MotoGP Indonesia 2025 Round 18 Recap in S5 Ep 32

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, listen to the Beef River Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45. This evening we got lots to talk
about Indonesia. A lot went down there.
A lot of first excited about that.
There's some, you know, tough things to talk about with some
of the riders. So we're going to jump into it.
But let me introduce our guests for tonight one at a time.
First, let's bring in TJ to the building.

(00:21):
TJ, what's going on? Man, How you doing?
Hanging in man, ready to talk motorcycles.
There's interesting weekend overall.
A lot happens, so ready to get into it?
Yeah, no doubt. And I saw that the Patriots won,
so you must be excited about that, but hopefully you're not
going to get your hopes up too much.

(00:43):
Everyone's afraid of us always. It's good to see us to get a a
big win, you know, take an undefeated team down.
But, you know, we do what we always do.
So we'll see. We don't have Tom Brady, but we
we still dogs in the end. We always fight so.
No doubt, no doubt. That's what's up.
We're going to keep it moving. Reese, man, welcome to the show.

(01:06):
See you behind the wheels. I know you're going to be
getting on a plane soon and and going to check out Portugal and
stuff like that. What's going on, man?
How things might have lost Reesethere.
We, you know, we, we got, we don't get back to Reese Lewis,
man. Welcome to the show, man.
How you doing tonight man? Good, good man.
Glad to be back on camera. Last week I was in the I was

(01:28):
driving so I was blacked out theentire time, which is a good
thing because people couldn't see my face reacting to some of
the things. They just had to listen.
They just had to listen to the to the tone of my voice and know
that I had that look on my face.Yeah, hey, well, they're going
to see it tonight for sure, man.So everything's good.

(01:48):
Yeah, everything's good. Back home for a week.
Next week I'll be out in Cali for a few days and I'm back home
for a couple weeks and then I'm off to Italy for for 10 days and
then I'm back home again. So this next couple of months is
a lot of home and trip and home and trip and home and trip.
But everything else is good, man.
Season's over, so now I'm just putting all the pieces together

(02:11):
for the riders that are going tobe working with me next year,
making sure that I got everything I need to take care
of them. And you know, for those of you
that think it's not, I mean it'shard enough doing bikes and
everything else, but it's just as hard doing gear, getting it
together. I mean, I sometimes it's a
little bit even more pressure because we'll have a suit

(02:32):
designed or we'll have, you know, suits made and they'll
ship and they'll get here. And literally the day they get
here, the riders like, oh, I gota new patch to add or I'm going
to change this. I'm going to change that.
And you know, it's not easy to make those moves, takes time,
but but we got a, we got a quickcrew for next year.

(02:53):
No doubt it. It's not and I and I and I feel
you there with the traveling andstuff like that as I got in last
night and you know, I'm sitting here complaining about it today,
but it is what it is. And we're going to talk about
next season as well and what that looks like and and the
behind the scenes and stuff likethat is we'll wait for Reese to
come back in. Like he might have had some

(03:15):
technical issues on his side. So we'll keep it moving until he
he he cuts, he cuts comes back. So let's let's talk about it.
The race Moto GP was Indonesia and I'm I'm going to mess up the
the name of the track but. Mandalika.
Thank you, Mandalika, which I didn't realize it was VR46

(03:37):
Academy team, you know, I guess home second home track and and I
didn't even notice their colors too much.
I was only seeing the yellow, but they were kind of further
back in in in in the situation this weekend.
But let's jump into it Aprilia, they look really good.
They're down to riders still were able to, you know, get, you

(04:01):
know, pole position and Raul Fernandez, even though he had a
contract for next year, you know, I think, you know, it's
what he's the closest thing to what did digit Antonio had to go
through and he was struggling with Grazini for for a bit and
then he found his way at the end.
I mean, I know indigenous case. He didn't have a contract weight

(04:24):
and then and he and his finish of the season allow him to get
signed with VR46 Academy. And now he's the he gets the 25
bike and he's he's one of the top riders.
And I mean he's one of the top five riders in the championship
or top six in the championship. And so the most impressive thing
was what Raul's doing and what he's been doing lately, you

(04:45):
know, getting on the podium and stuff like that.
That's huge. What are your thoughts, TJ?
Well, I mean, we don't hear muchabout these guys.
So at this point of the season is is kind of finally to, you
know, hear some names that we should be hearing.
He's been struggling for a while.
And to ride really well on the track where a lot of riders did

(05:09):
not, it's pretty good to see. And for him to go on the podium
is awesome, you know, well deserved and he needs the
confidence. So definitely going forward for
being on a 2025 bike, I think hedefinitely would be more
improved, but I think it's good to see him on the podium for
sure. And he got 6 in the the Grand

(05:34):
Prix, so the overall good weekend for himself.
Yeah, let me just check right now.
I think so. I mean, he he was close in the
beginning. And yeah, top six in the
championship, third in in the Sprint.
What are your thoughts, Lewis, on, on, on how Aprilia is is
doing? We'll talk about Bazecki's crash

(05:55):
and Mark crash. We probably jump into that right
after since we're talking about Aprilia.
But you know what, Raul, what he's been doing, you know, he,
he, you know, he's not going to be fighting for rookie of the
year because he's been in Moto GP now for a few years, you
know, But do you think this is something where if sponsors were
thinking about leaving or, you know, track house might have

(06:16):
been like, well, we won't see him in 27.
Do you think like he's doing enough now to sit here and say
hey man, I deserve a job and stay in Moto GP at least for
four years? Yeah, there's two things coming
together here at the same time. 1 I think he is, he's finding
his rhythm. He's, you know, he's been pretty
consistent when he's been finishing races, he's been very

(06:37):
consistent. He's been, you know, kind of
working his way up from the bottom of the grid.
If you remember at the beginningof the year, I mean, he, this
guy was written off. You know, his teammate was very
competitive. And then that, you know, when
his teammate went in One Direction, he started going in
the opposite direction. As his teammate went down, he
went up. And I think that's two things.

(06:57):
I think 1, he probably found theright mix of the setup that he
needed. But as I said previously, the
only other bike that's competitive to do Ducati right
now is the Aprilia. And I think Aprilia has kind of
taken these small steps throughout the season and you've
seen how they've gotten more andmore competitive now, you know,
on a regular basis. They're right up up there at the
at the front, they're at the pointy end of the spear.

(07:20):
And I think he's just taking advantage of Aprilia getting its
rhythm under it of him getting his rhythm under him, finding
the right setups. The kid could ride.
It's not that the kid couldn't ride.
I mean, it's, you know, all these guys in Moto GB can ride,
man. You know, they show up at any
track day, they're going to wipethe floor with anybody.
They show up at most racing events, they're going to wipe
the floor with anybody. If it's competitive bike here,

(07:41):
you know, you're at the very tipof the sword, man.
It's just so narrow up there. I mean, you can finish in 15th
place and you're only, you know,8 tenths of a second slower a
lap. But you finished in 15th place,
almost 8 seconds off the leader.Like, it's crazy, dude.
Like when you think about those numbers, 8 seconds, it takes me
longer than that to go from hereto the garage and back and and

(08:03):
I'm I'm in 15 place. Yeah, no, it it's definitely
crazy to see that. I mean, and even in Moto 2 you
see it more when I, you know, Joe Roberts was like, you know,
point, you know, 7 seconds off off of the the number one guy
and it's just kind of like I'm in 15 place.
Yeah, that that doesn't make anysense.
So I think, I think Aprilia has made just a couple of right of

(08:24):
adjustments and he's made whatever adjustments he needs to
make and it's good to see him upthere, man.
I like to see these young guys, you know, getting their, their,
their opportunities to be on thepodium.
I love to see new faces on the podium, man.
There's nothing worse than seeing the same 3 or 4 guys
sharing the podium week in and week out.
And even if it's just a Sprint race, you know what man, Sprint
builds kind of confidence. If you get enough good sprints

(08:47):
under you, then you start thinking, hey, if I can do this
in the Sprint, I just got to double up the amount of time and
I can do this in the race. And we've seen that with other
young guys. I, I look forward to the rest of
the season. You know, I was thinking for a
while that Aprilia was only going to be competitive at
certain tracks, But I mean, they're proving to me now that
they're actually competitive in a lot of tracks, man, It's not

