MotoGP Valencia 2025 Round 22 Recap in S5 Ep 41

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's the last round, guys, off the Moto GP 2025 season, the
season you know, back. Nice words, Per Lewis keeps
reminding us throughout the whole season.
So he finished fifth overall. He didn't come there for that.
Does he get a pass this round? Is, is Bizecki the closest rider

(00:23):
in the VR46 Academy to Rossi? Alex Marquez, you know, where
would you rank his overall performance?
If there was an award to be given for what Pedro did this
season on the KTM, what would you call that award?
We have to talk about, you know,Frankie, is this the icing on
the cake for this guy to not be Moto GP 2027?

(00:46):
I love the guy, I love the guy, but is this the icing on the
cake? I can't see what he did.
So is it fair? Was it a fear penalty to you
guys or unfair penalty for what Jack Miller got because it
looked like his rear tired nudgeferminal the gears arm?

(01:15):
You're listening to the Be Forever Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45 Moto GP. As 2025 has come to an end, we
have a lot to cover about 2025, how it ended, all that fun
stuff, all the craziness. Who gets the pass?
Who should keep a contract for 2027 because they're all signed
for 26. Before we get into all that, let

(01:38):
me just bring in the guys tonight.
TJ Mann, welcome to the show. How are you doing tonight?
It's still cold up here, gettingcolder, but I'm I'm doing great.
It was a a fun, fun season, I must say.
I mean, there's a lot of controversy, ups and downs.

(01:59):
I mean, overall, this is a good 2025 season.
Can't wait for the 2026. But do you want me to tell you
about the Patriots? We're still winning.
Well, you know, I was going to say you, I have to talk about it
because the fact that I'm talking about it, they're still
winning, you know what I'm saying?
I, you know, I'm. Not waiting for them to fall off

(02:19):
but they just making the rest ofthe league look like why?
Why are they getting paid? And now everyone's saying we
have an easy schedule, but you know, you still got to go out
there before, but you know, you just hold your breath until the
playoffs basically, because that's what things really
matter. Right.
They they, they didn't say we had a hard schedule.
You notice? I'm saying we now when, when,

(02:43):
when they were losing last year,they didn't say it was a hot
schedule. Yeah.
I know, right? So you know it is what it is.
Lewis man, welcome to the show. How you doing?
You're back on the mainland so all must be well.
Are you still looking for your cappuccino espresso?
I to be honest with you, man, I do not drink, I do not drink

(03:04):
coffee, I don't drink a cappuccino, I don't drink
espresso, any of that, which makes traveling overseas even
harder because you just got to go on pure energy there's.
No. There's no artificial boost from
the the caffeine when I go there, but it was a good trip
and I saw some really cool stuff, talked to some
interesting people. So it was overall very positive.

(03:26):
But I'm I'm glad to be back on this side and in the right time
zone again. Yeah, like we like having you
back as you get to come on the show and, and, and and lend your
thoughts on A lot has been happening.
It's the last round, guys off the Moto GP 2025 season.
And, you know, I'm going to try to do it a little bit different.

(03:49):
We'll start with this. We'll start with, you know, in
your own words. Each of you will start with TJ.
Give a recap of the weekend before we dive into the whole
season and stuff like that. That's the question.
Just give a recap on what you recap on what you thought of the
weekend and you know the the floor is yours.
We'll start with TJ. I mean, let's see, like, how can

(04:13):
I say it? I mean it's the grand finale.
I mean, you know, we start with all the young, young guns, you
know, the the mini Moto and and and stuff like that.
So it's, it's, it's the grand finale.
It's kind of like the race you want to end on, you know, it's
kind of bittersweet. Just have it end the season.

(04:35):
But like, like I said, it's like, you know, you have the
kids there, like all, all the, the, the, the, the levels.
So I would say it's just the grand finale.
It's a good weekend all. Right.
That's what's up. That's what's up Lewis man, you
know the floor is yours and makeit short and sweet like like TJ,

(04:55):
but you might not. What are your thoughts for the
weekend? Any of your words?
I mean Spain is always a good place to finish off the season.
I mean they've been doing it nowthey're pretty much with the 1
little hiccup the COVID year. I think they've finished.
Spain is the the capper of the season almost every year for the
last like 20 something years. It's always a great turn out.

(05:16):
It's always a great crowd. I enjoyed every single race, the
practices. I mean, you kind of get that
little bit of an extra enjoymentout of it knowing that now we're
going to go into like the wintermonths and we're not going to
see motorcycle racing for three or four months.
So it's it's a bittersweet ending to the season, but it was
a good, good event, man. The turn out was amazing.

(05:37):
Like it's been in a lot of otherevents.
The racing was fun, like it was tight.
It was good. There was a lot of things that
happened, so even though like some of the bigger names maybe
weren't racing Marquez and so forth, it's still a great
weekend, man. You know, I was surprised at the
turn out the attendance. I mean it was packed, but it

(05:58):
sounded like it was in a hundred100,000, not like the 250 close
to 300 of these other tracks, isit?
I mean, does does that area of Spain need to, you know,
commandeer some more land? No, I don't know if it's, I
don't know if it's so much the, I mean, the one thing with that
track is that track is kind of built like a stadium because the

(06:21):
tracks in the middle and there'sgrandstands around it.
Whereas other tracks kind of like the infield will go out to
an outfield and come back to theinfield.
It's all like in a stadium there.
So it's a very unique layout fora, for a race track.
Cause anywhere you sit, you can kind of see the entire track.
It's it's so it is a little bit smaller a venue, but it's also,

(06:42):
you know, it's the end of the year.
I think it makes it special to have that like arena type feel.
Right, Yeah, No, I I agree with the with the grandstand.
It does. I I saw that over the weekend as
when they were pan in the crowd and stuff like that.
And and I didn't know the complete layout as as you
explained it, but I thought I was like, oh wow, there's a

(07:03):
whole row of stands in that one section where at other tracks
you don't see that. And I'll say this, I mean it is
and you know, I don't know aboutTJ.
It is one of my favorite tracks on ride game and it's one of the
few tracks like I know all the turns.
It's like like you know, Mojelo and these other places.
I know some of the turns and stuff like that.
But it's one of the few tracks because it's a smaller track,

(07:25):
one of the reasons I believe. But it's also a fun track to go
around on and it is tight. So I can see why Yamaha was
quick at at that track. What are your thoughts on on on
the layout of the track and and TJ, do you agree with, you know,
is that one of your favorite tracks as well now?
So like it on a Moto GP game? I mean, yeah, I consider it's

(07:45):
one of my a favorite track of mine.
You know, everyone likes Majelloand all those faster tracks
where you can really get on the gas, but it's more technical
track, small layout, and I thinkit's pretty smooth that I like
Valencia. You know, it's just like you
said, the stands is really nice where wherever you sit, like

(08:07):
when they pan it out, you can see different turns from afar
and don't have to be like, you know, for instance, let's say
Coda where it's like you don't hear the bikes for a couple
minutes because they're so far away.
And you know, I just, I just think the layout's pretty,
pretty neat. It's pretty unique and it's cool
try because it takes what, a minute and a half roughly to get

(08:30):
around. And so you see the the
entertainment, you know, pass bylike, you know, fastest.
Yeah, it's the NJMP of the. I, I, I agree it is, it is
definitely that, that kind of track.
So you know, it's it's it's I don't even I'm I'm going to be

(08:52):
jumping all over the place probably a little bit tonight
because but we'll talk about therace first, the Sprint race, the
qualifying, you know, I guess let's let's let's talk about bag
night before Reese get on. So that way we can say we're
we're already done, you know, the beginning of the season, you

(09:14):
know, Bagnay's words, per Lewis keeps reminding us throughout
the whole season. So he finished fifth overall.
He didn't come there for that. Does he get a pass this round?
Running out of gas can't be his fault, right?
Getting punted off the the trackcan't be his fault out of out of

(09:37):
22 rounds this round does the man get a pass and just you
know, he was he standing too close to Oliveira?
What are your thoughts, TJ? He don't get a pass.
You know what this is, this is the cherry on top, you know, So

(09:57):
for all the problems that he had, like it's just sucks the
way it ended. Like it's just it just makes
sense. It's just he had a terrible
year. And this is just the cherry on
top. You can't mess around in the
back if you're a faster writer, you know, like, obviously you
can't control what Zarko did either, you know, But you know,

(10:18):
it's just a cherry on top. I, I, I don't, I don't think he
gets a pass. It's just he ran out.
In Q in Q2, he ran out of gas inQ2, So he was on A possibly
going to make it to, I'm sorry, Q1 he was possibly going to make
it to Q2 but ran out of gas withthree minutes.
So maybe his engineers was like,I don't know how the hell are we

(10:41):
going to make Peg go faster? Maybe just lighten his back up,
give him some less gas, like seeif he can get a faster lap and
then he know he just probably continued and ran out of gas.
It just I don't know, they probably try to help him out of
the way. So I don't, I don't think he
gets passed, but it's just interesting how it laid out, you
know, with him running out of gas and then even in in the GP

(11:03):
race, he hit three corners and, and it's just, it's just sad.
I know he's glad for this seasonto be over.
Man, I, I think his fans are andI think he is, although, you
know, what are you going to talkabout this offseason, Lewis?
How do you what do you thought I'm.

