Martin Makes His Return - And So Does Brno! - MotoWeek - MotoGP, Motorcycle and Racing News

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot neg. It's the motoweek podcast with your host Wilson.
Why Hello, and welcome to motoweek. My name is Wilson.
Thank you so much for listening to the only MotoGP
show on the internet that's genuinely excited to have Bruno back. Really,

(00:22):
I'm probably like the only one after a five year absence.
The Czech GP is back, and I know this wasn't
the most typed up track in the past with the
fans or the riders or anyone really. Actually, there was
one writer, Corel Abraham, former writer Krel Abraham. He really
liked Bruno. He still does, actually, and that's probably because

(00:46):
his dad literally owns the track. But we're going to
ignore that part for now and say there's at least
one rider out there that agrees with me. But I
do actually like Bruno, and I'll tell you why. It's fast,
it's flowing, there's elevation chain, it's in a great setting
in the Czech country side. Now, the argument against it
is that traditionally it's been a little bit difficult to

(01:08):
pass here, even though it has elements of a place
like Phillip Island or Mugello. We don't see the same
level of action or haven't in the past, although I'm
hopeful that we will this time and most importantly when
it comes to Bruneau. Despite how it races, the track
configuration is really interesting and it's never overwhelmingly favored one

(01:33):
rider or one manufacturer in the past. In fact, in
the last seven races here before it dropped off the schedule,
Bruno saw six different winners from four different manufacturers. The
only repeat winner during that entire time happened to be, unsurprisingly,
Mark Marquez. More on him and a bunch of other
riders later. So it's a track that doesn't necessarily favor

(01:57):
one person, and I also think that adding a track
that hasn't been around for a couple of years back
into the schedule is a great way to switch things up.
I mean, only a handful of riders on the grid
have ever raced a Moto GP by Kieren. A couple
like for me in Aldigharian Pedro Acosta have never raced
here at all in any level of GP racing Motor three,

(02:18):
Moto two or Moto GP. And for the riders that
have been here in the past, it was a pretty
long time ago and the bikes, especially the arrow were
so much different than than they are now, and I
think that becomes an overall challenge for the riders, for
the teams, for the manufacturers to try to learn and

(02:39):
adapt and excel as quickly as possible throughout the weekend.
And not only does that make things more interesting, I
think it presents a situation where rider talent can maybe
start to overcome some of the deficiencies of the bikes
that don't happen to be Ducati's. So I'm really hopeful
that we'll see a more level playing field here now.

(03:01):
If there is a downside for the rest of the grid,
it's that the rider that does have the most experience
and success here in MotoGP also happens to be the
one dominating at the top of the rider's standings right
now in Mark Marquez. But for everyone else, I think
there are some real opportunities to show off your ability

(03:21):
to adapt and just sheer raw talent to maybe take
advantage of the uncertainties of the weekend and grab a
surprise finish to cap off the first half of the year.
So let's preview the final race weekend before the summer break.
Round twelve of the twenty twenty five MotoGP World Championship
the check GP at the Brunot Circuit in the Czech Republic.

(03:43):
Before we get started, I do want to take a
brief moment to invite you over to the website if
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USA and leave your comments. Let me know what you think.
Especially heading into the summer break, we need some stuff

(04:04):
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(04:26):
on the website at motoweek dot net. All right, so
before we get down to business with the Czech GP,
there is one bit of news that I want to
talk about. There's one silly season rumor that has cropped
up and gotten a lot of headlines this week, and
it suggests an impending traffic jam somewhere in the MotoGP paddock.

(04:47):
Exactly where, well, that all depends on who you talk
to or what headlines you read. The rumors are all
surrounding this same youngster in Moto two, Brazilian Diyoga Morera.
They're saying that he's going to come to Moto GP
in twenty twenty six, and again, based on whatever website
you happen to be headed to at the time, you'll

(05:09):
find out that apparently literally every manufacturer wants him on
their bike. Now this is no surprise. Morera did score
his first Moto two victory a couple of weeks back
in Asen, and then made tons of headlines last weekend
from coming from the back of the grid all the
way toward the front. Then he made a big mistake
and there was a dust up between him and Jake Dixon,
and we're not going to go into any of that.

(05:31):
But the thing about Morera this year is that he's
found not only success, but he's begun to really establish
consistency as well. And we don't talk a whole lot
about Moto two and Moto three on the show nowadays,
although we used to a whole lot, and we might
get back to that sooner rather than later. But the
thing about Morera, when he came up in Moto three,
there was tons of hype about him. In fact, the

(05:52):
hype was the only consistent thing about Dielga Morera. The
results never really were consistent. There were fantastic races, he
would poke his nose up toward the front of the
field and then make a big mistake, or else he
just wouldn't have a good race, and then he'd come
back and finish on a podium. And so the one
thing that he was really missing was consistency. But the

(06:14):
hype has always been there ever since he set foot
in a Moto GP paddock, and of course that's only
reinforced by his exciting and aggressive racing style. So, okay,
let's assume that everybody is interested in Morrera. There are
a couple of problems here, most notably one, not everybody