(09:08):
just a few tracks. They're definitely a step ahead
of Yamaha. They're definitely a step ahead
of a Honda. And they're, they're kind of
like the the up and coming manufacturer, the guys to look
out for. Right, right.
No, I, I, I agree with that. And you know, TJ, you know you
didn't. Let's talk about Bazecki.
He got pole position. He seems like he's the only guy

(09:31):
that been fighting with Marc Marquez in the races as of late.
And the Prelia is as as we heard, you just heard Lewis say
is it was one of the best bikes out there.
Granted, they still got to figure out their starts, but
what a way for Bez to come from 8:00 to win the Sprint.
And you know, and unless let's talk about Mark and Bez's crash,

(09:54):
was it really Bez's fault on that?
So what are you, what are your thoughts, TJ On, on, on.
You know what Bez is doing, whatAprilia is doing.
As far as you know, they're they're taking away points away
from Ducati. Yeah, I mean, like Lewis and you
guys are saying, Aprilia has definitely been the manufacturer
who's been the the most competitive to Ducati with

(10:19):
Ducati having so many bikes on the three and having the
championship being out and have to rely on your other factory.
Ryder Dazecki has definitely stepped it up for the
second-half of the season. They've been having great setups
and coming into this race for him to get polls awesome, you
know, it just shows that that bike has a good setup at most

(10:43):
tracks so far. His pace was just second to
none, like the start that he hadwas pretty bad in the Sprint
which put him back a lot of places.
And he just had a mentality I guess from following Mark so
much that you know how to fight from the back and just work his
way in the front. And it's pretty impressive for

(11:04):
the amount of laps that he had to do it.
And you know, just Al Daguerre could have pulled it out.
You know how to how to put that awesome weekend, but is that he
pulled out the 1st place and that was pretty cool to see him
fight and get to the podium going into the GPI.

(11:24):
Think it was just more of like, I don't know if it was that his
fault. I think he was just too eager
going into the corner knowing hehad to follow Mark probably and
just keep up with the pace in the front.
I think Mark probably a little went a little wide in the corner
slightly. But yeah, I think it was just a
a freak accident. Obviously we don't think he did

(11:46):
it on purpose and and it's just I'm unfortunate that, you know,
we've been seeing this type of incidents in past couple of
races. So it's something going on
there. I I, I, I agree there's
definitely something going on. Lewis, what are you, what are
your thoughts on on on Bez, the accident, just how he's riding.

(12:09):
You know, when you look at this,I gotta look at the standings to
be sure. I could have been dreaming.
But when I looked at it, it was like, you know, Marc Marquez,
Alex Marquez back now. Yeah.
VR46 Academy riders, it seems like it's, it's Rossi and, and,
and the Marquez's because these are all Rossi students, right?

(12:30):
So you know, what are you, what are your thoughts on it?
Is it is it a fluke thing? Is it just because, you know,
he's part of the VR46 Academy? And it seems like, you know,
outside of Peko Bagnaya at the moment, like the the the VR46
Academy riders, they know how totalk to the engineers and get
what they want from the bikes. I mean, it could be a couple of

(12:51):
things because the VR46 riders, obviously they get a lot of
training in bikes set up and howto talk to mechanics and how to
understand data and so forth andso on.
And but they have a lot of talent too.
I mean, it's not like they accept anybody into the VR46
Academy. If they bring you into the fold,
it's because they see something in you that they believe they

(13:11):
can develop into a champion or into somebody that could be a
contender. Bazecki right now is probably
riding the best that I think he's ever ridden.
I think he's taking the Aprilia pretty far.
I mean, he's the only one that was giving them feedback.
He was a, he was a one man team.Out of four guys on an Aprilia,
he was the only one that was really getting the bike to do

(13:32):
anything that he wanted. And once they kind of fixed it,
figured out the issues, you know, he he kind of ran with it.
I, I still think that he, he keeps going at the pace he's
going. He's probably going to finish
ahead of back nine at the end ofthe year, which will be a a win

(13:52):
in itself. I mean, you want to you beat a
former champion, you beat a guy that's on the factory team in
Ducati, which everybody considers the penultimate or the
best bike in the in the grid. You're the second best bike in
the grid. So these are all little
victories he can walk away with and for the most part, he's
riding great. You know, coming back from, you
know, again, horrible start something with the Aprilia is

(14:12):
not right. These starts suck.
They can't keep doing this because it's eventually it's
going to catch up and it kind ofcaught up in the second rate in
the race itself. You know, in the Sprint he was
able to kind of get through a lot of people and and and get to
the front. But and the long race, you know,
I think he's trying to compensate for such a bad start
that you start making small mistakes.
And on this particular track, ifyou saw there were in a lot of

(14:34):
great places of passage, seemed there was a few places and maybe
he just got overeager and and clashed into Mark.
You know, I don't think he did it on purpose because he's out
there trying to win. Did it look like they had two
separate lines? It looked like they had two
separate lines, but again, that could be Mark's riding style
versus Bazecki's riding style. You know, until you're on the

(14:55):
bike, you can't, you know, you can't really say you can't.
You know, every bike has its different dynamics when you go
through a turn. You know, the, the Ducati is
known for being a great stable bike on the braking.
The Aprilia is known for, you know, having a a different type
of line and this and that. And then Mark himself can do
things other riders can't do in the mid corner.
And the way that he slows the bike and pushes it out of the

(15:17):
corner. I I just think again, it's
always the passing riders responsibility to pass safely.
So if you clash into somebody like that and that wasn't like a
small bump like that was a a legitimate clash.
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Bez had
to stand the bike up. Yeah, you have to, you have to
kind of own it and, and Bez owned it, you know, Bez said his

(15:40):
apologies and everything else. And I think Mark did a class
acting by saying, you know, hey,this is a racing incident.
I don't take this is anything serious.
I don't believe it one moment that Bazeki did this on purpose.
And I think that was Mark tryingto like change the, the, the
temperature in the room because you know what?
The what? Was the day before he had a long
penalty for bumping what you would call it?

(16:03):
So it's like, you know. He has to take it that way
because he was on the other sideof it, but they stayed up right.
But you also have to think who hit him AVR 46 rider.
So, you know, right now, as soonas AVR 46 rider takes Mark
Marquez out, I mean, people are blowing their loads all over
Italy right now because they're like, hey, you know, like so

(16:26):
he's trying to change the narrative and lower the
temperature in the room and say there's a racing innocent.
I don't you know, I know that hedidn't do it on purpose.
I think he mark is showing he has a lot of respect even though
they're banging when they're racing, you know, off the track,
he's trying to be that guy that shows a lot of respect to people
because he doesn't want to further go down that mud and get

(16:46):
pulled into that, that that quicksand again of like drama
with Italian riders, drama with VL 46 this.
And that's like, you know what, it just sucks that he's going to
miss the next two rounds becausehe's only, you know, 55 points
away from setting a new all timerecord 600 points.
So hopefully he'll take these next two rounds, he'll heal up,

(17:07):
he'll come back after the flyways, do a couple of rounds
in Europe and maybe get those last 55 points he needs and set
that 600 point mark, man. Yeah, OK, that's what's up.
Let's let's talk about it. You know, Ducati struggled this
weekend. Really a little bit, a little

(17:30):
bit. Ducati struggled a little bit
this weekend. A lot of it.
You know, you know, and, and I said this, I mean, I've been
saying this all. It's one of the things I really
do. And I'm I'm going to try to be
more like Lewis and say I'm right all the time.
Well, you have to actually be right all the time.
You. Know, you know, most times I am

(17:51):
when I say I am but Ducati's messing up I mean I, I, I think
that, you know, I think the 2025Ducati's probably the worst bike
they've made since 2020 and 2020was their worst bike because
they didn't give it to the satellite teams.
They, they all had 19 bikes and that bike didn't, didn't
survive. And it sounds like, you know,

(18:12):
Alex Marquez doesn't want a 2625bike.
They're running from the 25 bike.
It it, you know, is it a situation where, you know, you
look back at when Vinales started struggling with Yamaha,
when you know Pedro's and these other guys are struggling with
Honda, But you know, Quatarara could ride the bike fast for
Yamaha, Mark could ride the bikefast for Honda.

(18:35):
Mark could not ride the bike fast for Ducati.
But the bike is not the same. It's not, it's not a they're
starting to slip. And we saw that then and it
just, we just thought, you know,they just kind of said, like,
you know, these riders are just going to they they have to
figure it out. It's the confidence thing.
It's a that thing. And then, you know, three years
later, the bike is bad and everybody, it's unanimous.

