Can Misano Bring Home-Field Advantage to Bezz, Bastianini, and Bagnaia?

We go from the Marquez Brothers' back yard to home turf for Bagnaia and Bezzecchi - will Misano give us more surprises, and more podium challengers? I anazlyze the KTM sale, preview the San Marino GP, and make picks for the race!

The Rundown:

- MotoGP News:
- KTM will be sold in 2026 - what does it mean? And where will Herve Poncharal be?
- Misano! Preview of the San Marino GP
- The Track - similar to Catalunya, but also quite different
- The Favorites - the unexpected rider that could challenge the Marquez brothers
- The Watch List - KTM continues to perform, but can Aprilia catch back up?
- The Hot Seat - yeah...Pecco is there. Can Misano help him recover?
- The Picks! For the Sprint and MotoGP Race

Who do you think will win the SanMarinoGP? Let me know on Facebook or the Motoweek Reddit Sub.

Find all of the latest episodes at Motoweek.net, follow on Bluesky and Instagram – and you can support the show on Patreon!

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot neg It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Willson.
Why Hello, and welcome to motoweek. My name is will Sin.
Thank you so much for listening to the only MotoGP
show on the Internet. That things Tech three getting sold
to Gunthersteiner is a secret plot by Liberty Media just

(00:24):
so they can jumpstart a Netflix show, you know, Ride
to Survive definitely coming to a streaming provider near you. Okay,
maybe not, but probably. I mean a show is very
likely on the way. I just think it's kind of
convenient that it could theoretically just be a spinoff series
with one of their main former F one characters. But

(00:45):
the Tech three sale was confirmed for twenty twenty six,
that longtime team is going to be under new ownership
for next year, and on this episode of the program,
we'll talk a little bit about why that's a big
deal and what that might mean going forward. But the
real reason that we're here is not the Tech three
sale or the fact that Fabio Quatrararo tested a Yamaha

(01:07):
V four this week. Cannot wait to find out what
he has to say about it this weekend, because I
think the reviews are going to be positive, but none
of that is the real reason why we've come together.
Right now, we're here because Moto GP is back in
action again as this latest doubleheader wraps up in the
heart of Italian racing country. So we're going to preview

(01:29):
round sixteen of the twenty twenty five Moto GP World Championship,
the Sam Mariino GP at the World Circuit Marco Simonchelli
at Misano on Italy's beautiful Adriatic Coast. And after a
wild weekend of plot twists and surprises in Catalunya, what's
up next? Is someone else going to be able to

(01:50):
stand up and challenge Mark Marquez this weekend like his
brother Alex did on home turf in Spain. Well, we'll
get to some answers and I'll tell you what I
think right after we talk about this Tech three situation.
And before we get there, let's take care of the
business y stuff. I'd like to take a chance to
invite you over to the website if you've never checked
it out before. You can get all of the latest
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(02:14):
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(02:36):
do that on Patreon at Patreon dot com slash motoweek.
And I never give out the email address, but I
did get an email this week. Somebody was not pleased
with the title that I used for the post race
show from Barcelona. They thought it gave away a little much.
But that's why I post it after the weekend. But
I understand. If you want to complain about something or

(02:58):
tell me anything else, you can always email motoweek USA
at gmail dot com. I can't promise I'm going to
get back right away, but I will definitely read what
you have to say. I'm all right, So let's dive
in to the MotoGP news. We've got one big story.
Actually there are two stories. But I just don't know
enough about Fabio quachurero testing that Yamahavi for to really

(03:22):
have formed a solid opinion on it. Because I don't
know what his solid opinion on it is yet, so
I'm going to be looking very forward to the interviews
over the weekend. I'm sure he will be asked a
lot of times about the test session, about the engine
and how it made the bike feel. Once we know
a little bit more from Fabio, then we can dig
more into that. But what we do absolutely know is

(03:43):
that longtime MotoGP team Tech three is going to be
sold at the end of the year to, of all people,
Gunther Steiner from Formula one. Well, it's kind of being
sold to Gunther Steiner, the former has F one team
boss is actually leading it can sourcium of investors that
are buying Tech three from Harrave Pontrell, who started the