(06:35):
can have him, and two, it doesn't matter how many
manufacturers or teams want him, not everybody has room. Now,
the main rumor initially was that Yamaha had the inside
track on Morera, but as we all know, they already
have a problem with too many riders bringing on toll parkrads.
Got Leoglu he's going to be a Pramac and they
already said, hey, and Miguel Olivera, Jack Miller, you're gonna

(06:57):
have to compete up until the summer break to figure
out who stays and who goes. So what happens if
they want to bring in another rider, Well, to solve that,
they would really only have two options. They could punt
both Olivera and Jack Miller from Premak based on their performance,
not necessarily last weekend in Saxon Ring, but the two
weekends before that. That's a valid option. Or they could

(07:20):
keep either Miller or Olivera over at Pramak and break
their contract on the factory team with Alex Rinz. But
then that leads to another problem because if they put
Morera on the factory team, that really would not go
over well with Roz Gottlioglu and his management, who for
the longest time said they wouldn't even come to Moto
GP unless they were given a factory seat. Now, the

(07:43):
other way that Yamaha could do that is they could
simply give Roz the factory seat next to Fabio Guachraro
and then put Morera over at Pramak. And I don't
think that would be a bad option because it's not
like Morera is going to be a contender in his
rookie year. Meanwhile, Razottliolue has a lot of experience, and
so it might make more sense to maybe put him

(08:04):
on the factory team one way or the other. I'm
not quite sure how that works out personnel wise, because
they would have to potentially break two contracts with two
different riders. And I know that that seems to be
the norm nowadays, but I really wish that everybody, although
I'm mostly looking at you when I say this, Jorge Martin,
wouldn't go into contracts with the idea of, oh yeah,

(08:25):
I can sign this, but if I don't like it,
I can just tear it up and walk away. It
doesn't mean anything to anybody, because it does. It means
something to riders that feel like they deserve to serve
out the contract because I haven't done a bad job.
And for manufacturers like Aprilia, who in good faith brought
on a guy who they thought could help them compete

(08:45):
for a championship and then he's just gonna leave without
running a race. But again we're getting off track here.
I want to talk about the Ooga Morera. So if
it's not Yamaha, who would it be. Well, KTM would
have an open slot if Pedro Costa leaves, or if
a Bastianini were to go to Aprilia to take Jorge
Martine spot if he leaves for Honda. So there are

(09:06):
some opportunities there potentially, but nothing that KATM would really
be able to promise in advance. Then you've got Dukati.
They're even more of a logjam. They could have one
spot available at VR forty six next season because Franco
Morbidelli's contract is up at the end of the year.
But the complication there is that he's racing for VR

(09:27):
forty six and we'll do Katti With as much pool
as they have over that team might have a difficult
time convincing Valentino Rossi to sack his very first VR
forty six Academy protege in favor of some young hotshot kid.
But they don't really have any other place to put
another rider. I mean, you've got the factory team that's

(09:47):
solid of course, with Mark and Peco over at Grissini.
Alex Marquez has definitely locked himself in with his performance
this year, and then for me and Aldiger is just
getting started. You can't throw him away. You might be
giving some, but he else a potential contender in a
couple of years. And Fabio di jan Antonio, even though
he wasn't on Ducatti's good list a couple of years ago,

(10:10):
has gotten stronger and stronger and has looked better and better,
and so it really would be a Vera forty six
bike and play some Morbidelli or nothing. Now for a Prillia,
they may or they may not have a spot, mostly
hinging on what Jorge Martin does. If he goes now,
they have the room, and I'll tell you a young
rider like Theelgo Morera would be a fantastic option to

(10:33):
develop into a contender over the next couple of years. Now,
if Martin were to stay, then Prillia could look at
track house and based purely on performance, they might consider
moving out Raul Fernandez. But I believe he's under contract
until twenty twenty six, and while he hasn't been great,
he hasn't been bad and He's still only twenty four,

(10:54):
and so there is still some potential upside. At this
point though he'd be turning into a little bit of
late bloomer. But I mean, if he's under contract, what
are you going to do. Then we move on to Honda,
and there is a rumor on a website, and I'm
not gonna say what website it is, but they say
that Honda is locked in on getting Morera if Jorge

(11:18):
Martin stays at a Prillia. And really they didn't even
qualify it with Orge Martin staying at a Prillia. They
just said, hey, Honda is one hundred percent trying to
get the Alga Morera. Now, this same site also definitively
said that Martin has already signed a three year deal
with Honda. But yet in this article about Morera, they
said that Martin was going to go back to a Prilia.