(18:57):
So I I say all that to say, likethis is on Ducati, right?
The way, the way these bikes arerunning at this point, we can't.
I know, I know Petco gets a lot of Flack.
And welcome back to the show, Reese.
And, you know, but what are you,what are your thoughts?
We'll start with TJ. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think,

(19:21):
you know, Pekko is has been riding a Ducati for a good long
time. He's been the champion.
So he's been, you know, putting the ends and out of that.
So if if the talks like that, itshould be like based around his
riding style. But, you know, for for this
year, I don't know if Mark and his riding style is if they

(19:44):
developed more around him because, you know, they're just
getting more WS and, you know, if you're winning, you have to
go with what's what's, what's working.
And so whoever is not doing good, you got to all right, this
is what's working. So you got to figure out what's
working. So Tycho is just not not it's
not working for him going that route.
She used to like, you know, sendhis way and his pace and, and,

(20:11):
and it's just not working that way.
But yeah, I think the the bike is, you know, I don't know who
is who is balled around, but. I think, yeah, I just think that
it's it's all how Mark set it upbasically of how it's been
winning. And you know how they did with

(20:32):
the Honda, you know, like we were saying is like they they
they developing his style. So now no one can really ride
the bike. So they got to kind of start
from scratch. So yeah, I don't know what the
Ducati's problem is. The one good thing is that they
have a lot of bikes out there, no matter what, that there
always will be in the top five. Somehow, somehow, some way,

(20:52):
another Ducati rider will end uppulling it up, yeah.
You, you might have a point there for sure, Reese, man,
let's, let's, let's, let's talk to you.
Let's talk to you, man. We're we're talking about
Aprilia first before, so you might miss that.
So you might want to talk about Aprilia a little bit.
Just how you know they have it together, although they they're

(21:15):
still struggling on the start and stuff like that.
They seem to be the most consistent bike this season,
even though, you know, Raul had to find his way mentally, I
believe. And maybe he just needed to be
around different riders. I, I mean, Aleish Espragro it,
it might be tough for somebody to talk to because he's so
intense last year and stuff likethat on the Aprilia.

(21:38):
But any thoughts on Aprilia and what they were able to do this
weekend and how competitive theywere despite Bazecki's crash on
Sunday? I mean, no, I mean, Bazecki was
very competitive. I mean, he was one of the
fastest guys out there. I mean, besides his mental
breakdown of running in the backof Marquez, I mean, the Aprilia

(22:01):
looks solid. I mean, he's he's he is the
number one guy, you know, for that squad right now.
So besides, like I said, he is the number one squad.
He's taking that bike, He's beenthere through the thick of it
and he's actually put that bike well back on the top.
So I got to give it to Aprilia because he's actually turned it

(22:22):
almost into a development rider.So.
Yeah, I, I, I agree with that. You know, and, you know, we kind
of mentioned that a little bit and talked about, you know, is
that just kind of the the tutelage of Rossi, right?
Because, you know, you look at the the top five guys, it's the
Marquez brothers and then it's the BR 46 Academy riders.

(22:44):
And and so is it it's not just the fluke when you see what Luca
is doing and all these other guys are doing and stuff like
that. So do you think it's a little
bit more of, you know, he like Besseki?
He's just he, you know, he, he, he's in the best Academy that
you could be in a Moto GPI. Mean he is in one of the top
academies I mean you got to lookat everybody that's come through

(23:04):
there even you know JDV just come through there, but you just
got to look at all the guys that's come through there.
You know, Rossi is giving you the knowledge, but if you don't,
you know, use it and it's not worth anything.
But he's actually taking what helearns and probably utilizing it
and talking to her. For you coming from, you know, a

(23:26):
Ducati bike going into Aprilia factory bike and learning what
works and what don't works and trying it and telling it all
comes down to the rider being able to talk to your crew chief
and explain exactly what he needs to be done and trust in
your team to get it done. That's where it comes down
because if you can't talk to your crew chief and explain what

(23:47):
the problem is, you know, then it's not going to work.
So, but he's actually doing really well and I think he's
utilizing from what he learned from Rossi, same thing as
Marini. Right, right.
OK, no, I agree. And and you know, just to get
you caught up now. Yeah.
So is is is this Ducati had a rough weekend overall, is Ducati
messing up? I mean, it seems like the 24

(24:08):
Viking is the best, is the best Ducati to date.
You know what, what are your thoughts?
Or is it just conditions in Indonesia?
Like, you know, a lot of them, even Mark has struggled.
I think it was a little bit of both.
I think the conditions were a little crappy because I mean, if
you look at a lot of people going down, there were a lot of
bikes going down. And I think that the the 25 bike

(24:31):
is one of the worst bikes versusthe 24.
You could have actually what they call over development the
bike, you could have overdid it and take you need to step back a
little bit and go back to the 24platform.
So I think that's where they're at.
I think that's why, like you said, Alex Marquez doesn't even

(24:51):
want the bike. He wants to stay where he's at
on the bike. He's on Pekka is just, I think
Pekka just threw in the towel. You know, I think he's pretty
much done for the season. Marquez struggled this weekend a
little bit. That's the first time I've ever
seen him struggle that much. So, but yeah, I think it's, I
think it's one of those things where the bike is just

(25:13):
overdeveloped and it needs to revamp itself and pretty much
start from that 24 mark, yeah. Yeah, I, I, I agree, Lewis, man,
you heard all that. But you know, what are your
thoughts is is Ducati messing up?
Do we? Do we?
When you go over to Italy, you need to go to the factory and
and and tell some people who youare.

(25:33):
No, I think they know who I am now.
I don't think they're having anyproblems specifically.
I mean, obviously the 25 bikes got its challenges and we see
the guys that are on the 25 bikes sometimes have little
flashes of brilliance and then struggle mightily.

(25:55):
Obviously Marquez, because of his riding style and his
adaptiveness to overcome issues,has been able to maybe mask some
of the problems because if you look at everybody's on the
actual 25 bike outside of Marquez, nobody's been
consistent on that bike. You know, the, the guys on a 24
bikes have been way more consistent.
You know, Petco hasn't been ableto put it together.

(26:16):
He had one good weekend in Japanand then somebody, you know,
didn't tighten the Val stem cap 100% tight this weekend.
And obviously the bike was unrideable.
You know, he went from from first to worst in in one week,
man, which is unheard of. I I don't even understand how
that happens. Yeah, no, I I agree.
Yeah, I don't. I like, you know, and I give it,

(26:38):
I mean, look, I give it to theseguys, right?
Because they're, they're as a, you know what Ross, he's done
because they keep a tight lip for the most part.
I mean, they don't, you know, we've yet to see Bagnaya give
the bike a finger, right? So.
I'm sure he's wanted to, but he also understands if that that
finger is going to come back andget stuck somewhere.

(26:58):
He don't want to get stuck in his contract because, you know,
it only takes a couple of times pissing the wrong people off to
find yourself outside of racing,outside of a good ride, you
know, in a third tier team, not making the money you want to
make or the results that you want to compete for.
But yeah, there's definitely something about the 25 bike
that's not working. And Mark was the only one that

(27:21):
was able to mask whatever the problem was because of his
riding style and his ability to adapt.
And going into next year, I don't know what the solution is,
man. I don't, you know, I don't think
anybody that's on a 24 bike is going to want the 25 bike next
year and I doubt the Ducati is going to want to keep pushing
the 24 bike in 26. And did the 19 back then, yeah.

(27:44):
But but how long do you also want to do that?
Because remember, man, we're just, we're just less than, you
know what, 20 months away from the 27 regulations kicking in
and now you got a whole new, newproblem.
You know, so do you want to try to fix all the problems in one
year for a bike that you're going to scrap?
Because the following year you have to make so many changes to

(28:05):
the package to adapt to the newer dynamics, the new motor,
the new tires, the new, this, the new, I mean, there's so many
new things. How much money does anybody want
to invest in 26 knowing that that bike that they're
developing in 26 is going to go right in the trash in 27?
Right. No, I agree.
I agree. Everybody write.
Everybody write a 24 and that's it.