(04:05):
team many, many years ago. We'll talk more about their
history in a second. That group will take over in
twenty twenty six and Steiner will assume the role of CEO. Now,
the important part, at least for me here is that
Harrave Pontreal is not going away completely. He's going to
remain on as a consultant for the team at least

(04:26):
for the time being, which hopefully means that we'll still
be able to enjoy his clever wit and his many
many unfiltered opinions at the track weekend and week out
next year. But one way or the other, this is
a big move because Harave Pontreal has been such an
influential figure in the sport, and not just on the track,
really most of it is off the track. He started

(04:48):
Tech three all the way back in nineteen ninety. They
then expanded into the Premier class in two thousand and one,
and from that time until now, Pontrell's practical, no nonsense
of pro and his pure love of the sport really
helped shape the direction that Moto GP has taken for
both teams and riders, and he was one of the

(05:09):
key players in getting satellite teams not only more respect
on the grid, but he shed light on their value
to help manufacturers develop bikes in addition to just developing riders,
and that led to better and better equipment for satellite
teams to the point where satellite teams eventually started competing

(05:30):
for podiums and winning races, and of course that culminated
last year in the first Moto GP satellite rider to
win a championship with Jorge Martin at Preimak Ducati. Now
it wasn't all just Pontreal. I mean a lot of
credit goes to Dukati and Praymak in that partnership that
they've had forever. Their first deal for current spec equipment
was all the way back in two thousand and seven.

(05:51):
But Pontreal has been such an advocate for giving his
riders quality equipment to learn on and improve with, which
not only helps the riders, helps some manufacturers, but it
helps independent teams too because they don't have the same
level of financial commitment that the factories give to the
official teams. But he stood by that so much that

(06:12):
when Yamaha refused to go with everybody else and start
giving their top satellite team or in this case, their
only satellite team, current factory equipment in twenty eighteen, at
the end of the year, he said, you know what,
I don't care that we've had a partnership for over
fifteen years in the sport. I'm leaving and I'm going
someplace where they do value a satellite team and do

(06:33):
want to develop these riders the right way. And he
walked away from Yamaha for KTM, and that was a
pretty shocking move at the time. We talked about it
on the show. It's amazing to think the show's been
around that long, but it has. But it was one
that worked because it was less than two years after
he made that move to KTM that Tech three got
their first ever Premier Class win. And of course they've

(06:55):
had a long and competitive lower level program, first to
Moto TO and then in Moto III. So longtime team,
longtime owner and Harrive Pontreal is also president of the IRTA,
the International Race Teams Association, which represents all of the
teams in working with the FIM and with Dorina to

(07:16):
negotiate rule changes and things like that. So he's a
pivotal player and has been a pivotal player for a
very long time in the paddock. And now he's not
going to own the team anymore. It set the transfer
over to gunther Steiner in his group. So what on
earth is that going to mean? While I'll be honest,
I don't really know, And I also don't know a

(07:38):
lot about gunther Steiner. I mean outside of the basic information.
You know that he helped hass haf one get started.
That was a big story over here when that happened.
Previously he had been involved with the red Bull LEF
one team. He also helped start up Red Bulls very
short lived NASCAR effort. That was a big story over here,
although not because of Steiner, but because Red Bull was
getting involved in that sport. I know that he was

(08:01):
featured relatively prominently in that Drive to Survive series on Netflix,
although believe it or not, I admittedly haven't watched more
than I think one episode of that series. And that's
strange because you think it would be right at my alley,
and it probably would be if I actually took the
time to sit down and watch it. But then I
know there was some controversy over him being let go

(08:23):
at haas there were different opinions among the fan base,
but that's formula one for you, and the kind of
stuff always happens. But my point here is that I
can't dig in as deeply as I want to what
his immediate impact or near immediate impact on the team
is going to be. But I do have some takeaways
about this deal. Number One, I think it's good that

(08:46):
the team was bought by an investment group led by
a former F one boss, as opposed to just simply
bought by an investment group led by people in suits
and ties with their calculators out. So that's a good
sign that you've got a racer in charge. He's going
to win a race. He's going to want to win.
Number two Guther is obviously very familiar with Liberty Media,

(09:07):
so him buying in right at the start of their
Moto GP era, that to me is a pretty big
sign of confidence that he thinks, based on his experience,
that Liberty is going to do well and that Moto
GP might take off, and so he's investing early while
the price is still potentially lower. Number three Haave Pontoreal