(11:40):
And so when you have websites like that and you
see these rumors, you have to take the entire thing
with a grain of salt. Now that being said, I'm
sure that Honda is very, very interested in signing a
young rider coming out of Moto too. They're eager to
find their next Mark Marquez and as good as Jgey Martinez.
He's a proven commodity, So he's not like a Mark

(12:02):
Marquez type of writer that just comes up and starts
winning races, winning championships right away. That cat is already
out of the bag. They know exactly what they're getting.
And we've talked about this several times on the show
over the past what eight or nine years that we've
been doing it, that there are certain times when teams
and manufacturers opt for the unknown as opposed to the known,

(12:25):
only because when you don't know, then there's potentially more
upside even when there's not. And what I mean by
that is that everybody knows what kind of rider Jorge Martinez.
They know his strengths, they know his weaknesses. Most of
his strengths are on track, most of his weaknesses appear
to be off track. But when it comes to a

(12:46):
young rider in Moto two like Dioga Morera, you don't
know he could be he could be a complete bust,
or he could be the next Mark Marquez. And honestly,
for a program like Honda or Yamaha or even KTM,
that's really feeling like they need something magical to help

(13:06):
make up that gap between themselves and du Kati and
to a lesser extent of Prilia. The temptation of going
out and taking a flyer on one of these young
talented riders and seeing if you can just catch lightning
in a bottle is pretty strong. So I don't doubt
that Honda is interested, although I think in the end
they will probably take Jouge Martin as their number one

(13:29):
guy if the option presents itself. Now, Honda is in
the best position of any of the manufacturers because they
have three riders. Three of their four riders are out
of contract at the end of the year. Oddly enough,
the only one that is contracted already for twenty twenty
six is Juamir, who isn't their worst rider per se
in terms of talent, but certainly in terms of results,

(13:51):
he has not been up to the standard of any
of the other Honda riders, well except for some cout Chantra,
but we'll talk about him right now because join Zarko
definitely coming back. I don't know where he's going to
be at Honda, but he'll be somewhere there. But that
other LCR seat that Chantra right now occupies, that bike
is sponsored by Idimsu, And it's kind of a throwback

(14:14):
to a previous era of Moto GP from about ten
to fifteen years ago, where you could buy your way
into a ride right or rides would be specified for
certain riders from certain areas or that are affiliated with
certain sponsors, and that's what they do. They kind of
dictate what rider they want on that bike, and they

(14:38):
typically want a rider that's come out of the Asia
Talent Cup. That's why Takanakagami was there, That's why Ioguo
was going to go there before he made the move
to a PROA, which I think was a smart move
in his case, and that's why someone Chantra was there.
So you can't guarantee that that bike is going to
be open for somebody, even if they're as talented as

(15:00):
Yoga Morera. So that leaves a manufacturer that could potentially
have as many as three seats open with essentially just
as many or just as few in this case options
as everybody else. So with all that being said, where
could Diogo Morera go? Well, I really think it all
It all hinges on one person, and that person is

(15:23):
Jorge Martin. If Martin stays put, Honda could actually be
the biggest player, sadly at the expense, in my opinion,
has done a fine job for them and would be
getting the short end of the stick otherwise Aprilia if
Martin moves, or Yamaha, but only if they decide they
want a clean house at Premac. But you know something

(15:45):
that I find very interesting about Silly season rumors, especially
when they're focused on young riders up and coming in
Moto too, because we don't know how they're going to
perform a Moto GP, so there's so many question marks,
but it tends to be a lot about hype. I
kind of wish there was a TV show specifically about
Silly season negotiations, because I bet it would feel a

(16:08):
lot like a reality show where one manufacturer finds out
that somebody talked to this young rider, like say Morera,
and so everybody's like, oh man, we're going to miss out.
We need to talk to him too. And the weird
part about it is that they all might decide to
make drastic moves to make room for somebody when there

(16:29):
is another option that could be just as good or
better that currently right now is largely being ignored, and
that option is Manu Gonzalez, and yes, he isn't from Brazil,
which is a great part of the world for motorcycles
and for motorcycle fans, and having a rider from that

(16:50):
country would unlock that area for marketing purposes, both for
an individual manufacturer and for Dorna, where Gonzales is from Spain,
where we already have huge name riders and they don't
have problems selling bikes. But man, now Gonzalez is tearing
it up in Moto two. He's fighting side by side
with veterans like Aaron Cannett and Jake Dixon, and he's

(17:10):
got that Lorenzo like smoothness on the bike that may
not be as exciting as a rider like Morrera, but
I think could be just as effective and potentially because
of his approach it, because of his style, and because
he's two years older, he's twenty two where Morrera is
only twenty. Because of those things, he might be able
to get up to speed quicker, adapt better, and be

(17:31):
more consistent right out of the box, where Marrera might
be more of a project. And I mean, I'm sure
there are a lot of manufacturers that don't mind that,
but if you're looking for performance right away, man now
Gonzalez could be just as good of an option, but
he's not getting nearly the amount of attention in terms
of silly season rumors and headlines as somebody like Morera.
And it would be really weird if Gonzalez wins the

(17:53):
Moto two Championship but gets passed up for Moto GP
in favor of a rider who maybe finished third or
fourth overall. But it's a little early to make those assumptions.
There is a lot of racing left for all of
the riders mentioned, and any of them could actually win
the Moto two championship. But in the end, I think
that a lot of this really comes back to Jorge

(18:13):
Martin and what he's going to do, and we're going
to start to figure that out this weekend as he
finally makes his long away to return to Aprilia and
Moto GP, and that is one of the main things
I want to talk about as we now move on
to this weekend's race, the Czech GP at Bruno. And

