March 26, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of Pit Talk, Matt Clayton & Renita Vermeulen are diving into the thrilling action from the 2025 Thai & Argentina GP and gearing up for the upcoming showdown at COTA! 🏁
We break down Marc Márquez’s dominant performance, which saw him top both the Sprint and main races, while Ducati continues to flex its muscle with a family one-two.
Meanwhile, the other riders are feeling the heat, from the ongoing struggles at Yamaha to rookie Pedro Acosta’s challenges.
Plus, we’ve got all the inside scoop and predictions as we look ahead to the American GP at COTA.
📺 Watch the #AmericasGP on ch. 506 or via @kayosports bit.ly/4gVQDvC
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Moto GP Pit Talk, and boy do
we have some catching up to do. The tigrond Frie
was so hot I could agrelled a steak in pit lane.
Argentina gave us the Tango of drama and overtakes, and
now we're looking ahead to coda with the bumps on
the circuit are the real track limits?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Joining me your host, Ronita.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Vanmilan, as always is Matt Clayton, the human Moto GP encyclopedia.
If there's a stat to be known, he's got it,
and if there's a bad pun to be made, he's
probably got that too. Matt, Happy New Year. It's been
a while since we've chatted all things Moto GP.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It is happy new season. I'm glad to see that
you survived Thailand and appropriately hydrated, of course, because it
was hot enough watching it from the couch, so I
can't even imasure what you were doing running around at
the back of the paddock there. But yeah, bit to
catch up on. We're two rounds into a twenty two
round season. It's like we've played the same movie twice
in the first two rounds. But I think we probably
(00:56):
saw this coming a little way away. But I think
what's going to happen next is the more intriguing part
of all of this.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Before we touch on Coder and the King of Coder,
as I've been plastering all over social media lately, I
think let's touch back on Thailand and Argentina, and like
you said, it was pretty much the same storyline. Mark
Marquez has come out of the gates, dominating this year
pole sprint victory and the main Grand Prix winner both
round one and round two. We kind of knew this
(01:25):
was going to happen, but I thought Peco might have
given him a bit more of a run for his.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Money, and I think that he will in time. I
don't think anyone that's expecting this season to just be
a complete Marquez whitewash from start to finish, I don't
think that's really realistic. I think there were some extenuating
circumstances with both these first two races, and you would
have noticed this being on the ground in Thailand. I
think when you've had a test at the same track
as the first Grand Prix, you tend to the testing order,
(01:54):
and the long runs of a test always tends to
indicate what's going to happen in the Grand Prix, so
I wasn't simvilly surprised with the way that Thailand shook out,
And you got the sense in that race that you know,
Marquez was kind of playing with them a little bit.
I mean Banyai intimated as much in that. You know,
he cleared off at the front of the Grand Prix,
realized his tire pressure was a bit low, so elected
to sit behind his brother for a bit and they
(02:15):
just decided to pull the pin for the last three laps.
So that was reasonably predictable. I think what was interesting Argentina, Yeah,
we got the same Mark Marque Alex Marquez second result.
That was a really different race for me Argentina in
that I think Mark was pushed and you could see
that he made a mistake early in the race, sat
behind Alex for a bit, but this wasn't I'm choosing
(02:36):
to sit behind Alex. He went for a pass about
halfway through the race, couldn't make it stick and then
was out of the seat. I think it's about lap sixteen,
so probably inside the last ten laps, and it's like, oh, okay,
he's really pushing here. Because we've never seen Alex Marquez
ride like this Emotor GP. He's riding at an incredibly
high level and it took one of, if not the
(02:57):
greatest rider in the history of the World Championship to
beat him on it that he's very very good at.
So huge qutos to Alex Marquez what he's done in
these first couple of rounds. But yeah, we see Sprinton
Grand Prix win for Mark in both rounds so far,
but to me they were two they were the same
result achieved two different ways. And look, you mentioned Kocher
coming up. We know Marquez's record there is completely crazy.
(03:19):
Other than the Saxon Ring, it's the strongest circuit that
he has. But I don't think this is going to
be the narrative for the entire season because we know
how Peko works, right. We saw this last year. He
spotted Jorge Martin this big deficit at the start of
the championship. And Peko's the guy who just hammers away
at the rock twice three times, one hundred and three times.
On one hundred and fourth time the rock splits. That's
(03:39):
the Peco Badyay way of going about things. And you
know that he's going to chip away to get himself
closer to being contention for race wins. The only question
then is does Mark Marquez have another level on that bike?
We know how good he can be, But I don't
think this is going to be an absolute whitewash from
start to finish. I think Peko's still got some shots
to fire.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
What's your thoughts on Pecu Banyaya talking about the engine,
the twenty five engine and how it was down a
twenty four point nine and a twenty four point eight,
and it seems like now he's wanting to go back
to the twenty four model big and clearly it's working.
Look at Alex Marquez, what's your thoughts on that? Is
that him trying to say that the direction they've headed
in the off season hasn't gone the way that he'd
(04:21):
hoped or is it just the tracks and not suiting him?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Little bit of colum A and B I reckon for
that in that when you are not performing, when you're
under stress. This is anyone in life, not just people
with your ride Bot to GP motor Cycles. We like
to go back to what we know. There's a comfort
factor there. He knows that on that twenty four bike
he won eleven of the twenty Grand Prix last year
and was in the championship until the last Grand Prix
this season. So when things perhaps aren't going so well,
(04:47):
you want to revert back to what you know, because
it takes another variable out of the equations. Like I
know this bike, I know what it's going to do.
It's up to me to get to the bike's level.
I think the looking a bit further forward, there's a
one day ten after her Wrath, which is round five.
I'm doing my maths correctly. That'll be really important as
to where that bike goes developmentally for the rest of
(05:08):
the season, obviously, because you've you've got a frozen engine
at that point. But getting back to the tracks, as
you mentioned Thailand, Mark's been really good there over the
journey Argentina. Bizarrely hadn't raced it Argentina since twenty nineteen
before this twenty twenty five round because he'd been injured
and it'd been off the calendar and so on and
so forth. But he was always very very good there. Coachure,
(05:28):
we know how brilliant he is there. I think we
get to Qatar and Harrath, where Banyai has won previously,
including last year, and that's going to be I wouldn't
say where his season starts, but I think this is
where we're going to see him on more even terms
with Marquez. So it's a little bit of both. I
can understand the let's get the bike back to something
(05:48):
that I really know to work out whether it's me
that's the problem or whether it's the machine that's the problem.
And this is the way Banyai works. He's not just
going to go out there and rip the throttle harder
and be faster and more spectacular. That's not the way
he rolls. And that's what I love about this World
championship in that last year had this what's the saying,
styles make fights. It's like a boxing analogy. In that
(06:09):
last year, Juge Martin had a certain way he was
going racing, Pecovano I had a certain way he was
going racing, which is the faster. We got to a
point where the two of them were at such a
high level last year. There was so little between them,
but they came at it from completely different angles, which
is what I appreciate about this sport. And Peko is
a guy who grinds his way through problems and works
and I think he will level that gap. But you
(06:30):
couldn't really pick a worse trio of circuits for the
start of the year when you've got Marquez on the
fastest bike in the field. Because so far it's gone
pretty much as we expected.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well, I wasn't expecting Alex Marquez to be so close
to the front and fighting his brother and being second
in the World Championship. Let's talk about that. Because we
know factory decaddies, we know their strength. But I was
kind of thinking we were going to see maybe a
dgi Antonio a bit closer rather than Alex Marquez as
being the one who's challenging his brother or being faster
(07:03):
like we saw for most of the race in Argentina.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, it's interesting with Alex. There's a couple of things
you mentioned. Did you You mentioned Franko Morbidelli, who was
finally on a Grand Prix podium in Argentina. Did you
has been injured. He missed a lot of the preseason
after he busted his collarbone doing whey in Malaysia. Oh boy,
that's not one that he's going to want to put
on the highlight reel. So he's nowhere near fully fit
and I think he will move forward. But it was
interesting after Argentina there was an interview with Dabadau tar
(07:29):
Dotzi and he said that this is just what Alex
Marquez does in that he takes a while to arrive,
as tar Dotsi put it, but then when he gets there,
he's at a really, really high level. And you go
back and think of his Moto III career as a
slow burn won the World championship. Moto two slow burn
in it for five years, won the World championship. So
this is season six now for Alex in Motor GP.
(07:51):
This is the first time he's been on a bike
that has genuine weight race winning potential. He's always been
good at Argentina, so I wasn't surprised to see him
go well there. But to me, the truest test of
whether he's made this really big jump or not. He's
got a really poor record at Cota over the years,
and it could just be circumstantial or what he's been riding.
He was on Hondas for a while. If he's there
or there abouts this weekend, I don't think anyone's expecting
(08:13):
him to beat his older brother this weekend. But if
he's right in the mix. To me, that shows what
TARTOTSI was saying. It's this methodical build and then when
he gets there, he stays there. So to me, that's
one of the interesting stories about this weekend is this
genuine Has he properly arrived as a guy who can
bang in eight to ten podiums a season or was
he just an advantageous start at one a circuit that
(08:35):
he tested out and to a circuit that he's very
good at. I think Cota is going to answer a
lot of questions about Alex, but you can't deny what
he's done so far. He has been seriously impressive. Second
on the grid in both Grand Prix, second in both sprints. Second.
Basically he is the next best guy in motor GP.
Right now, that's not something I don't reckon that you
and I thought we'd be saying after two rounds.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
You're so right talking about what Davide Tazots he was saying.
I heard a quote where I might have even been
tied dot. So he's saying, Mark Marquez is like a
turbo petrol engine thought to one hundred and we'll get
there as quick. Alex Marquez is a diesel engine takes
his time to build up, and I guess you're right.
I guess we're seeing that now. What we know what
the GV twenty fours are capable of winning world titles,
(09:19):
So no wonder he is up there. But morb Delli,
that's one I didn't necessarily think i'd say. But we
know he's a massive fan of South America. We saw
the little dance as he got off the bike in
park firm is that the boost of confidence that he
needs going into this season to have that podium to
continue on, especially after last year and that terrible start
(09:39):
he had.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Well last year never really got off the ground because
he was just so injured, in so compromised at the
start of the season, and then you're looking on the
other side of the garage and your teammates winning the
world championship. So I think there's a few guys in
this series that ride predominantly with their right hand. If
things are going badly, you just twist the throttle a
little bit harder. Franco, a lot of it with him
is between the years, and you know, the guy was
runner up in a motor GP World Championship, So the
(10:02):
talent is there. He's been so betrayed by his body
for so many years, and I think he's one of
those guys that normally overthinking is a good thing because
you're actually analyzing it and you're being realistic with yourself.