(09:28):
will still be around and that is very very good
for the team. It's very very good for the sport
as a whole. Number four Steiner is bound to bring
an F one mentality to this team. Now there might
not be an F one level budget to match it, right,
but the approach can still be applied to what Tech
three is doing. And I don't think that'll just help

(09:48):
Tech three. I think that'll really kind of trickle over
and help KTM as a whole. And the prime example
of that can be seen over at a Prilia. They
of course brought Massimo Rovola over from F one and
for those who might not be familiar. Rovola was head
of Ferrari's F one driver academy, and they brought him
in basically to shape up the program, make it run
more efficiently and make it more competitive. And at that

(10:10):
point when they hired Massimo Rovola, at that point literally
nobody wanted to ride the bike. And you think I'm exaggerating,
and I'm not. At the end of twenty twenty, which
was the conclusion of a crazy period in the prelious
history where andre Yanoni got suspended, they brought Bradley Smith in.
He was terrible. They needed a rider, and at the

(10:30):
end of twenty twenty they asked everybody, do you want
this empty factory seat, and everybody said no, even Moto
two riders, most notably Joe Roberts. And we talked about
it at the time how that was a mistake, said no,
they had no choice. So probably had no choice but
to take their test rider, Lorenzo Savadori and put him

(10:53):
on the factory bike. That's how crazy things were for
a Prilia. And that wasn't even that long ago, that's
just a handful of years ago. But Vola, who they
brought in, what one or two years prior to that,
he stayed the course, he implemented his system, and now
Aprilia I don't think it's even arguably Aprilia have the
second best bike on the grid, and you can trace
that back to them getting Revola, him walking them through

(11:16):
the process of taking that operation in house, and then
the development level and the performance of the bike came
up as a result. Now I'm not saying I'm definitely
not saying that gunther Steiner will do the same thing
for Tech three. It's a different situation and they're a
satellite team one way or the other. But there are
way worse things that could have happened ownership wise for

(11:37):
those guys. So to get somebody that has extensive F
one experience on a day to day operational level, I
think it should be valuable for Tech three and valuable
for Katam as a whole. So let's see how it goes.
I don't think there'll be any new direction right away,
especially not with Pontreal kind of guiding that team as
a consultant, but eventually heading into the new rule package era,

(12:00):
that's where maybe that F one experience and the constant
development that goes on in that sport in the ever
moving target when it comes to rules and everything. Maybe
that's where that's gonna come into play and where Steiner's
prior experience could have an effect on the rest of
the organization. So it's gonna be very interesting to see
as we head into next year, but especially into twenty
twenty seven, what this ownership change, what kind of effect

(12:22):
it has on Tech three and on KTM as a whole.
All Right, so that's the news story. Now let's move
on to this weekend's race in Misano. And I said
this last week in the pre race show, I love
this doubleheader because it takes us from one of the
big two countries from Moto GP riders to the other.

(12:43):
We started in Spain, We're going to end things in Italy. Now.
In the first half, the Marquez brothers racing at their
home track was so much fun. Alex and Mark gave
us a good dose of drama while splitting those races
in front of their hometown fans. Now we head to
the home of and in some cases quite literally, Marco Bateeci,

(13:03):
anne A Bastienniani and the VR forty six Academy, which
of course encompasses Franco Morbidelli and Peco Bagnaya, the best
Italian riders in the sport, racing at arguably the best
Italian track in the sport. Will one of those guys
step up in Misano and be able to match the
Marquez brothers. Well, we'll talk about riders right after we

(13:25):
talk about where they're racing, the Misano World Circuit, Marco
Simnicelli and this place is interesting for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, it is so Italian. The fans definitely
come out in force, and it doesn't matter, it doesn't
matter if they're really cheering for Bez or Morbidelli or Bagnaya,
they will all be wearing VR forty six yellow. Definitely

(13:49):
a throwback to a prior era, but that's part of
what makes this place so much fun. Strange thing, though,
it was only a couple of years ago that Ducati
really started dominating here, that Misano was a bit of
a free for all. I mean, Yamaha and Honda they
were right there in the mix with the Italian bikes.
That's probably not going to be the case this time around, though.