(11:24):
Actually sad the season is over because now it's three months
where I don't get to bang on himall the time.
For me. I mean, I'll start again next
year. I'm sure he'll pick up when he
left off. But we we we can complain about
him not walking his dog enough. Yeah, yeah, we can find
something. There's always some the the the
fuel thing. Anybody will tell you when

(11:46):
they're going out for qualifying.
They only put so much fuel for so many laps because they're
going to not going to fill the tank because they don't want to
add the extra weight and they set the bike up for the weight
of the bike with that type of fuel capacity.
Now, did they send him out and he stayed out for an extra lap
that he shouldn't have? Did he burn some gas on the

(12:08):
first lap that he shouldn't have?
You know, like there's a lot of dynamics there.
I mean you just have to be that half a liter short and now you
don't get a row 3. Minutes 3 minutes left. 3
minutes left. 3 minutes left is.'Cause he did it, he he did pit.
I mean, if you think about it, Imean, they should have, they
should have put a little big assin, but then, but then again,

(12:30):
for a tire change, a tire changeis fast.
And remember, these guys don't pit.
So it's not like they have speedcams where they just pump it and
go. It's a different dynamic.
If you're a endurance racer, you've got an endurance tank.
If you're a regular racer, you know, you get the little funnel
out, you measure out exactly theamount.
Like it's a different dynamic than that.

(12:50):
And I don't know what the fueling procedure is or what the
rules are, but I think in GP to fuel your bike has to be in your
garage. You can't fuel outside your
garage. So he would have to bought the
bike into the garage, added fuel, turn it around, get it
back. Like, so again, somebody
somewhere screwed up and their measurement was off by like, you
know, maybe 20% of a liter or something.

(13:14):
And that's why he ran out of gas.
But for me, this is just the culmination of what might be the
worst season of his career to this point.
I mean, I don't think it can getany worse than this.
So this weekend was just exactlywhat you know what man said.
It was the cherry on top of a shit sandwich.
Like this was as bad as this wasas bad as the season could get.

(13:35):
And it's like, think there's your cherry.
But the one thing I say, though,that has always been a knock on
him and will always be a knock on him.
I hate the fact that he goes down and he just walks away from
the bike. He does not.
I don't ever see him making an attempt to pick the bike up and
even get one point. And I'm sorry, but if I it could

(13:57):
be the last race of the season, you could be out of the points.
I still expect you to go back tothat bike, pick that bike up and
try to finish and get that one point.
Right. And that, that, that.
Shows me he's got no dog in him.Like there's no dog in that
fight. Like if you bike, if you bike
crashes, if your bike goes down,it's a low side.

(14:18):
It's not tumbling and doing a Cirque du Soleil and the swing
arm doesn't come flying off. I want you to at least make an
attempt to run back to the bike and look to see if you can get
on and finish. I don't care if you finish last,
man. I paid for the gas, I paid for
the tires. I paid for you to ride that
bike, pick that bike up and finish.
Right. Well, you know, he, he got to
keep himself right for he wasn'tgoing to gain any points and

(14:39):
they got testing coming up. Yeah, but he doesn't just do
this now, man. He's done it during the whole
season. We can go back and like the
first time he DNF, Ed, I guarantee you he didn't even try
to look at the bike. And you look at Marquez, he's
ahead in the points, my man crashes, holds it on to the
handlebars, tries to get the bike up and giggle.

(15:00):
And he's the one that really doesn't need to do it.
He's 100 points ahead of everybody else.
But he does it. Why?
Because he doesn't know any other way to ride.
Maybe husband dies and he look at the bike and he can see all
right, something's broken. You don't.
Even look back, he stands up andwalks away before he looks at
the. Bike he did.
He did, he did look, he did lookback because the marshals had

(15:21):
the bike up and he and then he, he turned, he walked away from
the bike. He did walk away from the bike.
He didn't pick the bike up though.
He didn't. Pick the bike up.
He didn't. Pick the bike up, but he.
Did I felt like he he could haverode through that, that Kitty,
but after if he was in first place or if it was the
championship year and he messed up like that, he would have
found a way to save and not justfall it.
I know the Kitty lit his deep, but he would have found a way to

(15:43):
stay up somehow like like Lewis said to at least get one point.
Like he just kind of just gave it up.
And I didn't really look at it that way where when he crashes,
kind of just says whatever. Like there's a lot of riders who
crash and still, still jump backin the race.
Jawan Meer's done it. Zarko's done it.
Like so many riders have just crashed in and you think they're

(16:06):
out and they finish what last throws?
They're going to last it. Yeah, yeah.
Or or even they'll jump, continue, and then they'll pit
later in the race because it's like.
You know you. Know they crashed.
You know, crashed and came in 13th place and got a couple
points. Mark Marquez, man, did he need
three or more points to win by 100 and something points this
season? No, but that's just the dog in

(16:27):
him. He's going to get up and he's
going to fight. A lot of riders do that, man.
If you're in this level, I expect you to at least like make
the attempt to go to the bike. Don't just walk away from the
bike like that. Fuck, I'm done.
You know what? I should have been like that and
done and not ask about Pekko at all 'cause you shouldn't.
At least, at least at least, say, here.

(16:49):
Man this would be a 2 hour conversation just on that.
I'm pretty I'm pretty sure he'llhe'll slide something when he
when he comes. But here's a stat, just so you
know, since Marquez won the championship across all
platforms. Zuccotti scored two points in
Moto GP. Marquez has scored zero points

(17:11):
since he won the championship because he got hurt.
Petco has scored zero points since Marquez won the
championship. You know what?
Who scored the two points? Bulaga.
Oh, you mean I'm talking about? Factory Ducati Factory Ducati
Bulaga is the only guy to score a point in the last four races.

(17:33):
Well, yeah, that's because he then I have this written down.
Petco has had five DNFS. So that's that's.
That's not all everybody else's fault.
That's that's easy enough. He had five DNFS and won no
points. Yeah.
So I mean it, it is, it is unfortunate for the situation,
but we'll find out more. Just I won't talk about Bagnaya

(17:55):
in in 2025 season since it's over.
So I guess today's 2026. Agnia sucks the 26 also by the
way. No, let me ask this guys.
OK, so is is is Bizecki the closest rider in the VR46
Academy to Rossi? Reason why I said that besides

(18:18):
Mark Marquez, Bez is the only other rider in modern times to
jump on a new bike, new factory team, new team, new factory team
and finished third in the championship.
Mark did it last year with Grassini for that.
I, I it's been a while. I think Rossi was the first, did
it and won on the Yamaha way back when.

(18:39):
Is he the closest thing to to a Rossi?
Or in the making I should say. Yeah, and I'll possibly say in
the making, you know, there's still a lot of milestones to be
completed, but the Zeki is no slouch.
He has proven himself and this year definitely you got to tip

(19:04):
the hat off to him because you've had no real like teammate
to lean on to get data from is basically you and your
engineering and it trickled downto, you know, the other riders
on a period. So and what he did was he he,
you know, got a couple poles anda lot of wins.

(19:24):
He'd seen his struggles in the end of the year, but he's
definitely the closest I would say in the making to to Rossi.
OK, OK. What are your thoughts, Lewis,
on that, what Bez is doing? You're probably checking my
numbers just to make sure. What I'm saying is I'm fine.

(19:46):
No, no, I'm not. I, I believe you.
I think, I think there's a lot of talent in the VR46 Academy
overall. Like if you look at all the guys
that are part of that program, there's a lot of talent there.
I think this year Bizecki has shown that next step in the
progression of a really good rider from a really good rider

(20:09):
to possibly a great rider. You know, he went from a
competitive, super competitive bike from Ducati.
The big risk to go to a prelate,even though it had shown some
brass flashes of brilliance, it had never been a consistent race
over race front runner, you know.