(28:27):
Yeah, I, I, I, I agree with that.
Let's talk about Honda. Honda, man.
You know, I listen when, when I think Luka Marini was leading
the race at one point or second,second, I I was rooting for him.
I was, I was rooting for him outside of Aprilia.
I mean, Honda's, you know, when we were when Zarko won at the

(28:49):
French, you know, and, and kindawas, you know, going into Q2
before that and stuff like that,we were like, OK, you know,
they're going, they're going to do something.
They should be really pretty good.
But I didn't expect them to be doing as well as they're doing.
Granted, you know, mayor crashedout, which is unfortunate, but
they were very competitive this weekend.
You know, I think they have a good chance to to do do really

(29:10):
well at the next few rounds. What are your thoughts, TJ, on
how Honda did and is doing? And you know, it's, it's safe to
say they're the third best manufacturer in the championship
at the moment. Yeah, no, it's always good to
see like improvement. So from from where they started,

(29:31):
from the beginning of the year, they were pretty much dead last,
like the worst. And slowly but surely they've
been improving. The second-half of the season.
We've seen Luca Marini come backfrom his injury and he's been
riding really well. Same with Mir for some reason.
Mir still unfortunately, he has his incidence in the races, but

(29:52):
he's been riding really well. It's pretty impressive to see.
Zarko had a really, really toughweekend this weekend.
I think he crashed like 3 or 4 times.
Somehow he was still able to finish the GP, but I would say
Luca Marini is definitely going to stand out from where he from

(30:12):
what we know he's capable of andshowing to do right now.
And for him to be leading the race.
Like, you know, sometimes when you see a rider that hasn't been
upfront for so long, you like, do they know what to do right
now or like, you know how they're going to like, you know,
sometimes the riders like go toohard and then they crash out

(30:33):
because, you know, they're not used to it.
But it was cool to see even though he couldn't hold it.
But you see the potential. Yeah, I agree.
There's definitely potential there for Luca and I and I think
these guys are going to, I don'tknow if they'll win before the
end of the season, but they're they're really close.
What are your thoughts, Reese, on Honda, what they're doing
right now? I mean, whatever Honda's doing,

(30:55):
I mean they're one of the only the the Japan brands that has
got getting their act together and coming back to the stage and
coming pretty much like we say, coming back to the party to come
up to the top that front guys. So whatever they're doing, I
mean, I commend them for their work.
Took them a while, but I mean from Luca to mirror, I mean

(31:16):
they're got those guys are coming up.
I mean, I think that, you know, this year it shows what they're
possibly able to capable to do. And I think next year, I think
if they keep going in the direction they're going, I think
next year, those are going to besome guys that you you got to
look out for. Those are being with, you know,
your dark horses right there. I think they may be the ones to

(31:36):
come up and spoil a couple parties.
So I think they're I think they're on on the right path to
to going back towards the top. And you know, as far as the
other, you know, the other guys is all way back there and KTM
seen lost away. But I don't know, I think
Honda's on there on the verge ofcoming back.
Yeah, I agree. I I think Honda is definitely

(31:58):
there and close and it's nice tosee Mia not crash as much even
though, you know, he crashed outin in the main race.
You know, that's the part that'scrazy.
We'll move to Lewis. Lewis, what are your thoughts on
what Honda is doing and you knowis it is Mia going to crash

(32:19):
again before the season is over?That's a guarantee he's going to
crash again at least a few more times before the season's over.
But crash or not, I mean, his results are starting to show
through. You know, he's starting to be
competitive. He's starting to finish on a
regular basis, a little bit higher up in that top 10, not
just on the cusp of the top 1011and 12 and so forth, but

(32:42):
actually in the top ten. And he was starting to creep his
way up in the closer to the top five man.
And that's what you want to see.And Marini, same thing, man.
You know, next year Honda's gameplan is right before the start
of the year, all the riders go to Japan, crash and it all come
back and they're super good again for some reason.
Like that's what it took is Marina to crash during the

(33:06):
Super, the, what do you call it,endurance race, never actually
race. Take a couple weeks off and come
back and all of a sudden he's a great rider again.
And me, I got to be sitting heresaying, look, man, I'm better
than all these guys. I was sunning all of them in
Moto 2 because he was. He was.
He was murdering them in Moto 2.Well, not only was he murdering
them, he's he is a Moto GP champion.

(33:27):
He's got the number one plate sitting in his house on his
mantle. Like he's got to look at that
sometimes and be like, you know what, I'm the best guy on the
Honda. I need to step up and be that
number one guy. I'm the number one guy on paper.
But championships aren't one on paper.
They have to go out. You have to go out there and
perform. And he's starting to do that.
And hopefully if he can stay rubber side down, he'll gain

(33:50):
some more points. I mean, right now he's wearing
the standings. Is he outside the top ten in the
overall standings? I'll tell you in a second, hang
on. I want to say he was like, last
time I checked, I want to say hewas like just outside the top
ten in the standings. He's in the, he's 15th in the
standings. So he's still got a ways to go

(34:12):
to catch Zarko. Zarko is still the top Honda
rider in the standings. He's #10 and even Marini's in
front of Johan Meer at this point.
Yeah, I mean he, he. Might be he could catch Marini
and he could catch Zarko. Yeah, I was going to say he
could catch a Zarko. Yeah, he, he, it's possible he
can catch because Zarko's crashing too.

(34:32):
So, you know, Zarko's been crashing for, for, for a little
bit now. So, you know, so anything is
possible there. Let's talk about KTM.
You know, it, it's, you know, Bastionini is up and down.
I, I feel like they need Benialis.
Benialis is the glue to keep these, these guys steady.
Cause I, I think, I think Vinyalis knows how to get the

(34:57):
bike dialed in better than any of the other three riders on,
on, on on the team. Pedro was close.
Pedro, I mean, he had a chance. You know, I always said that
Aldiger was the better rider outof Pedro in him, even though
Aldiger had to go from the European Championship where

(35:18):
Acosta just came through Moto 3 and and got the big shine per
SE. But what are your thoughts, TJ,
on where KTM is that is, is Acosta doing too much?
Because you know, he's, he's, he's, he's crashing or trying
to, you know, win. I mean KTM, I mean, at this

(35:42):
point, I don't know, since they're up there down, they're
up there down. Like you said, they do need
their their glue piece there, the Maverick, you know, to be
the veteran and kind of show them possibly what's needed, you
know, But yeah, I think they're they're struggling.
I think they kind of need a Pedro Costa typewriter.

(36:02):
Like, you know, someone that's alittle aggressive that would
actually test the limits and andcan show you like what's the
limit and can dial you down a little bit.
Sometimes there's demeanor, his attitude part needs to change.
But I think you kind of need an aggressive writer.
Like, you know, Bashanini is more of like a laid back type.

(36:24):
I think it's kind of hard to getinformation out of him.
I'm not sure how he really speaks to, you know, his boss
and all that stuff. But, you know, he he doesn't
really find his way until the second-half of the race.
And sometimes he's really not around.
So you need that Pedro to to, you know, keep you afloat and
keep it exciting. And it was good to see out of

(36:47):
gear and Pedro bat on each otheras they were talking about their
modal 2 days and stuff like that.
So you see the future is bright between them two.
But I think Pedro's as long as he stays more humble and keep
his his and his his aggressiveness down.
And when he's in in hot water, don't like, you know, show his

(37:08):
emotions, just keep him inside and just ride.
I think it'd be fine, take them.I just, I just don't know what
they're, what they're really doing.
I don't know if they're just on a budget.
Obviously we know what they weregoing through before all this,
but yeah, they just can't seem to get it together.
It's it's not the chain, it's something else.

(37:28):
And yeah. Right.
I mean, Reese, I mean, how many,how much time do we do we as
writers give you all engineers? I mean, you're a writer, but how
much time do we give you all before we start, you know,
leaving popcorn in your car and turning the heat off?
Because KTM, it seems like, you know, they're struggling in the

(37:49):
second-half of the of, of the races with grip.
It seems like all the riders, you know, struggle with that.
And and no matter how they fight, that's that's kind of
like the Achilles heel. I mean, yeah, it is their
Achilles heel. I mean, like it.
Like it. Again, as TJ said, you said it
seemed like KTM has lost their way and Viniales is that glue to

(38:14):
actually figure out what the bike needs and how to develop
that bike. He is that guy because when
Viniales was there, he was one of the fastest KTM guys out
there and it was like everybody else was following suit.
Without him there, no one's there to give any kind of
guidance. He's like the the OG that knows

(38:37):
the game, knows how to develop abike, knows how to set the bike
up when the tires drop or when the tires are new.
He knows how they what the bike needs and there's nobody there
to do that. Acosta just he's pretty much one
of the young kids that really didn't come through like the 125

(38:58):
days with the electronics, no electronics.
I mean, so it's all everything'selectronics.
It's just everything now is justtwist the throttle and go for
the kids nowadays and let the electronics do the rest.
But it's like with Acosta, he's he's almost like a young
vanilla. Sometimes he's either there or
not there. He's a hot head.
It's like, it seems like a lot of the blame is on the bike.