(14:09):
But the other interesting thing for me, at least about
Misano is. I don't feel like this place is too
dissimilar to what we saw in Catalounya. The Semu and
Chellie circuit isn't particularly long, but it packs a lot
into its four kilometers about two and a half miles,
and it's a mix of technical and deceptively fast, although

(14:31):
what it does manage to do is build in a
larger number of faster sections, if that makes sense. And
that's the main difference between what we saw last weekend
in Barcelona and what we're going to see this weekend
on the Adriatic coast, and it actually is kind of
a nuanced thing, but it makes a big difference in
terms of confidence level and performance for a couple of

(14:52):
the riders that we're going to talk about now. The
first third of this track it's slow and it's twisting,
not stopping go just to test a corner speed. That
also offers several opportunities to pass, especially in the s's
of one two, which again very much like Catalunya, and
then that double apex term four and five. After that
things open up a bit, but not with the traditional

(15:13):
straight This is a gently curved one that puts you
on the left side you break hard into the tightening
hairpin of turn seven. Then we get to the best
part of the circuit, that backstretch that just dog legs
into one after the other curvon A one, curve on
A two, and then three straight right handers of varying
the mid speeds. The braver you are through that curvon

(15:34):
a section, the more speed you can carry. But the
challenge comes at the end of the heck combination because
you've got this very short straight to break as hard
as you possibly can into carro, which is term fourteen.
That's the slowest point on the track, a great opportunity
to dive bomb under somebody for that hard block pass.
And so you combine those two and if you're carrying

(15:57):
that momentum through the apexes of kravon A one, two,
and three, then it puts you in that position to
break underneath in the turn fourteen and make that difficult pass.
And if all of that isn't enough, after you spend
all that time on the right side of the tire,
then they throw a left hander at you. So that's
a little bit like Saxon ring. Saxon ring, of course,
the eppisoite way around, you're doing left, left, left, and

(16:18):
then you get it right here. It's high speed right right, right,
decreasing radius. You break really hard, really tight right turn,
and then they throw that left hander on you and
you've got to be careful not to lose the front
into turn fifteen. And if you've gotten through all of that,
you think, oh, I can cruise to the end. No,
there's another opportunity for a block pass going into the
final corner. So this place offers a few handling sections,

(16:42):
a few mid to high speed edge grip and throttle
control sections, and then some very high speeds. And that's
why we see a variety of winners here, because this
circuit lends itself to a variety of bikes. And fortunately
for us, the weather right now looks like it's going
to be perfect, and so rip level should be good,
and it gives everybody an equal chance to go out

(17:03):
there and try to make something happen. I personally am
very jealous looking at the weather forecast. I want to
be there right now. I don't even think it's going
to be eighty degrees. I think it's going to be
in the high seventies. While they're there, I know it's
like vacation time is screaming at me right now. So
that's where they're racing. Now, let's talk about who might
be leading the way. We'll do this how we normally

(17:25):
do race previews. We'll divide up the riders into three categories,
the favorites, my watch list, and then the riders on
the hot seat. Three riders in each category. We will
take them in championship order, which means, if we're starting
with the favorites, first up is the guy who is
on his way to the twenty twenty five MotoGP World Championship,
our current leader, Mark Marquez. And I'm going to start

(17:48):
this rider preview by saying something very unusual about Mark Marquez,
something I haven't said since. I think May. Yeah, I
think it's May. Mark Marquez comes into this round after
not winning the last race. I know it's scary, right,
It's been so long it's hard to remember what that
feeling is. But that's exactly what's happening heading into this weekend.

