November 6, 2025 • 38 mins
Pecco’s still unpredictable, Alex Marquez is flying high, and MotoGP heads to Portugal...where the track goes up, down, sideways, and occasionally airborne. I preview the PortugueseGP, discuss the terrifying Moto3 crash, and make picks for Portimão!
The Rundown:
- Where was I after Sepang?!?
- Moto3 Wreck in Malaysia - what can be done to prevent something similar in the future?
- Algarve! I preview the PortugueseGP
- The Favorites - Can Alex keep it up? And which Pecco will we get?
- The Watch List - One rider looking to rebound, two trying to keep it going
- The Hot Seat - the VR46 battle heats up
- The Picks! For the Sprint and MotoGP races
Who do you think will win Portimão? 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!
The Rundown:
- Where was I after Sepang?!?
- Moto3 Wreck in Malaysia - what can be done to prevent something similar in the future?
- Algarve! I preview the PortugueseGP
- The Favorites - Can Alex keep it up? And which Pecco will we get?
- The Watch List - One rider looking to rebound, two trying to keep it going
- The Hot Seat - the VR46 battle heats up
- The Picks! For the Sprint and MotoGP races
Who do you think will win Portimão? 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!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot net. It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Wilson. Well,
hello and welcome to motoweek. My name is Wilson. Thank
you so much for listening to the only Moto GP
show on the internet that was so confused by the
Malaysian GP. I didn't even know what to say about it.
(00:22):
I didn't even do a post trace show. I mean,
come on, Peco's Jacquelin Hyde act was in full on
speed mode again. He wins the sprint, then Juamir makes
it an entire race without ending up in a gravel
trap and finishes on the podium. I mean, it was
like all of MotoGP was in the upside down. By
the way, that's a Stranger Things reference. That was a
(00:45):
Netflix show like eight years ago that they're finally going
to wrap up, I think at the end of this year,
you know, before the main character reaches retirement. Ah So,
I was physically unable to respond to what happened in
Malaysia because who could have seen any of that coming. Okay,
that's not really what happened after Sapang. I do apologize
(01:07):
for not having a prompt post race show out as usual,
my car blew up, and I had no choice but
to fix it Sunday evening, which normally is something I
enjoy doing working on my car, not in this particular instance.
At least, I did have a really good excuse to
ride the bike to work for a week while I
was waiting for all the parts to arrive. But that's done.
(01:27):
We're back in business. Although the car is not exactly
It still needs motor mounts, but that's a different show
and a different story. But we're here and I'm ready
to talk about Portugal. So let's preview round twenty one
of the twenty twenty five Moto GP World Championship, the
Portuguese GP, at the roller coaster that is the Algarve
(01:50):
International Circuit in Portomou, Portugal. Before we get started, I
would like to take a brief moment to invite you
over to the website if you've never checked it out before.
You can find all of the latest episodes at motoweek
dot net. You can follow on Blue Scott just search
for motoweek, or on Instagram at motoweek USA, and most importantly,
(02:11):
leave your comments. You can do that on Facebook at
Facebook dot com, slash motoweek dot net or over on
the Reddit subit r slash motoweek. And if you do
want to support the program, don't feel obligated because you
never know when my car's gonna blow up again. But
you can do that on Patreon. Just go to patreon
dot com slash MotorWeek if you so desire. All Right,
(02:32):
before we talk about what's gonna happen this weekend in Portugal,
I do since we didn't have a proper post ra
show for Malaysia, I have to talk about that freak
accident in Moto three, And for those who don't regularly
watch Moto three, I'll describe what happened. This was so
strange and so unexpected, but it's something that, when you
(02:56):
think about it, could easily happen in any of the series.
So on the siding lap of all things, something happened
to Noah Dettweiler's bike. Now, the way he was riding
it was likely a technical issue of some sort, but
we don't have confirmation of that yet, at least not
at the time I'm doing the show. But one way
(03:16):
or the other, he was riding slowly. Now, initially he
was offline until he got to the strait between turns
three and four, and that is a right hander going
onto a short straight, going into another right hander, and
he was over on the left side of the track,
so that's the line where you would be exiting three
and then subsequently setting up to head into term four.
(03:39):
He seemed to be looking down at the bike, likely
trying to figure something out, and as he did this,
he just coasted up the left side of the track
to the point where he was eventually back on the
racing line again. It was at that moment that newly
crowned champion Jose Antonio Rueda came up on that straight.
(04:00):
And now I don't know if Rueda just wasn't one
hundred percent focused on what was happening, or if he
had difficulty judging Dettwiler's speed, although this is what I
think is a safe assumption of what was going on.
This is my opinion, though we don't know this from
Jose Antonio Rueda, but my assumption is that you know
(04:20):
you're on this slap, You're trying to get some heat
in the tires. He's riding quickly, everybody's riding quickly, and
I don't think that Rueda was expecting a rider up
ahead on the strait to be going slow, let alone
as slowly as Dettwiler was going, and so in the
speed of the moment, he probably got a quick reference
point on Noah, up ahead, He's like, there's a bike
(04:41):
up there that's exiting in the term four, That's where
I'm headed, and then probably started to turn his mental
and visual focus toward the next corner, at which point,
out of his peripheral he realized, WHOA, that bike ahead
of me isn't going normal pace. And it was too late.
He was already there right, and the resulting collision was
really hard. It left Dettwiler to have to be airlifted
(05:03):
to the hospital. He was in critical condition, had multiple surgeries,
had its spleen removed, and he was only just allowed
to leave Malaysia to go back to Switzerland Wednesday, at
which point he'll have more surgery once he returns home. Now,
the frustrating thing here is that this accident was completely avoidable.