(39:21):
Yes, but then it's you, you know, as a rider, you have to
step back and take the blame foryourself.
Like I could have did this better.
I could have did this better or I could have let the tires come
to, you know, settle myself in and then go hard at the end or
however you need to do it. But it's just nobody there to
help with KTM. And it's just like there's

(39:41):
certain things that it's just, Idon't know what mistakes they're
making. It's like Bassini needs nowhere
to be found. Chains are popping off.
I I mean I I'm waiting for plastics to start falling off
going down the front or wing lifts to fall off.
Is it time for the CEOCEO to do like the Titans player to say,
you know, we're we're playing like trash and that's not his

(40:03):
exact words, but it's the Titanslike we're better.
Than something but. Right now we, we ain't just, we
ain't there. Yeah, it's, you know, and you
just, they're not there no more.It's just they're, you know, I'm
surprised I've seen Brad Bender up there this this this past
weekend. I mean, I was glad to see him

(40:24):
there. I mean, Brad Bender is one of
the guys that's had more chancesthan anyone.
I'm I'm like, you should be further along than what you are,
but he's not. And it's, it's there's, there's
got to be some kind of revamp inthe team itself.
Right. And, and, you know, I think that
I think Brad Bender had not necessarily has what Raul has,

(40:47):
but when Pedro came to KTMI, think that rattled Brad a little
bit. And, and, and, and I and, and
he, he, he was just crashing a lot since since, you know, like
just struggling a lot. And I, and I just wonder if
it's, you know, sometimes, you know, you know, as when you try
to stay Switzerland and neutral,if you're a boss and, and you
got, you know, people that that are looking up to you, you can't

(41:09):
show favoritism. And you know, if you're all
extra excited when when one rider's coming in the building
and you're not as excited as theother when the other rider comes
in the building and people see that or the rider sees that,
they're going to feel a way about that kind of things,
right? Right.
I mean, I mean, it would rattle anybody's cage when you're the
old, the, the guy that's been there for a couple of years and

(41:29):
now you got a new kid that's, you know, making headlines and,
you know, they're, they're paving the way for him.
Yeah, that's going to rattle anybody's cage because, you
know, he, he could take my seat,he could take my job.
So you're trying to go above, you know, ride almost above your
head and push it to another limit.
So that's going to rattles anybody's cage.

(41:50):
You know there there's only one employee of the month, right?
Right. That's pretty much it.
There's only one employee of themonth, only one top rider, a A
rider and AB rider and I don't want to be that B rider.
No doubt, no doubt, Lewis, man, we're going to we're going to
keep it moving and, and, and getyou in here.
Yeah. What are your thoughts on KTM,
what Acosta is doing? Just the struggles.

(42:14):
I mean, you know, I, I think that Bialis's shoulder is a lot
more serious. I think Bialis might be done for
the season. They just don't want to say.
Yeah, I mean, when when they pulled him out this weekend, I
mean, that's a long way to fly, to not ride.
So, you know, I don't know how serious his injury is or how
it's become or maybe just from the course of riding, if

(42:35):
something's gotten worse, you know, they typically don't like
to give too many details, but you know, I, I hate to see a
rider injured, especially somebody that has the talent he
has. You know, I, everybody knows I
think he's a basket case. He's either 100% on or 100% off
like this. You know, he's a heck Doctor
Jekyll, Mr. Hyde kind of rider. But for KTM, he's the only one

(42:59):
that's been doing anything positive this year.
He kind of put them in a position and gave them some
setup and gave them some ideas and, and help them find their
way that I still think they're alittle bit lost.
Obviously you can see it with the up and down season of their
riders. And you know, at some tracks
they look great. Most tracks they don't look
great. One track, one guy looks great,

(43:19):
the other three look horrible. Like it's, it's a, it's, it's
really interesting to see a teamthat technically all the riders
are on the same bike. They're on the same package.
They're even in the same damn suits.
You know, even though they're ontwo different teams, there are
technically four guys racing fora factory team pretty much.

(43:41):
And to see four guys struggle like that is crazy.
You know, especially, you know, thinking about, I mean, Pedro
Costa hasn't been with them too long, but, you know, we know
that the talent that he is, Vinales hasn't been, you know,
this is his first year with them, but we know the talent
that he is. I think the only person that's a

(44:03):
real question mark on that team is Brad Bender.
I think Brad Binder just kind ofleads to look in the mirror and
decide do I want to keep riding for this team or do I?
When this contract is up, do I really, is it time for me to
move on? Is it time for me to look for
another team to ride with? Because I think he's kind of
gotten to as far as he's going to get with KTMI.
Think the bike and him this is as far as they're going to get

(44:24):
unless the bike does some some incredible jump in technology in
the next 24 months. Bad Bender needs to sit down,
look in the mirror and say, hey,do I want to be the perennial
KTM guy for the rest of my life?Be that loyal always with the
team. You know, once I retire, maybe I
become a test rider, I become a brand ambassador or something
like that. Or am I here to try to win?

(44:46):
Am I here to try to get a numberone plate and hanging in my
house or or am I content with just riding around for 11th
place for the rest of my life? All right, it's only Brad Pekko
and Quadrara so far that's been on the same manufacturer since
they got in Moto GP. Yeah, and we've seen Quadrara,
you know, he's constantly pushing Yamaha, you know, and I
and I think he's going to give them one last opportunity.

(45:09):
But I think come 2027, if that Yamaha is not working the way he
wants it to work, it's time for him to even start looking in the
mirror because Honda's outperforming them right now.
And that's not something that I would two years ago, I would
have never said that, that Honda's going to outperform
Yamaha, right, Right. That's crazy.
Yeah, but let's Speaking of Yamaha.
I mean, look, man, I I was rooting for this is a good race

(45:31):
weekend. I'm not going to lie.
You know, there's something about seeing 6 Ducatis in for
one through 6. I got to throw that out there.
But at the same time, it, it was, it was a pretty good
weekend and I was. And when Renz was out there for
a little bit out front, man, I'mlike, he, he might be able to
get away. It was like 17 like 7 laps, 7
laps left, 8 laps left. And he was still competitive on

(45:54):
that, on that Yamaha. What are your thoughts on Wrens
that flash? Is it just one of those things
or, or is he starting to come back into his own?
I mean, he's not limping as mucheither too.
What are your thoughts, TJ on onon on what Yamaha is doing and,
and how they were and and and beand, you know, being in front of
Cuatroara too, because that's that's the first.

(46:15):
I mean, I think I think Rez is just trying to still show that
he got it, but I don't think he got it anymore.
I mean, he's still he's still a good rider.
He's still a good rider. I mean, I know he's hurt.
He has the broken leg he's trying to recover from for a
little bit, but he's always beenin the back like like the back
back like the end, you know, So like not even getting any

(46:39):
points, not even getting any points.
So like it was, it was shocking to see him in front of
Quarterano and being in the front and he did it for like you
know, he did it for like 2 laps maybe.
And then whatever tired choice he had, I don't know if he ran
the soft rear, but yeah, just hejust slipped down from 1st to

(47:01):
10th like another two laps. So two or three laps.
So like it was it was kind of weird, but it was cool to see.
But yeah, I don't know. I think he's just still trying
to show that he has it and don'tgive up on me kind of kind of
thing. But I don't know what else he
can prove. Like if it if he has a good
package through when you see himback in the top ten.

(47:23):
I don't know. Right, right.
Yeah, I agree. I I don't, I don't, I don't know
that either. What are your thoughts Theresa
on Yamaha, what rinse did I think?
I think he had the soft tires, pretty competitive and nice to
mix it up with the KTM, you know.
What are your thoughts? Where the hell did he come from?