But he can sort of overthink his way into could
sacks and not get out of them emotionally. And he's
a guy who rides with his head at his heart
(10:24):
as much as what he's doing physically. So he's been
good in Argentina in the past. We know that's the
bike to be on, and there's a couple of asterisks
with other guys who Vanya is not very good at Argentina.
It's one of the two tracks in the World Championship.
He's never been on the podium. The jan Antonio is
not fully fit. The other ducade because he's only six
this year, is Ferminal Degere, who's a rookie. So the
(10:45):
sea's kind of parted a little bit for Morbidelli to
get his way onto the podium. But to my mind,
it'll be interesting now that he's got that. Why haven't
you had a podium since twenty twenty one? That's god,
that's out of the equation. Now does it free him
up to ride with the emotion that we know he has.
Because the other thing with him, of course, is that
so many of these riders are on two year contracts.
(11:07):
So the whole contract cycle to the end of twenty six,
there's only four riders that are out of contract at
the end of the year, and he's one of them.
And so that might be a related story to something
I know you're going to ask me about in a minute,
But the fact that he's I wouldn't say fighting for
his motor GP life, but I do wonder if anyone
other than Valentino Rossi would have hired Borbadelli this year,
given the connection that they have, and that Franco has
(11:28):
been really off the pace for quite some time. So
he's got this sort of career eleventh hour chance, great
time to make the most of it, given how good
the equipment is. It's up to him, but he needs
to prove it because look, there's going to be a
few seat shuffling ground at the end of this year
and a few moving pieces. He needs to try to
take himself out of that rider market as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Let's move on to write a market I love this
segue because let's look about Pramaha.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh the first shot of the year. Take it.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yes, box ticked, box ticked.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Miguel olivera man, he is having a terrible run, and
it just seems like how when injuries, was it like six?
Five out of the six injuries he hasn't caused himself.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, I just not what you're hoping for.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
But in the positive side, is Jack Miller look how
strong he was in Thailand?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Can we know the Yamaha struggled in Argentina?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But is this what Jack needs to be able to
secure that seat for next year? No?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I mean Olivera first. I mean if he's not crossed
a black cat or walked under a ladder or broke
it a few mirrors or probably all three of them
at the same time. Like you're saying, it's one thing
to get injured, it's another thing to get injured where
it's not your fault and it's always somebody else's fault
and he's always the one recovering. So we know that
he's out for Cocha this weekend and possibly longer. Augusto
Fernandez steps in for him. But Jack Miller in Thailand.
(12:46):
Was funny because if you look back at Jack's career,
more or less every time he goes to a new situation,
he's on the pace super super fast. Now we saw
this he was on pole in Argentina. Funnily enoughcond race
at Pramak Yamaha. His best result when he was at
katm for those two years I think came three races
in at Harrath he won two of the first five
(13:07):
races when he was in the Decating factory team in
one of the COVID years, So we know how talented
Jack is. He has this ability to get on a
new bike and get to the performance ceiling super super quickly.
That wasn't a surprise where Jack's got into problems in
the passes and he hits his head on the ceiling
and there's no room to go that little bit further,
so gets to the top of the bike and then
(13:28):
kind of flat lines. And then we saw with KTM
last year the flat line became a downward spiral for
him and he was out. But it was interesting in
that Yamaha's expanded to four bikes now had two previously
and Quaturo and you would have probably been there for
this when he was asked in Thailand about Jack's qualifying
lap where he did the fastest lap of Buram ever
by Yamaha and put himself forth on the grid and
(13:50):
kwaturo and he's hilariously French. Jack centered English said something
along the lines of Jack disconnected his brain, and I
think it was more a compliment than an insult, in that,
you know, Kat riding within the limits. He knows of
what the Yamaha can and can't do. Alex Rinz's three
quarters fit on a good day, so he's not really
a great reference. Jack's just got on the thing and said, yeah,
(14:11):
I can handle with how I can handle this. It's
great in the high speed as we know, and he's
put the thing forth on the grid. So I think
Fabio was saying, huh, this is kind of what we
need to see where the boundaries of this bike are.
So I'm not surprised that Jack has started strongly. Argentina
was difficult, but it was difficult for all the Yamahas,
so I'm not pinning too much of that on Jack
(14:31):
per se. But he's been good at cojur in the past.
He's been on the podium there you know he's a
guy who's fighting for his Motor GP life, but you'd
have to say what he's doing and the way he's
doing it. Jack's now this sort of I can't believe
I'm saying this sensible old elder states but in his
thirties now, so he's actually acting like a grown up
for the first time in his life. But he's a
(14:52):
huge asset for a factory like Yamaho. They just need
experience and data because they've had two bikes for too
long and they've had half or maybe a quarter of
the data of what Jucati had. Jack's a great reference here,
so it's up to him to make himself so invaluable
to that project that perhaps he gets another year. On
top of that, It'll make a lot of sense to
me to sign him for twenty six, because you've got
(15:13):
this big rule reset coming for twenty seven. So if
you know you're playing devil's advocate here, they don't go
with Jack for twenty six. Are you promoting someone from
their Motor two team Tony Abellino is san Guavara. What's
the point of doing that when you've got this sort
of rule set that's frozen for twenty six, then you
go into twenty seven, and then maybe you make a decision,
do we get a fast young guy on the bike
(15:34):
when everything changes to the eight fifties. Jack will be
thirty two that season, so it's not old by murdor
GP standards, but it's certainly getting towards, you know, the
upper stages of a career. I think he's done everything
right in these first two rounds, and I'll be curious
to see what happens in Koda because if it is
bumpy and it is sketchy, he revels and that sort
(15:55):
of stuff. Some guys love to complain about it. He'll
just shrug his shoulders and say, well, it's not great.
I'm going to make the best of this. So I'm
actually expecting he'll be pretty strong this weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I must tell you when we were at Thailand, the
biggest thing I noticed, I mean, apart from the results
on the track, was Jack off the track and how
relaxed and happy he looked. And I didn't see that
up Philip a little last year. He just was casual.
He's like, I'm excited. I feel at home with the team,
and that's what we want because we know when there's
Jack's happy, he's fast an yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Completely. The thing I noticed with him is that every
time he gets off the bike, there's this line of
people in the garage because they want to know, so,
where's our bike different to the KTM, how's it different
to the DUCADDI? What you developed there? He's got this
data bank from other places that Yavaha haven't had access to,
and that's what makes him a coveted asset in murder
(16:46):
GP these days, because you know, Decadie's been the reference.
KTM can be very good. Maybe not this year, but
that's another story. But I think they're so keen to
tap into what Jack provides from a knowledge bank that
he's become hugely valuable. He's a very good good I
was going to say guinea pick probably a little bit
on cod but in the nicest possible way that you
can give him new equipment and material and he'll go
(17:08):
out beat instantly on the limit with it and say
it's doing this, that or the next thing, and they
go right. He'll get to the limit faster than other
people do. And that's what Yamaha needs right now. They
need to know what are we doing? Is it working?
And if it's not working, how can we get it
to work better? And I think where a writer like
Jack Miller, you fast track that process, and you'd have
to say, Yamaha and Honda, relative to where they've been
(17:29):
in recent years, have been kind of two of the
stories of the first two rounds because they're not just
in this Japanese Cup down the back like they have been.
They've actually been a lot more competitive and it's really
nice to see them actually feature into TV coverage and
not just be cast a drift at the back. And
then you look at the results and go, oh boy,
someone finished thirty five seconds behind the win. They're actually
in there to a reasonable degree, and I think with
(17:52):
what Yamaha is doing, I think Jack's got a lot
to do with that.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I'm going to propose you a cool question here, just thinking,
do you think Jack Miller could replace Alex Rin's at
Factory Yama purely for that development side of things, because
look at Alex You see him walking around with the
leg brace, so we know he's nowhere near one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, you know. It was interesting, actually, Argentina. It was
the first time he'd been at a race weekend since
Magello twenty twenty three when he broke his leg without
a crutch, so he had the leg brace on. He
wasn't walking with a crush, and it's the first time
he's not been on a crush. That's two years ago,
give or take a month. And I wrote about this
for Fox Sports dot com dot Au this week. I
(18:30):
think the Rin's tail is sort of instructive to Jorge
Martin sitting at these first few races, because Joje only
has to look around and see Alex Rins came back
too quickly after breaking his leg and it's wrecked his career.
Mart Marquez came back too quickly after breaking his arm
and it wrecked four years and probably changed the course
of Motor GP history. And so they're two sort of
(18:51):
tails for Johey to really keep in mind with when
he comes back. But the Alex Rinns thing, Look, we
know how good the guy is. We saw what he
did at the tail end of Suzuki's time in Motor GP.
Won that amazing race at philip Isilot in twenty two,
won their final race incredibly emotional Day of Valencia in
twenty two, won a race on a Honda in twenty three,
(19:11):
but he's not being the same rider, and it doesn't
look like it's getting better because I don't know if
you can tell with him whether he still completely hasard
or not, because he's so injury compromised. I mean, the
guy struggles to walk around the paddock. You would have
seen this in thaire Land. Just getting around is really
really hard. And you do wonder about the weight of
(19:32):
the mental toll that the physical injuries have exerted on him.
Is he ever going to get back to what he was?
And so yeah, like it's a super interesting question with
Jack because whether he keeps himself in that Pramac setup
or whether they look at him as a short term
solution perhaps in the factory team. I will be stunned
if Jack's not on a Yamaha next year. No our contenty,
(19:54):
which colour, whether it's a purple one or a blue one.
I'll be super surprised if he's not on one of
those two Yamahas next year. The Rin's question is who's
the successor If it's not him, right, who's the young
guy they can get hold of, who believes in the
Amaha project that's on the right timeline to come in
And it's sad with Alex Rance because we've seen, you know,
he went toe to toe with Mark Marquez to win
(20:14):
Grand Prix. He's a very, very good Grand Prix rider,
but he's just been so beat up for the last
few years because he tried to come back too soon.
So on a personal level, I hope he does get
back to what he was, but on the strength of
the last two years, it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, that's why I thought about him.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And asked you that because we know Fabio is the
one that Yamaha wanted to take to win the championship.
We know that we can see that by what he's doing.
We see what Jack's doing, Shama, but Miguelbert sham about Alex.