(20:29):
Asparagus had shown some flashesof brilliance here and there,
but it wasn't ever a consistent thing.
And the Zeki is somehow taking abike at the beginning of the
year wasn't really working for him, adapted his riding style,
worked with the team to make some changes to the bike.
And at that certain point of themidway part of the season, like

(20:51):
he really started coming out right before the midway part and
just started building on building on build on that.
And I think if he stays with Aprilia and they continue to
evolve this package, I think he going into next year, he's
definitely got to be considered one of the favorites to win the
championship, more so than, you know, more so than I would say

(21:13):
Martine right now, because Martine next year is starting
like Bazecki started this year at the beginning of the year.
Like next year is really his first year on the bike.
Bazecki is his second year on the bike.
I I, I, I completely agree, Reese, man.
Welcome to the show, man. What's, what's that?
What's good, man? What's going on, man?

(21:34):
No. I thought I'd be parked by now,
but traffic, but I'm all good. What's going on?
I can't complain, man. I don't know how much of that
you you've heard is, but I repeat it.
Is Bez the closest thing to a Rossi coming out of the VR46
Academy being able to put jumping on a bike for the first

(21:54):
year, be able to finish third inthe championship.
Marquez was the only other riderin modern time that was able to
do that, switching manufacturersand and finishing third in the
championship. Although Lewis, I think he can
hear me. Mark had more points last year
than Bez did this year. But what are your thoughts,
Reese? I mean, the part I heard from

(22:17):
Lewis, I did, I do agree with that.
I do think that him jumping on that bike and he came, he kind
of came into his own after they started, you know, gelling
together and and kind of matching up in the second-half
of the season because he really came came on in the second-half
of the season real strong. So I think that was a good
marriage right there. And I think if he stays with

(22:37):
that package and he and he really goes forward with it, I
really think that he can be a top contender next year being as
far as with the VR46, I think heis one of the strongest coming
out the way he has come come along.
Do I so as far as like a Rossi, I mean, he's he's close.

(23:00):
He's not going to lie, he's damnnear close.
He's right there. I mean, we still got a good way
to go, but he has shown some talent on that bike.
And just like you know what Lewis said with Jorge, I mean,
Jorge is pretty much starting from scratch.
So he's got a long way to go to to develop that bike for him and
match it to his style of riding.Yeah, I, I, I agree with that.

(23:22):
Nice. That's what's up.
Alex Marquez, you know, where would you rank his overall
performance this weekend and also all season, right?
Because I mean, it's pretty impressive.
Where would you rank Alex and what he's been doing this year?
And you know, after the injury, we saw him fall off a little bit

(23:47):
as one wounded from injuries. But he's he finished out the
year as strong as one can come. If you look at all these other
guys that's been injured this year and where they are and in
the standings. What are your thoughts, TJ?
I mean, like I've been saying all year, I never expected Alex
to do what he did. I mean, like, obviously riders

(24:11):
should be improving year by year, But from the year he had
last year, I mean, I know it's the the type of bike, but he had
a hell of a year this year. I'll rate, I'll rate his
performance this year pretty much 10 out of 10.
I mean, I just remember last year when he had that incident
with Petco at Aragon, you know, it was a it was a little battle

(24:34):
of like whose fault it was and Alex would being in the way and
should have let him by. And you know, I feel like he,
you know, he he mentally knew that he was just a stronger
rider and a strong rider. He didn't have to back down to
any other one. So this year I think he really
improved it. I think he's a 10 out of 10
performance going into this weekend.

(24:57):
I mean, he did qualify 2nd on the grid, but he got the Sprint.
Think he chose probably the wrong tire package or something
like that on the GP because you know, his pace dropped off or he
just maybe had no energy. But 10 out of 10, I'll say for
Alex. You know, Alex did mention in
the the win in the Sprint sayingthat you know, he know he could

(25:21):
be faster on Sunday. He didn't back up his words.
TJ, you know you, you're going to blame it on tires.
I mean, I mean, you know, he he should know better, like how to
manage a Sprint to AGP racing. I'm sure they all been to
Valencia before. But you know, I don't know, it's

(25:43):
it's 2244 races. Like, you know, he's he's a no,
he already did what he had to doand all the conferences we've
met and at the end he just probably just wanted to get to
that testament on on Tuesday. So just probably took it easy.
I mean, like even his own teammate overtook him in the
last corner. I know.

(26:05):
So, you know, for him to let letit slip like that, like, you
know, you don't really see that from Alex.
So I think it's the tires. It's nice.
So you know, Lewis, I, I didn't add this when I talked about
Bazecki, because to me, Bazecki's, even though he
finished third in the championship, he's really #2
because he, he kind of just started out slow and just kind

(26:26):
of made an upward progression where Alex finished second in
the championship, but he's slipping and sliding.
What are your thoughts on, on, on Alex's performance overall?
And, and this this weekend, you think like TJ said, like like I
said, he, he did. They just made the wrong choice
on, on, on Sunday with tires. Or maybe he's, you know, the,

(26:47):
the, was it the, the, the silver?
What is it? The silver bullet, not bullet
slip. What is that I had today?
I'll, I'll get it. What are your thoughts?
No, I think Bazecki and and Marquez are, I mean Alex
Marquez, obviously. I think they are different sides
of the same coin. Whereas Marquez started the

(27:08):
season very, very strong and Bazecki struggled.
Just as Marquez started or Alex started to struggle, Bazecki
started to come on. So it's almost like at the end
of the year, they balance each other out.
If Bizek had started just a little bit better, he'd probably
be second in the championship, not third.

(27:30):
But I think on Saturday that theteams, Nah, they're not going.
But I think the team just made areally bad decision on the
tires. You know, you, there was a, you
could see with like 6 or 7 laps left, he was already starting to
have some problems when the camera would focus on him.
And I think it probably just gotprogressively worse.
And he probably got to a point where he's like, look, I just

(27:52):
got to manage the time I have. I'm not going to catch the three
guys or four guys in the front. And then, you know, we know for
a fact that Al Daguerre is superstrong when the tires drop, Like
he's one of the fastest riders as the tires get worse.
And so when, you know, when Al Daguerre was there within like a
second and a half, two seconds, I was like, yeah, he this is

(28:14):
going to, this isn't going to end well for Alex because that
kids got that kids got nothing but pissing vinegar running
through his veins, man. He just wants to do whatever he
can do. So good for him, man.
I, I'm super stoked for him. But Alex did what he needed to
do, brought it home. They're going to start testing
and from there, you know, we'll see what happens next year.

(28:36):
I, you know, I hear so many different things of what
Ducati's doing for next year or what their new bike is going to
be. So we'll see.
Hopefully they can do something because I, I know outside of the
Grisini team, I mean the Grisiniteam has outperformed the
factory team a lot more in the second-half of the year than
anybody would have expected. What if we're going to we're

(28:56):
going to talk about that. So definitely hold on to that.
Silver Surfer is what they were going for with Alex Marquez and
the and the. That's funny because in the, in
the in the post race little chatthe three riders have they were
they were asking each other why is he in silver?

(29:18):
And they speculate always because you get silver for being
in second place. And they told Bazecki, Oh, maybe
you, you should be in bronze. Yeah, see, I got to.
I got to learn Spanish and Italian you get.
You get all the scoop. You get all the scoop when you
know the language, man. So that's what that's what
Acosta had told. Like Bazeki had asked why he's

(29:41):
in silver. And Acosta said, oh, I think
it's because silver is what you get for the medal in second
place. And then Acosta told them all,
you know, Bazeki, you should have had a bronze suit.
And he was like, Nah, Nah, Nah. I just got engaged.
I'm good. No bronze suits.

(30:01):
What's going on, Reese, what areyour thoughts on Alex Marquez?
Maybe it was the outfit slowed him down how he did this season
despite the injuries and everything, I mean, and despite
the 6th place on on Sunday, because at the end of the day,
he still solidified second in the overall championship.
So he gets a nice check. Right.

(30:23):
I mean, he still solidified second overall.
He still gets, as you know, we saying all the time, you can
still get a a big check. There's a big difference from
2nd to 3rd. So I mean, he still gets a nice
check. I mean, in the second-half of
the season you you could see that he was kind of more spotty.
He was on, off, on off. And you know, like everyone else
said, I mean, I disagree with everybody.