(18:11):
All right, So we all know that Mark's winning streak
ended last Sunday in Barcelona, So now the question is
how long is his current losing streak going to last?
I don't think it's going to be very long, and
that's because Mark is pretty darn good here. He's missed
a few races during his injury years, but he still
has five wins and eight podiums. And that sounds odd

(18:37):
because this has been a Ducati track the past couple
of years, and so we don't think of a guy
who was riding a Honda as being so dominant here,
but he was because as I said earlier, it wasn't
always a Ducati track. That is a recent phenomenon. And
then the other reason that I find it kind of
odd is because this track in Cataloonia do share a

(18:57):
couple of characteristics. Like I just pointed out, They've have
those technical sections, they're shorter places, they're both clockwise tracks,
and so you would think that Mark's confidence level would
be the same at both, but that's not the case
at all. Mark is very open about feeling far more
confident in San Marino than he feels in Barcelona, and

(19:17):
that is an example of the nuance associated with having
just a few more sections that are a little bit
faster at one place and another. It just caters more
to Mark's style. Now, he was only third here a
year ago, but that was a year ago on the
Grassini Ducati. We all know that Mark is in the
zone right now. I'm not worried at all about him

(19:39):
losing the winning streak last weekend. He was still plenty
fast and remember that was a quote unquote off track
for him. He feels way more comfortable here. So in
my opinion, Mark is still the rider to beat now.
His brother Alex Marquez definitely going to go out there
and try and beat him. This is another track though,
where he doesn't have a lot of established history. Alex

(20:00):
was sixth here a year ago in the Moto GP race,
and he was also seventh in his rookie year. Now
remember that was his rookie year and he was on
a Honda, so that's like a third or fourth for
any other rider who has experienced now a week ago,
one week ago, him coming into this track, I would
have been a little bit concerned because of his inconsistency
to start off the second half. But after what we

(20:23):
saw in Barcelona, I mean, Alex was back on it
in a big way in the Catalan GP. Yeah, he
blew the sprint by wrecking, but really that was the
best complete weekend of riding. I think we've ever seen
out of Alex Marquez. He squarely beat his brother twice
in a one v one battle, so his confidence right

(20:44):
now is through the roof, and I think that carries over,
especially at a track where Ducati has been so good
the past couple of years. Is he fast enough to
beat his brother again? I don't know about that, but
I didn't think Alex would win last week, So yes,
there's a chance. Even though for me, Mark is the
rider you got to go out there and prove you
can bet I'm right. So the final rider in the

(21:07):
favorites category for me this weekend, I know this is
going to surprise one or two people, but I'm going
with Ane Abastianini, and listen, I know this is coming
a little bit out of left field. It's a rider
that's twelfth in the points, he only has one podium
on the ear and one sprint podium, and he's only
the third best KTM rider on the grid right now,

(21:28):
let alone the third best overall rider. So for him
to be a favorite this week that is that could
be seen as a stretch. But I'm going with him
because he's riding really well right now and he is
excellent in the San Marino GP. Not only is best
he had the defending winner of this race. He's got

(21:50):
five podiums at his home track, including the first two
podiums of his Moto GP career, which came in his
rookie season. And now it's important to point out that
all of that success came on in Dukati. But I
really like how he's riding right now. We went over
this on the Catalounia post race show, but the past
three and a half rounds have seen an A clearly

(22:11):
make a step forward, and really that applies to all
of KTM. It's just that Bestia doesn't have the results
to show for it, but he's essentially had top five
speed through this latest stretch. And then on top of that,
this is his best track and he grew up right
down the road. Even though he's going to be on
the KTM, the fans will be on his side. So

(22:32):
Barcelona was a breakthrough race for him, and the timing
of that breakthrough couldn't have been better. He gets this
big wave of confidence that he can ride into a
place where he's already confident to begin with. So I
think he's got a shot at the podium for sure,
especially on Sunday. Whether he can compete with all of
the marquezes that remains to be seen. But as we

(22:55):
move on from the favorites to the watch list, we're
going to start with an another Italian rider who's from
right down the road in Rimony. But for some reason,
Marco Bidzeki's record here not nearly as good as in
ne Aabastianinis. Bez only has one MotoGP podium and one
sprint podium in his backyard. Both of those came in

(23:17):
twenty twenty three, where he finished second to Jorge Martin
in both of those races. But he's certainly not bad
at this track, even if he doesn't have the record.
The best he does, he hasn't been too far away
from the podium when he hasn't gotten there. Marco was
fifth in the Sunday race last year in the San
Marino GP. He followed that up a couple of weeks later,

(23:38):
finishing fourth in the Amelia Romania GP, which was the
next round. He was fifth in the sprint in that
race as well. But the question mark for Bez as
far as I'm concerned, was last weekend in Barcelona, where
he finally had a bad round after taking us through
that excellent run that covered really the five previous rounds