I think that Yamaha are on their uptake and we're
starting to see that. But also let's talk about Honda
and their uptake this year.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
John Zako in.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Argentina wild, I honestly, I didn't expect them to jump
that quickly. Shows that all the testing, everything they've been
doing in the off season has been paying off. But
the fact that it's Zarko doing it, I'm soaked that
Marini and Mea aren't tucking the front every time and
seeing crash come up everything. He laps in the Grand Prix,
(21:11):
but it's Zarko.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Is that just because he's been with LCI, is a
bit more comfortable and there's less.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Pressure for him.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Amazing what being the oldest rider on the grid and
riding for a contract does for you as well. He's
really good at Argentina. He's always been good there, but
it was super jarring, wasn't it? When you saw the
photo after qualifying in Argentina. You see Mark Marquez in
the middle, you see Alex Marquez next to him, and
there's a guy in some Honda overall standing in the
top three pictures, Like, what's going on here? Is like
this twenty eighteen all over again. But he's really good
(21:42):
at Argentina. Honda's made some serious gains this year and
there's some real low hanging fruit for them in terms
of where they can get better, because it's still a snail,
relatively speaking at Motor GP snail, but it's still shipping
ten k's an hour down the straight at most tracks
to all the other bikes, and yet he's Zarco third
on the grid. Is you know Jewan mir and Luca
Marini finishing in the top ten. I can't remember this
(22:03):
start off the top of my head. I should read
my own stories, but I think it was the first
time we'd had three Hondas in a top ten for
four years. And you think about it, like, since Marquez
got injured and then he was half back, and then
he's between surgeries, you just haven't seen many Hondas up
in the top ten for a while. And so your
question about Zarko, I more answer that question looking at
the other two guys. Marini's a very, very technically astute
(22:26):
rider who wants to understand everything that's going on with
a bike before he pushes it, because that's the way
he's wired. That's why that's why Gerdo's loved talking to Marini,
because he can tell you every little detail of every
little thing in perfect English about what's going on. And
I admire Juan MirZ just I'm just going to push
this thing to its limits and probably beyond and end
up in the gravel somewhere, because that's what he does.
(22:47):
But there's no lack of trying with Juan. So you
look at the way those two HRC factory guys, I
nearly call them reps a Honda then, so you can
scrub that one off your bing go card. The fact
that they are behind Zarco, maybe it doesn't surprise me
as much because of the way they're wired, the two
of them, But that bike's clearly getting better. And Zako
was the first non Ducatty across the line in Argentina.
(23:09):
Now he was in sixth place, which tells you a
bit about Ucatti at the moment. But someone has to
be best of the rest at the moment to think
we'd be talking about Honda as being second in the
Constructors Championship. I know it's only two rounds, but you
would have got pretty good odds of me saying that
before the season started.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Honestly, I thought we would be saying Pedro costa factory
ktmy taking it?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Did you, Caddy?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And let's go on to that because I don't know. Listeners,
if you've been reading the news or the room is
going around how Pedro is trying to get out of
his contract already, you can see he's not happy. Even
in a post race debrief. I just heard him say
I'm not happy the results aren't there. This shouldn't be
like this. I don't necessarily think it's because of the
(23:51):
whole KTM Winter fiasco and everything that happened on the
business side. We know that KTM, though they kind of
go awaves, There'll be a while where they're really strong,
and then there's also times where they are just so
far from where they need to be.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But if they lose Pager or Costa, I feel.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Like they're losing their bet trying to take you Cuddy
for the championship.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
He's the golden goose, isn't he. He's why you exist
as an operation like this. You've got the fastest, best
young guy, the guy who's been talked about as the
best rookie since Mark Marquez, and that worked out reasonably well.
He's a generational talent. You know, he won two world
titles before while he was still a teenager. It came
to Boto GP, you know, podiums in his first three races.
(24:31):
He had a start to his Voter GP career that
we were talking about. This is in the same conversation
as Jorge Lorenzo. This is in the same conversation as
Casey Stoner. That's how good he was at the start
of the season. We know he's on pole position. He
crashed from a few advantageous positions, but this year they
have been not very quick. He threw it down the
road in Thailand when you were there. It's chewing its tires.
(24:55):
There's a lot wrong with that bike at the moment,
and it's easy, like you were saying, to draw the parallel.
They had a lot of off track instability and the
financial situation with the parent company, which has been eyned
out to a degree. Everyone within the race teams has
said no, that's not affected us, okay, So basically, if
they've said that, then they're either doing a good pr
jor whether they believe it to be true. So if
(25:16):
it's not that, then what's going on with this bike?
Because you've got the situation at the moment, a Costa
can get a lap out of it because his pedro
Coster is amazing. Brad Binder has never been the greatest
qualifier of all time, but he's also the sort of
guy who'll take eleven risks on the first lap and
be inside the top six and then defend like hell.
You get the sense that Binda's riding to the limit
of the bike, which is a pretty low limit. A
(25:38):
cost is trying to push beyond the limit of the
bike and the frustration mounts. It's one of the things
we love about a Cost. He's got this sort of
urgent personality about him and that he wants everything yesterday,
like all twenty year olds. But he is contracting to
the end of twenty six, and to my mind, that's
super interesting because there's not many seats that are up
(25:59):
for grabs for twenty six, but we mentioned one of
them before, the Franco Morbidelli seat at VR forty six.
And I'm sure there will be some sort of performance
clause in that contract that if Katm's not achieving certain
things by certain times, that he maybe could look around
or become a free agent. We know that his management's
been sort of rattling the cage a little bit in
these first couple of rounds. If you're another manufacturer, say
(26:21):
you're Decaddie, and you get a chance to get hold
of Pedro Acosta, there's two benefits there. A you get
hold of Pedro Acosta, but you stop anyone else from
having Pedro Acosta, So it's almost like two benefits in one.
There's only one Dacaddy seat available for next year as
we speak, and so if he was able to wriggle
himself loose, then Valentino ROSSI might have to make a
(26:42):
decision do I drop my protege and the guy I
brought up through the academy in Franco Morbidelli to sign
the best young talent and motor GP. There's no right
or rock answer to that question if it comes true.
But KATM can stop all of this if they get
on top of what they're doing. And you know, look,
it was in the US last year where a Costa's like, Wow,
he's leading a race for the first time, he's on
(27:02):
the podium. He's finishing second to only behind Maverick Vinalees.
It's like this guy he came in with this huge hype,
and three rounds in it's like, oh, he's actually better
than we thought he was and this year has been
pretty ordinary. So they're going to need to turn that
around pretty quickly because these stories of humagitating to go elsewhere,
whether they're being planted by his management or some sympathetic media,
(27:23):
they're just going to get louder, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
They are going to get louder.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And I think that it's kind of overlooking the fact
of what you said about Brad Linder, but also Maverick
and Air, and you know they're trying to adjust to
a new new team, new bike.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Knew everything.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I read that Maverick's having a new I want to
say a new bike, but obviously new parts and everything coming.
For Coder, He's openly said, I know I'm not going
to win this weekend, but I'm going to try my best.
I'm going to try and improve for KTM. That's bad
when they're saying we know we we're going to win,
(27:56):
but we're just going to try and be the best
of the rest. Never thought I'd be saying that about
KTM in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It's interesting, though, with those two riders, because they strike
me as two riders who maybe aren't great with change,
in that they like a stable situation, and they both
have their pretty obvious weaknesses. Mavericks, a good qualifier who
can't do the first lap of a Grand Prix always
goes backwards. Bashidi, he's the guy who can't qualify, and
then we'll come from nowhere in the last ten laps
and make podiums or wing Grand Prix like he used
(28:24):
to do on the Ducati. They don't strike me as
being maybe the most adaptable riders, and so when you're
putting them on a new machine that they've never been
on before, they have to race it a different way.
They've been slow out of the gate. Maybe that's accentuated
by the fact katm bike's not great, but the fact
that neither of them seem to have adjusted that well yet,
like Maverick's been a total afterthought so far these first
(28:45):
couple of rounds. Of course, we go to Cota this weekend,
and the stat is that, you know, the last time
Ducati lost to Grand Prix was at Cota last year
because Maverick Vinalez won it for a Prillier. So I'll
be shocked if we see Maverick anywhad hear a podium
this weekend. But the fact that you've got two guys
who are maybe taking a bit too long, possibly for
their experience, to settle in with a bike that's not
(29:06):
quite there either. It's no wonder that you look and
they're both out in Q one like you're not really
seeing them feature anywhere near the front. We know how
good they are. Maverick's got this crazy spiky career where
he can be absolutely brilliant one weekend and then you
forget that he's at the race track the next weekend,
and Bashidini has this one like it's a party trick
that everyone knows. It's like, yes, he's amazing at tire
management and he comes through late in races, but when
(29:28):
he's on it and he's good at doing it, he's
basically unstoppable. We saw it last year when he's fighting
with Peco and Martine on the odd weekend to win
Grand Prix. Never going to be consistent, but he's got
a definable skill and so now it's up to KTM
to provide all four of them with the equipment because
right now, I know it's early, but we've talked in
glowing terms about what Yamaha is doing because we can
see a future Honda's coming off a really strong round
(29:50):
in Argentina. They shouldn't be ahead of KTM, not really,
and yes there's been some offseas of stuff going on,
but it's pretty alarming if that continues.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The manufacturer, who who I thought this year would have
been battling KTM and for obvious reasons, isn't a Priller.
We have to talk about that. Joge Martin. I don't
even know where to start. I think it's good and
you wrote an article the fact that he is sitting
at and he is waiting, and we know Mark Marquez
has been very vocal about the fact that he's openly
(30:19):
said to him, better to come back when you're fully fit, don't.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Just don't come back just because you want to.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
But then we've got the highs and lows, because we've
had Ayagura, this rookie who's come out the gate like
a bull, but Ralph Fernandez, who we know track House
and Brivio just love, even Masilo Rivla, but he's not
doing anything. So it's just this weird situation going on
at a Prillier. I didn't think twenty twenty five was
(30:47):
going to be this way. Let's talk about Joje Martin
to start. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I mean, look that you have to put an asterisk
on anything that Aprillia has done so far because the
guy they shelled out a massive amount of money for
and to bring the number one plate with him hasn't
been on the bike and it's incredibly unlucky. I mean,
to suffer two injuries to suffer an injury training to
get over the first injury. I mean, that's the absolute
definition of bad luck. You mentioned the Marquez conversation. I
thought that Thailand press conference, which I'm sure you were in,
(31:13):
was super interesting where he said I didn't miss is
Mark speaking. He said, I didn't respect my body in
the past, and I paid a price for it. And
that's the wisdom of Mark Beek thirty two now, and
you know he's back winning again, so he can look
at the bad old days and say, well, at least
they ended at some point. But his message to Martin like,
they're not the best of mates. They're ever going to
be those two because the way they roll. But the
(31:33):
fact he said, look, if you miss two, three, four
or five races, that's nothing in the context of a career.
Mark knows this because for four years and four arm
surgeries and just stopped his run of winning completely cold.
He knows the perils of coming back too soon. So
I thought that was interesting. Martin seems to think that
(31:54):
he'll be back for Qatar, which still seems a little optimistic,
but I think you'll want to get one or two
under his bell. Well, even if he's three quarters fit
to be able to do that test at her Reth.
I think, you know, trying to jump back on the
bike for that it's going to be far too difficult.