But probably the more frustrating part is that there's not
(05:25):
like one thing that you can do to ensure that
something like that is avoidable. You know, if somebody blows
out a tire because the pressures are too low. You
could just set a minimum tire pressure problem solved, right.
This isn't nearly that cut and dry where one thing
went wrong, so you switch that thing and it's no
(05:47):
longer a problem, you know. I've heard some people say,
and I've read some people right, that Moto GP needs
to bring warm up sessions back for Moto two and
Moto three. Now I'm in favor of that. In general,
I think they should bring warm up sessions back for
Moto to a Moto or anything. It was a stupid
reason they took them away, but I don't think that's
a fix for what happened. I mean that scenario could
(06:10):
have played out in any session. Whether you have a
warm up or not doesn't change that set of circumstances.
If there was a technical problem with Detwiler's bike, then
he would have just had it on the outlap of
warm up. And yeah, maybe that means that there would
be less riders around him because not everybody leaves it
once and so there was less of a chance that
somebody could be coming behind him. But there isn't a
(06:30):
zero percent chance that Rueda was behind him in that
same situation, and warm up as opposed to on the
sighting lap. So I think that they should bring those
sessions back, but that's not a fix here. Other comments
are that there should be a minimum speed in citing
in warm up laps. I do think that is generally
a good idea, but again that's not a fix to
(06:52):
this incident because more likely than not, this was a
mechanical issue, and so having a minimum speed roll isn't
going to make any difference. If your bike is broken,
you're still going to be coasting around. So the only
things that I would say, and there are a couple
of things I think that can be done. I think
it comes down to a few things, rider protocol and
(07:13):
rider notification. And the good part about these types of
solutions is that they're easy. I mean, it will be
super simple to implement a role that if you are
on track in any series and you have a mechanical
you must exit the racing surface as soon as possible.
Now I could go into details on that as to why,
but I think it's pretty self explanatory. If the rider
(07:36):
whose bike is failing isn't on the track, then the
chances of somebody running into them at full speed are
kind of small. Right now. The other thing that they
could do is have a more comprehensive warning system for
the riders. There are already communicating messages to the riders
on their dash. Have a big rude light that you
(07:57):
can set off, and then you've got stewards around the
track in every hot session that have the authority to
light up those warning lights in nominary situations like this,
where there's an incident or a slow rider that could
cause a problem on track, that could cause a safety
concern on track. And you know, in all honesty, when
(08:18):
Dettwiler was coasting around, there should have been yellow flags
out since there was a slow rider out there. And
you know, I think that everybody assumes on something like
a sighting lap that it's different because it's not a
live session, but it's still a hot track. And whenever
there's a hot track, everybody marshall stewards, they should all
(08:39):
be closely monitoring what's going on and using flags for
unusual incidents, especially in this instance when it's not a race.
There is no harm in a premature local yellow coming out,
even if there's not a rider in a gravel trap,
even if somebody's just running slowly on track, and those
are super easy things where they're notifying the riders or
the riders know, hey, if something is wrong with my bike,
(09:01):
I'm gonna get penalized if I don't get off the
track immediately. I mean, heck, they find Jack Miller for
riding the wrong way on a cool down lap, So
you could give a fan some gloves. And I don't
disagree with that, because despite the fact that all the
riders are a not riding full speed and b are
kind of in cruising mode where nobody's riding fast or dangerously,
(09:25):
it doesn't matter, it still could create a safety situation,
and so they're exercising the utmost caution and that's why
Jack Miller got that fine. Well, this actually is a
more valid reason to hand out a penalty than Jack
giving away some gloves. Is if you are disabled on
track and that bike is still moving and you don't
(09:46):
move that bike off the track completely, then you could
get fined because you don't want to open the door
for an incident exactly like this one. It is very unfortunate. Thankfully,
we know that Rueda is going to be okay, and
we just have to hope that the same is true
for Debt Wyler because He's going to have a pretty
long road back for sure. But MotoGP cannot let this
(10:08):
incident go by without learning something from it and taking
steps to prevent it from happening again, no matter how
unusual the circumstances. And by the way, I don't lay
blame on either rider here, and I know people want
to do that, but there is no rule saying that
det Wyler has to get off track, even though there
should be. And you know, Rueda couldn't have anticipated the situation,
(10:29):
and it all happened so fast, and I know that
that strait has some distance there, and you know, if
he had known what the situation was, he did have
time to slow down, but he just didn't anticipate what
the situation was ahead of him. And remember these are
still young riders that are learning. That's why they're on
Moto three bikes, which are lighter and slower. Thank goodness,
(10:50):
this didn't happen in Moto GP with a much bigger,
much faster bike, and those closing speeds would have been
so much greater that it would have been a worse record,
could have been a worse wreck. So hopefully both riders
are fine. Hopefully we see them both back on tracks
sooner rather than later, and hopefully MotoGP and Dorina take
steps to ensure that something like that can't happen again.
(11:13):
All right, from there, let's move all of the other news.
The other news I want to talk about briefly is
that to Parkart Scott Leoglu is going to do a
private test I believe in Aragon for Yamaha on Monday.
Looking forward to getting some feedback from him on that.
It's going to be very interesting to see how he
performs in Moto GP next year, considering that he's a
little bit later in his career progress and he's coming
(11:36):
over from World Superbike, which hasn't been the easiest jump
for rider after rider after rider in the past. So
a big moment for him to be back on the
bike for the first time in a couple of years
on a MotoGP bike and his first taste of MotoGP
knowing that that's where he's going to be riding full
time in twenty twenty six. All right, let's move on
to Portamow and talk about this incredible al Garb International Circuit.