(30:45):
I agree with everyone. It's just they just made a bad
tired choice coming up here in the in the GP.
Like you could just see he was struggling and just trying to
pretty much limp at home and just trying to do the best he
can. But I, I think if, but it's like
it's, you know, if Izecki would have had the same amount of
success as he did in the second-half all the way through,

(31:06):
we would have a different conversation right about now in
second place. So overall, I think Mark Alex
did a great job. It's just to see if he can
actually continue that success with the new GP with the 26th
that he's going to get since he will now be on a factory bike.

(31:28):
And he also said, you know, withthe factory bike, he does have
to show that he's worth it. So I mean, he's got a lot of
work to prove and a lot of stuffto deal with.
So we'll see what he can he can continue that success next year.
Yeah, I agree. He does have a lot to show and
you know, he he he got by in 24,but he definitely earned his

(31:49):
keep in 25. So that's that's pretty
impressive. The awards ship banquet was last
night. If there was an award to be
given for what Pedro did this season on the KTM, with all
their woes and all the in house stuff and external stuff, on
track stuff, what would you callthat award?

(32:12):
Let's start with DJ. Yeah.
I mean shit, I mean, I don't even know.
I don't even know what I would call that award like.
But what? What, what?
He might not have a name for it,but how would you describe what

(32:35):
he did this year? I mean, like, I mean, he, he,
he, he put in a lot of work he did, he put in a lot of effort.
But when things went wrong, his,his, the way he responded to
that. It's just that it wasn't equal.
So gotcha. OK, I mean.
Like, go ahead. I, I, I mean, I, I, like I said,

(32:58):
I'm picking up a word to call the award, but I don't know.
I I kind of want to hear what Lou's got to say.
All right, man, they're throwingit to you.
Lewis got like 10 of them already.
He's like finally what? What kind of award would you
give him? Because see, I was think I I,
you know, T JS holding some, youknow, couple of bad things that

(33:20):
that Acosta did, but overall. To.
Me, I would think, you know, I was thinking like 6 man of the
year if the kind of award because you know that KTM, he
made that KTM what finished fourth in the championship.
Am I? Am I leading the witness?

(33:43):
Your mute is on? Did I do?
That I said really, it's a he should be 5th if Petco didn't
completely fall apart. Just one more dig at Petco 2025.
OK. All right.
And he wouldn't have even finished that far up.
I think Vanyalas would have finished in front of him had
Vanyalas not gotten hurt. So all things given.

(34:06):
I mean he's still in the top 6 let's say, which is really good
considering where some other people on the same bike are.
I mean, I don't know, angry little Spanish guy complaining
until he gets what he wants award.
I don't know what to do something like that.
Like complain to the Austrians, give an award all.

(34:33):
Right. OK.
I, I mean, you know, let's, let's see.
Let's see what Reese got. I mean.
I don't even know. I can't even say.
I'm like just I don't even know how you want to call that award
Spanish award. I don't freaking know.
I'm lost some. I'm with DJ on that one.
I. Mean, you know, he finished.

(34:53):
I'm with DJA. Lot of podiums these last four
rounds. Right in the Coattails Award.
There you go, he wrote vignettes.
Yeah, that, that might be I I agree.
Riding the Coattails Award. OK.
I can agree. All right, all right, riding the
Coattail Awards is what he what he's going to get.
All right, here we go. I I I looked up some, let's say

(35:16):
the Angry Bird award. That that, that that could work
too. So, OK, all right, well, let's
let's say the same question, butwe're going to pose it to Fabio
Cuatararo, cause, you know, he, he did some amazing things in
one lap for that Yamaha. I'm sure he helps some people

(35:39):
keep their Yamaha and probably buy a, a Yamaha if there's an
award for Fabio. What, what, what just is it
Braveheart? I don't know what, what are your
thoughts, TJ? Yeah, Yamaha.
Yeah, you. Said I heard that when Reese
said Reese did something I mean,you got to give it to Fabio,

(36:03):
like Fabio really tries hard, but he's demanding, you know, so
like I would say like, you know,I'm not good off top of here
with like award days, but you know, like you got to give him
to like, you know, little beast or something like that, like Mr.
Mr. aggressive you. Just missed the beast, Mr.

(36:27):
Beast. I mean, he got the he got the
devil on his on his helmet. So like he has that, like you
tell, he has that like aggression.
So all. Right, so he he may need some
holy water. Yeah, maybe.
The devil isn't working all right.
You know, I think you're battingup.
You got one for one right now, Lewis.
We're giving out awards, so there's going to be 1 for Fabio.

(36:50):
He's on a Yamaha, so that might be tough for you, but you know.
Fastest guy in the slowest bike award.
FS. Yeah, fastest bike, slowest
fastest guy in the slowest bike award.
FBSG. Yeah, the Looking Good and

(37:15):
Pearls Award. Yeah, the Pearl Nexus Award,
String of Pearls Award. Oh, man, but I but you know,
this guy, his his his performance this year and is it

(37:38):
a big deal? I mean, is it something that's
kind of like, it's cool but it'sonly, you know, just to talk,
talk, talk about, but it doesn'tmean much overall or it it's
good for Yamaha that they can still get 6 poles this year and
be one of the slowest spikes. It is, but I mean it just you
know, it's another year of it sucks to be Fabio Cuatraro, you

(38:01):
know, like the the most one of the most talented riders that
can't show his talent because hedoesn't have the package to be
competitive. You know, if if you told me to
swap him with Pedro Acosta, I think he would have done better
than Pedro Acosta. If you told me to swap him with
Bagnaya, Ducati factory team would finish one and two.

(38:25):
You know on any other bike this this guy would be winning races
or be be racing for the wind every every single round.
Not racing for the wind once in a blue moon.
So. That's, that's, that's, that's
where I feel, you know, that's where I kind of feel a little
bit of a pity for, for Quadararothat, you know, it you, it's,

(38:48):
it's, it sucks to be on a bike that, you know, you can't do
more with. I mean, at least money being sad
and rich is better than being sad and poor.
And he gets paid well to be sad.But I'm sure he would happily
take the money and some wins andnot just the money.

(39:10):
I agree. What are your thoughts, Reese?
Yeah, Yamaha. So you can't say anything
negative about Yamaha? So is that the the 7th man of
the year award he's getting? No, listen, I'm a Yamaha man,
but I can call bullshit. On that side, I don't know, on

(39:35):
our side, you know, that'd be different.
But all right, that side, man, I'm going to call bullshit.
That was a bullshit award. You know, for the most, like, I
think that's one of them trophies you get, you know, back
in the day when you just do participation award, that was
that award for him. Like he's shit.
That's the award I'm going to give him because I mean, yeah,

(39:56):
he got podiums and and you know,it's great, but it's just like
it was just. You you pretty much riding over
your head, like you're riding over your head luck of the draw.
And it's just like, it's that was just bad, you know, And then
they're like, what D tier? I think I look there and like
the D tier level for consistence.
Like, that's just ridiculous. Right.

(40:19):
Yeah, let's talk about. Well, well, I'll say this when
we talk about Ducati because I know Lewis have some things to
say. So you know, in 2025, Ducati
finished 8th overall with six bikes, right?
In the top eight overall. In 2524, I think they were like

(40:40):
11th overall with eight riders in 23.
I think they were like 12th overall with eight riders or
something like that. So this is the best season
they've had, you know, in the last three years, probably the
whole since they've been in MotoGP period.
So how do you guys rate Ducati and what they're doing?
Even though we see the struggles, Peko finishing in

(41:01):
5th, but there's only two bikes that finished in the top eight.
One was the KTM, one was in Aprilia.
Is this something for Ducati to celebrate or should they should,
or should they look to improve even more?
Obviously they're going to look to improve.

(41:22):
But they, you know, there's six bikes and only one can be one,
right? And so they, they're, they're,
they're taking the 1st 8 spots. What are your thoughts, TJ?
Oh, I got something for that bullshit.
Got you. Well, let's let's let's get into
Reese and let let's let Reese sounds like he's he's ready to
go. So sorry to cut you off, TJ, but
you know, he, he, he, he's also just came on the show.

(41:44):
No y'all good I mean I listen onthat note it's a damn Ducati
show like to look to improve what you going to improve on
like you know 66 bikes that's just insane.
You know in the top ten you knowcome on so there's nothing top
eight sorry oh sorry top 8 that's even worse.
So there's nothing really to improve.

(42:04):
You're at the top of the game. Didn't.
If. Watch them go down the front
straight away. They're blitzing everybody.
They're just just destroying bikes.
So it's at the point on what canyou really improve, You know, I
mean, maybe you can improve a little bit more on on tire wear,
but as far as performance, I mean, you're already there.