(18:34):
not only is Mark Marquez completely dominating right now and
carrying all of the momentum heading into the summer break,
but now Alex suddenly looks like he's recovered instantly from
his hand in jury and surgery, pecobag Yaya is still
trying to find a way to keep up with those guys.
But Marco Bitzeki and Aprilia are moving closer and closer

(18:56):
to challenging Dukati and at just the right time, just
as Jorge Martin is returning back to the track, and
that is going to set up a very interesting dynamic
throughout the entire weekend. I don't think anybody on that
side of the garage, on the Martine side of the garage,
is gonna have a moment alone this entire weekend. I

(19:17):
think they're gonna have an entourage following them around from
start to finish to try to pick up on any signs,
any signals about what that relationship is really like between
Jorge Martin and a Brillian. So that's gonna add an
undertext to the weekend in addition to the racing that
I'm definitely gonna be watching out for. And we'll talk
about him in that whole situation in a couple of minutes,

(19:39):
but first, before we get to any riders, I got
to talk about the track, and you guys know, I
like it and I'm not gonna go on about that.
It is not my favorite track, by the way, but
I just always thought it got a bad rap back
in the day. So let's talk about what makes Bruno interesting.
And you know, there isn't one dominating feature at this place.
There's no big straight, there's no gendery chicane like an ass,

(20:01):
and there's no defining corner. Instead, it's just a classic,
fast flowing circuit that has lots of interesting elevation change,
great scenery, and it rewards a combination of edge grip,
drive off the corner and throttle control, and I imagine
it would be a fantastic place to actually race a
bike in addition to watching race there. Now, the closest

(20:24):
thing that I would equate it to, and I made
reference to this earlier in the show, is actually Mugello,
just without the ginormous straight. And the reason that I
compare those two is because they both have multiple left
right combos that are joined by short straits in a
bit of a rolling fashion. You can really get into
kind of a rhythm at this track, and so I

(20:46):
really like to look at it as one part Mugello,
with the left right straight left right go around a
corner left right, along with some of the same flowing
aspects of a place like Philip Island. Now, for me,
the best parts of Bruno are the stadium section from
turn six through turn ten. That's by far the most
technical part of the track, although it still manages to
be smooth as opposed to stop and go. And then

(21:09):
the turn twelve thirteen combo that's a little bit like
a reverse quark screw from Laguneseka and anything resembling part
of Lagunaska gets a double thumbs up for me. But
even though those are my favorite parts of the track,
I think the most important corners are the ones surrounding
the front stretch. You've got that combo at fourteen fifteen,

(21:29):
another left right that is so important and maintaining speed
onto the front stretch, and then once you get into
that never ending turn one, you've got to pick a
line that gives you the most momentum heading down towards
the first left right combo it turns four and five,
and making a mistake in either of those sections will
definitely open the door for your rivals. So that's where

(21:51):
we're racing. For those of you who have only been
watching Moto GP for four or five years. I would
definitely welcome the feedback on what you think of this
circuit as a whole. Now, let's start talking about the riders,
and like we normally do on a pre race show,
I'll split things up into three categories. The favorites, my
watch list, and then the hot seat favorites. Of course,

(22:12):
the guys who I think have the best chance of
going out there and competing for a podium or maybe
even winning. The watch list will include a couple of
riders who I think have very interesting stories coming into
this weekend, one of which I think you can already
assume that we're going to discuss. Then we get to
the hot seat, the writers who I think have to
go out and perform this weekend for one reason or another.

(22:33):
So we'll start with the favorites. We will take these
guys in championship order, and of course that means the
first person we're going to talk about once again is
Mark Marquez. And there's something interesting about Mark Epperno because
six years ago or so, nobody would have been saying
that this is a Mark track with finger quotes around it,

(22:55):
not in the way of a place like Aragon or
Saxon ring or circuit of the Americas. Obviously he would
be one of the favorites here, but nobody would have
been thinking about him as the dominant rider at this
particular track. But now the playing field has shifted quite
a bit and this is looking in the retrospect very
much like a mark track. He has raced to brune

(23:18):
seven times in Moto GP, and in those seven races
he has three wins, six podiums, and the only race
where he didn't get on the box, he finished fourth,
and he finished in that position next to the old
school aliens of Danny Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi,

(23:39):
so you can't blame him for that. Now you put
it all together, and his average finish in Moto GP
races at Bruneau is two point one four and no,
I wasn't going to round that number down because who
doesn't love pie. But he's done that from an average
starting spot of one point seven to four. So basically,
his average finish his second, his average starting set his second,

(24:01):
and if that's the average, and that means half the
time he does better than that, which means he's starting
on the poll and he's winning the race. So he
is really good here. And in fact, there have only
been six full time riders that are currently in the
sport that have a Moto GP podium at all at Bruno.
None of them but Mark have more than one. And