(12:02):
Because if I had the opportunity to ride a Moto
GP by I got a Moto GP track, this would
be one of the first places that I would pick
because it's pretty much one half Moto GP circuit and
it's one half roller coaster. And I think that both
riders and fans agree that this track is next level
in terms of entertainment. Tons of elevation change along super
(12:26):
fast straight and then a nice mix of medium and
slow speed corners that kind of alternate between fast, slow
and fast, so there is a flow to the circuit.
And there are also some deceptively technical corners that are
made even more tricky by those constant elevation changes. Just
adding to the interests. There are multiple blind corners here.
(12:48):
You've got the uphill left hander at turn four, the
exit out of turn six after you literally dip down
into the term five hairpin and back out again. I mean,
then the straight between turns eight and nine. You've got
a semi blind turn into ten. The track is all
over the place, but in a good way. In the
final corner is a lot of fun too, a little
(13:08):
bit terrifying. It's a shorter version of the last corner
at Phillip Island. It's got the feel of a cravone
at Monza or the final turn in Harrath or even
Intopang for that matter. It has that type of feel
to it. So who does a favor? Well, surprisingly, this
track is a little bit of an all arounder and KTM, Yamaha, Dukati,
(13:31):
they've all won here before. In the short history of
this track, Emoto, GP and five manufacturers have been on
the podium at one point or another, so that's where
they're racing. This place is so much fun. I would
love to see a race there and I would also
love to take maybe a lap or two on the track.
So now let's talk about some riders, because yeah, last
(13:52):
year you would have assumed that this was going to
be a Ducati romp. But with Mark out of action
and the changing fortunes constantly changing fortunes of a Prillia
and KTM and now Honda in the mix as well,
we cant have a couple of surprises. And I'm looking
very forward to what might happen this weekend, and I'm
(14:12):
not looking very forward to making picks about what I
think is gonna happen this weekend. So let's dive in
with the riders and we'll do this how we always do.
The pre race show. I'm gonna split things up into
three categories. The Favorites, the riders I think have the
best chance of winning this weekend. The watch List, a
trio of riders that I think have very interesting stories
(14:33):
coming into the weekend. Because of that, I'm going to
be keeping my eye on them. And then the hot seat,
three riders that I think absolutely must perform, and I
will tell you why I think they have to perform
this weekend. We'll start with the favorites, we'll go on
championship order, and since mart Marquez is off the table,
that means we are going to start like we did
last week with Alex Marquez, who, by the way, is
(14:55):
now guaranteed to be the second place rider in the championship.
The Marquez Brothers one to two in twenty twenty five.
It is incredible to think about. If you had told
me that at the beginning of the season, I would
have thought, Okay, there's a chance, but probably a very
slim one. But Alex definitely answered the question very loudly
(15:16):
in Sipang with that great, great victory, and you know,
the roller coaster second half really continues for Alex. It
was definitely on the upswing in Sepang, where he once
again rediscovered his mojo, channeling his inner marquees nests and
riding away with an impressive victory where he was already
gapping sprint Winter pecobag Yaya before the factory rider had
(15:39):
that unexpected hire puncture, and in the process, like I said,
a moment, Ago wrapped up second overall in the championship,
leading to that unprecedented one two for the Marquez brothers.
That landmark weekend for Alex not only propels him into
a Portuguese GP, where he's been solid in the past,
but he also has way less to worry about, locked
(16:00):
up that championship position that he's been working on for weeks.
So Alex doesn't have any podiums import him out, but
he does have some success here on multiple bikes. He
was fourth in twenty twenty one on a less than
stellar LCR Honda, then he was fifth in twenty twenty
three on the Grassini Ducati's first time around here on
that bike without the pressure of having to defend his
(16:23):
position in the championship, and then the confidence of his
speed and spang, and you combine that then with inconsistency
from competitors like Aprilia and KTM more on both of
them in a moment. Alex is very tentatively the favorite
heading into the weekend, but not by a whole lot.
And one of the riders that I'm not quite sure
(16:45):
will compete with him to be the favorite is the
next rider on my list. That rider, of course, is
Peko Bangyaya. And you know I was joking in the intro,
but really I don't know what to think or say
about Peco Bagnyaya anymore. He has become very Maverick Vinyalez like.
(17:07):
And what I mean by that is when all of
the stars happened to be aligned and he wakes up
on the right side of the bed, things are perfect.
But if just one thing, just one thing is out
of place, look out, because it's going to be a
bad weekend now. So Pang was the former. At a
typically Dukati track, Begnyaya speed returned. He was able to
show it off easily in the sprint. The Moto GP
(17:29):
race was a little bit more interesting because Peko was
ousted by an incredibly rare occurrence in the premier class.
He had a flat tire up till that point. He
was still fast, but not like he was in the sprint.
Like I mentioned a moment ago when we were talking
about Alex Marquez had already definitely left Peko in the dust.
(17:51):
By the point where the tire went down, he drifted
back the thirty was five seconds behind the leader, although
if that tire was going down slowly, that could have
definitely affected his pace, but he was still fast. I mean,
Peco won the sprint and he likely would have been
on the podium and the Moto GP race had the
tired thing not pupped up. So what does that mean
(18:12):
for this weekend? Well, he does happen to be the
most successful rider on the grid and portamow. He's got
two victories, three podiums and a sprint win and so
normally that would make you think, oh, well, he's just
gonna go out there and dominate. But the problem for
Peco Bagnaya right now is consistency. Which Peco, are we
going to get Malaysia and Japan or Indonesia and Australia.
(18:37):
You know, I put him on the favorites list, so
I'm obviously thinking that he has a legitimate shot. But
Peco desperately needs a second straight good performance to grab
back some of that confidence and momentum. It can't be
good bad good bad, because now he's lining up for
a bad weekend, right, so he really does need to
(18:58):
step it up this weekend and together back to back
solid weekends, and not just for his own confidence, but
third place in the championship is not that far gone.