(47:43):
That was my question. I'm just keeping honest.
I was like, where the where the hell did you come from?
That's where was that all year long and and everything else.
But like, like TJ said, I mean, it's almost like he's just
trying to to prove a point that he still got it, which I don't
think he's still got it. I think he's one of the guys
that it's like it's it's time tolook in the mirror for him and

(48:07):
and say, Hey, I don't have it anymore.
If this injury took it out of me, can I still do this at this
high of a level? And, you know, is it time for me
to move on to green of pastures or a super bike or something
else or anything like that? But it's just I mean, that was
great to see him up there finally.

(48:28):
I mean, that was that was something different.
But I mean, just it's almost like the same thing as Pekka.
What Pekka did the last race? I mean, it's once in a blue moon
that you do it. I mean you can't just say I'm
going to do it one time here and20 more times not.
I mean you've been back there for the whole season fighting
with guys in in 15 place and in the last place and you've been

(48:52):
like the worst Yamaha rider all season.
So you know me, I'm like great, you did it.
It was good to see you up there.But you know, is it a little too
late so. A little too late.
What are your thoughts, Lewis onon on Rin's Yamaha, Did they

(49:15):
switch bikes? Because, you know, we saw Peko
tried more with Deli's bike in the test and so forth.
Do you think like, you know, like TJ is saying or Smitty has
said, these, these guys need to be out of Moto GP if they keep
finishing at 15th or it's just, it's just giving him time to to,

(49:35):
you know, to sort out the bike and.
Also. The Yamaha is not the best bike.
I don't want to hear nobody disrespecting Sideshow Bob, all
right? The Sideshow Bob Moto GP You
better need put some respect on his name, right?
I agree, my daughter's a big fanof Rin's.
I I'm a big fan of Rinz. I've always loved his riding

(49:55):
style. He's got that smooth, silky
smooth riding style like that, just fast corner speed, almost
like Jorge Lorenzo ish riding style.
And and he's very upright like whereas other guys are leaning
and dragging elbows. If you look at him, he's a
little bit more conventional in his upper body riding style.
But I do think that whatever this injury is that's been

(50:17):
nagging him, this leg injury, I think it's taking a lot longer
for him to heal. And it might just be that, you
know what, man, I don't bounce as as much as I as easily as I
did when I was a kid. You know, he's not a kid
anymore. He's a little bit older, he's a
married man, he's got kids and it's just taking him a little
bit longer to heal. And I'm hoping, praying that he
continues to heal and he can come back and be as competitive

(50:40):
as he can be for the package he's on, because on another
package, I think he'd be even more competitive.
I don't think that the guy is has lost any skill.
I don't think he's lost anything.
I think he's just been injured and he's not on a great package
and he just has to work around what he's got.
You know, don't go out there killing yourself.
Don't do a Mark Marquez if the bike's not underneath you to to

(51:02):
to to do anything worth doing. Right.
I, I, I agree there. I, I think that Renz is again in
Moto 2, he was killing these guys and you know, and you know,
on the Suzuki, he was nice. I mean, I know Mayor won, but he
was nice. He was nice.
Man, silky, silky. I mean, I still think back to

(51:25):
that one race in Silverstone. Where he?
Where he overtook mark on the very last call.
I mean he shot that Suzuki out of that corner like it was shot
out of a cannon man and I was just like that's that's
impressive. I like that like that was
definitely the day that I was like wow man, this dude's got.

(51:46):
I always knew he had skill back from the Moto 2 days and and
it's time in Moto GP. But you know, I, I just hope
that he can get over whatever injuries he has.
I hope whatever package Yamaha rolls out next year is even 5%
better than this year. So they get out of that, you
know, seller that they're in right now because the only
manufacturer worse than them right now is KTM in my eyes.

(52:10):
And that's not good company to have.
You know, the only company that's worse than you is one
that's almost out of business. That's not where you want to be.
No at all at all, which is whichis and it's not good for, you
know, you got top rock coming inand stuff like that.
So you definitely want to you know, obviously, you know, we

(52:30):
need we know all the manufacturers are doing
everything to to get better, right.
So I'm not going to sit here andsay not doing it, but it is
tough when when they struggle and it's tough arises to keep
the confidence. Anything you guys want to touch
on before we can talk about Miller, but anything you want to
touch on before we talk about a little bit about Motor Moto 2

(52:51):
and what's going on there I. Think that's it for for GP.
All right. I think that's it.
Was it was great. It was great to watch races
though, right? I mean, it was it was good
racing that you know, good, you know, good passing.
Altiger was on fire, Altiger winning.
And, you know, Pedro hasn't doneit.
And, you know, as a rookie, Aldigir did it and that's huge.

(53:14):
I mean, I, you know, that's, that's kind of, I mean, I'm glad
we didn't brush off it. You know, the second youngest
rider to do it. Does does this kind of like make
you? And I guess it's more rhetorical
for me. I don't know if it's I, I, I
overlook all the shenanigans he's done in Moto 2 and when he
first got to Moto GP and stuff like that.

(53:36):
But what are you guys thoughts on Al de Gear winning the the GP
race? I mean, I, you know, we all you
got, you got to show up, you gotto finish.
But obviously it might have beendifferent if Bez was was was up,
kept it up on two wheels. But you know, for him to fight
against Acosta, who was hungry, Raul was hungry, Renz, everybody
was hungry, Goes once they saw Marquez and and and Bez go down,

(53:59):
you know, everybody was trying to get in the club door first.
And I mean, it is, it is good tosee this guy finally, finally
get on top, you know, podium. And I could just think it back
when we talked to Eli on the show, he was ruled for out again
to finally get a podium and he finally got it.
You know Eli Eli already. Text me.

(54:24):
But you know, it is so close to beating, you know, or getting
past Mark Marquez's record for being the youngest rookie in the
Sprint. I think it was or I don't know
if he did pass it, but yeah, so absolutely congratulating.
It does now show why Ducati chose him so early.

(54:46):
He's very smart, just found his way.
He didn't really kind of like jump into it and and try to just
throw it out the window at first.
It took him a little while to get it under his belt and he's
been a little more consistent asof late, but this was well
deserving and and what better chance when you know these guys
go down. It's like you got to fulfill

(55:07):
your opportunity when it defendsitself and and to show the pace
he had in the Sprint. I mean, I knew in the GP it was
going to be another fight with him, so it was just fortunate
for him that he didn't have Bezeki and Mark behind him, but
it was good to see him pull it out.

(55:27):
Right, right. What are your thoughts, Reese,
on what Acosta did? I mean Aldegir did I mean, and
in magnificent fashion too. Over 5 seconds.
He he seems like he's he seems like he he's he's like, you
know, as we were talking off air, like Bobby Fong is is, you
know, you know, bended to go home, right?

(55:49):
He, he, he's full gas and, and he, he doesn't have a take it
easy button. And, and, and I, you kind of see
that on Saturday, on Sunday and you see when he crashes out.
I mean, yeah, you do see it. I mean, like, I remember back in
a couple shows ago, I remember Lewis said it once this kid
figures out how to go as fast onnew tire, on brand new tires

(56:12):
when they are used, he's going to be dangerous.
And what he just showed in this race was what he is capable of
doing. And it shows the level of talent
that is in Moto GP, but it also shows a level of respect or
who's in front of Bazecki and Marquez.
Because it was almost like sharks in the water.

(56:36):
Like the chum went in the water.And soon them two went out.
It was like the dinner bell wentoff.
Hey, we can finish from first. And everybody went full gas.
So to to know that, you know, this kid can actually win and,
and do what he did when Marquez is in there, it shows that he's

(56:57):
he's ready to step up and come up the level, you know, later on
and give him a couple more, a little more time and he's going
to be there. Like I said, he's he can be a
dangerous person once he figuresout the new tires and do the
same thing on worn down tires. Yeah, I, I agree, Lewis, man, I,

(57:17):
I'll, before you talk about Furman, it seems like Acosta was
listening to us because he kept that train pretty slow.
I don't know how he did it when he kept that train pretty slow
to keep all those guys in the mix.
But, you know, touch on that a little bit on Acosta's ability
to do that, but also what Furmanhas done as, as the youngest

(57:39):
guy, because I mean, he already had the factory contract.
He had the factory contract before he rode AGP bike.
He kind of cruised in the, the, you know, his second year in, in
Moto 2. I, I didn't think it was a good
look for, for the team he was on.
But obviously, you know, Ducati knew what they were doing and it
seems like they got it figured out.
I mean, there's a, there's a couple of different questions

(58:00):
and to, to, to recap on that. So I mean, Acosta, we, we know
that the KTM in a straight line is the fastest bike.
So if you could slow everybody in the corners and then get on
the gas, it's going to be real hard to pass because you got the
fastest bike. You know, they got to get a
drive out of the corner. If you're screwing up
everybody's drive like somebody else.