(24:00):
and seven of the last dight. Because of that, I'm
a little bit cautious about him, but not that much.
I mean, everybody has a bad weekend, right, I certainly
don't think that the speed has suddenly disappeared, and this
is the perfect place for him to re establish that momentum,
you know, in the friendly confines of Misano, the home
fans there and the Aprilia boss is likely in the stands. Actually,

(24:23):
who am I kidding? They're not going to be in
the stands. They'll be in some sort of sweet but
they'll be there to see their stars, Bes and Jorge
Martin go to work. And so I'm going to be
very interested to see how Bitzechi rebounds at a place
where he should feel relatively comfortable. Next up is Pedro Acosta,
and you know we talked about this on the post
race show last week. Yeah, Pedro missed out on the

(24:46):
podium in both races, and because the media kind of
built him up due to his lap time in practice,
it came off in the headlines as kind of a disappointment,
but it wasn't not for me at least, I mean,
Acosta wasn't just fast. It was the fourth straight round
where he had legitimate top four speed. His average finish

(25:11):
over the last four rounds without the hungary sprint because
he was an innocent bystander and that mess with Fabio Couacherraro.
In the rest of the races, across those four rounds,
both Moto GP and sprint, Pedro Acosta's average finish has
been three point one four. And unlike the last time
that I tried to reference pie and was off by

(25:32):
a whole number, that average finish of three point one
four does make me hungry. Blueberry pecan shoefly, Oh shoefly pie.
If you've never had it, you gotta try, but only
but only after a pizza pie first. Can't remember what
we're talking about, Oh, Pedro Costa. We're talking about Patro Costa.
It is three point one four average finish. Now, obviously

(25:55):
he only has one year of premier class experience in
San Marino, but at least that year got him two
rounds at this track where he qualified well. He was
fifth on the grid and both he had good sprints.
Finishes of sixth and fifth. Then he ran into problems
on both Sundays. But prior to that, in twenty twenty three,
he won his last Moto two race at this track,

(26:16):
so he does have some comfort level here already. But
the bigger thing, he's just fast right now and he's
established an excellent run of races. So I'll be watching
to see if a he can keep that speed up,
and more importantly, b see if he can take that
momentum to the next level where he's fighting with at
least one of the Marquez brothers. And I'm looking at

(26:39):
you when I say that, Alex, because he probably won't
be fighting with Mark. And then the final rider on
my watch list for this weekend's race is Iogura, and
that again a little bit of an unusual pick, but
remember I'm not talking necessarily about riders that I think
are gonna muscle their way into a podium position. I'm

(26:59):
looking for riders with interesting stories heading into the weekend,
and Ogurra's season has been the definition of interesting. It
has been a roller coaster. It started surprisingly strong, it
went south really quick. He ended up sitting out three
rounds being injured. Then he came back and it's been
up and down. He just hasn't been able to find

(27:19):
the same mojo he had to start the season until
last weekend in Catalunya, where he wasn't quite as strong
as he was in the season opener at Thailand, but
the results still weren't bad. He was ninth in the
sprint and then sixth in the Moto GP race. On
top of that, I was really good at Misano last year.
He won the sam Ma Reno GP. This is in

(27:42):
Moto two, of course, then he finished fourth in the
Amelia Ramanya GP. And since it usually takes rookies a
good portion of the season to really feel comfortable and
hit that next level of both performance and development on
a Moto GP bike, and we're getting to this final
third of the season, his performance in cat Luna could
be a sign that he's taken that positive turn toward

(28:04):
a really good run to the end of the year.
And Misano is going to be a decent measuring stick
to see which direction Ogura is ultimately going to head
into to carry him into the off season and then
into twenty twenty six. So I think this is a
very important race for Agura. That's what I'm going to
be keeping my eye on him. So let's move on
now to the hot seat. These are a trio of

(28:26):
riders that I think absolutely have to go out and
perform this weekend for a variety of reasons. And we're
going to start this category with somebody who has been
notably absent from the discussion the entire show, especially considering
that we're heading to Italy, and that rider, of course,
is Peco Bagnaia. And I don't have to tell you