I mean, Marco Bitzeki struggled last weekend and Pecko closed
back in. They're only a couple of points apart. So
Pecko not only has confidence to race four, but he's
got a very valuable position in the championship to race
(19:21):
for as well. We'll see if he can do it.
The last rider on my favorites list this week is
Pedro Acosta, and man, he is so frustrating because he's
continuing to ride really, really well, and he's continuing to
raise his stock for silly season. Heading in the next year.
His phone is going to be ringing off the hook
if it's not already. But he's finally slotted into max
(19:44):
performance on that KTM, And that's the frustrating part, not
really Pedro, but the KTM, because I think it's clear
to all of us that if he were given an
even better bike, he could attain even better results. He's
been a solid podium rider for five or six rounds now,
(20:06):
but he just doesn't have the bike to be a
challenger for the win, especially in the Sunday motor GP races,
and we saw that in Sepang. He had a double
podium weekend, but there was no way that he was
going to challenge either Peco or Alex Marquez for a win.
Now that being said, he was still really really fast
(20:27):
at a Sepang track where KTM hasn't really enjoyed a
whole lot of success in the past. And the best part,
the best part for Pedro Costo about the Malaysian GP
is the double part of that double podium weekend, a
cost of finally put together a complete round. It was
his first since his twenty twenty five breakthrough back in Berne,
(20:48):
where he scored his first sprint and first Motor GP
podium for the Factory RC sixteen since that point since Bruno. Yeah,
there was a double fourth in Catalunya, but the rest
of the weekend featured plenty of speed, but never the
weekend long results that went with it, because in at
least one race or the other he always ran into
(21:09):
some sort of problem, either self made or external, but
that didn't happen in Sipang. He was able to put
everything together start to finish, and that leaves me hopeful
for this weekend in Portugal, which is a track where
he has had success before. He scored his first ever
Modo GP podium in only his second Premier class race
(21:30):
last season at this track. That confidence I think should
definitely carry over. But the question is to what extent.
I mean, even that really strong run in Sipang lacked
pace to the best of the Ducats, so podium potential
there for sure. The win that's the big challenge, and
that's the next step that a cost To and KTM
(21:51):
are going to have to take together and that they
desperately I feel, need to take before the end of
the season to set themselves up for a run at
Ducati in twenty twenty six, and of the two rounds left,
I think this is the best shot for both rider
and bike to get that victory. All right, So let's
move on from the favorites to the watch list. These
(22:12):
aren't necessarily riders I think are going to finish just
off the podium. They could compete for the podium. Any
of these guys could win, well, maybe not any of them,
but at least one of them could win. They just
all have very interesting stories heading out of Sipang and
heading into Portugal, and that is why I'm focused on them.
This week. We're going to start with Marco Bitzeki and
(22:35):
the short story here is that Bez was thoroughly disappointing
in Sipang, but I don't think that we should be
too alarmed by it. I mean a prilliest struggled early
in the weekend, putting the power down, but Bez recovered nicely.
In the Malaysian Sprint, he very quietly went from fourteenth
(22:57):
all the way up to six then a half length race.
Now he wasn't able to capitalize on what he learned
on Saturday and translated into Sunday because they cleverly decided
to pick the medium front tire, which, as Peco bag
Yaya could tell us all, was not the right choice
for that race. So the results, for one reason or another,
(23:19):
they weren't there in the last round at all, which
was very uncharacteristic for Bez in the second half of
the season. But now he comes to a track where
he was sixth last year and landed on the Moto
GP podium in twenty twenty three. Given his overall speed
since the summer break, which is undeniable. I mean, he's
been the second best rider in the sport next to
(23:40):
Mark Marquez in the second half, and given the fact
that he's coming to a track where he's had success before,
and given the fact that he has a ton to
race for, he's cleaning the third in the championship by
just five points over Peco bag Nyaya. And you can't
just assume that Peko is going to have another bad round.
That is not a winning strategy. We've to that before.
(24:00):
Hoping that the other guy does poorly doesn't win championships
and it doesn't win races most of the time. Sometimes
it does in both cases. But you cannot assume that
Peco is going to be bad at a track where
he's been so good in the past, and so Bez
is gonna have to focus and I'll be watching to
(24:20):
see if he can muster up some more success this
weekend than he did in Malaysia, which would be pretty
easy to do. And I think he will be more
successful than he was in Sepang. Next up, is Fabio Quatrroro,
who celebrated one of his best overall weekends of the
year in Malaysia. He was fourth on the grid and
then fifth in both races, and the important part about
(24:42):
those fifth place finishes is that that's kind of where
he started and that's kind of where he ended up,
which means that the m one didn't fade in the
Moto GP race the same way it has in so
many other races this year, and that leaves me optimist
that Yamaha can continue that trend or maybe even improve
(25:04):
a little bit, and they're racing at a place where
Quaturo has won before he took the top spot in
twenty twenty two. Now, I'm not really sure whether Yamaha
is set up right now to follow a Prilia, KTM
and now Honda in terms of getting these podiums late
in the year, but that would be an amazing accomplishment
for them, even challenging for a podium, and if they
(25:26):
can find a way to get that kind of success,
just get on a podium between now and the end
of the year, that's very likely the best way for
Yamaha to try to convince Fabio Quachuraro not to finally
jump ship to Dukat in what promises to be a
wild silly season. I think a lot of people forget
the Fabio Quachurero is still young. I mean he's only
(25:48):
twenty six years old. He should be in his prime
years right now, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight. I
mean that should be like pure speed Championship style results.