(42:24):
Is it like top racks? That is a damn Ducati cup.
You know, if it wasn't for KTM or even Aprilia, Like I can't
even count the Yamaha boys on that side.
But it's just in the middle. Ducati cup all the way.
It's literally that's all it is.Like, yeah, TJ, what are your

(42:45):
thoughts? I'm not complaining.
I like Ducatis. Yeah, we know.
Yamaha I like to ATMs. I have two weeks.
I mean, no, I mean I agree with Reese.
Like what? What can they prove on?
I felt like last year when they had eight bikes, I thought it
was a little ridiculous and I wanted, it was a little
interesting to see like you expected all Ducatis to win.

(43:07):
There was a lot of races where it was just one through 5 Ducati
and then you know, the Ducati lovers won't see it as being
boring. But I'm just like, I want to see
another manufacturer, you know, be more competitive.
And for them having this year being their best year, I can't
really, you can give it to them,but like at the end of the day,

(43:28):
they have a superstar rider thatyou see Boo.
Everyone will wave a points. So if Mark wasn't there, you
know, it'll be a different story.
I think they need to worry abouthow to get their rider riders to
improve better like TECO, you know, going through tough times
to to stay on top like like reset.

(43:48):
They have to, you know, the bestmachine where you know, they can
go down the straightaway and just beat everybody and, and
they've been improving every year, coming up with new
aerodynamics before anyone else has it and and stuff like that.
So they've always been at the top of the game.
So I don't see the bike needs toimprove much, but they can keep

(44:09):
their riders on the same level, that's all.
The only thing I disagree with you is is, you know, only Ducati
guys like like the, the, the dominance that's happening.
You know, the Patriots and the Celtics, man, come on, man.
I mean, you know, like how you. Weren't sick for the. 1st after
the first 3. No, yeah, no, I feel you on

(44:30):
that. You know, like, you know, you
want to see your, your, your brand win and continue.
Like everyone likes dominance, but I was more sane with having
eight bikes, you know, so like or 6 bikes and, and saying
you're dominant, it's, it's like, yeah, you have all the
bikes where you can, you have the better advantage, but you

(44:53):
still got to go out there and doit instead of racing at the end
of the day. And I was just saying this year
a lot of BS happened with a championship writer.
Didn't look like a championship champion.
Yeah, no doubt. Louis, what are your thoughts,
man? On on Ducati and, and and what
they're doing. And you know, Ducati should be

(45:14):
in, should be everywhere, right?I mean, I give them, I give them
credit for this. And I've said this before, it's
not the first time. They are the only manufacturer
or one of the few manufacturers that's still actively investing
in the sport bike market in a big way.
You know, we've spoken about it before where the Japanese

(45:34):
manufacturers don't have their foot, if I'm the gas at all,
barely on the gas. Whereas Ducati and BMW, you
know, they have their foot 100% on the gas.
I mean, they're investing heavily.
They want to do big things. They want to take that mentality
of when on Sunday and buy on Monday.
And that's kind of been their better bread and butter for

(45:55):
years in this industry. They had a little bit of a rough
patch there when they first introduced the Panigale.
They didn't win championship fora long time anywhere.
They evolved the GP bike, they evolved the Penegale, they went
to the V4, you know, they changed things and and they've
turned it around in the last. Realistically, this is only the

(46:16):
last 6-7 years. The Ducati has turned things
around so much. Not that long.
Yeah, because from 2012, when the previous 1199 or 1198 went
away and then the Penegale came into existence, you know, when
the Pentagon came into existence, it came in on the

(46:39):
shoulders of like a bike that had previously won a lot.
And it did Jack shit because it was, you know, it was built more
for AI. Think it was more of an ego trip
to build that bike than the ideaof winning championships with
it. Because they took what they were
doing in Moto GP that wasn't working and they built it into a

(47:02):
street bike that wasn't working.And then after a few years of
swallowing a lot of crow for building a bike that nobody can
seem to win on, they went back and they redesigned the bike.
They went to the V4. They did this, they did that.
They changed all the things. They took the ego out of it and
went back to actually building atrue world class championship
bike, both in Moto GP and a world super bike.

(47:25):
And now, you know, in the last seven years, they've gone back
to dominate and these, you know,at least World Super Bike, they
always were really competitive World Super Bike.
But now, for the first time ever, they're really dominating
in Moto GP. Right.
I would say they they replace ego with electronics.
No, no, they. It's the electronics is what
makes that bike rideable. They raise ego with engineering

(47:48):
that works, you know, because remember the previous Moto GP
bike, what did they do? They connected the swing arm
directly to the motor and said this is a great stress member.
No, it's not A motor is a motor.It's not designed to hold the
swing arm that could put 230 horsepower on the ground.
The bike, the kinds of weird things.
You know, one of the first things, I think one of the best

(48:10):
things that they did is they stole Gigi Delegia from Aprilia.
He probably sitting handily turned that not just their
racing department around, but that entire company around
because was designing or leadingthem in the design of their
bikes before him. It should get fired.

(48:32):
Right, right. Well, they did.
I remember the person that was before Gigi came in and then
they were having trouble when they said when Gigi came in he
scrapped the whole project and redid it from the ground up and
when he redid it he saved Ducati.
Yeah, if like honestly, that hire, nobody thinks that hiring

(48:53):
some guy to manage a race team is going to change your entire
company's fortunes and whatever they're paying him, it ain't
enough it. Ain't enough.
No, it ain't enough. Because every single win that
comes across any checkered line anywhere in the world, Anna
Ducati, they can thank that guy for it and his vis and

(49:14):
everything else all. Right.
We're pretty impressive. Before we move, let's move.
We're going to move off of Ducati, but we got to talk
about, you know, Frankie, is this the icing on the cake for
this guy to not be Moto GP 2027?I love the guy, I love the guy,
but is this the icing on the cake?
Look. He cannot have that much right?

(49:36):
He can't have that much more pressure than Pekka.
Like both of them are frustratedbut Jesus fucking Christ I both
of them need to icing on the cake and just be like all right,
time to move on. I've I've never, I've never seen
a rider that has problems in other places like like, you
know, been racing. I mean, I know this was racing,

(49:56):
but like, like how you need to answer the grid and stuff like
that. Like you, you don't even give
yourself a chance sometimes, youknow, like he does certain
things where he just just cause himself to get a penalty or he
gets himself in trouble. And yeah, it's just I didn't
understand what happened. Like you, you think that
happened in lower class? Like, like he fell asleep.

(50:19):
I mean, I don't know. I'll.
Say this, he did not expect whatchamacallit to do what he
did, how he engaged the the the the ride height device for the
stairs. Because you can see like once he
once he once he did the endo, you can see Frankie try to avoid
him like instantly, but it was already too late.

(50:40):
And if he and if he didn't, if the bike didn't come off the
ground, he would have cleared them if the bike was on the
ground. But I know that when all the
bikes get on the grid, they haveto do it in building to engage
their right hand device. They usually do they.
Usually do it before I think oh hey Martinez is one of the only
guy that kind of does what what Elise did.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, they were like

(51:01):
literally legit in their positions.
So like, I don't know, it was kind of, it was kind of
unfortunate for him. It sucked.
I mean, yeah, it's a freak accident, but it's just it only
matches up to Frankie like it happens to have.
So do you, do you, do you think he, he, he, he lost his seat in
20? Well, there's no seat because
there's no contract. But is this the thing that kind

(51:21):
of say? All right man, let's find
someone else. Yeah, man.
Well, he's on the training block.
That's what you call it. Like he's like there's a rider
that can show some talent and show some light.
Like, all right, we got a spot that can fill over Jelly
already. No, I yeah, I feel your Reese.
What are your thoughts, man? I, I, I feel like this is the

(51:41):
thing that like, for me, like, Imean, I love the guy and I've
been rooting for him for forever, but it's just like, you
know, like stop shooting yourself in the foot.
I mean, you're on the chopping blocks, man.
That that's we're, we're at a professional level, at a high

(52:03):
end level and you come into the grid and you do some dumb shit
like that, You know, I mean, it's like, what, what were you
thinking? Like it's like that was like the
most rookiest mistake I've ever seen.
It's like you almost fell asleepbehind the bars.
You know, I'm just like, what? What were you thinking?
So I mean, unless, unless he canactually turn, you know, next