(24:22):
of those, Maverick Vinalez is definitely out, Franco Morbidelli is
definitely out. The other ones are Brad Bender, Joan Zarco
and Jack Miller. We'll talk about a couple of those
guys coming up, but I think we can all agree
that none of them is going to be a legitimate
threat to Mark in this one. So Mark Marquez far
and away has the best record of any rider here.
He's got more experience at this track than anyone else

(24:44):
on the grid, and what else do you want? Okay,
if you want more. He's also coming into this round
on an eight race winning streak, and that sprint's and
MotoGP races combined. That's a minor point in his favor
as well. I know that he can't win every race,
right and with every weekend sweep, the law of averages

(25:06):
says that he's getting closer and closer to not winning
a race, right. But Mark is in a category right
now where he can only beat himself, and so he
is the favorite coming in and he is the writer
that everybody is going to be gunning for. Now, as
we turn to his brother, Alex Marquez, well, he's kind
of in the exact opposite situation despite having the same

(25:28):
last name. He's started one one Moto GP race at
Bruno and he finished fifteenth. Now we have to have
some context here because it was just his third ever
race in the premier class, so that result cannot be
relied upon to give us any real insight. But Alex
did win Bruno a Moto two. He's got a couple

(25:50):
of middleweight podiums in the Czech GP, so it's not
like he doesn't know his way around this track. He
is familiar with this circuit, and honestly, this is a
rare situation where it's probably beneficial that he doesn't have
a lot of Moto GP experience here. He hasn't had
the opportunity to learn any bad habits, and so he

(26:11):
can approach this place kind of as a blank sheet
of paper with his current skill set, which as we
all know, is far superior to anything that we've seen
out of him in the past. And I'm sure that
Alex's brother would be more than happy to help show
him around. And if you're gonna have somebody giving you pointers,
you can't do any better at this circuit than Mark. Now.

(26:32):
I mentioned the injury a moment ago, and for me
at least, that still represents a question mark, although maybe
it shouldn't. I mean, Alex was definitely overly cautious on
Saturday in Saxon Ring. That of course was to be expected,
give in the weather and the track conditions. But in
the dry on Sunday he looked as confident as ever
and he made it to the end, although he was

(26:54):
probably only a fifth place rider who managed a podium
as opposed to a second place rider like we've seen
out of him the rest of the year. But still,
when you think about that compared to the rest of
Alex's career, you know, any other year, if he had
an injury and he wasn't at one hundred percent and
he had an off weekend, I mean that would be
like fifteenth, like in his first ever race at Bruno. Now,

(27:17):
a bad weekend is I'm running fifth or sixth, but
I end up on the podium anyway, Right, That's how
much of a dynamic change there's been in the way
that Alex Marquez has been racing a Moto GP. You
take that and you add in the fact that he's
a week further removed now from that injury and from
his surgery. He's got a successful weekend under his belt
from Saxon Ring. I think Alex takes a step closer

(27:39):
to the level of contender that we've come to expect
from him so far this season. He's just a step
closer to being fully one hundred percent recovered, and then,
of course after the break, I expect him to be
back to normal. Now. For pekobag Yaya, I don't even
know what level we've come to expect from him right now.
On one hand, he was able to back up his

(28:00):
Dutch GP podium a couple of weeks back with another
one last weekend in the German GP. But on the
other hand, like Alex, he was essentially gifted that podium
last Sunday and Saturday one way or the other has
been a consistent struggle for him all year long. He
will get out there in Q two and put up

(28:21):
a really good number and get in on the front row,
and then his springbers all end up being all over
the place, and even though he has raced a Moto
GP bike in Bruno before, like Alex, it was only
one time. Like Alex, it was his rookie year of
twenty nineteen. He was injured in twenty twenty and he
finished twelfth, and again like Alex, that finish was not

(28:44):
representative at all of his potential as a rider or
what kind of rider he is right now. He did
podium here in Moto two, but again he only did
that once. It was seven years ago. It's not very relevant.
The only good thing that Peco has going in his
direction right now is that the podiums, at least on Sunday,
have started coming back. We have to take Germany in context,

(29:07):
but Peco is still finished third in three of his
last four Moto GP races, and in the one he
wasn't on the podium, he was fourth. That's an average
finish of three point twenty five across the last four rounds,
and that is a major step in the right direction.
Of course, we're just talking about Sunday. You go to
the sprints, it's all over the place. In those same

(29:28):
four rounds he had a twelfth, a third, a fifth,
and a twelfth. Now, the twelfth was in the rain
last weekend. He was clearly uncomfortable, but it doesn't matter.
Those results are still all over the place. Now. The
good thing for Peco and a lot of other riders
out there is that there's no weather expected this weekend.
The other good thing is that Bruneau has been a
wide open track in the past, so the opportunity is there,

(29:51):
especially since we really don't know if this is a
Ducati track or not. We haven't raced at this circuit
during this era of Ducati dominance, but it could be,
and if it is, well, he's got a really good
shot of being on the podium. He's definitely in the
podium conversation. But this will be a new challenge, trying
both to keep up with Mark and to adjust to

