pramax Yamaha deal. You know, nothing official,
yet it's been talked about. We've heard this story a
million times before and it's never happened. So I'm still
reasonably skeptical about it. But then you look at the
Yamaha riders this year. Quadro has been the clear standout.
(21:00):
Miller has been Yama half second best rider this year,
there's no doubt about it. Across their two teams. Oliver
has been injured and when he has been there, he
hasn't been on Jack's pace at all. And Alex Rinns
has shown a couple of flashes here and there, but
no more than that. And Alex Rinns hasn't been the
same rider since he's broke his leg at Magello two
years ago. So Rins and olivera have contracts for twenty six.
(21:20):
Jack doesn't. But if in the Martine case, we see
what a contract is worth, which it's just what's a contract.
It's a starting point for negotiations pretty much. This is
this is where we will get together and we work
out how to break this thing. Jack right now should
be in a stronger position than he was in last
year when he was at KTM because he wasn't performing
at KTM and he is performing here. He's having a
(21:42):
huge impact on what they're doing. Yet he's the one
with the least job security out of the four of them,
so something doesn't make sense there. I still think he
he should on Merit get another deal next year, so
they'll be checking to fine print too. Some of these
other contracts I reckon and look as much as we
hear about the Rascut, the Auglu stuff, it all comes
out of the same camp. It comes out of his management,
(22:04):
it comes out of the superbike paddock. We've heard this
story many times before. He's coming over, He's coming over.
Until I actually see him on the grid on a
Moto GP bike, I'm not one hundred percent going to
believe it because I feel like I've been laid down
this path a few times before.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Oh yeah, it's not the first time we've spoken about
soff rack on this podcast, and it's a Moto GP podcast.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah, exactly off tracks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, we've mentioned the Jogem Martine drama, and if you
haven't heard anything about that, you don't know what we're
talking about. Read Math's articles on Fox Taughts dot com
day for Slash Motors Tart or you can actually see
the screenshots that I took of Jorjem Martin's official statement
that he put on his Instagram stories, which was hilarious.
The day before he went and attended the a Prillier
(22:48):
World Writers event where it kind.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Of did look like he had a bit of a
forced smile on his face the whole time. I don't
know if he saw the photos. Look like porgeg.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Martin talk about awkward, I mean literally in the you look,
I mean, how's the prilli has last two weeks been?
They come out with a statement before the British Grand
Prix saying we have a contract with Martin and we're
going to hold him to it and he shouldn't No
one should be talking to him. He's a contracted writer.
They then come out three days later and win the
Grand Prix with Marco Bedzechi. A few days after that,
(23:18):
Martin comes out and says, well, I'm not staying so
bad luck. And then they have to go to this
meet and greet thing at Massado on the weekend that
everyone smiles and shakes hands and kisses babies and smiles
with the cameras. What a bizarre couple of weeks, even
by Motor GP standards. To that manufacturer, they should be
so happy right now because they won a Grand Prix
for the first time in a year. But it's almost like,
(23:40):
you know, we're, what ten days since they won at Silverstone,
We're just going back to other stories off track that
they don't really have a whole lot of control over
and then you have to look back and go, oh, yeah,
they won the last Grand Prix with Marco Beedzeki. It's
been a strange time.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It's so strange.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
But then the other side of a Prillio as we
have Ayagura, who is still in.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
G he broke the top of his tibier his correct.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I heard that he has to get a physical test
on Thursday as well to assess whether he's going to
race this weekend, so it might be down two or
Prillier riders instead of just the regular.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Joe Martine, Yeah, I mean I always the Motor GP
fitness tests always kind of make me laugh. They kind
of make me WinCE as well, like what are they
just going to like sort of flick like pellets at
his leg or something to see if he flinches, like
they what are they actually going to do? I still
remember hearing a story when Cal Crutchlow broke his ankle
at Silverstone one year and to be past fit for
(24:35):
the race, they made him hop up and down the
stairs of the medical center with his full racing kit on,
and if he could actually do that, they were going
to let him ride the bike and crutch, those whole
thing was like, it's the most pain I've ever felt
in my life. But it's my home Grand Prix, and
I'm not going to leave these people disappointed that I'm
not riding, So I'm going to go out there and
give it a go. So, yeah, God only knows what
the fitness test is going to be for Agura. But
(24:56):
you mentioned this about five minutes ago about what would
a Prillier do if Martin left. I'd personally i'd love
to see them give a Gura shot in the factory team,
Like just as you know the thing with you've got
to capture these good young guys when they're still grateful
for the opportunity with a full factory team, but you
don't quite know what they are yet, And I don't
(25:17):
know about you, Like a Guru has been better. He's
been better than I expect him to be and it
was not expected him to be bad. But I thought,
you know standard Moto too, Yes, you won the championship
finally after a few near misses. I thought he would
be respectable, but no more than that. He's actually been
really good, and I'd be super curious to see what
(25:37):
would he be like in a bigger team with more
responsibility and a bigger voice. And also just as a
point of difference in a paddock. We know that it
can turn into the Spanish and Italian Championship from.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Time to time.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It's nice to see a different approach to go about it.