And so it's going to be very tempting for him
to look at Kattie and say, I got the ability
to go out there and do exactly what Mark Marquez
just did. And so Yamaha's got the V four, but
(26:11):
a little bit of success prior to the introduction of
that V four full time would probably go a long
way towards helping them in Silly season. Then we have
jo Amir and I was kind of expecting that Luca
Marini was going to be the Honda rider that took
the factory team to the next level. But out of
(26:32):
the nearest gravel trap, here comes Juan and somehow he
did it. He landed on a surprising podium in Sepang.
But get this, get this, believe it or not. Despite
how good he was in Sepang, in the motor GP race.
This wasn't even ju Amir's best weekend of the year.
That happened a couple of rounds back in Motegi where
(26:54):
he was third in the motor GP race and fourth
in the sprint, so he was better start to finish. Overall,
I would say Honda has done a fantastic job in
the second half. We've talked that length about Luca Marini's
speed and consistency being like a sixth or seventh place rider,
where he started the year outside the top ten. But
Mir has really upped his game with the improved bike
(27:15):
as well. In the last four rounds, okay, He's finished
five races. Four of those five results have been in
the top five. Overall, his average finish when he makes
it to the checker flag in the last four rounds
is an impressive five point two and that is with
an eleventh place result in the Australian sprint. If you
(27:37):
take that out, his average finish is three point seven
to five. I mean, that makes Sepang not look like
a fluke. It makes it really look like Honda has
taken another step forward toward the Italian bikes. Now. The
only problem for Meer specifically is that he also has
three retirements in that span, and that's such a It's
(28:00):
a common theme not only for this year, but across
Mer's entire Honda career. I mean, he's wrecked out of
twelve of the twenty Moto GP races this season and
seven of the twenty sprints, So in forty races he's
retired nineteen times. That's almost half. But of course the
big difference is at the beginning of the year, when
he was making it to the end, he was barely
(28:22):
inside the points. Now he's legitimately looking like he could
challenge for a top five on any given weekend. So
I'm really looking forward to not only see if he
can back up his excellence Ofpang with another good round
in Portugal, but if he and Honda can make it
through another race weekend with points in both events for
(28:43):
just the third time the season and the fourth time
since sprints were introduced. Yeah, for real, that's how bad
joy Mer's results have been on that factory Honda. So
that's the watch list. Now let's move on to the
hot seat. These are a trio of riders that I
think as solutely have to go out and perform this weekend,
and I will tell you why I think that, and
(29:05):
we're going to start off that list with Franco Morbidelli
and spoiler alert, his VR forty six teammateers up next,
because those guys are in the thick of an incredible
battle in the standings and Frankie, after a couple of
off rounds, came back quietly strong in Malaysia. Now, both
(29:26):
VR forty six riders had speed, but Morbidelli's double fourth
not only beat out Fabio di jan Antonio, but it
moved him back by his teammate for sixth overall in
the championship by a single point, and that sets up
an epic battle between those two guys over the final
two rounds of the season for that spot in the championship.
(29:49):
I think they're both far enough behind Pedro Acosta and
he's running so well that there's not really a realistic
chance that either of those guys are going to make
a play for the top five. But that internal VR
forty six battle is super close, and I am certain
that even though it's a fight for sixth, both those
guys know what's at stake, and both those guys want
(30:09):
to beat the other one in the season long points. Now,
Frankie does have a podium in Portugal. He landed on
the box in the first ever race here in twenty
twenty and then he was fourth in twenty twenty one.
The only problem for him he hasn't really been very
good here lately, So Ken Morbidelli step it up when
the championship spot and bragging rights at VIA forty six
(30:30):
are on the line. We'll find out now. Of course,
the other half of that equation, as I alluded to
a moment ago, is Fabio di jan Antonio, who, despite
being generally excellent in Australia, lagged behind his teammate in Malaysia,
and he doesn't really have a history in Portugal like
Morbidelli does. Did he His best result here is only eleventh. Now,
(30:54):
Consistency is the problem that's been his achilles heo all
year long, and we saw that between Australia in Malaysia
and he needs to break out of that mold and
put together two good rounds in a row if he
wants to be top six in the championship, because again
he can't assume that Frankie is going to falter especially
given his history at the final two tracks. He's got
(31:15):
to assume that Morbidelli is going to score points and
so now it's time for Digia to match that. He's
got to make a decisive move. He's got the better bike,
now it's time for him to use it. And then
the final rider for me on the hot seat this
weekend is an a Abastianini, and he's in a different
category than the VA forty six riders. He's going to
be fourteenth in the championship one way or the other.
(31:36):
There's no moving up or down for him. He's been
so so inconsistent this season, but when he's on he
can challenge for a top five or top six result,
and he was great here a year ago. He was
second in the Modo GP race and less than a
second off the pace of winner Jorge Martin. Now, of
(31:56):
course it was on a Ducati and now he's on
the KTM. But Pedro Acosta's proven to us that the
KTM is capable of running for podiums. So now it's
up to Basionnini to match those kind of results on
the same bike at a track where he's been able
to perform in the past. So while Marbadelli and Digia
(32:17):
have something to race for against each other, for Basiinini,
I think it's twofold for him number one, trying to
find some pace to give him some momentum in general
on the KTM and also silly seasons coming up. And
he is a very talented rider who just hasn't meshed
with at RC sixteen. But if he can show some
(32:38):
results that are more consistent to what we're seeing out
of Pedro Acosta, his phone's going to start ringing as well,
and he could have some opportunities to move around. So
it's in his best interest for his future to go
out there and start performing this weekend at a track
where he feels relatively comfortable. All right, So those are
the riders. That means we only have one order of
(32:58):
business left to take care of. I gotta make picks,
and man, these picks have been so hard, so hard,
since Mark Marquez has taken a seat for the rest
of the year. And by the way, Nicolo Bulaga is
going to get his first ever shot at a Moto
GP race, riding a factory du Kadi and filling in
for Mark Marquez. Such an exciting opportunity for him on
(33:19):
the heels of just narrowly missing out on the World
Superbike Championship this year too to parkrat scot Leo Glue.