But the revelation of the season to me is just
how good Agura has been. Yeah, he had a preseason
(32:14):
test at Thailand before he did the race there. He's
been good there in the past. He sealed his Moto
two championship there last year. I love the way he
goes about it and that first lab in Thailand where
he got to the first quarter and afterwards he said, oh,
I couldn't believe how hard Miller and Morbidelli breaked in
front of me. So I just went round the outside,
like you know, he's done a hundred races and you
(32:34):
look up and you go, oh, he's all over the
back of Pekoebanyay for a podium and his first Motor
GP stars. Absolutely unbelievable. It's exciting to see a really
fast younger rider from Japan come in and be on
the pace straight away. He's the thing that Aprili has
got to be happiest about, because, let's be honest, it
(32:55):
wasn't the most obvious selection to pick him for Aprilia.
He'd been in the Honda family the whole time there
was all this, So they should take Joe Roberts. There
an American team, they should take this guy. That should
take that guy, Dabideo. Brivio's got this amazing ability to
spot talent. I mean he bought Alex Ridden through. He
was part of the early days Jojoirs mirr at t Suzuki,
which was a weird one at the time. It's like,
why are you putting this guy? And he's had one
(33:15):
motor two season end up winning the World championship. So
Brivio's got four ward spotting talent. But you would have
seen this entirely. There's something cool about the way Agura
goes about it because he's kind of understated, like he's
not carrying on making a big scene. He's actually super funny,
like really dry in that sort of slightly disarming Japanese
way about the way he goes racing. I love the
(33:37):
way he's approached it so far, and the fact he's
been up there at the front. It's a bit of a
breath of fresh air, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
It's been interesting watching him on and off track, Like,
like you said, off track, he's a character quirky. Quirky,
that's the word, like you don't expect it or you
don't expect him to say what he says.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
And because I.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Know he doesn't drink a lot of alcohol and then
he'll got like one little glass in him and all
of a sudden he's you care about it in in
press conferences and things that Watching him on track, what
I thought was really interesting in Thailand was the fact
that he was standing the bike up a lot quicker
than everybody else.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Right where we were situated in the media center was
right before the final turn, and I said to our Bostrano.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Watching him come out of that final corner, he is
standing that bike up and you can see that drive
that he's getting. No wonder he is as fast as
he is is he's understanding there's a brillia from the
get go. He knows it's in and out and now
he can use it to his advantage and clearly that's
what he's doing.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, he's been super impressive and it just adds to
We could probably go to the Ral Fernande's shoulder shrunk
corner of the podcast, which would probably be somewhere we
visit most most episodes this year, because I honestly, I
don't get this. I think we might have said this
last year. To me, he's always he's been one year
away from being good for five years. And if we
feel like we have the same conversation with Fananda year
(35:00):
after year after year, it's like, Oh, here it comes,
it's going to be this year, It's going to be
this year he's at the front of a race. Oh no,
he's crashed, and then there'll be another weekend where you
don't see him and you know he battled Remy Gardener
for that Moto Iwo title. It's a long time ago,
and I just don't necessarily understand why they are so
patient waiting for this thing that by now probably should
(35:22):
have come if it was coming. But then to see
a Gura come in in two rounds and go, oh, okay,
that's what this fight can do in the same team,
given the a Gura's lack of experience, I think it
says a lot about a Gura. I think it says
a lot about Fernandez, and I think it gives them
some optimism. It's like, Okay, you've got a guy that's
done too Grand Prix. That's putting the air preller up
in positions where it shouldn't be. Once all, hey, Martin
(35:44):
gets up to speed. We know how good the writer is.
That's going to be an emerging story. How long does
it take Martine to get back up to speed? Is
world Championship defense has shot? Let's be honest, he's too
far behind and he's been out for too long? Can
I see Martin winning races this year? Like if you
had to pick a non dicatdie rider to win a
Grand Prix. He's absolutely a top of your wist, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
But do you not think it's This is the part
where we're actually going to see where the ceiling is
or where the aprilliate, what the apillia is capable of,
because we're not seeing that the moment with a little
bit with a gura.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
But I think Huai Martin is that writer who's going.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
To show that completely. That's where like if you were
marking report cards after two rounds. We know where Tocaddie is,
we know where the two Japanese manufacturers are, we know
where Katiem is and Aprilli is just this we don't
know it's the palms up. I'm not sure, because we
don't have the guy who's going to be the reference
there once he gets his feet on top of the
bike and he can stop injuring himself. But Agura has
(36:38):
been a massive right spot for them. He has been
better more quickly than I expected. I thought he would
be a bit of a slow burn and start to
come on towards the end of the season, But the
first two rounds have blown that theory out of the water.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I think we've done pretty well.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
They're thirty seven minutes and we've kind of capped the
first two rounds and all the boss and everything that's
happened there. So let's look at Coder. You mentioned last year,
Maverick Vignalez, batmanv. We have to say Batman made his
appearance for the first time.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
We had who.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Else was on the podium? We had Pedro Acosta and
who was second.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Or I believe Peco. I believe Peko was third. Off
the top of my head, Heeko was third, sorry, and
Astuneni was third. I'll take that back.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yes, that's it. So it was an interesting race.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Let's talk about the fact that Jack Miller and Mark
Marquez collided last year. Do you remember that with the
lying off everywhere. But we know this track it's very
physical for these riders. We also know that's quite bumpy,
like I said in my intro, so a lot of
the times you'll hear them complaining about that. Okay, Apart
from Mark Marquez dominating this weekend, what's your thoughts Are
(37:43):
we going to see a very similar outcome with Alex
Marquez or do you think this is a chance where
we might see Peco actually battling with Mark.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, I've got my question marks about Alex Marquez, not
because of anything he's done this year, because he just
historically has not been good here and so it's a
real examination for me, is like is this progress that
he's made in twenty five actually real and sustainable because
he's going to an unfavorable track for him. You're right,
it's a pretty unique challenge to this track. It's such
a long lap with so many types of corners. There's
(38:15):
parts of this circuit that are going to punish Honda
and Yamaha. That back straight is far too long for Yamaha.
It's going to start running out of gas about eight
hundred meters down that straight. It's such a long straight
there but look, it is unless Mark falls off, which
he has done from the lead there before. He was
in the lead last year and fell off twenty nineteen,
memorably the only race he didn't finish on the podiums
because he crashed from the lead there. So it does
(38:37):
strike me as being a race for second place. But
it's such a physical race. So someone like de jan Antonio,
who we know is still not one hundred percent fit,
how is he going to go over twenty laps of
a track like that on Sunday, So that'll be super
curious to me. But I think this has to be
a weekend as much psychologically as anything else. That anything
other than second place for Vanyaira, I think is a
(38:58):
bit of it, not as but it's super alarm bells
ringing at this point because he needs to be there.
He needs to show some steps forward. Getting beaten by
Mark Marquez Atkota is hardly a disgrace, but you need
to be the next best guy, so you minimize the
points damage, you get a little bit of momentum and
you can start taking that once we go back through
the Middle Eastern Europe. So Banyai is definitely someone to
(39:20):
watch of the other manufacturers look at such a bummer
that Martin's not going to be there this weekend, because
we know how good he is in circuits like this.
I think it's the right decision, by the way, to
not go this weekend if you're not quite right. So
to my mind, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a
bit of a random person on the podium this weekend,
maybe in the sprint and the Grand Prix, because we
(39:42):
know probably what's going to happen for first, but other
than that, there's a lot of question marks. Isn't there
around a lot of people, so big weekend for Banyai
and yeah, picking who could be in the podium mix,
I would say someone like a cost on a normal weekend,
but katm just seems a bit lost at the moment,
so that's a caveat for that one. I'm really curious
to see how this shakes out behind what we think
is going to be the person at the front, because
(40:03):
it kind of feels up for grabs for me.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Speaking about that backstraight you said, we know it's one
of the longest ones on the calendar, so it's hard
for this track to not say it's going to be
another Duke Caddie dominant with all them. I know you
mentioned Digio being unfit, but more Bedellian those guys being
closer to the front. But that turn one for me
as they come up that, oh, that must be just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
To experience well, because it's so wide, because effectively it's
car track, it's bill it was made for Formula one
when they went there. There's about ten different lines you
can take into turn one. You can go super wide
on the entry and then cut back across all those
ninety degrees. You can hug the inside curb. You could
be mid track and hope to God that no one
loses it on the inside curb and skills you. Because
we've seen that there before where guys get pushed out
(40:48):
onto the runoff. So the first corner there, and because
we get two starts with a sprint and a Grand Prix,
I'll be super curious because you obviously retain the same
grid for the sprint in the Grand Prix, what riders
do tack And one thing I'm definitely going to do
after the sprint on Sunday morning OS Time is I
want to watch that first quarter and watch where people
position themselves because you've got that big, long, cascading series
(41:11):
of quarters from term one onwards. Where do you position
yourself on the grid for the sprint because you get
another go at it the next day. So there'll be
guys that like, oh, I hug the insight that didn't
work because I was too slow on the apex, and
you'll be people on the outside and it can turn
into a bit of ten big bowling out there if
you're not careful. So yeah, I reckon the fact that
you get almost like a dry run at doing the
first corner on the sprint Saturday will be super interesting
(41:34):
for the Grand Prix because now, look, a sprint minimal points,
you can only make up so much, but a Grand Prix,
it's such a long race and it's such an arduous
race there that you want to be in the right
spot because your race can be pretty much done at
Kosa if you are buried in the packet term one.
So that's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
I reckon I agree with you by I'm just going
to challenge you. Mark Marquez, I think it was twenty twenty,
always definitely on a repsole and he started the back
peak twenty four and made his way back to six
Do you.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Remember twenty two, Yes, twenty twenty two, So he won
there in twenty twenty one when he had one and
a half working shoulders, and then twenty two was when
he pulled up on the grid and selected the start
device and there were a whole bunch of alarms going on,
and the thing basically it was like it was stuck
in the pit limiter. He was last at term one
by about one hundred meters. He wasn't even in the
(42:24):
photo most of the time because everyone else a crested
term one. Only he could do this, overtook eighteen riders,
it wasn't fully fit, and finished sixth. One of the
greatest rides of his career that never ended up in
a podium. It was absolutely crazy. He was riding past
guys like they're on motor three bikes. But yeah, if
you can do that on a bike, that's basically trying
to shut down into the first quarters, having a you know,
(42:46):
once a software to be updated like your laptop at
an inconvenient time. One of his great rides, and certainly
one that isn't probably heralded because it's like, well, this
is one of the three times you haven't finished on
the podium at Kota, one of his absolutely best rides.
But I would suggest I don't think we're going to
be seeing that this weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I agree, I don't think we're going to see that vs.