And you would have seen this being in the paddock
for the last few rounds. He's a super quirky interview
like he's actually really really funny but incredibly dry at
the same time, so you can't quite work out whether
he's taking the piss or not. He's actually very very
funny to talk to. So just another point of difference
than another personality in the paddock.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I think it's good, Oh definitely, I think you know,
we need it. I was reading an article on crashdot
net this morning where they were saying that they're talking
with Ferman Audiget, who's been the most difficult person to
race against, and you're thinking he's going to say Mark
or a Peco and he goes, oh, Jack Miller, trying
to pass Jack has been so hard, and think, ah,
(26:31):
you don't expect to hear this from them because we
don't get to see it, or we don't hear these stories.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But to hear that.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
About I, to hear that about Jack is what we need.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So it's not just the Italian and the Spanish championship.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Well yeah, it's a world championship. That's what we want.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And the more faces and accents and voices and surnames
and things, which is part of the appeal with top Brek.
Let's be honest, it's a completely new audience and we
know how popular the guy is and the commercial backing
he brings that would be another great reason to have
him on the grid.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Now again, has he signed something?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Only only about two people will actually know this, and
I'll believe it when.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I see it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
But if we see him on the green, I think
it's great for MotoGP. It's not great for world superbikes.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Just be honest. He's the biggest thing in world superbikes.
But it's great for MotoGP. But I'll just be super curious.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
If he's coming in, then someone has to make way,
and who is that someone and where does that someone go?
And the game of Musical Chairs starts again.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
That it does that, it does well. That pretty much
wraps up our Aragon preview. But Matt, as we always do,
here at the Pit Talk podcast, which is sponsored by
Shannon's Insurance. Who is your prediction for this weekend? Matt?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Can I make a prediction for the other two podium
positions behind Mark Marquez?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Is that allowed?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I was almost gonna say, are you gonna just say
Mark Marquez? But I like this, Maybe we should start
predicting who's gonna be like fifth or something.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
But yeah, yeah, exactly who's going to finish eighth this weekend?
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I am saying, all right, I'm going to say we're
going to have one of the vir forty sixty catties
on the podium on Sunday, okay, And I think it's
going to be Fabio to gen Antonio. And this goes
back to something that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
I think you're going to start seeing the GP twenty
five start to climb now as they just bring more
and more performance to those bikes, And the twenty four
(28:19):
is not going to just not going to go backwards,
but it's going to flatten out a little bit. So
I'm not saying that Alex Marquez is suddenly going to
fall off the pace, but I'm not sure he's going
to be on this super upward trajectory that he had
at the start of the season. I think the twenty
fives will start to come good the longer the season goes.
So I'm picking Digia on the box this weekend, but
probably not first, second or third perhaps, But now that
(28:40):
we're doing crystal ball gazing, are you is there anyone
other than a do Caddy that's getting on the podium?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Is that what you're thinking?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Nah, album is going to call that as is no
way not at this style circuit, unless unless it's like
you mentioned about the grip and now that it's not
just a brand your assphold on there and they've actually
had some like of bikes and cars and things on there.
Maybe maybe I'm gonna say it was Pedro Acosta was
(29:12):
on the podium there last year. It was yes, do
you go Pedro or Maverick?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Just to throw something else.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
In there, Oh, Maverick would be interesting, wouldn't it. I
mean he's been he's blown so hot and cold this year.
On his best days, Maverick looks like one of the
best three riders in Moto GP, and then on his
worst days you look at the results and forget that
he was in the race, So if he gets one
of the former weeks, I mean, look, we've seen it
this year already a couple of times, and yeah, that
was an inherited podium last year for a Costa after
(29:38):
the Alex Marquez banoy kerfuffle there. But yeah, look, maybe
it is a KTM and Maverick's been riding pretty well,
so maybe your crystal ball is working better than mine.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
We'll soon find out.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Look, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I'm just going off all in there because I didn't
want to say Zaka. I didn't want to go what
we've been talking about the hype train there. But you
just never know with Maverick, and that's what we love
about Maverick Vinilla's and what we love about Moto GP.
But like we said, that is our prediction and our
preview for this weekend's Aragon Moto GP race. So I'm
gonna be there on site so you guys can follow
(30:12):
along me on all the Fox Sports social channels at
Fox Motorsport everywhere, and Matt is going to keep you
guys updated on our website, Fox sports dot com dot au.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Forward Slash Motorsport.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
We got some fun things coming this weekend, Matt, We've
got some behind the scenes with Joel Kelso he's gonna
take us around the track and show us what it's
like inside a Moto three garage. And maybe, just maybe,
I've convinced Jack Miller to let me hang out with
him on the weekend as well, so we'll see what
we can get from there. But guys, that is all
the time we have for Pit Talk, which is sponsored
(30:45):
by Shannon's Insurance, from myself, Needavan Villain, and Matt Clayton.
We're gonna be back real soon with more Moto GP
Pit Talk.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Very nice
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