(52:23):
year around because he's alreadysigned his contract for next
year. So he's already on the seat, you
know, unless he turns it completely around And just I
mean, I want to say top three dominated, just being the top
three all the time. I mean, he's going to get
chopped. There's just too many penalties,
man. There's too many, There's too
many simple mistakes that you make, like the penalties, the

(52:45):
points and the the ride throughsor the the double long lap
penalty, the long lap penalty, however you want, whatever it
is, you know, it's just too muchof it for, you know, it's like
at the end of the day, yeah, you're a great right.
You know, you're 1 of Rossi's boys and you know, you come from
VR46 camp. But at the end of the day,

(53:05):
Rossi's running a business. He's running a business and he's
not here for, you know, as some people would say, they're not
here for charity. They're, you know, we're here to
win or try to do something and, you know, not doing anything.
And that's just hurting the team.
And, and he finished, you know, 7th in the championship with all
the antics and stuff that happened with him.
I mean, imagine if this guy justhad a clean season, he could

(53:29):
have possibly been maybe third or fourth in the championship
because he had some races or some opportunities to to finish
strong and races where he just did bonehead stuff or had a lot
of long life penalties and stufflike that.
We get thoughts, Lewis. I mean, we tearing up the
contract early. No, man, I mean I if anything,
you know, so he's got next year to to to clear his head and get

(53:52):
his head out of out of his ass and prove himself because I from
my understanding him and the JanAntonio are both only on a one
year contract. Yeah.
Next year, yeah. So it's really going to be a
fight between those two. Who stays in the seat and he
needs to just, you know, put hishead down, focus and just out

(54:14):
ride his teammate 1st and then try to do the best he can after
that. You know, I know that, you know,
within the team, people really like him.
You know, he's a, he's a nice guy to be around and everything
else. He's not as much of A of a issue
inside the garage. He's not somebody that, you
know, rants and raves and throwsstuff and yells and screams.

(54:34):
So, you know, so teams tend to take that into consideration
too, because I mean, there's a lot of riders that don't have
rides and a lot of that has to do with their attitude.
So if he has the right attitude,if he comes in, he's he, you
know, comes in in the best shapeof his life, super focused and
does what he can do, he'll probably salvage that.
But if he is not riding at a potential that they think that

(54:57):
him and the bike should be at, if his teammate out rides him,
then he's going to be out of a ride, man.
He's going to be looking for someplace else to, you know, to
hang his hat. Unfortunately.
I like him a lot too, man. I, you know, I think he's a,
he's a good character to have. He's that, you know, that one
character. I mean, he's the only one in the

(55:17):
entire grid other than the Asians that doesn't come from
Europe. You know, now we have another
Brazilian. So he definitely got to beat
that other Brazilian. Although although these these
Moto GP guys were saying the first Brazilian to win because
Frankie won the Moto 2 title. Yep.

(55:37):
And I mean, I know he's a half, but like, I mean, what are we
saying? He got to be 100% now because
they were, they were should really give, you know, long
spokes. English guys, man, those English
guys don't know nothing. They you know what they think
because they talk in an English accent that they sound so
smarter. They ain't that smart.
Just that English accent makes them sound smart.

(55:59):
That's that, that's that is goodto know, yeah.
Everybody in games with throne had English accents.
They were dumb as shit. Yeah, they were.
I'm messing with my own anyway, but he's he's he's out through
testing because of his hand. So it's not just that he just,
you know, fell on on on a grid, but you know, now he doesn't get

(56:21):
the part to test to tomorrow andor and you know that that's huge
for and I was going to say last year at the beginning of the
season, he was hurt on the Pentagon and preseason right, or
before the season. So he couldn't do a lot of the
preseason testing last year. Earlier this year, I should say,
because he was on Primark last year.
From what I understand, I mean, Ducati's not rolling out a ton

(56:43):
of new changes to the banks. So it's not going to be like,
you know, they're, they're bringing anything new to the
table because it, you know, what's the purpose of putting
millions and millions of dollarsinto a bike that's only going to
be good for one year? So I don't, I don't think
outside of Honda, which is mightbe testing parts that are going

(57:04):
to go to the new bike. That's really most of the
testing that's probably going tohappen is is on packages that
will eventually end up on the 27bike.
I'm pretty sure if you look through the grid next year, a
lot of the bikes that are on thegrid are going to be the 25
bikes with small modifications for 26.
Nobody's dumping a ton of money to try to win the title in 26

(57:25):
knowing that they have to develop an entirely new bike in
27. That's my feeling.
All right, from moving from Frankie to to Jack Miller, he
got a double double long lap penalty.
It was so dropped three positionand then he got along like

(57:47):
penalty because he didn't drop the three position.
Now I didn't see the incident inreal time and he got a lot of
blame in real time. But after watching it, I I can't
see what he did. So is it fair?
Was it a fair penalty to you guys or unfair penalty for what
Jack Miller got? Because it looked like his rear

(58:07):
tired, nudge firm and all the gear's arm and not like he
pushed them off, you know. But he didn't do what Zarko did
to Bagnaya. I mean, I think it was any other
type of recent incident that where someone's trying to pass
someone in the corner. From what I saw, Jack Miller

(58:29):
just dive bombs, you know, to pass, you know, in a corner and
have to be two bites. And Altiger was one of them.
And basically when he died, bombed them, he kind of nicked
Altiger a little bit where it causes Harry to fall off and
stuff like that. But you know, Jack Miller was

(58:50):
told to drop 2 positions or three positions and he didn't.
And I, I mean, I don't know, I don't know if some riders just
say F it and I'm just just take the penalty at the end because
they probably know, you know, like the insurance and outs
where like just a long lap penalty is better than just
slowing down and dropping three positions where you really can't

(59:12):
look back. So.
Well, I mean, he did he, he it'sthe same position he would have
lost when he took the. I think he only lost three
positions when he did the long lap.
So yeah, I mean, I don't know the benefit in all honesty.
I mean, he should have just let the the virus go by.
I mean, it was just been that easy and he he just didn't do

(59:32):
it. So I think that was just the the
argument there was, you know, hedidn't do it in time where and
then the laps that he's supposedto drop the position.
So you know the the stewards hadto get involved.
You. Know you think.
It was fear. Yeah, I mean, yeah, he should've

(59:53):
like, what are you? It was kind of wild.
The passive baby was kind of wild, but you know, it's yeah,
it was fair. Man, you starting to sound like
a politician. I was wondering when you were
going to say yes, no. You know, sometimes, sometimes
they've been making decisions. You'd be like, what?
Like, you know, sometimes they choose to do it like the the

(01:00:16):
next race or you know, it's justnot the the right type of
penalty or double long lap or itshouldn't have been like I don't
know, I guess. Yeah, like, you know, like, like
Martine, for instance. What?
But what are your thoughts, Reese, on, on Jack Miller's
penalty? Is it something that you think
was fair or unfair? I, you know, I, I think it was
kind of unfair personally, but that's me.

(01:00:39):
I mean, the past was kind of hard.
I mean, it almost looked like hekind of dove in there a little
tight and then they kind of bumped real hard.
It's almost like a dive bomb, but it.
How many times does Aldigia doesthat, though?
This whole season? How many times, 10 times has he
done that to people? He has, I mean, he has done it.
I mean, but it was just so that was a little aggressive.

(01:01:01):
I thought that was something coming.
When I saw it, I was like, there's something coming down
the pipeline. So I mean it, it's like a 5050.
I mean, I it's something you could say, yeah, it's kind of
stupid. And then you could kind of say,
yeah, it was kind of harsh. It shouldn't have been done all.
Right. 5050 Louis, are you? I know you saw it clear as day.
You. Know Louis is going to have some
harsh shit to say. No, I'm not going to.

(01:01:23):
I mean, personally, I think to be honest with you, I personally
think that it was right on the razor's edge of a racing
incident and a little more than you should do.
So that it's a decision that would have, could have gone
either way. It's really just how the track
Marshall interpreted it at that moment.

(01:01:46):
Because if you look at it like, yeah, the IT was a pass and it
was a, a, a hard pass, but it wasn't like he completely took
out the gear out. But on the flip side is if
you've got that much pace to pass him and you got to do
something that that sketchy where you are almost sure to

(01:02:08):
make contact with the rider, areyou better off just setting them
up at the next corner and passing them clean?
Rubbing is racing, Lewis. Rubbing.
Is rubbing is racing. But if you rub too much,
somebody's going to come and meet you in the garage and
introduce you to the shadow realm and put you put make you

(01:02:28):
look like Kamar Osman in that one UFC bout.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that is true there.
That is true. It's, it's, it's a little tough,
but Aldiger does of all the writers out there, he's one of
those writers that, you know, he, he, he goes for everything,
even when there's nothing there sometimes.
I mean, that's that's it is racing you, you do have to go

(01:02:49):
for I mean you do have to go forthose gaps when you find them.
And especially I blame this and this is just, I blame a lot of
these hard passes that are happening in the last 2-3 years
or these sketch as on Spanish people and Europeans, mainly
because they're 99% of the of the grid.