One of the highlights of Coder and guys, don't forget
you can catch all the action this weekend Koda early
in the morning for us for Saturday morning, Sunday morning
and Monday morning, and that is a live on Fox
Sports and KO Plus. If you want to keep up
the cape, well I'm gonna try the again. Keep up
to date with the latest news. Head to foxsport dot com,
(43:24):
do au forward, Slash Motorsport for all the latest Moto
GP and motorsport news, or you can check us out
on socials at Fox Motorsport, on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
But from Matt Clayton and myself, that was a quick
recap of Argentina, the tigrand Prix and looking ahead at Coder.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
We're going to be back real soon with more Pittok
Welcome back to Moto GP Pit Talk, and boy do
we have some catching up to do. The tigrond Frie
was so hot I could agrelled a steak in pit lane.
Argentina gave us the Tango of drama and overtakes, and
now we're looking ahead to coda with the bumps on
the circuit are the real track limits?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Joining me your host, Ronita.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Vanmilan, as always is Matt Clayton, the human Moto GP encyclopedia.
If there's a stat to be known, he's got it,
and if there's a bad pun to be made, he's
probably got that too. Matt, Happy New Year. It's been
a while since we've chatted all things Moto GP.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It is happy new season. I'm glad to see that
you survived Thailand and appropriately hydrated, of course, because it
was hot enough watching it from the couch, so I
can't even imasure what you were doing running around at
the back of the paddock there. But yeah, bit to
catch up on. We're two rounds into a twenty two
round season. It's like we've played the same movie twice
in the first two rounds. But I think we probably
(00:56):
saw this coming a little way away. But I think
what's going to happen next is the more intriguing part
of all of this.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Before we touch on Coder and the King of Coder,
as I've been plastering all over social media lately, I
think let's touch back on Thailand and Argentina, and like
you said, it was pretty much the same storyline. Mark
Marquez has come out of the gates, dominating this year
pole sprint victory and the main Grand Prix winner both
round one and round two. We kind of knew this
(01:25):
was going to happen, but I thought Peco might have
given him a bit more of a run for his.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Money, and I think that he will in time. I
don't think anyone that's expecting this season to just be
a complete Marquez whitewash from start to finish, I don't
think that's really realistic. I think there were some extenuating
circumstances with both these first two races, and you would
have noticed this being on the ground in Thailand. I
think when you've had a test at the same track
as the first Grand Prix, you tend to the testing order,
(01:54):
and the long runs of a test always tends to
indicate what's going to happen in the Grand Prix, so
I wasn't simvilly surprised with the way that Thailand shook out,
And you got the sense in that race that you know,
Marquez was kind of playing with them a little bit.
I mean Banyai intimated as much in that. You know,
he cleared off at the front of the Grand Prix,
realized his tire pressure was a bit low, so elected
to sit behind his brother for a bit and they
(02:15):
just decided to pull the pin for the last three laps.
So that was reasonably predictable. I think what was interesting Argentina, Yeah,
we got the same Mark Marque Alex Marquez second result.
That was a really different race for me Argentina in
that I think Mark was pushed and you could see
that he made a mistake early in the race, sat
behind Alex for a bit, but this wasn't I'm choosing
(02:36):
to sit behind Alex. He went for a pass about
halfway through the race, couldn't make it stick and then
was out of the seat. I think it's about lap sixteen,
so probably inside the last ten laps, and it's like, oh, okay,
he's really pushing here. Because we've never seen Alex Marquez
ride like this Emotor GP. He's riding at an incredibly
high level and it took one of, if not the
(02:57):
greatest rider in the history of the World Championship to
beat him on it that he's very very good at.
So huge qutos to Alex Marquez what he's done in
these first couple of rounds. But yeah, we see Sprinton
Grand Prix win for Mark in both rounds so far,
but to me they were two they were the same
result achieved two different ways. And look, you mentioned Kocher
coming up. We know Marquez's record there is completely crazy.
(03:19):
Other than the Saxon Ring, it's the strongest circuit that
he has. But I don't think this is going to
be the narrative for the entire season because we know
how Peko works, right. We saw this last year. He
spotted Jorge Martin this big deficit at the start of
the championship. And Peko's the guy who just hammers away
at the rock twice three times, one hundred and three times.
On one hundred and fourth time the rock splits. That's
(03:39):
the Peco Badyay way of going about things. And you
know that he's going to chip away to get himself
closer to being contention for race wins. The only question
then is does Mark Marquez have another level on that bike?
We know how good he can be, But I don't
think this is going to be an absolute whitewash from
start to finish. I think Peko's still got some shots
to fire.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
What's your thoughts on Pecu Banyaya talking about the engine,
the twenty five engine and how it was down a
twenty four point nine and a twenty four point eight,
and it seems like now he's wanting to go back
to the twenty four model big and clearly it's working.
Look at Alex Marquez, what's your thoughts on that? Is
that him trying to say that the direction they've headed
in the off season hasn't gone the way that he'd
(04:21):
hoped or is it just the tracks and not suiting him?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Little bit of colum A and B I reckon for
that in that when you are not performing, when you're
under stress. This is anyone in life, not just people
with your ride Bot to GP motor Cycles. We like
to go back to what we know. There's a comfort
factor there. He knows that on that twenty four bike
he won eleven of the twenty Grand Prix last year
and was in the championship until the last Grand Prix
this season. So when things perhaps aren't going so well,
(04:47):
you want to revert back to what you know, because
it takes another variable out of the equations. Like I
know this bike, I know what it's going to do.
It's up to me to get to the bike's level.
I think the looking a bit further forward, there's a
one day ten after her Wrath, which is round five.
I'm doing my maths correctly. That'll be really important as
to where that bike goes developmentally for the rest of
(05:08):
the season, obviously, because you've you've got a frozen engine
at that point. But getting back to the tracks, as
you mentioned Thailand, Mark's been really good there over the
journey Argentina. Bizarrely hadn't raced it Argentina since twenty nineteen
before this twenty twenty five round because he'd been injured
and it'd been off the calendar and so on and
so forth. But he was always very very good there. Coachure,
(05:28):
we know how brilliant he is there. I think we
get to Qatar and Harrath, where Banyai has won previously,
including last year, and that's going to be I wouldn't
say where his season starts, but I think this is
where we're going to see him on more even terms
with Marquez. So it's a little bit of both. I
can understand the let's get the bike back to something
(05:48):
that I really know to work out whether it's me
that's the problem or whether it's the machine that's the problem.
And this is the way Banyai works. He's not just
going to go out there and rip the throttle harder
and be faster and more spectacular. That's not the way
he rolls. And that's what I love about this World
championship in that last year had this what's the saying,
styles make fights. It's like a boxing analogy. In that
(06:09):
last year, Juge Martin had a certain way he was
going racing, Pecovano I had a certain way he was
going racing, which is the faster. We got to a
point where the two of them were at such a
high level last year. There was so little between them,
but they came at it from completely different angles, which
is what I appreciate about this sport. And Peko is
a guy who grinds his way through problems and works
and I think he will level that gap. But you
(06:30):
couldn't really pick a worse trio of circuits for the
start of the year when you've got Marquez on the
fastest bike in the field. Because so far it's gone
pretty much as we expected.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well, I wasn't expecting Alex Marquez to be so close
to the front and fighting his brother and being second
in the World Championship. Let's talk about that. Because we
know factory decaddies, we know their strength. But I was
kind of thinking we were going to see maybe a
dgi Antonio a bit closer rather than Alex Marquez as
being the one who's challenging his brother or being faster
(07:03):
like we saw for most of the race in Argentina.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, it's interesting with Alex. There's a couple of things
you mentioned. Did you You mentioned Franko Morbidelli, who was
finally on a Grand Prix podium in Argentina. Did you
has been injured. He missed a lot of the preseason
after he busted his collarbone doing whey in Malaysia. Oh boy,
that's not one that he's going to want to put
on the highlight reel. So he's nowhere near fully fit
and I think he will move forward. But it was
interesting after Argentina there was an interview with Dabadau tar
(07:29):
Dotzi and he said that this is just what Alex
Marquez does in that he takes a while to arrive,
as tar Dotsi put it, but then when he gets there,
he's at a really, really high level. And you go
back and think of his Moto III career as a
slow burn won the World championship. Moto two slow burn
in it for five years, won the World championship. So
this is season six now for Alex in Motor GP.
(07:51):
This is the first time he's been on a bike
that has genuine weight race winning potential. He's always been
good at Argentina, so I wasn't surprised to see him
go well there. But to me, the truest test of
whether he's made this really big jump or not. He's
got a really poor record at Cota over the years,
and it could just be circumstantial or what he's been riding.
He was on Hondas for a while. If he's there
or there abouts this weekend, I don't think anyone's expecting
(08:13):
him to beat his older brother this weekend. But if
he's right in the mix. To me, that shows what
TARTOTSI was saying. It's this methodical build and then when
he gets there, he stays there. So to me, that's
one of the interesting stories about this weekend is this
genuine Has he properly arrived as a guy who can
bang in eight to ten podiums a season or was
he just an advantageous start at one a circuit that
(08:35):
he tested out and to a circuit that he's very
good at. I think Cota is going to answer a
lot of questions about Alex, but you can't deny what
he's done so far. He has been seriously impressive. Second
on the grid in both Grand Prix, second in both sprints. Second.
Basically he is the next best guy in motor GP.
Right now, that's not something I don't reckon that you
and I thought we'd be saying after two rounds.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
You're so right talking about what Davide Tazots he was saying.
I heard a quote where I might have even been
tied dot. So he's saying, Mark Marquez is like a
turbo petrol engine thought to one hundred and we'll get
there as quick. Alex Marquez is a diesel engine takes
his time to build up, and I guess you're right.
I guess we're seeing that now. What we know what
the GV twenty fours are capable of winning world titles,
(09:19):
So no wonder he is up there. But morb Delli,
that's one I didn't necessarily think i'd say. But we
know he's a massive fan of South America. We saw
the little dance as he got off the bike in
park firm is that the boost of confidence that he
needs going into this season to have that podium to
continue on, especially after last year and that terrible start
(09:39):
he had.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Well last year never really got off the ground because
he was just so injured, in so compromised at the
start of the season, and then you're looking on the
other side of the garage and your teammates winning the
world championship. So I think there's a few guys in
this series that ride predominantly with their right hand. If
things are going badly, you just twist the throttle a
little bit harder. Franco, a lot of it with him
is between the years, and you know, the guy was
runner up in a motor GP World Championship, So the
(10:02):
talent is there. He's been so betrayed by his body
for so many years, and I think he's one of
those guys that normally overthinking is a good thing because
you're actually analyzing it and you're being realistic with yourself.
But he can sort of overthink his way into could
sacks and not get out of them emotionally. And he's
a guy who rides with his head at his heart
(10:24):
as much as what he's doing physically. So he's been
good in Argentina in the past. We know that's the
bike to be on, and there's a couple of asterisks
with other guys who Vanya is not very good at Argentina.
It's one of the two tracks in the World Championship.