(58:28):
You know, it's hard to pass a bike that's got a lot of grunt
when you can't get any head of steam underneath you to actually
past it. So, you know, Acosta was riding
a smart race. And but we saw what happens when
a guy that doesn't have pace gets passed by a guy that does
have pace. It quickly becomes very, very
visually stunning how much pace that person didn't have.

(58:50):
And what they were doing was they were trying to ride an
intelligent ride, to ride aroundthe problems they were having on
the bike. But again, once Furman got out
front, I mean, a 5 second lead in Moto GP is a 5 second lead,
especially for your first race win.
Because you got to think about it when you start, when you got
8 laps left and you're in the lead, you're thinking about just

(59:10):
hitting your apex, hitting your corners, hitting your markers.
It's not when you're done at 3 SEC, 3 laps left, you start
thinking, oh shit, I might win. And that's where you start
making these mental mistakes in those last three, two laps.
That's when mental mistakes comein, especially when you got a
lead like that. And he was able to manage it.
He gave up a little bit of the lead in the last like lap or two

(59:31):
just because he knew he had in his pocket.
So he was pushing like 95% instead of 100%.
And he was able to bring it home, man.
And I've been saying for a whilenow that this kid, this kid was
the truth. And he finally, you know, proved
me right. You know, he was able to put the
beginning of the race together with the end of the race and
race a complete race and benefitfrom the ties when they're

(59:52):
fresh, when the ties when they were worn.
And and one last thing, I mean, this is this.
Here's another Spaniard man. And this Spaniard is in the the
MMM 93 Academy. He's part of the Marc Marquez
Bros and the Marc Marquez Bros seem to be kind of touching a
lot of guys in different classesthat are from Spain that are

(01:00:16):
kind of like getting underneath the Marc Marquez umbrella and
learning from the Marquez brothers.
And if you look at, you know. Other winners that won this
weekend, these are again, guys from Spain that are very close
to the Marquez brothers. So without having an official
Marc Marquez Academy, it almost feels like Marc Marquez is
starting to put together a little Spanish mafia of his own

(01:00:39):
to go up against the Italian mafia.
I I. I agree.
I, I, I agree for sure. And on don't that note, you
know, let's talk about Moto 2. Diego Marira.
Yeah, impressive. I mean, you know, I think he
might have one of the most impressive resumes coming into
Moto GP, even though it hasn't been officially announced yet.

(01:01:03):
But it seems like he's going to be on LCR next season.
What are your thoughts on on howhe's riding and how he's doing
and who Gonzales getting disqualified?
Are we are we getting a little bit too ridiculous with
software? What are your what are your
thoughts, TJ? Yeah, man, Diego, Diego's

(01:01:24):
definitely riding great. And then it's just leading this
championship up to a great finish.
And yeah, he's only down 9 points and this is just a good
ride. He's been riding really well
like the race before he got on the podium.
So I'm very excited to see what he can do for the rest of the

(01:01:44):
season and for for next year if he does get that, see if that's
true as far as the software goes, like I'm still confused on
that. I think we was chatting about
this, you know, out there, But you know, it's just like, I
don't know if they're trying to get an advantage for like the
the the tech guys, you know, because they know they're riders

(01:02:06):
in in a championship contending moments.
And I, I, I just don't know, like if it's a certain track, if
it was a whoopsie, if it was like, I don't know, but it
sucks. And you kind of ride now you you
lose a lot of points now. Now you put your championship at
stake. So we'll see what they can do

(01:02:28):
next round. You know, now Aaron Connett, I
don't know where he came from, but now he's kind of back in
contention for the championship as well.
So but yeah, that's like the second time we heard that this
year. I think the last one was with
Ayer Gore and the track house team.
But obviously it has nothing to do with the rider.
I just don't know behind the scenes like exactly what what

(01:02:50):
the software really means if it has to be track by track or
yeah, so still confused on that,but it's interesting.
But I'm sure they won't do that again because they have 3 rounds
left. Right, right, Reese man, I mean,
how, how does this work with thesoftware?
Every every whoever pulls the the short straw goes in at night

(01:03:12):
and do the upload. No, I know the software is
usually done by track by track, I mean they usually kind of if
it's every year, they kind of use the same like baseline setup
from that track from last year. And it kind of just, you know,
you kind of use that base that'slike a baseline and then you can

(01:03:33):
kind of use that and and kind ofgo from there to see where
you're at and kind of tweak and tune from there.
But I mean, sometimes these guysjust a ride, like I said before,
rider always swears he knows what he wants and he wants to
put this in and it kind of gets lost in the software when they
try to go so much and do so muchand it kind of just gets messed
up. And then by the time you get

(01:03:56):
into it, it's too late and it's race time and it's all said and
done. It's, you know, somebody wants
every turn is good, but hey, turn 6, it's I need a little bit
more traction here. But then when you put that
traction in turn 6, now you messed up 789.
So, so you know. It's not something where there's

(01:04:18):
like two different version of something.
It's just more the configurations in the software
that people make that makes it non homologated in, in in in
Gonzales instance or is it like separate software well.
Sometimes you can do different software.
You can do a map A map B depending on what the the data
guy your, your, your engineer puts in there.

(01:04:40):
So it's different, different mapsettings you can put in.
But usually with the map settings, one is for dry, one's
for wet, less power depending onwhat how they set it up.
So if you're in a dry setting and you want maximum power,
you're probably going or you have a setting probably for
fresh tires and a map setting for the tire settings when they

(01:05:01):
drop off. So it just you don't want to
keep and you put the wrong setting in there while you're
riding in your, you're kind of up shit's Creek without a paddle
now, so. So you're saying that it's the
writer's fault the software is wrong?
Sometimes, sometimes it could be, it could be a setup error.
It could just, it's just or it'snot the communication.

(01:05:21):
There's communication errors. It's like I'm saying one thing,
but you, I really mean this. So what you told your crew
chief, he's telling he's doing what you told him, but it's not
y'all, y'all not matching up. OK, all right, I see that.
Let's let's bring Lewis in. I know Lewis got got got a lot
to add. What you thought the?

(01:05:44):
Numbers, man, that's all me so as as the only.
There has to be a button that says you know that don't enable,
right? As the only Spanish speaking
person on the pod today, I actually went into Spanish
Sports Channel to try to get a little bit more information

(01:06:04):
because the information on Moto GP was very generic.
And what the Spanish media is reporting is that he was
disqualified because he had a previous version of the software
that's no longer homologated uploaded to his ECU.
And that previous version of thesoftware allows for more
parameters that are no longer allowed to be modified with the

(01:06:26):
current new homologated version of the software.
So he had a little bit more up, up, down, down, left, right,
left, right than anybody else because the previous version of
the software had additional parameters that are no longer
allowed to be modified in the new version of the software.
So this isn't something that thewriter did.
This is something that a data guy or the team manager was

(01:06:49):
like, hey, we're having some problems.
If we upload this old software, we can fix these couple of areas
where we're having problems because the parameters no longer
exist. So let's see how it looks on the
old software. Ah, it looks good in the old
software. Oh, it looks better than a new
software. When I turn around, you might

(01:07:11):
hit the enter button. Turn around.
Don't tell me what you did. So did did did they say that in
Spanish? That part.
They didn't say that in Spanish,but they were.
The Spanish media was very, verypessimistic that it was an error
because it was an error that benefits the rider it it's a
benefit to the team. And you know, obviously it's why

(01:07:33):
do you even have the old versionof the software in there?
I mean, I can understand you having it there, maybe to
compare the data between this year and last year to try to see
how to fix the data to be a little bit more in alignment.
But then you're going to overwrite the software that's in
the ECU with this software knowing that the version number
is going to upload. I mean, you, your data guy, you

(01:07:55):
know what happens when you upload a patch, It automatically
has the patch history, automatically has what the build
number is. And if this is something that
Moto, you know that Moto GP goesthrough all the bikes and checks
this. They do this because they want
to make sure there's parity, especially in that particular
Moto 2, because it's, it's all about parity there.
Everybody has the same motor, everybody has the same tires.