(01:03:11):
You know, the Aussie is the onlyone that's not on, you know, one
of the few people that's not from England.
So, you know, I got to give him a little pass.
It's it's on the aerodynamics, man.
You know, the aerodynamics have made it just so difficult to
draft past people cleanly that you have to do these crazy
sketchy passes because you can'tjust out aerodynamics somebody.

(01:03:31):
You can't just outbreak somebody.
You got to outdrive them. You know, between the
aerodynamics and the right height devices and everything
else, they've taken the ability for riders to pass in a
controlled manner away for the most part.
So now riders out of desperationare making more and more of
these like lunges from way back and like, you know, right at the

(01:03:54):
apex, just meet each other. Or, you know, it's I can't wait
for like these arrow packages togo away, especially the arrow
packages that damage the air behind their bike.
And even, you know, listening toBulaga this past weekend, it's
his second weekend in GP, comingfrom World Super Black where
they don't have all these aerodynamics and all these

(01:04:14):
packages. You know, even he has mentioned
in the Italian media that he didn't realize how bad it is to
pass in Moto GP because. It's so hard.
His last experience in the champin the World Championship on
Moto 2, it wasn't like that. You know, it's more or less a
production bike. You don't have dirty air in

(01:04:35):
front of you. You can get up behind somebody,
draft them, catch a little bit of draft.
He said when he would get stuck behind other bikes, he felt no
breeze. He felt like there was no air in
front of him, like he didn't feel that he was actually
gaining on the gas because therewas.
It felt like all the air that was in front of him was like a

(01:04:55):
void. And it's so you couldn't get
really close because as soon as you get close, you start to feel
a lot of turbulence coming from the bike in front of you.
And if you stay far enough of back where you don't have that
turbulence, now you have to makeup that distance again in the
break to try to pass. So as soon as these aerodynamics
go away and these stupid right heights devices go away and a

(01:05:16):
little bit more, the control is back on the riders to make
passes. We'll probably see less of these
bonehead. I mean, we're still going to see
bonehead passes. That's part of racing for as
long as they've been racing. But you'll see less bonehead
passes when that happens and with a when a couple of guys are
no longer in the grid that just like making these bonehead
passes. Anyway, it's just it's racing,

(01:05:40):
man. It was a good weekend.
I got to say Honda, you know, Mayor unfortunately cleaned out
his teammate in the Sprint. That's teamwork, baby.
Exactly. That's teamwork, man.
They want those concessions still.
That's what it. Is I mean.

(01:06:00):
I needed to take out both races,not just one.
Right, that's what I'm saying. They they, they don't want to
make it look obvious. You know you're just doing a.
Spread well, you know, they're they're moving up to C from D,
which is good for Honda. I wasn't sure if Luka was going
to make it. They were very happy.
It's I, I, I, it seemed like thefactory guys are going to be

(01:06:22):
doing less testing and that's a good thing 'cause they move up
to sea. Is that is that a good thing to
be testing less? I mean, I feel like you should
just be on a bike regardless just to keep your your skill
level up. I mean, as far as like going
party testing, I, I, I brought it up before.

(01:06:43):
It's like, I don't you know why they have like the the top right
is testing. Well, I don't know how hard they
go on testing, but you know, just risking yourself to get
hurt before the season starts. So like, I know you want to test
just to feel things out, but like, how hard?
How far do you go with it? But yeah, I think they should
still be involved. But like how much?

(01:07:03):
Got you all right, Lewis, what'syour thought on that?
You know, ride is not going hardin in in testing.
Is is the is the mechanics not going hard in Brent testing
either? What's what's what's the deal?
What are you thinking of Honda and their concession getting
moving to see And also is it is it a benefit when ride when the
factory guys can't get on the has to spend less time on the

(01:07:26):
bike? No, I mean as a rider I want to
spend as much time on the bike as possible.
I want to keep constantly tryingto make advances because I'd
rather do it myself than have a test rider try to make changes
to a bike that they're actually not going to race in.
As the actual guy racing, I wantto be the one working on the
bike, testing and everything. So for me, moving from D to C or

(01:07:50):
C to B makes no sense because you get more to do as AD ranked
concession. You get more tires, you get more
events, you get more actual riders racing on certain tracks.
They can actually race on any GPtrack.
So you can actually go to a track that maybe you struggle

(01:08:12):
with and try to find something at that track.
There's there's other things youcan do and moving from D to C,
like the biggest thing you lose is that private testing is
allowed on any track by the racers.
So you're losing. For me, I think it's you're
losing. One of the best concessions that
the D rank has is your actual riders can actually go and do

(01:08:35):
actual testing on tracks that maybe they struggle and give
actual feedback as to what they need for the bike versus your
test rider goes out there, thinks they're putting together
whatever they have to put together.
And then when it comes to the actual GP riders, they're like,
oh, this doesn't work for me anyway.
You know, I, I think, I think Honda should have had the guy

(01:08:59):
who put the gas in Bagnaya's bike come over and be like, hey,
how much gas goes in these bike and let him fill the tank up for
Luca. There you go recently your
thoughts, man, I don't know whatconcessions are like in the in
in the US and motor America and stuff like that.
But it would seem like, you know, as you hear Louis, Louis
suspension, it would probably make sense for Honda to want to

(01:09:20):
stay with that deconcession so they can get more a testing
happening or be more productive with testing.
I mean, yeah, of course you wantto get as much production as you
can. I mean on the D, on the D side
of it, if you're AD level, I mean you get the free spec, you
get free engines, you get as much testing as you want, you
get to use any GP track as much as you want that you ride on.

(01:09:45):
The riders still get to test, but they only can test on
sanctioned test days, not private test days as at any
time. So that sucks instead of being
where I can test at any time andput more like Lewis said, give
more feedback and set the bike up to where it's rideable and

(01:10:07):
ready for me versus using a testrider and I'm kind of going off
of his nose instead of my own. So as far as you know, what
Honda, I mean, I did just like afootball basketball team I'd
have I'd have tanked just to getto the D level to stay there and
not move up. I mean, now you can't hear you

(01:10:28):
have an engine freeze. You only get, I think it was
instead of 260 test tires, you get 200 tires.
You know, you only get from theminstead of it's man, it's, it's
enough out of the state at the Dlevel just to get the
concessions. The American is it's not, it's

(01:10:49):
not as integer, not as technicalas that.
I mean, we do have concessions, but not nearly what the GP guys
go through. Got you.
OK. So what's up before we get out
of here? Who's going to be Rookie of the
Year next year, Top Rock or Diego?
Top rack. That's kind of the silliest

(01:11:10):
question. No, man.
Come on man, not silly at all. You didn't hear, You didn't
hear. You didn't hear what about them
yet, did you? What?
Who had? Ones on the Honda, ones on in
your mind so. I mean.
I've I've got notes already. I've got notes they said.

(01:11:32):
They said he's took to the bike and taken to how to ride because
you can't. He was like you can't give as
much front brake pressure as he does on the world super bike
stage. You can't do it.
You got to be more a lot smoother.
But he's taken to a very well and he's far more advanced than

(01:11:54):
any rookie has come on the GP stage.
It's it's, it's like a 27 year old going to high school.
I mean, I'm just saying. It's like a 7 foot tall guy
playing junior high school kids in basketball.
They're 5 feet tall. I don't know why he's
dominating. 21 so he does have that age difference experience

(01:12:17):
that you know, it doesn't help. It ain't my fault they took me
late. That's their fault.
Don't, don't kill the messenger.You were ready at 21.
It ain't my. Fault.
Even if, I mean, I think he'll be the the rookie of the year,
but even if he's not the rookie of the year, I think I'm 27,

(01:12:40):
he'll be the most significant rider in 27 just because he's
got so much more history with the tires and with the way the
bike works with those tires. I think that's, you know, people
keep underestimating how significant that change is.
You know, when, when they when they went from, you know,
Bridgestone to Michelin, it wasn't that significant a change

(01:13:02):
because both tires are almost equally as shitty.
I was going to say, but you know.
Yeah, but but, you know, you went from like a really shitty
tire to a somewhat kind of really shitty tire. 2008 man
Rossi loved them. Bridgestone.
So what are you talking? About Yeah, because he was
getting a special. Set right, Right.