He's never been on the podium. The jan Antonio is
not fully fit. The other ducade because he's only six
this year, is Ferminal Degere, who's a rookie. So the
(10:45):
sea's kind of parted a little bit for Morbidelli to
get his way onto the podium. But to my mind,
it'll be interesting now that he's got that. Why haven't
you had a podium since twenty twenty one? That's god,
that's out of the equation. Now does it free him
up to ride with the emotion that we know he has.
Because the other thing with him, of course, is that
so many of these riders are on two year contracts.
(11:07):
So the whole contract cycle to the end of twenty six,
there's only four riders that are out of contract at
the end of the year, and he's one of them.
And so that might be a related story to something
I know you're going to ask me about in a minute,
But the fact that he's I wouldn't say fighting for
his motor GP life, but I do wonder if anyone
other than Valentino Rossi would have hired Borbadelli this year,
given the connection that they have, and that Franco has
(11:28):
been really off the pace for quite some time. So
he's got this sort of career eleventh hour chance, great
time to make the most of it, given how good
the equipment is. It's up to him, but he needs
to prove it because look, there's going to be a
few seat shuffling ground at the end of this year
and a few moving pieces. He needs to try to
take himself out of that rider market as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Let's move on to write a market I love this
segue because let's look about Pramaha.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh the first shot of the year. Take it.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yes, box ticked, box ticked.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Miguel olivera man, he is having a terrible run, and
it just seems like how when injuries, was it like six?
Five out of the six injuries he hasn't caused himself.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, I just not what you're hoping for.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
But in the positive side, is Jack Miller look how
strong he was in Thailand?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Can we know the Yamaha struggled in Argentina?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But is this what Jack needs to be able to
secure that seat for next year? No?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I mean Olivera first. I mean if he's not crossed
a black cat or walked under a ladder or broke
it a few mirrors or probably all three of them
at the same time. Like you're saying, it's one thing
to get injured, it's another thing to get injured where
it's not your fault and it's always somebody else's fault
and he's always the one recovering. So we know that
he's out for Cocha this weekend and possibly longer. Augusto
Fernandez steps in for him. But Jack Miller in Thailand.
(12:46):
Was funny because if you look back at Jack's career,
more or less every time he goes to a new situation,
he's on the pace super super fast. Now we saw
this he was on pole in Argentina. Funnily enoughcond race
at Pramak Yamaha. His best result when he was at
katm for those two years I think came three races
in at Harrath he won two of the first five
(13:07):
races when he was in the Decating factory team in
one of the COVID years, So we know how talented
Jack is. He has this ability to get on a
new bike and get to the performance ceiling super super quickly.
That wasn't a surprise where Jack's got into problems in
the passes and he hits his head on the ceiling
and there's no room to go that little bit further,
so gets to the top of the bike and then
(13:28):
kind of flat lines. And then we saw with KTM
last year the flat line became a downward spiral for
him and he was out. But it was interesting in
that Yamaha's expanded to four bikes now had two previously
and Quaturo and you would have probably been there for
this when he was asked in Thailand about Jack's qualifying
lap where he did the fastest lap of Buram ever
by Yamaha and put himself forth on the grid and
(13:50):
kwaturo and he's hilariously French. Jack centered English said something
along the lines of Jack disconnected his brain, and I
think it was more a compliment than an insult, in that,
you know, Kat riding within the limits. He knows of
what the Yamaha can and can't do. Alex Rinz's three
quarters fit on a good day, so he's not really
a great reference. Jack's just got on the thing and said, yeah,
(14:11):
I can handle with how I can handle this. It's
great in the high speed as we know, and he's
put the thing forth on the grid. So I think
Fabio was saying, huh, this is kind of what we
need to see where the boundaries of this bike are.
So I'm not surprised that Jack has started strongly. Argentina
was difficult, but it was difficult for all the Yamahas,
so I'm not pinning too much of that on Jack
(14:31):
per se. But he's been good at cojur in the past.
He's been on the podium there you know he's a
guy who's fighting for his Motor GP life, but you'd
have to say what he's doing and the way he's
doing it. Jack's now this sort of I can't believe
I'm saying this sensible old elder states but in his
thirties now, so he's actually acting like a grown up
for the first time in his life. But he's a
(14:52):
huge asset for a factory like Yamaho. They just need
experience and data because they've had two bikes for too
long and they've had half or maybe a quarter of
the data of what Jucati had. Jack's a great reference here,
so it's up to him to make himself so invaluable
to that project that perhaps he gets another year. On
top of that, It'll make a lot of sense to
me to sign him for twenty six, because you've got
(15:13):
this big rule reset coming for twenty seven. So if
you know you're playing devil's advocate here, they don't go
with Jack for twenty six. Are you promoting someone from
their Motor two team Tony Abellino is san Guavara. What's
the point of doing that when you've got this sort
of rule set that's frozen for twenty six, then you
go into twenty seven, and then maybe you make a decision,
do we get a fast young guy on the bike
(15:34):
when everything changes to the eight fifties. Jack will be
thirty two that season, so it's not old by murdor
GP standards, but it's certainly getting towards, you know, the
upper stages of a career. I think he's done everything
right in these first two rounds, and I'll be curious
to see what happens in Koda because if it is
bumpy and it is sketchy, he revels and that sort
(15:55):
of stuff. Some guys love to complain about it. He'll
just shrug his shoulders and say, well, it's not great.
I'm going to make the best of this. So I'm
actually expecting he'll be pretty strong this weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I must tell you when we were at Thailand, the
biggest thing I noticed, I mean, apart from the results
on the track, was Jack off the track and how
relaxed and happy he looked. And I didn't see that
up Philip a little last year. He just was casual.
He's like, I'm excited. I feel at home with the team,
and that's what we want because we know when there's
Jack's happy, he's fast an yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Completely. The thing I noticed with him is that every
time he gets off the bike, there's this line of
people in the garage because they want to know, so,
where's our bike different to the KTM, how's it different
to the DUCADDI? What you developed there? He's got this
data bank from other places that Yavaha haven't had access to,
and that's what makes him a coveted asset in murder
(16:46):
GP these days, because you know, Decadie's been the reference.
KTM can be very good. Maybe not this year, but
that's another story. But I think they're so keen to
tap into what Jack provides from a knowledge bank that
he's become hugely valuable. He's a very good good I
was going to say guinea pick probably a little bit
on cod but in the nicest possible way that you
can give him new equipment and material and he'll go
(17:08):
out beat instantly on the limit with it and say
it's doing this, that or the next thing, and they
go right. He'll get to the limit faster than other
people do. And that's what Yamaha needs right now. They
need to know what are we doing? Is it working?
And if it's not working, how can we get it
to work better? And I think where a writer like
Jack Miller, you fast track that process, and you'd have
to say, Yamaha and Honda, relative to where they've been
(17:29):
in recent years, have been kind of two of the
stories of the first two rounds because they're not just
in this Japanese Cup down the back like they have been.
They've actually been a lot more competitive and it's really
nice to see them actually feature into TV coverage and
not just be cast a drift at the back. And
then you look at the results and go, oh boy,
someone finished thirty five seconds behind the win. They're actually
in there to a reasonable degree, and I think with
(17:52):
what Yamaha is doing, I think Jack's got a lot
to do with that.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I'm going to propose you a cool question here, just thinking,
do you think Jack Miller could replace Alex Rin's at
Factory Yama purely for that development side of things, because
look at Alex You see him walking around with the
leg brace, so we know he's nowhere near one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, you know. It was interesting, actually, Argentina. It was
the first time he'd been at a race weekend since
Magello twenty twenty three when he broke his leg without
a crutch, so he had the leg brace on. He
wasn't walking with a crush, and it's the first time
he's not been on a crush. That's two years ago,
give or take a month. And I wrote about this
for Fox Sports dot com dot Au this week. I
(18:30):
think the Rin's tail is sort of instructive to Jorge
Martin sitting at these first few races, because Joje only
has to look around and see Alex Rins came back
too quickly after breaking his leg and it's wrecked his career.
Mart Marquez came back too quickly after breaking his arm
and it wrecked four years and probably changed the course
of Motor GP history. And so they're two sort of
(18:51):
tails for Johey to really keep in mind with when
he comes back. But the Alex Rinns thing, Look, we
know how good the guy is. We saw what he
did at the tail end of Suzuki's time in Motor GP.
Won that amazing race at philip Isilot in twenty two,
won their final race incredibly emotional Day of Valencia in
twenty two, won a race on a Honda in twenty three,
(19:11):
but he's not being the same rider, and it doesn't
look like it's getting better because I don't know if
you can tell with him whether he still completely hasard
or not, because he's so injury compromised. I mean, the
guy struggles to walk around the paddock. You would have
seen this in thaire Land. Just getting around is really
really hard. And you do wonder about the weight of
(19:32):
the mental toll that the physical injuries have exerted on him.
Is he ever going to get back to what he was?
And so yeah, like it's a super interesting question with
Jack because whether he keeps himself in that Pramac setup
or whether they look at him as a short term
solution perhaps in the factory team. I will be stunned
if Jack's not on a Yamaha next year. No our contenty,
(19:54):
which colour, whether it's a purple one or a blue one.
I'll be super surprised if he's not on one of
those two Yamahas next year. The Rin's question is who's
the successor If it's not him, right, who's the young
guy they can get hold of, who believes in the
Amaha project that's on the right timeline to come in
And it's sad with Alex Rance because we've seen, you know,
he went toe to toe with Mark Marquez to win
(20:14):
Grand Prix. He's a very, very good Grand Prix rider,
but he's just been so beat up for the last
few years because he tried to come back too soon.
So on a personal level, I hope he does get
back to what he was, but on the strength of
the last two years, it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, that's why I thought about him.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And asked you that because we know Fabio is the
one that Yamaha wanted to take to win the championship.
We know that we can see that by what he's doing.
We see what Jack's doing, Shama, but Miguelbert sham about Alex.
I think that Yamaha are on their uptake and we're
starting to see that. But also let's talk about Honda
and their uptake this year.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
John Zako in.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Argentina wild, I honestly, I didn't expect them to jump
that quickly. Shows that all the testing, everything they've been
doing in the off season has been paying off. But
the fact that it's Zarko doing it, I'm soaked that
Marini and Mea aren't tucking the front every time and
seeing crash come up everything. He laps in the Grand Prix,
(21:11):
but it's Zarko.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Is that just because he's been with LCI, is a
bit more comfortable and there's less.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Pressure for him.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Amazing what being the oldest rider on the grid and
riding for a contract does for you as well. He's
really good at Argentina. He's always been good there, but
it was super jarring, wasn't it? When you saw the
photo after qualifying in Argentina. You see Mark Marquez in
the middle, you see Alex Marquez next to him, and
there's a guy in some Honda overall standing in the
top three pictures, Like, what's going on here? Is like
this twenty eighteen all over again. But he's really good
(21:42):
at Argentina. Honda's made some serious gains this year and
there's some real low hanging fruit for them in terms
of where they can get better, because it's still a snail,
relatively speaking at Motor GP snail, but it's still shipping
ten k's an hour down the straight at most tracks
to all the other bikes, and yet he's Zarco third
on the grid. Is you know Jewan mir and Luca
Marini finishing in the top ten. I can't remember this
(22:03):
start off the top of my head. I should read
my own stories, but I think it was the first
time we'd had three Hondas in a top ten for
four years. And you think about it, like, since Marquez
got injured and then he was half back, and then
he's between surgeries, you just haven't seen many Hondas up
in the top ten for a while. And so your
question about Zarko, I more answer that question looking at
the other two guys. Marini's a very, very technically astute
(22:26):
rider who wants to understand everything that's going on with
a bike before he pushes it, because that's the way
he's wired. That's why that's why Gerdo's loved talking to Marini,
because he can tell you every little detail of every
little thing in perfect English about what's going on. And
I admire Juan MirZ just I'm just going to push
this thing to its limits and probably beyond and end
up in the gravel somewhere, because that's what he does.