(01:08:18):
You know, you can do a lot of change with the chassis, but you
at least want to have a base setting that everybody has to
work from, right? And if you have that extra
advantage, it is an extra advantage.
Right and and it's something we we, we may not know cuz is it
every bite get tested or is it random?
Cuz if it's random then you knowthey might.
Luck of the draw. He could have been using it for
for, for a lot of different races whenever he had problems.

(01:08:41):
Yeah, it's, I mean, I, I would like to say it's something that
they probably do at the tech inspection after the race
because they obviously they check the fuel after the race,
they check the ECU after the race and there's probably a few
more things just for the homologation to make sure that
they check in the post race inspection.
We see that in Motor America. We see that everywhere after the

(01:09:02):
race. All the bikes go into the tech
garage and it's run by the organization and they check, you
know, fuel and this and that. And you know, Reese will tell
you, I mean, there's been guys in Motor America that have been
found to have non homologated fuel because they use the
container that was contaminated with a different type of fuel.

(01:09:24):
All of a sudden they do a fuel check and now the fuel is not
100% your fuel and you get DQ D or you get points or something
like that. So sometimes there are small
errors that can happen, but an ECU error, I mean somebody
physically has to hit the enter button and upload that software.
Right. Unless it normally is a random
check, normally is random checksor it's like the first three

(01:09:44):
guys or whatever they want to doand it just hey, we want to
instead of doing a normal check,they want to go a little deeper
and dive in fuels and Pistons and stuff like that.
Or somebody protests, somebody says, hey, you know what, man,
this, this guy seems to have a little too much hot sauce going
down that front straightaway. I mean, we're supposed to all be
on the same bikes, but he, it seems like he got a little bit

(01:10:06):
extra check his fuel, check this, check that.
And then all of a sudden, you know.
Could be a protest I I was. Going to bring that up, Yeah.
Because it could be a protest, because, I mean, we could do
that at club level. So, you know, yeah.
I never did that. I never did that.
The fact that you. Said.

(01:10:28):
I never, I never had his motor torn down.
Yeah, don't think about that, right?
Of course not, not, not. We don't.
We don't do whatever it takes towin.
No, never, never, never ever didthat fucked up somebody's whole
weekend. I would, I would.

(01:10:50):
No. And it's tough for his
championship, right? I mean, I think he was
struggling a little bit, but he would have saved his
championship. But now he gets no points.
Yeah, now, now it's a nine pointdifference.
Now it's, you know, one race, one mistake.
I mean, it's the difference between first place and 3rd
place. He loses the this point
standing. You know, the one thing in this

(01:11:12):
series that I'm kind of confusedabout is, you know, at the
beginning of the year, you know,everybody was super high on Jake
Dixon and you know, he's kind ofbeen struggling.
And I think now that he's got a ride elsewhere, I think he's
just riding out this season justto get the hell out of Moto 2.
It that's kind of what I'm seeing.
I, I don't see him having the urgency that he had earlier in

(01:11:32):
the year. And then Aaron Connett, I mean,
you know, the, the, the lifetimeMoto 2 rider.
I mean, he doesn't. He doesn't have a ride yet for
next year. He does.
He has he? Oh yeah.
He's switching, he's switching. He's.
On Cassini. Yeah, yeah, like I said, man,
Lifetime Moto 2 rider. Yeah, yeah, no.

(01:11:53):
And but he's one of the few lifetimers.
You mean you got Jake Robertson there, You got Dixon, you got
Kinet. I mean, who else we got that's
that's kind of. And those are the Ogs.
Yeah, What's his name? Lopez.
You know, these, these, and, andit's, it's, I mean, it's, we
talk about the, the, the closeness of, of the race, but

(01:12:14):
these guys are so up and down throughout the season.
You know, where it's kind of like the, everything has to be
right for them to, they either win or they're struggling.
Where you see a lot of these younger guys, maybe some of most
of them coming out of Marc Marquez's camp these days.
They seem to get every, they keep getting better and better
every round. They're not like they're not

(01:12:35):
kind of, it's not like, you know, the, the top five one
round and then the top, the bottom, you know, 5, the next
round kind of thing that's progressively getting better
and, and coming towards the top.Have you guys noticed that?
Yeah, no, I, I see the younger guys as time goes on, becoming a
little bit more proficient and getting better and better.

(01:12:55):
There's a couple of guys now that are, I think going on to
their second or third year in Moto 2 and, and they're starting
to worry me because they showed a lot of brilliance in Moto 3
and now in Moto 2 they've kind of seem to be topping out.
So either they need to switch teams and look for new people
around them because the equipment is very, very close,
you know, minus the the chassis.But you know, I, I look at

(01:13:18):
somebody like an Azan Guevara, you know, in Moto 3, killer
killer. And now he's in Moto 2 and you
know, he's with Tony Avellino and both them seem to struggle
on that same team. You know, it's like that team,
for whatever reason, can't put it together.
And it's not like these two guyscan't ride, man.
These two guys can ride so. Is it is that sometimes like

(01:13:44):
stardom though, you know, is it like, you know, you, you get up
there and now you're, you're, you're more known and stuff like
that. And you just as a as a young
kid, just having a little bit more fun because, I mean, do you
really just think it's just a team?
It's a combination. Sometimes it's a team and
sometimes it's a rider. Sometimes it's both.

(01:14:04):
You know, a good team will keep a not so good focused rider
focused and but a good rider on a not so good team can't make
the team necessarily better. You know, if the team is is
capped out and, and so I'm goingto say it's, it's 80% on the
rider to know what he's doing and 20% percent on the team to

(01:14:28):
make sure they have the right rider.
Because you can take the not right rider and make them look
good. You know, you can make them
better, but you can't take a badteam and make the team better
because as a rider, what input do you have other than I need
more grip, I need this, I need that the team sucks and can't
give you anything because they just don't have the technical
knowledge or know how or just support people to make it
happen. You know you're stuck.

(01:14:49):
You're stuck on a bike and you're getting paid, but you
know you're stuck in 18th place every weekend, no matter how
good rider you are. Yep.
Good analogy, man. All right.
I've been around a while. That's why he's OG.
OG. They had Phillip.

(01:15:09):
Phillip Next next round or? Is it?
We got we got two weeks off. I think it is Phillips, I think
it is Australia next round. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think it's like 2 weeks off right?
Yeah, we got Australia, Malaysiaand then Portugal.
That last year at the Phillip Islands when Bazaki and Maverick

(01:15:33):
crashed in Turn 1 and then like,what is it?
Turn two or three is like always, bites a lot of riders
too, so it's going to be an interesting race.
I mean, the thing with Australiathat's always interesting is the
weather, man. It's either.
It's either lava. It's right on the water.
It's raining. You can.
See waves crashing in the background.

(01:15:54):
Or or the wildlife or the. Wildlife.
Yeah, boy, get hit by get hit bya seagull.
Or kangaroo. Or.
Wallaby, OR. Whatever red flag for animals.
I think it's one of the most exciting tracks because it's a,
it's a speed track. It's got a couple of places
where you really got a bonsai. It's got some elevation changes.

(01:16:18):
You know, the last few years, asfar as I remember, they've been
exciting races that have come down.
To like the last couple of. Corners or the last few laps
hasn't been somebody getting outfront and just walking away from
everybody. And then after that we go to
Malaysia, which that's a great track, but that's another lava
track, man. Anybody that's is always 105

(01:16:39):
degrees, 100% humidity and then we back, you know back in Europe
for the what is it the last two rounds?
Yeah, Portugal and Valencia. Yep.
Portugal might have might have something really, really
interesting for people to see. OK.
That's all I'm going to say. All right, all right.

(01:17:02):
You're going. To be there and interviewed.
No, no. But there might be there might
be a a possibly be a a new. Something.
Something on No. Team out there?
No, no, no. A new product.
OK all. Right out.
There all right, well, we're looking forward to it.

(01:17:22):
All right, fellas. Well, I appreciate you guys
coming on. It was a great weekend this past
weekend, Reese, have fun over inEurope.
You know, come back in one piece.
I'll try man. No doubt TJ with two wheels and
coffee. The real Luis Ortega, the

(01:17:44):
numbers guy. Peace, Peace.