But this is a great reward for him. He won
a lot of races this season, has built a lot
of confidence as a rider. It's going to be fun
to see him apply that to a Moto GP race.
You know. To PROC was like, hey, he's gonna be
top ten. I don't expect a whole lot out of him.
(33:41):
I mean, it's just such a different animal, and he's
never been in one of these races before and so
I'm not expecting anything world changing. But it's just a
great opportunity for him and it's going to be fun
to see what he's able to do with it. But
back to the task at hand. Picks are difficult when
there's no more Marquez, but I will give him my
best shot anyway. Here in my top three for Saturday's
(34:04):
sprint and then my top five finishers for the Moto
GP race. In the sprint in third, I'm gonna go
with Pedro Acosta. He's been so fast lately. I don't
see that changing, even if it doesn't necessarily mean a
victory for him in second. Going back to Marco Pitzeki,
I think that his comeback from Sepang starts early on Saturday,
(34:26):
and I think that we'll see a lot better for
him out of him and your winner in the sprint,
Alex Marquez. He's been so great on Saturday afternoons all
year long. He's been fast here, he was great in Sepang.
He's got a lot of momentum right now. I think
that he's got a pretty good shot in the sprint.
Then as we move on to the Moto GP race.
(34:46):
In fifth, I'm gonna go with the same rider I
just picked the win the sprint. I'm probably really wrong
in this one, but I'm gonna go Alex Marquez in fifth,
and then in fourth Pedro Acosta still fast, but I
think there are some motivated riders that have something big
to race for that might finish ahead of him that
brings us to the podium. And then third, I'm gonna
(35:10):
go with Franco Morbidelli. I'm not sure if it's gonna
happen this way, but Frankie definitely needs it and he
is podium capable, so I'm gonna put Frankie on the podium,
and then I'm gonna make an even bolder choice for second.
I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but give me
Peco Bagnyaya for this one. He's been so good here
(35:33):
in the past, and he's coming off of a weekend
where he did show some speed. He's got a lot
to race for. I think that he can have two
decent rounds in a row. I think I'm gonna take
a flyer on him in second, but it's still not
gonna be enough because your winner this weekend in the
(35:54):
Moto GP race, Marco Bitzeki. Can it probably win another
one with that mark in the field, I'd say it's
a good possibility because I'm betting on bez to come
back strong. So in the sprint, Pedro Costa third, Marco
Pitzeki second, and you're winner Alex Marquez. Sunday in the
Moto GP race, your top five Alex Marquez fifth, Pedro
(36:15):
Costa fourth, and on the podium Franco Morbidelli, pecobag Nyaya
and your winner, Marco Pitzeki. Do you agree? Do you disagree?
You know what to do? Get on Facebook, get the Reddit,
Tell me why my picks are absolutely terrible, and who
you think is going to win the race instead? And
since we have a race that means as long as
nothing else in my garage blows up, we will have
(36:36):
a post race show. So check back at the conclusion
of the weekend. I'll recap all of the Moto GP
action in Portugal, I'll review the championship picture, and then
I'll give you my take on the weekend of racing.
One show note for next week, the Valencia pre race
show is probably going to be a day early. I'm
going to be doing some traveling on Wednesday and Thursday
(36:59):
because it's a holiday week here in the United States,
and so I want to make sure that I don't
push the show too late and miss the start of
the weekend. So I think it's actually going to be
maybe one day early, so look out for that, but
everything else should be as normal one way or the other.
There are pre race and post RaSE shows coming up.
We will do shows in the offseason as well. I
(37:21):
don't want to your to miss a single one, So
if you have not done it yet, I would highly
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(37:41):
Of course, you can always get all of the latest
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(38:02):
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Just go to patreon dot com. Slash motoweek. Links to
just about everything I mentioned can be found on the
website at motoweek dot net. All right, so let's find
out what happens this weekend, whether Bez can have a
(38:23):
big comeback, whether Peco can keep his momentum going, or
whether it's just gonna be all Marquez all the time,
just Alex not Mark. We'll find out and then we'll
come back and talk about it, so until then, I
want to thank you so much for listening, right say,
and I'll talk to you soon.
Frommotoweek dot net. It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Wilson. Well,
hello and welcome to motoweek. My name is Wilson. Thank
you so much for listening to the only Moto GP
show on the internet that was so confused by the
Malaysian GP. I didn't even know what to say about it.
(00:22):
I didn't even do a post trace show. I mean,
come on, Peco's Jacquelin Hyde act was in full on
speed mode again. He wins the sprint, then Juamir makes
it an entire race without ending up in a gravel
trap and finishes on the podium. I mean, it was
like all of MotoGP was in the upside down. By
the way, that's a Stranger Things reference. That was a
(00:45):
Netflix show like eight years ago that they're finally going
to wrap up, I think at the end of this year,
you know, before the main character reaches retirement. Ah So,
I was physically unable to respond to what happened in
Malaysia because who could have seen any of that coming. Okay,
that's not really what happened after Sapang. I do apologize
(01:07):
for not having a prompt post race show out as usual,
my car blew up, and I had no choice but
to fix it Sunday evening, which normally is something I
enjoy doing working on my car, not in this particular instance.
At least, I did have a really good excuse to
ride the bike to work for a week while I
was waiting for all the parts to arrive. But that's done.
(01:27):
We're back in business. Although the car is not exactly
It still needs motor mounts, but that's a different show
and a different story. But we're here and I'm ready
to talk about Portugal. So let's preview round twenty one
of the twenty twenty five Moto GP World Championship, the
Portuguese GP, at the roller coaster that is the Algarve
(01:50):
International Circuit in Portomou, Portugal. Before we get started, I
would like to take a brief moment to invite you
over to the website if you've never checked it out before.