(01:13:23):
He's getting a special set for that motherfucker.
He's getting that yellow band. But you know, I think, I think
considering, I think the guys that are going to do very
quickly, the guys that are easily adaptable riders that
know how to adapt riding styles,guys that are hard Breakers are

(01:13:44):
going to benefit more from the Pirelli tires.
So your Marc Marquez's, even your Peklebag 9 is like the guys
that are like super hard on the brakes, they're going to benefit
from the Pirelli's. All the guys that are coming
from Moto 2 are going to benefitfrom Peparelli's because they've
already been racing in the Pirellis.

(01:14:04):
But all these other guys that have only ever known either
Dunlop or Bridgestone, Michelin,those guys are going to have a
little bit of a learning curve to get used to the change there.
So even if he's not the rookie of the year next year, which I
do think he's going to be the rookie of the next year, I think
he will do very, very well in 2027.
I think he'll be a writer to watch in 2027.

(01:14:26):
And I don't think he'll stay on that satellite team much longer
because if things don't change, I think there's going to be
spots available at the factory level with Yamaha, right?
Right with quarter hour going toAprilia.
And and Sideshow Bob. Oh yeah, that's true.
What are your thoughts, P PJ on on who's going to be a rookie of

(01:14:47):
the year? I mean, you know, Diego does
know all the GP tracks. So that is a bus where Top Rock
is going to have a learning curve there.
But what do you you don't? You're saying Top Rock?
I mean, I'm not going to say that top rack being on a BMW for
the first time at Koda is still putting down the time that, you

(01:15:09):
know, a lot of people can't do So yeah, I would say.
Yeah. I would say yeah, Top Rock, You
know, he's obviously the the icon right now going into the
season for like everyone wants to see what he would do.
I mean, like, I think that shit is going to be such a good year

(01:15:30):
with him being a rookie and and the rest of the season with mark
kind of repeat. So it's going to be a good year.
But I think, you know, over him and Diego, they've got to be
tough for us. You know, I mean, obviously
Diego is, you know, Moto 2 winning now and going into Moto

(01:15:53):
GP, but I feel like he would be learning the bike more than what
Tom Brock has to learn to start off.
So Tom Brock has an advantage, but who knows what testing they
got going on. Yeah, we've had some rookies
this year coming from Moto 2, been on a podium and even won
races, man. Yeah, so.

(01:16:16):
Got to believe the height. Got to believe the height for
what I see now so. Yeah, that's where it starts.
It always starts with the height.
What do you think? There's only, there's only one
rookie that's that that's won this year.
It's only been Aldiger. Aldiger.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he's just happens to
be on the best bike. You know, Igura came close, but
he didn't he didn't win in the beginning of the season all.

(01:16:40):
Right, we're ready to get that in the system.
Yeah, so at least one. What are your thoughts, Theresa?
You're saying top rack all the way.
I mean, I'm going to give it thetop rack over it, you know, the
next, because just as you said, you got a 27 year old coming in,
you know, the top that he's beenthere for a while.

(01:17:02):
And then you know, he's he's onethat's the rarest breed that's
kind of took coming from stunt riding as his dad.
And you know, he's had so much learning curve from Sir Foglu
and everyone else. So I mean, he's kind of blended
the lines together and he's as you know, as my uncle would say,

(01:17:23):
he's like an anomaly. He's one of the rarest people
you can bring up. He's like one of the back in the
days you call an alien. So I'm I got to give it to the
guy. I got to give it to the top rack
man. He's the wimpy of Moto GP.
Pretty much A7 foot 7 wingspan and seven foot guy.

(01:17:43):
Yeah, that's him. It's.
Not it's not even fun to watch. That's to say it's not fun to
watch Wimby play, but he it is like, you know, the the seven
foot kid on the playground. It is.
It's not. It's like, it's not fun.
So I got to give it to him, man.Hi, no doubt.
Well, we have some things plans for the.

(01:18:04):
You have something to say? No, no.
Just just one last thing about like the ECMA show, because I
was able to go to ECMA, there wasn't actually a lot of new
stuff. Like there were a couple of
innovations. The one thing that everybody
seemed to be talking about was the CF Moto V4SR RRRI.

(01:18:25):
Think it's got like 30 Rs after the S I got to see the bike up
close. It is hideously wide like those
that that aero package in front is not pretty.
When you see it in person it is.That is a big wide wing in the
front. They did keep us about, I want

(01:18:48):
to say 4-5 feet away from it, like it was stanchioned off.
But just from the distance you can see that where it's not 100%
where the European bikes are at in some places it's really,
really close, man. And this is, this bodes well for
two things. You know, China, everybody

(01:19:11):
thinks that everything that comes out of China is cheap.
Not everything, a large majorityis made out of Chineseium and
the ship falls apart. But when they do want to make
something good, they have great engineers, they know how to make
stuff, they have the manufacturing capacity to make
really, really great items. And if this is kind of a glimpse

(01:19:33):
into what they can do as time goes on, I think you're going to
end up seeing more and more CF Moto dealerships or dealers
bringing CF Moto on as a brand because they're able to bring
bikes to the market that aren't just cool and have like great
technology and everything else. But their price point are is

(01:19:54):
very competitive. Yeah, it seems like they're
doing what Ducati's doing, but the low end version.
They're doing the category. They're doing the Walmart
Ducati. Yeah.
Like they're, that's pretty muchwhat they're doing.
Like, we're not Mercedes-Benz, we're Kia.
Yeah. But we're going to make, we're
going to make a really, really good Kia.
It's not a Mercedes. But.

(01:20:17):
I test rode. I test rode the 675 R at at at
CF motor. Works.
Yeah, and when I went to Jersey,I test rode.
Yeah, it's a quick shifter. And it was pretty.
It was pretty nice. I'm not gonna lie.
I mean, like, it's not like whatyou would really expect, but
like, it was solid. I can't lie.

(01:20:38):
It's not refined yet, but again,this is another little kind of
like shot across the bow of the Japanese manufacturers that, you
know, you've got another player in the market.
We're going to make a push to try to get into these because CF
Moto has been expanding in thirdworld countries in like the
larger developing nations because that's bring their bread

(01:21:00):
and butter under 150CC moped scooters and everything.
But if this is kind of, again, aglimpse into what they're
thinking of developing as they go forward, I think it's
significant. One, because we need more
affordable motorcycles that havea little bit more punch.
You know, if I have a choice between buying a $13,000 R 9 or

(01:21:22):
$13,000 CF Moto that's going to outperform an R9, I'm going to
buy ACF Moto. Or if ACF Moto V4 ends up being
$13,000 and my choice is that oran R9, like you know, I'm going
to buy the CF Moto like I'm going to give it the chance.
You'll be in the back of them dance halls in the dark, huh?
Yeah, them big things gotta. Get.

(01:21:45):
You know about that? You just gotta, you know, just
gotta leave before the lights goon, that's all.
That's. It.
Or. You gotta leave.
Yourself in the darkness. You better leave well before the
lights come on, boy. Either actual darkness or
artificial darkness. You just got to get to that

(01:22:06):
point, man. And there is that fine line
between liquor and I'm taking that thing home.
It's called ACF Moto. That's ACF Moto baby.
Yeah, so that that well, yeah, they also have the BMW coming

(01:22:27):
out the F the the 450 adventure bike as well That was there.
That looks to be like a cool parallel twin.
And. Go ahead.
No. So I was tired, but also from
what I've heard and been told, Ihave no loyalty to this brand.
For any of the guys out there that is on that once the ZX14

(01:22:50):
Chowie is not announcing this shit, but this is their last
year for this ZX14. They are not bringing it back no
more. It is done.
Speaking of the bigs. It is done they.
Don't want to compete with the booster no more, I see.
They are not even telling people, they just fully bowing

(01:23:12):
out. So he got tired of paying the
shipping for that big ass bike. For those that want it might
want to go get it. No doubt, no doubt.
Well, guys, I want to thank you for coming on folks out there.
I want to thank you guys for commenting and liking and
subscribing and all doing all that fun stuff.

(01:23:33):
We have some neat stuff to talk about in offseason, so keep it
locked to the show. We're not going anywhere.
Even though Moto GP is not on air, we still have, there's a
lot of things to talk about. So then we keep it locked.
I want to thank Louis coming on TJ Reese.
It's the Be Forever Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45. Peace, peace, peace.