(30:13):
what is essentially a new track for him. So I'll
be very interested to see how he adapts. He's got
the advantage of experience, especially over two or three of
the riders that we're going to talk about here next
when we get to the watch list. So those are
my favorites, the Marquez brothers and pecobag Yaya. No surprises there.
Let's move on to the riders that I will be
watching very closely as we head into the weekend. Again,

(30:34):
we will take these three riders in championship orders, starting
with Fabio Digian Antonio. And there's not a lot of
talks surrounding Fabio, but he's been good all year long.
Now he should be because he's on one of the
best ducats on the grid along with the factory guys
are on the same equipment. But the last three rounds,
Diggia has really uped his game. Now. He hasn't been

(30:56):
getting a lot of attention for it, mostly because a
he hasn't him pushing the Marquez brothers four wins, and
b he's had good rounds here and there earlier in
the season that help his averages. But it's easy to
see right now that he's looked a lot stronger, a
lot more comfortable, and has had a lot better late

(31:16):
race pace recently, especially since Mugello. If we do look
at the raw numbers, you guys didn't think I wasn't
gonna right in the first eight rounds of the year.
Diggia's average finish across all races sprints and motor GPS
that he made it to the end was six point eight.
In the last three, that average has moved up to

(31:37):
four point four. And if the reckfest hadn't happened at
Saxon Ring and he had finished, say third after Mark
and Marco Bitzeki, that average would have bumped up to
about four point one. And so you can see that
he has moved forward a couple of places at minimum
over the past few rounds. So the momentum is slowly

(31:58):
building for him. How does that then translate to Bruno. Well,
he's actually had a win and a couple of podiums
in the Czech GPM Moto two. It was kind of
a long time ago, but there's at least some familiarity
with the track, and you combine that with the confidence
that he's starting to build and he could be a
nice surprise pick in this race. So I'm going to
be watching to see if he can step it up

(32:19):
another level and get up there and compete with those
factory Ducati's next up is Marco Bitzeki. Now, same story
as Digia, but I'd say even more pointed. We saw
him take that step forward at Silverstone, and while it
hasn't been all smooth sailing ever since then, the speed
is there. Bez has been showing us that both he

(32:39):
and the Apprelia are clearly better than some people and
by some people, and me and Hori Martin think it is.
And as impressive as Marco was in Silverstone, he was
arguably on the way to two straight rounds of legitimately
giving Ducati fits without that reckoned Saxon ring. Marco was
knocking on the or of a double second weekend, which

(33:02):
would have come right on the heels of that third
place second place weekend in Acid. And he hasn't been
backing into these finishes either. I mean, Bez has been
running right there with the best Ducati riders, and he's
been very much in the ballpark in terms of race
pace on any given round, So it doesn't really matter
that he hasn't done anything significant before in the Czech GPE.

(33:25):
If we look at tracks that are a little bit
similar a place like Silverstone, where of course Marco was
great and Mugello, which is even more like Bruno and
Marco was solid there, I think that Bez has a
great opportunity to continue to push the Desmos hard this
weekend and he could absolutely get a podium in one
or both races, and if he does, oh man, I

(33:48):
would definitely expect the chatter about Jorge Martin maybe thinking
about trying to patch up his relationship with Aprilia, but
expect that would increase greatly as we head into this
or break. And speaking of Jorge Martin, guess who's rounding
out the watch list this week? Of course we're going
to talk about Ray Martine and hey, listen, make no

(34:10):
mistake here, I'm not putting him on the watch list
because I think at all that he's going to have
some sort of shockingly good comeback finish that opens everybody's
eyes or anything like that. He's been out for a
long time. The expectations here should not be high. When
you look at what he's done in the past at Forna,
it's really nothing. He did have a podium Emoto three

(34:31):
that was in twenty sixteen. It doesn't really make a difference.
I'm outside of the fact that it was on a Mahindra,
which is pretty difficult for anybody to pull off. But whatever,
it doesn't matter his record here results, that's not what
we're concerned with right now. The reason that Jorge Martin
is on the watch list for me is the same

(34:53):
reason he's going to be on everybody's watch list this weekend.
It is all about him and the bike, Him in
a Prillia, how he gets on with the bike, how
he gets along with everybody in the pit box, his
comments about the sessions. The dynamic in the garage is
their tension. Does everyone look relaxed. Does it look like

(35:13):
a group of people that are genuinely enthusiastic to be
there and get to work, or is each side just
going through the motions and putting up with each other.
What we see in Bruno is probably going to be
a major indicator of what is going to happen with
Martin's contract situation. And the reason for that is simple.
Time is running out. I mean, if Jorge is gonna

(35:35):
make a move, he can't wait too long past the
summer break to do it. There are contracts and sponsors
and merch and personnel decisions that all have to be
sorted out before the end of the season because he's
got to get on whatever bike he's going to test
in Valencia right after Valencia, and all of that demands time.
So this could be it. I mean, it could be

(35:57):
Martin's an hour only real chance to get a look
at this situation before decisions are made and dominoes start
to fall or not fall, for that matter. So the
media is going to be watching, the other teams in
the paddick are going to be watching, Diogo Morera is
going to be watching, and I'll certainly be watching very