You can find all of the latest episodes at motoweek
dot net. You can follow on Blue Scott just search
for motoweek, or on Instagram at motoweek USA, and most importantly,
(02:11):
leave your comments. You can do that on Facebook at
Facebook dot com, slash motoweek dot net or over on
the Reddit subit r slash motoweek. And if you do
want to support the program, don't feel obligated because you
never know when my car's gonna blow up again. But
you can do that on Patreon. Just go to patreon
dot com slash MotorWeek if you so desire. All Right,
(02:32):
before we talk about what's gonna happen this weekend in Portugal,
I do since we didn't have a proper post ra
show for Malaysia, I have to talk about that freak
accident in Moto three, And for those who don't regularly
watch Moto three, I'll describe what happened. This was so
strange and so unexpected, but it's something that, when you
(02:56):
think about it, could easily happen in any of the series.
So on the siding lap of all things, something happened
to Noah Dettweiler's bike. Now, the way he was riding
it was likely a technical issue of some sort, but
we don't have confirmation of that yet, at least not
at the time I'm doing the show. But one way
(03:16):
or the other, he was riding slowly. Now, initially he
was offline until he got to the strait between turns
three and four, and that is a right hander going
onto a short straight, going into another right hander, and
he was over on the left side of the track,
so that's the line where you would be exiting three
and then subsequently setting up to head into term four.
(03:39):
He seemed to be looking down at the bike, likely
trying to figure something out, and as he did this,
he just coasted up the left side of the track
to the point where he was eventually back on the
racing line again. It was at that moment that newly
crowned champion Jose Antonio Rueda came up on that straight.
(04:00):
And now I don't know if Rueda just wasn't one
hundred percent focused on what was happening, or if he
had difficulty judging Dettwiler's speed, although this is what I
think is a safe assumption of what was going on.
This is my opinion, though we don't know this from
Jose Antonio Rueda, but my assumption is that you know
(04:20):
you're on this slap, You're trying to get some heat
in the tires. He's riding quickly, everybody's riding quickly, and
I don't think that Rueda was expecting a rider up
ahead on the strait to be going slow, let alone
as slowly as Dettwiler was going, and so in the
speed of the moment, he probably got a quick reference
point on Noah, up ahead, He's like, there's a bike
(04:41):
up there that's exiting in the term four, That's where
I'm headed, and then probably started to turn his mental
and visual focus toward the next corner, at which point,
out of his peripheral he realized, WHOA, that bike ahead
of me isn't going normal pace. And it was too late.
He was already there right, and the resulting collision was
really hard. It left Dettwiler to have to be airlifted
(05:03):
to the hospital. He was in critical condition, had multiple surgeries,
had its spleen removed, and he was only just allowed
to leave Malaysia to go back to Switzerland Wednesday, at
which point he'll have more surgery once he returns home. Now,
the frustrating thing here is that this accident was completely avoidable.
But probably the more frustrating part is that there's not
(05:25):
like one thing that you can do to ensure that
something like that is avoidable. You know, if somebody blows
out a tire because the pressures are too low. You
could just set a minimum tire pressure problem solved, right.
This isn't nearly that cut and dry where one thing
went wrong, so you switch that thing and it's no
(05:47):
longer a problem, you know. I've heard some people say,
and I've read some people right, that Moto GP needs
to bring warm up sessions back for Moto two and
Moto three. Now I'm in favor of that. In general,
I think they should bring warm up sessions back for
Moto to a Moto or anything. It was a stupid
reason they took them away, but I don't think that's
a fix for what happened. I mean that scenario could
(06:10):
have played out in any session. Whether you have a
warm up or not doesn't change that set of circumstances.
If there was a technical problem with Detwiler's bike, then
he would have just had it on the outlap of
warm up. And yeah, maybe that means that there would
be less riders around him because not everybody leaves it
once and so there was less of a chance that
somebody could be coming behind him. But there isn't a
(06:30):
zero percent chance that Rueda was behind him in that
same situation, and warm up as opposed to on the
sighting lap. So I think that they should bring those
sessions back, but that's not a fix here. Other comments
are that there should be a minimum speed in citing
in warm up laps. I do think that is generally
a good idea, but again that's not a fix to
(06:52):
this incident because more likely than not, this was a
mechanical issue, and so having a minimum speed roll isn't
going to make any difference. If your bike is broken,
you're still going to be coasting around. So the only
things that I would say, and there are a couple
of things I think that can be done. I think
it comes down to a few things, rider protocol and
(07:13):
rider notification. And the good part about these types of
solutions is that they're easy. I mean, it will be
super simple to implement a role that if you are
on track in any series and you have a mechanical
you must exit the racing surface as soon as possible.
Now I could go into details on that as to why,
but I think it's pretty self explanatory. If the rider
(07:36):
whose bike is failing isn't on the track, then the
chances of somebody running into them at full speed are
kind of small. Right now. The other thing that they
could do is have a more comprehensive warning system for
the riders. There are already communicating messages to the riders
on their dash. Have a big rude light that you
(07:57):
can set off, and then you've got stewards around the
track in every hot session that have the authority to
light up those warning lights in nominary situations like this,
where there's an incident or a slow rider that could
cause a problem on track, that could cause a safety
concern on track. And you know, in all honesty, when
(08:18):
Dettwiler was coasting around, there should have been yellow flags
out since there was a slow rider out there. And
you know, I think that everybody assumes on something like
a sighting lap that it's different because it's not a
live session, but it's still a hot track. And whenever
there's a hot track, everybody marshall stewards, they should all
(08:39):
be closely monitoring what's going on and using flags for
unusual incidents, especially in this instance when it's not a race.