(28:48):
why he's dropped down to this category, because he's just
not racing well enough to be in the favorites category.
The results aren't there, and even when he got a
little bit closer to the front in last day's Catalan GP,
Peco himself cautioned us that those results weren't really telling
of how he felt on the bike, and that obviously

(29:10):
is a bit concerning for Pekko Bagnaya to say, hey,
I finished seventh, but I really feel like that's a
good result based on the race I had. That's not
a good space to be for a guy who's a
two time champion, and you know, Moto GP is such
a mental game at times, and the thing that Peco
really needs is something to jumpstart him in the right

(29:32):
direction towards rebuilding that confidence. Now, Dakati obviously aren't going
to be able to drastically change the bike from a
few days ago in Barcelona until now, So the bike
isn't going to be that catalyst, but maybe the track
can be, because Misano is one of his best tracks.
He's got two wins, five career podiums here, including his

(29:54):
first ever Moto GP podium back in twenty twenty, and
that was a wild story. It was his first race
back after breaking his right leg. He had sat out
I think three rounds, three or four rounds, comes back
and gets on the podium right. He's also scored podiums
in all three sprints that have ever been run here,
including a victory on Saturday last season. So if there

(30:14):
is a track where Bagnaya can rebound, even if it's
just temporarily, even if it's just for one weekend, this
is it and he needs to. He really needs that
confidence boost, so we'll see if he can do it.
The next rudder I want to discuss is Franco Morbidelli, who,
like Marco Bitzeki, didn't have a good run at all

(30:36):
in Barcelona, although it was really a series of bad
luck events that put him in that position to not
have good results. But the round before Hungary, Frankie had
gotten back to that pre injury level of production that
we had come to expect out of him this season.
Now he comes to VR forty six is home track
where he scored his first ever Moto GP win in

(30:57):
twenty twenty. He was third in the sprint last year
and fifth in the Amelia Romania GP on Sunday, and
after that unusual weekend in Barcelona where I really feel
like the speed was there, it was just made a
dumb mistake in one race and then he paid the
price for it in the other. I think that Frankie
needs a strong rebound and this is home term for

(31:18):
him as a VR forty six Academy rider, and so
I think that at a place where he's capable that
and he feels comfortable that he could rebound here. Although
his record isn't nearly as strong as the final rider
on our hot seat list, everybody's got a good record
in this bottom category, and that rider is Jorge Martin,

(31:39):
who has been one of the best riders in the sport.
At Misano the past two years with speed the match
Pecos in the sam Marino GP, the Martin Nader was
double first. In twenty twenty three he won the twenty
twenty four sprint before wrecking out of second in the
Modal GP race, and then in last year's Amelia Romania
GP he was double second. So lots of success in

(32:03):
a very short amount of time. That's solved very very
recent now that was on the Ducati, but it establishes
that we know that he's fast here, and of course
we know that Aprilia has been fast themselves the second
half of the season. Now, Martin's results since he's returned
to the RSGP, they've been a little bit all over

(32:24):
the place. Most of that seems to be tied to
his qualifying position, which has also been all over the place.
Perfect example, last week in Barcelona, he was seventeenth on
the grid and that really painted him into a corner
that guaranteed he was going to have a less than
stellar weekend, because he actually salvaged a good result on

(32:44):
Sunday in the Modo GP race. Just he started so
far back, but he was able to pass people. There
was more consistency to his lap times even though the
fall off at the end of the race was a
little bit steep, the lap times weren't going up and
down and up and down like we saw in the
past couple of rounds, and so once he can get
up to a decent spot, he can maintain his gap

(33:07):
to leaders and not lose a whole lot. So he
just has to qualify better on Saturday and he's going
to be in a much better position to be competitive.
And of course, with the way that Bez has been
riding really ever since the British GP, I expect to
see some more substantive results out of Joorge Martin soon.
I mean, I know these aren't exact equivalencies because of

(33:29):
their situation and preseason leading up the regular season, but
Martine is going to be five rounds into his second
chance at inn A Privia Journey this weekend, and it
only took Marco Bozeki seven rounds to get his first win.
And with Martin's sheer level of talent, I think it
is about time for him to take at least a

(33:50):
step forward towards getting into the top five, and he's
certainly capable of that. I really, really, I think comes
down to Saturday in qualifying. All right, So with that
being said, we're with the riders. There's only one more
item of business to take care of, and that is
for me to try to make picks, which I will do,
although likely fail miserably, but here we go. We'll do