(22:47):
But there's no lack of trying with Juan. So you
look at the way those two HRC factory guys, I
nearly call them reps a Honda then, so you can
scrub that one off your bing go card. The fact
that they are behind Zarco, maybe it doesn't surprise me
as much because of the way they're wired, the two
of them, But that bike's clearly getting better. And Zako
was the first non Ducatty across the line in Argentina.
(23:09):
Now he was in sixth place, which tells you a
bit about Ucatti at the moment. But someone has to
be best of the rest at the moment to think
we'd be talking about Honda as being second in the
Constructors Championship. I know it's only two rounds, but you
would have got pretty good odds of me saying that
before the season started.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Honestly, I thought we would be saying Pedro costa factory
ktmy taking it?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Did you, Caddy?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And let's go on to that because I don't know. Listeners,
if you've been reading the news or the room is
going around how Pedro is trying to get out of
his contract already, you can see he's not happy. Even
in a post race debrief. I just heard him say
I'm not happy the results aren't there. This shouldn't be
like this. I don't necessarily think it's because of the
(23:51):
whole KTM Winter fiasco and everything that happened on the
business side. We know that KTM, though they kind of
go awaves, There'll be a while where they're really strong,
and then there's also times where they are just so
far from where they need to be.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But if they lose Pager or Costa, I feel.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Like they're losing their bet trying to take you Cuddy
for the championship.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
He's the golden goose, isn't he. He's why you exist
as an operation like this. You've got the fastest, best
young guy, the guy who's been talked about as the
best rookie since Mark Marquez, and that worked out reasonably well.
He's a generational talent. You know, he won two world
titles before while he was still a teenager. It came
to Boto GP, you know, podiums in his first three races.
(24:31):
He had a start to his Voter GP career that
we were talking about. This is in the same conversation
as Jorge Lorenzo. This is in the same conversation as
Casey Stoner. That's how good he was at the start
of the season. We know he's on pole position. He
crashed from a few advantageous positions, but this year they
have been not very quick. He threw it down the
road in Thailand when you were there. It's chewing its tires.
(24:55):
There's a lot wrong with that bike at the moment,
and it's easy, like you were saying, to draw the parallel.
They had a lot of off track instability and the
financial situation with the parent company, which has been eyned
out to a degree. Everyone within the race teams has
said no, that's not affected us, okay, So basically, if
they've said that, then they're either doing a good pr
jor whether they believe it to be true. So if
(25:16):
it's not that, then what's going on with this bike?
Because you've got the situation at the moment, a Costa
can get a lap out of it because his pedro
Coster is amazing. Brad Binder has never been the greatest
qualifier of all time, but he's also the sort of
guy who'll take eleven risks on the first lap and
be inside the top six and then defend like hell.
You get the sense that Binda's riding to the limit
of the bike, which is a pretty low limit. A
(25:38):
cost is trying to push beyond the limit of the
bike and the frustration mounts. It's one of the things
we love about a Cost. He's got this sort of
urgent personality about him and that he wants everything yesterday,
like all twenty year olds. But he is contracting to
the end of twenty six, and to my mind, that's
super interesting because there's not many seats that are up
(25:59):
for grabs for twenty six, but we mentioned one of
them before, the Franco Morbidelli seat at VR forty six.
And I'm sure there will be some sort of performance
clause in that contract that if Katm's not achieving certain
things by certain times, that he maybe could look around
or become a free agent. We know that his management's
been sort of rattling the cage a little bit in
these first couple of rounds. If you're another manufacturer, say
(26:21):
you're Decaddie, and you get a chance to get hold
of Pedro Acosta, there's two benefits there. A you get
hold of Pedro Acosta, but you stop anyone else from
having Pedro Acosta, So it's almost like two benefits in one.
There's only one Dacaddy seat available for next year as
we speak, and so if he was able to wriggle
himself loose, then Valentino ROSSI might have to make a
(26:42):
decision do I drop my protege and the guy I
brought up through the academy in Franco Morbidelli to sign
the best young talent and motor GP. There's no right
or rock answer to that question if it comes true.
But KATM can stop all of this if they get
on top of what they're doing. And you know, look,
it was in the US last year where a Costa's like, Wow,
he's leading a race for the first time, he's on
(27:02):
the podium. He's finishing second to only behind Maverick Vinalees.
It's like this guy he came in with this huge hype,
and three rounds in it's like, oh, he's actually better
than we thought he was and this year has been
pretty ordinary. So they're going to need to turn that
around pretty quickly because these stories of humagitating to go elsewhere,
whether they're being planted by his management or some sympathetic media,
(27:23):
they're just going to get louder, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
They are going to get louder.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And I think that it's kind of overlooking the fact
of what you said about Brad Linder, but also Maverick
and Air, and you know they're trying to adjust to
a new new team, new bike.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Knew everything.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I read that Maverick's having a new I want to
say a new bike, but obviously new parts and everything coming.
For Coder, He's openly said, I know I'm not going
to win this weekend, but I'm going to try my best.
I'm going to try and improve for KTM. That's bad
when they're saying we know we we're going to win,
(27:56):
but we're just going to try and be the best
of the rest. Never thought I'd be saying that about
KTM in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It's interesting, though, with those two riders, because they strike
me as two riders who maybe aren't great with change,
in that they like a stable situation, and they both
have their pretty obvious weaknesses. Mavericks, a good qualifier who
can't do the first lap of a Grand Prix always
goes backwards. Bashidi, he's the guy who can't qualify, and
then we'll come from nowhere in the last ten laps
and make podiums or wing Grand Prix like he used
(28:24):
to do on the Ducati. They don't strike me as
being maybe the most adaptable riders, and so when you're
putting them on a new machine that they've never been
on before, they have to race it a different way.
They've been slow out of the gate. Maybe that's accentuated
by the fact katm bike's not great, but the fact
that neither of them seem to have adjusted that well yet,
like Maverick's been a total afterthought so far these first
(28:45):
couple of rounds. Of course, we go to Cota this weekend,
and the stat is that, you know, the last time
Ducati lost to Grand Prix was at Cota last year
because Maverick Vinalez won it for a Prillier. So I'll
be shocked if we see Maverick anywhad hear a podium
this weekend. But the fact that you've got two guys
who are maybe taking a bit too long, possibly for
their experience, to settle in with a bike that's not
(29:06):
quite there either. It's no wonder that you look and
they're both out in Q one like you're not really
seeing them feature anywhere near the front. We know how
good they are. Maverick's got this crazy spiky career where
he can be absolutely brilliant one weekend and then you
forget that he's at the race track the next weekend,
and Bashidini has this one like it's a party trick
that everyone knows. It's like, yes, he's amazing at tire
management and he comes through late in races, but when
(29:28):
he's on it and he's good at doing it, he's
basically unstoppable. We saw it last year when he's fighting
with Peco and Martine on the odd weekend to win
Grand Prix. Never going to be consistent, but he's got
a definable skill and so now it's up to KTM
to provide all four of them with the equipment because
right now, I know it's early, but we've talked in
glowing terms about what Yamaha is doing because we can
see a future Honda's coming off a really strong round
(29:50):
in Argentina. They shouldn't be ahead of KTM, not really,
and yes there's been some offseas of stuff going on,
but it's pretty alarming if that continues.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The manufacturer, who who I thought this year would have
been battling KTM and for obvious reasons, isn't a Priller.
We have to talk about that. Joge Martin. I don't
even know where to start. I think it's good and
you wrote an article the fact that he is sitting
at and he is waiting, and we know Mark Marquez
has been very vocal about the fact that he's openly
(30:19):
said to him, better to come back when you're fully fit, don't.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Just don't come back just because you want to.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
But then we've got the highs and lows, because we've
had Ayagura, this rookie who's come out the gate like
a bull, but Ralph Fernandez, who we know track House
and Brivio just love, even Masilo Rivla, but he's not
doing anything. So it's just this weird situation going on
at a Prillier. I didn't think twenty twenty five was
(30:47):
going to be this way. Let's talk about Joje Martin
to start. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I mean, look that you have to put an asterisk
on anything that Aprillia has done so far because the
guy they shelled out a massive amount of money for
and to bring the number one plate with him hasn't
been on the bike and it's incredibly unlucky. I mean,
to suffer two injuries to suffer an injury training to
get over the first injury. I mean, that's the absolute
definition of bad luck. You mentioned the Marquez conversation. I
thought that Thailand press conference, which I'm sure you were in,
(31:13):
was super interesting where he said I didn't miss is
Mark speaking. He said, I didn't respect my body in
the past, and I paid a price for it. And
that's the wisdom of Mark Beek thirty two now, and
you know he's back winning again, so he can look
at the bad old days and say, well, at least
they ended at some point. But his message to Martin like,
they're not the best of mates. They're ever going to
be those two because the way they roll. But the
(31:33):
fact he said, look, if you miss two, three, four
or five races, that's nothing in the context of a career.
Mark knows this because for four years and four arm
surgeries and just stopped his run of winning completely cold.
He knows the perils of coming back too soon. So
I thought that was interesting. Martin seems to think that
(31:54):
he'll be back for Qatar, which still seems a little optimistic,
but I think you'll want to get one or two
under his bell. Well, even if he's three quarters fit
to be able to do that test at her Reth.
I think, you know, trying to jump back on the
bike for that it's going to be far too difficult.
But the revelation of the season to me is just
how good Agura has been. Yeah, he had a preseason
(32:14):
test at Thailand before he did the race there. He's
been good there in the past. He sealed his Moto
two championship there last year. I love the way he
goes about it and that first lab in Thailand where
he got to the first quarter and afterwards he said, oh,
I couldn't believe how hard Miller and Morbidelli breaked in
front of me. So I just went round the outside,
like you know, he's done a hundred races and you
(32:34):
look up and you go, oh, he's all over the
back of Pekoebanyay for a podium and his first Motor
GP stars. Absolutely unbelievable. It's exciting to see a really
fast younger rider from Japan come in and be on
the pace straight away. He's the thing that Aprili has
got to be happiest about, because, let's be honest, it
(32:55):
wasn't the most obvious selection to pick him for Aprilia.