(36:19):
very closely. Now. At the same time, I'm going to
try not to fall into the trap of over analysis
that I'm sure a lot of headline writers are going
to definitely fall into this weekend. Every move will be analyzed. Oh,
where he moved his left hand three inches to the left.
That means he's going to Honda because they're the pitstall
over the left. I won't do that, trust me. So

(36:40):
those are the writers on my watch list, which means
now we move on to the hot seat. These are
writers that I really think have to go out there
and perform this weekend for one reason or another. We're
going to start this list with Pedro Acosta. And it's
not that Acosta has never raised in Bruno in Moti
GP before. It's that he hasn't raced here in international

(37:04):
competition before at all. This is going to be his
first time and that's no small feet, but I would
maintain that the speed is in there somewhere. I mean,
we all know it is, we all know how talented
he is, but I think he's actually shown us that
the past like five or six rounds. Maybe not so
much at Saxon Ring last weekend, but it seems as

(37:25):
if Pedro is trying to close that gap to the
potential that we've seen in the KTM out of Maverick Vinalez.
So you remember at the beginning of the show, I
said that one of the intriguing ideas about coming back
to Bruneau is that not a lot of riders have
experience here, and so it opens the door to the
riders who can adapt in for riders to really show

(37:48):
off their pure talent and their pure skill, and it
maybe minimizes some of the differences in the specific bikes.
And I think that Pedro Acosta is a rider that
this could apply directly to, because nobody has a lot
of experience here outside of Mark and somebody like Pedro Acosta,
who has so much raw talent, can use that to

(38:10):
adapt faster than his main rivals, and a strong performance
heading into the summer break would definitely raise the silly
season stock of a rider who might be thinking about
jumping ship at the end of the year, especially one
that we all know has as much potential as Pedro Acosta,
even if he already is in a contract with Katie,
Because you know, contracts, what do they really mean anymore?

(38:33):
I mean anything? All right? So let's move on to
his teammate and Brad Bender, because even though it kind
of felt like a Costa was faster last weekend, Bender's
results were actually better by a decent margin. He quietly
had his best overall weekend of the year so far,
believe it or not, and it was quiet. Now. Of course,
he got a lot of help in that there are

(38:54):
a lot of guys who wrecked but still results or results.
The big thing here for Brad is that not only
does he have some experience at Bruno, but believe it
or not, he is the last Moto GP rider to
win a race here in twenty twenty. Brad Bender not
only won the check GP, he came from behind and
then absolutely destroyed the field. It was only his third

(39:16):
ever MotoGP race as a rookie, and he won by
five full seconds. Everybody at that point was like, oh
my gosh, this is the next Moto GP Champ KTM
is finally going to be on top. It didn't really
pan out that way, but there's a reason that he
was so good here. This track suits his aggressive style
and as we all know, he certainly isn't afraid to

(39:38):
hang it out there in high speed corners, and so
this track is a great opportunity for him to go
out and do something big and Brad needs to. He
trails his factory teammate at a cost to by quite
a bit in the standings, and this is a chance
to start to bridge that gap in a really big way.
And then the final rider on my watch list heading
into the Czech GP is Jack Miller. Think you're surprised

(40:00):
by that one now. Jack also has a podium in
Bruno in the Premier class he finished third, that was
back in twenty nineteen. And more importantly, he comes into
this round having actually scored points in both races and
Saxon Ring in what was statistically his best round of
the year so far, and the results couldn't have come

(40:23):
into a better time, right after both he and teammate
Miguel Olivera performed woefully bad in the first two rounds
of their internal team challenge for that final Premax seat
next season, alongside to park Artscot Leo Glue, unless, of course,
they sack them both for Diogo Morera. I think that
Jack not only has the marketing advantage, but I think
that he now has the performance advantage as well with

(40:46):
that points all in Germany, even if he got a
lot to help Sunday from writers wrecking, including his teammate Olivera.
But for a writer that has some history here and
that's self imposed Yamaha deadline looming heading in to the break,
this is it. This is the moment where Jack has
to make it count because another good run here is

(41:08):
gonna put him in position where he can grab that seat,
save for another silly season twist like we were talking
about earlier with a young Moto TI rider. But if
it is purely a straight up competition between Jack and
Miguel Miller can make it happen this weekend if he
races the same way he did in Saxon Ring. All right,

(41:29):
so those are the riders. That means there's only one
order of business left to take care of for this
weekend's race. I gotta make some picks. And I'll tell
you this wasn't the easiest thing to do, and there
is one surprise coming up, so definitely listen till the end.
I'll start by making picks for the sprint. I'll pick
my top three finishers. Then we'll move on to the
Moto GP race, where I'll pick the top five in

(41:52):
the sprint on Saturday. In third, I'm gonna go with
Marco Bitzeki. I love his speed right now, I love
the way he's raised sing. We're at a track that's
less familiar for everybody, so I think opportunity awaits and
bez is going to be motivated to fill in that
gap performance wise and get on the podium. In second,
I'm gonna fall back here to Alex Marquez. He's shown