(34:12):
the top three for the sprint and then the top
five for the Moto GP race on Saturday. In the
sprint and third, I'm gonna go with anne A Bastianini
because outside of Alex Marquez, I don't think anybody has
more confidence right now than Bestia does, and he's coming
into his home track where he's been so good in
the past. I like him to challenge for a podium,

(34:32):
so I'll pick him third and second, right back where
you expect him to be. Alex Marquez. The speed return
last weekend and the consistency with that speed, so he's
been so good on Saturdays that I like his chances,
and your winner in the sprint, I gotta go with Mark.
He feels better at this track than he did in Catalunya,
and none of those big name Italian riders that might

(34:55):
have a little bit of that home field advantage I
think are fast enough right now to compete with him.
Mark Marquez is your sprint winner. We move on to
Sunday and the Moto GP race. In fifth, I'm gonna
go with Marco Pitzeki. I think his speed will return.
This will be a good bounce back for him, and
anywhere in the top five will be good for Bez
and Aprilia. In fourth, I'm gonna go with an Abassieniini.

(35:18):
This is only because I'm being very bullish on him
and so i gotta hedge myself a little bit, so
I'm gonna play a conservative and put him just off
the podium spots. In third, I'm gonna go with Alex
Marquez only because the rider who I'm gonna pick to
finish second did this thing a couple of rounds ago

(35:39):
where he fought his way back at the very very
end of the race and passed a really good Ducati
rider to get there, and so I'm gonna bet on
the same thing to happen again Alex Marquez. In third
and second, Pedro Acosta, we saw him and for me
and Autigear for that matter, and consecutive races do that
thing where they battled back at the end of the
race and man Katim has so much confidence right now

(36:00):
and with a cost his ability to manage that bike
all the way till the end. Although Basionini could do
the same thing. I like Ka TAM's chances of continuing
that consistent momentum heading towards the end of the season.
But once again, race winner, it's going to be Mark
because as good as those other people are riding, Katam's

(36:21):
just not at that level yet. And Mark is going
to be better than Alex here and I don't see
anybody else who can step up and compete unless Marco
Pitzeki and a Prelia show up with something that I
didn't expect, and that leaves me a little choice but
to make the boring pick in this one, all right,
So in the sprint and third in Abasciinini second, Alex

(36:41):
Marquez and your winner, Mark Marquez. In the Moto GP
race Marco Pitzeki fifth, An Abascionini fourth, and on the
podium Alex Marquez, Pedro Acosta and your winner, Mark Marquez.
And yes, I know, I realized that I picked an
all Spanish podium in Misano in the sam Marino GP.
It's not gonna work out that way at least one
or two of those Italian riders is going to be

(37:03):
on the podium. So, like I said, I'm gonna make
picks are going to be wrong. What can you do?
So if you want to make picks of your own,
what you can do is head to Facebook or Reddit,
tell me why my picks are rubbish and tell me
who you think is going to win the race instead.
And since we have a race, that of course means
we will have a post race show, so check back

(37:24):
at the conclusion of the weekend. I will recap the
Moto GP action in Misano, We'll talk about the championship
picture and find out just how much closer mart Marquez
is to winning the championship Motegi. That's where he's gonna win,
and it's gonna be in Japan, and then i'll give
you my take on the weekend. After that, it'll be
your turn, so leave your comments on Facebook and Reddit.

(37:46):
I'll take a look at him. We'll try and do
a show talking more about Yamaha and this V four
engine in between, and then we've got another doubleheader after that,
and then what I think two more doubleheaders after that.
Then we're done for the year. There's not much raising.
This is so sad, all right, but don't worry. We'll
have a lot to talk about between now and then.
So if you haven't done it yet, I would highly

(38:07):
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(38:29):
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(38:49):
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thank you so much to all of the patrons there
that are supporting the show. All right, so till we
talk again just a couple of days from now. What's
gonna happen in Italy? I hope it's fun, I hope
it's exciting, and I hope there are at least a
couple of surprises. Whatever happens, we'll talk about it right afterwards.

(39:09):
So thank you so much for listening. Ride safe, and
I'll talk to you soon