He'd been in the Honda family the whole time there
was all this, So they should take Joe Roberts. There
an American team, they should take this guy. That should
take that guy, Dabideo. Brivio's got this amazing ability to
spot talent. I mean he bought Alex Ridden through. He
was part of the early days Jojoirs mirr at t Suzuki,
which was a weird one at the time. It's like,
why are you putting this guy? And he's had one
(33:15):
motor two season end up winning the World championship. So
Brivio's got four ward spotting talent. But you would have
seen this entirely. There's something cool about the way Agura
goes about it because he's kind of understated, like he's
not carrying on making a big scene. He's actually super funny,
like really dry in that sort of slightly disarming Japanese
way about the way he goes racing. I love the
(33:37):
way he's approached it so far, and the fact he's
been up there at the front. It's a bit of a
breath of fresh air, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
It's been interesting watching him on and off track, Like,
like you said, off track, he's a character quirky. Quirky,
that's the word, like you don't expect it or you
don't expect him to say what he says.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
And because I.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Know he doesn't drink a lot of alcohol and then
he'll got like one little glass in him and all
of a sudden he's you care about it in in
press conferences and things that Watching him on track, what
I thought was really interesting in Thailand was the fact
that he was standing the bike up a lot quicker
than everybody else.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Right where we were situated in the media center was
right before the final turn, and I said to our Bostrano.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Watching him come out of that final corner, he is
standing that bike up and you can see that drive
that he's getting. No wonder he is as fast as
he is is he's understanding there's a brillia from the
get go. He knows it's in and out and now
he can use it to his advantage and clearly that's
what he's doing.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, he's been super impressive and it just adds to
We could probably go to the Ral Fernande's shoulder shrunk
corner of the podcast, which would probably be somewhere we
visit most most episodes this year, because I honestly, I
don't get this. I think we might have said this
last year. To me, he's always he's been one year
away from being good for five years. And if we
feel like we have the same conversation with Fananda year
(35:00):
after year after year, it's like, Oh, here it comes,
it's going to be this year, It's going to be
this year he's at the front of a race. Oh no,
he's crashed, and then there'll be another weekend where you
don't see him and you know he battled Remy Gardener
for that Moto Iwo title. It's a long time ago,
and I just don't necessarily understand why they are so
patient waiting for this thing that by now probably should
(35:22):
have come if it was coming. But then to see
a Gura come in in two rounds and go, oh, okay,
that's what this fight can do in the same team,
given the a Gura's lack of experience, I think it
says a lot about a Gura. I think it says
a lot about Fernandez, and I think it gives them
some optimism. It's like, Okay, you've got a guy that's
done too Grand Prix. That's putting the air preller up
in positions where it shouldn't be. Once all, hey, Martin
(35:44):
gets up to speed. We know how good the writer is.
That's going to be an emerging story. How long does
it take Martine to get back up to speed? Is
world Championship defense has shot? Let's be honest, he's too
far behind and he's been out for too long? Can
I see Martin winning races this year? Like if you
had to pick a non dicatdie rider to win a
Grand Prix. He's absolutely a top of your wist, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
But do you not think it's This is the part
where we're actually going to see where the ceiling is
or where the aprilliate, what the apillia is capable of,
because we're not seeing that the moment with a little
bit with a gura.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
But I think Huai Martin is that writer who's going.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
To show that completely. That's where like if you were
marking report cards after two rounds. We know where Tocaddie is,
we know where the two Japanese manufacturers are, we know
where Katiem is and Aprilli is just this we don't
know it's the palms up. I'm not sure, because we
don't have the guy who's going to be the reference
there once he gets his feet on top of the
bike and he can stop injuring himself. But Agura has
(36:38):
been a massive right spot for them. He has been
better more quickly than I expected. I thought he would
be a bit of a slow burn and start to
come on towards the end of the season, But the
first two rounds have blown that theory out of the water.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I think we've done pretty well.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
They're thirty seven minutes and we've kind of capped the
first two rounds and all the boss and everything that's
happened there. So let's look at Coder. You mentioned last year,
Maverick Vignalez, batmanv. We have to say Batman made his
appearance for the first time.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
We had who.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Else was on the podium? We had Pedro Acosta and
who was second.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Or I believe Peco. I believe Peko was third. Off
the top of my head, Heeko was third, sorry, and
Astuneni was third. I'll take that back.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yes, that's it. So it was an interesting race.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Let's talk about the fact that Jack Miller and Mark
Marquez collided last year. Do you remember that with the
lying off everywhere. But we know this track it's very
physical for these riders. We also know that's quite bumpy,
like I said in my intro, so a lot of
the times you'll hear them complaining about that. Okay, Apart
from Mark Marquez dominating this weekend, what's your thoughts Are
(37:43):
we going to see a very similar outcome with Alex
Marquez or do you think this is a chance where
we might see Peco actually battling with Mark.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, I've got my question marks about Alex Marquez, not
because of anything he's done this year, because he just
historically has not been good here and so it's a
real examination for me, is like is this progress that
he's made in twenty five actually real and sustainable because
he's going to an unfavorable track for him. You're right,
it's a pretty unique challenge to this track. It's such
a long lap with so many types of corners. There's
(38:15):
parts of this circuit that are going to punish Honda
and Yamaha. That back straight is far too long for Yamaha.
It's going to start running out of gas about eight
hundred meters down that straight. It's such a long straight
there but look, it is unless Mark falls off, which
he has done from the lead there before. He was
in the lead last year and fell off twenty nineteen,
memorably the only race he didn't finish on the podiums
because he crashed from the lead there. So it does
(38:37):
strike me as being a race for second place. But
it's such a physical race. So someone like de jan Antonio,
who we know is still not one hundred percent fit,
how is he going to go over twenty laps of
a track like that on Sunday, So that'll be super
curious to me. But I think this has to be
a weekend as much psychologically as anything else. That anything
other than second place for Vanyaira, I think is a
(38:58):
bit of it, not as but it's super alarm bells
ringing at this point because he needs to be there.
He needs to show some steps forward. Getting beaten by
Mark Marquez Atkota is hardly a disgrace, but you need
to be the next best guy, so you minimize the
points damage, you get a little bit of momentum and
you can start taking that once we go back through
the Middle Eastern Europe. So Banyai is definitely someone to
(39:20):
watch of the other manufacturers look at such a bummer
that Martin's not going to be there this weekend, because
we know how good he is in circuits like this.
I think it's the right decision, by the way, to
not go this weekend if you're not quite right. So
to my mind, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a
bit of a random person on the podium this weekend,
maybe in the sprint and the Grand Prix, because we
(39:42):
know probably what's going to happen for first, but other
than that, there's a lot of question marks. Isn't there
around a lot of people, so big weekend for Banyai
and yeah, picking who could be in the podium mix,
I would say someone like a cost on a normal weekend,
but katm just seems a bit lost at the moment,
so that's a caveat for that one. I'm really curious
to see how this shakes out behind what we think
is going to be the person at the front, because
(40:03):
it kind of feels up for grabs for me.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Speaking about that backstraight you said, we know it's one
of the longest ones on the calendar, so it's hard
for this track to not say it's going to be
another Duke Caddie dominant with all them. I know you
mentioned Digio being unfit, but more Bedellian those guys being
closer to the front. But that turn one for me
as they come up that, oh, that must be just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
To experience well, because it's so wide, because effectively it's
car track, it's bill it was made for Formula one
when they went there. There's about ten different lines you
can take into turn one. You can go super wide
on the entry and then cut back across all those
ninety degrees. You can hug the inside curb. You could
be mid track and hope to God that no one
loses it on the inside curb and skills you. Because
we've seen that there before where guys get pushed out
(40:48):
onto the runoff. So the first corner there, and because
we get two starts with a sprint and a Grand Prix,
I'll be super curious because you obviously retain the same
grid for the sprint in the Grand Prix, what riders
do tack And one thing I'm definitely going to do
after the sprint on Sunday morning OS Time is I
want to watch that first quarter and watch where people
position themselves because you've got that big, long, cascading series
(41:11):
of quarters from term one onwards. Where do you position
yourself on the grid for the sprint because you get
another go at it the next day. So there'll be
guys that like, oh, I hug the insight that didn't
work because I was too slow on the apex, and
you'll be people on the outside and it can turn
into a bit of ten big bowling out there if
you're not careful. So yeah, I reckon the fact that
you get almost like a dry run at doing the
first corner on the sprint Saturday will be super interesting
(41:34):
for the Grand Prix because now, look, a sprint minimal points,
you can only make up so much, but a Grand Prix,
it's such a long race and it's such an arduous
race there that you want to be in the right
spot because your race can be pretty much done at
Kosa if you are buried in the packet term one.
So that's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
I reckon I agree with you by I'm just going
to challenge you. Mark Marquez, I think it was twenty twenty,
always definitely on a repsole and he started the back
peak twenty four and made his way back to six
Do you.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Remember twenty two, Yes, twenty twenty two, So he won
there in twenty twenty one when he had one and
a half working shoulders, and then twenty two was when
he pulled up on the grid and selected the start
device and there were a whole bunch of alarms going on,
and the thing basically it was like it was stuck
in the pit limiter. He was last at term one
by about one hundred meters. He wasn't even in the
(42:24):
photo most of the time because everyone else a crested
term one. Only he could do this, overtook eighteen riders,
it wasn't fully fit, and finished sixth. One of the
greatest rides of his career that never ended up in
a podium. It was absolutely crazy. He was riding past
guys like they're on motor three bikes. But yeah, if
you can do that on a bike, that's basically trying
to shut down into the first quarters, having a you know,
(42:46):
once a software to be updated like your laptop at
an inconvenient time. One of his great rides, and certainly
one that isn't probably heralded because it's like, well, this
is one of the three times you haven't finished on
the podium at Kota, one of his absolutely best rides.
But I would suggest I don't think we're going to
be seeing that this weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I agree, I don't think we're going to see that vs.
One of the highlights of Coder and guys, don't forget
you can catch all the action this weekend Koda early
in the morning for us for Saturday morning, Sunday morning
and Monday morning, and that is a live on Fox
Sports and KO Plus. If you want to keep up
the cape, well I'm gonna try the again. Keep up
to date with the latest news. Head to foxsport dot com,
(43:24):
do au forward, Slash Motorsport for all the latest Moto
GP and motorsport news, or you can check us out
on socials at Fox Motorsport, on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
But from Matt Clayton and myself, that was a quick
recap of Argentina, the tigrand Prix and looking ahead at Coder.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
We're going to be back real soon with more Pittok
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