(42:15):
us this season that he can adapt quickly and confidently
at a variety of tracks and a variety of conditions.
There are so many tracks this season that we've gone
to that haven't been Alex Trax at all, and he's
still shown up in a big way. I think the
hand is getting better. We saw that in Saxon Ring,
and so I feel pretty comfortable putting him in his
normal spot of second. Then your winner in the sprint Saturday,

(42:38):
Mark Marquez, He's got the history, he's got the momentum
right now, he knows how to win here. He's gonna
win here. We move on to Sunday and the Moto
GP race, and here are my top five finishers in
this one. In fifth, I'm gonna go with Fabio to
jan Antonio. He's been stronger in the past few rounds.
And we know Dukati is gonna be good here, or
I have a feeling Dukatti is gonna be really good here.

(43:00):
So Fabio in fifth. In fourth, I'm gonna go with
Peco Bagnyaya. And don't get me wrong, the podium here
could be a complete toss up. But I'm a little
cautious on Peco because he hasn't looked overpowering, even with
the podiums in the past couple of races, and especially
with the podium last weekend, it was nothing near overpowering,

(43:21):
So I'm gonna be a little cautious on him. I'm
also gonna be a little cautious on Alex Marquez, a
week further removed from surgery. Like I said, I expect
them to be strong, especially based on what we saw
Sunday in Saxon Ring. But this is gonna be a
long race and it's an unfamiliar track, so I'll put
Alex third, which would be a great result for him,
by the way, to place like this. In second, this

(43:44):
is where the big plot twist comes in. I'm going
out on the limb here, guys. In second, I'm picking
Mark Marquez. I know, right listen, I think he's probably
going to win this race. But I'm going to take
a flyer here and I'm going with Marco Bitzeki to

(44:07):
win the Moto GP race on Sunday for two reasons.
Number one, he's looks so much faster and so much
more confident ever since that win in Silverstone. And yes,
the results aren't always there to go with it, but
I think we all have noticed that he's got the
speed now. But the X factor here for me, and
stick with me on this one, is that every time,

(44:28):
every time there's some bit of controversy with Jorge Martin
and Aprilia, bez seems to step up and do something unexpected. Well,
there's going to be controversy this weekend. The spotlight is
clearly going to be on Jorge and that means that
Marco is free to try to steal the show again,
so I'm going to take a risk and say that

(44:49):
he does it. So to recap in the sprint, I'm
picking Marco Bitzeki third, Alex Marquez second, and Mark Marquez
as your winner. And then in the Moto GP race
on Sunday, Fabio Digian Antoni fifth, Pecobagnyaya fourth, and on
the podium Alex Marquez, Mark Marquez and your winner of
the Czech GP, Marco Bitzeki and Aprilia. Do you agree?

(45:11):
Do you disagree? You know what to do? Tell me
about it, head online to Facebook or Reddit, tell me
why my picks are terrible, on who you think is
gonna win the race instead, And since we do have
a race, that means we will definitely have a post
race show. So check back at the conclusion of the weekend,
I will recap all of the Moto GP action in Bruno.
We'll talk about the championship picture, We'll talk about the

(45:33):
entire Horae Martine situation and how it all went down,
and then I'll give you my take on the weekend.
Then it's gonna be your turn. Give me your comments
on Facebook and Reddit. We've got a summer break where
we've got to fill it up with something. I mean,
I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of silly season news,
but I want to know what you want to discuss,
So tell me about it and we'll put that in.

(45:54):
We'll put those topics in on the next couple of shows.
And since there are more shows on the way even
during the summer break, I don't want you to miss
a single one. So if you have not done it yet,
would highly recommend you subscribe to the program. You could
do that on Apple Podcasts, YouTube podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher player,
a dot Fm, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible podcasts. Basically go to

(46:16):
any podcasting site. Type in motoweek. You should be able
to find the program, or you can go to the
website find all of the latest episodes as soon as
they're released at motoweek dot net. You can follow on
blue Sky at MotorWeek or just search for motoweek and
on Instagram at motoweek USA, and most importantly, leave those

(46:37):
comments all right. You can do that on Facebook at
Facebook dot com, slash MotorWeek dot net. Leave the comment
in the post for the show for that race. That's
the place where I would see it the easiest, Or
you can go to the reddit sub at r slash
MotorWeek and if you feel like supporting the program, that's awesome,
but you don't have to. You can do it though
at patreon dot com slash motoweek and links to just

(46:59):
about it everything I mentioned are on the website at
motoweek dot net. All right, so we are just about
to the official halfway point of the season, not the
mathematical one. What's gonna happen, Who's gonna win at this
track that we haven't seen in years, what's gonna happen
with Jorge Martin and Aprilia? And then what silly season

(47:21):
rumors are gonna carry us into this summer break. I
don't know. We'll find out this weekend and then we'll
meet back here and talk about it. So until we
chat again just a couple of days from now, I
want to thank you so much for listening. Ride safe,
and I'll talk to you soon.

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Martin Makes His Return - And So Does Brno!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Martin Makes His Return - And So Does Brno!