There is no harm in a premature local yellow coming out,
even if there's not a rider in a gravel trap,
even if somebody's just running slowly on track, and those
are super easy things where they're notifying the riders or
the riders know, hey, if something is wrong with my bike,
(09:01):
I'm gonna get penalized if I don't get off the
track immediately. I mean, heck, they find Jack Miller for
riding the wrong way on a cool down lap, So
you could give a fan some gloves. And I don't
disagree with that, because despite the fact that all the
riders are a not riding full speed and b are
kind of in cruising mode where nobody's riding fast or dangerously,
(09:25):
it doesn't matter, it still could create a safety situation,
and so they're exercising the utmost caution and that's why
Jack Miller got that fine. Well, this actually is a
more valid reason to hand out a penalty than Jack
giving away some gloves. Is if you are disabled on
track and that bike is still moving and you don't
(09:46):
move that bike off the track completely, then you could
get fined because you don't want to open the door
for an incident exactly like this one. It is very unfortunate. Thankfully,
we know that Rueda is going to be okay, and
we just have to hope that the same is true
for Debt Wyler because He's going to have a pretty
long road back for sure. But MotoGP cannot let this
(10:08):
incident go by without learning something from it and taking
steps to prevent it from happening again, no matter how
unusual the circumstances. And by the way, I don't lay
blame on either rider here, and I know people want
to do that, but there is no rule saying that
det Wyler has to get off track, even though there
should be. And you know, Rueda couldn't have anticipated the situation,
(10:29):
and it all happened so fast, and I know that
that strait has some distance there, and you know, if
he had known what the situation was, he did have
time to slow down, but he just didn't anticipate what
the situation was ahead of him. And remember these are
still young riders that are learning. That's why they're on
Moto three bikes, which are lighter and slower. Thank goodness,
(10:50):
this didn't happen in Moto GP with a much bigger,
much faster bike, and those closing speeds would have been
so much greater that it would have been a worse record,
could have been a worse wreck. So hopefully both riders
are fine. Hopefully we see them both back on tracks
sooner rather than later, and hopefully MotoGP and Dorina take
steps to ensure that something like that can't happen again.
(11:13):
All right, from there, let's move all of the other news.
The other news I want to talk about briefly is
that to Parkart Scott Leoglu is going to do a
private test I believe in Aragon for Yamaha on Monday.
Looking forward to getting some feedback from him on that.
It's going to be very interesting to see how he
performs in Moto GP next year, considering that he's a
little bit later in his career progress and he's coming
(11:36):
over from World Superbike, which hasn't been the easiest jump
for rider after rider after rider in the past. So
a big moment for him to be back on the
bike for the first time in a couple of years
on a MotoGP bike and his first taste of MotoGP
knowing that that's where he's going to be riding full
time in twenty twenty six. All right, let's move on
to Portamow and talk about this incredible al Garb International Circuit.
(12:02):
Because if I had the opportunity to ride a Moto
GP by I got a Moto GP track, this would
be one of the first places that I would pick
because it's pretty much one half Moto GP circuit and
it's one half roller coaster. And I think that both
riders and fans agree that this track is next level
in terms of entertainment. Tons of elevation change along super
(12:26):
fast straight and then a nice mix of medium and
slow speed corners that kind of alternate between fast, slow
and fast, so there is a flow to the circuit.
And there are also some deceptively technical corners that are
made even more tricky by those constant elevation changes. Just
adding to the interests. There are multiple blind corners here.
(12:48):
You've got the uphill left hander at turn four, the
exit out of turn six after you literally dip down
into the term five hairpin and back out again. I mean,
then the straight between turns eight and nine. You've got
a semi blind turn into ten. The track is all
over the place, but in a good way. In the
final corner is a lot of fun too, a little
(13:08):
bit terrifying. It's a shorter version of the last corner
at Phillip Island. It's got the feel of a cravone
at Monza or the final turn in Harrath or even
Intopang for that matter. It has that type of feel
to it. So who does a favor? Well, surprisingly, this
track is a little bit of an all arounder and KTM, Yamaha, Dukati,
(13:31):
they've all won here before. In the short history of
this track, Emoto, GP and five manufacturers have been on
the podium at one point or another, so that's where
they're racing. This place is so much fun. I would
love to see a race there and I would also
love to take maybe a lap or two on the track.
So now let's talk about some riders, because yeah, last
(13:52):
year you would have assumed that this was going to
be a Ducati romp. But with Mark out of action
and the changing fortunes constantly changing fortunes of a Prillia
and KTM and now Honda in the mix as well,
we cant have a couple of surprises. And I'm looking
very forward to what might happen this weekend, and I'm
(14:12):
not looking very forward to making picks about what I
think is gonna happen this weekend. So let's dive in
with the riders and we'll do this how we always do.
The pre race show. I'm gonna split things up into
three categories. The Favorites, the riders I think have the
best chance of winning this weekend. The watch List, a
trio of riders that I think have very interesting stories
(14:33):
coming into the weekend. Because of that, I'm going to
be keeping my eye on them. And then the hot seat,
three riders that I think absolutely must perform, and I
will tell you why I think they have to perform
this weekend. We'll start with the favorites, we'll go on
championship order, and since mart Marquez is off the table,
that means we are going to start like we did
last week with Alex Marquez, who, by the way, is
(14:55):
now guaranteed to be the second place rider in the championship.
The Marquez Brothers one to two in twenty twenty five.
It is incredible to think about. If you had told
me that at the beginning of the season, I would
have thought, Okay, there's a chance, but probably a very
slim one. But Alex definitely answered the question very loudly
(15:16):
in Sipang with that great, great victory, and you know,
the roller coaster second half really continues for Alex. It
was definitely on the upswing in Sepang, where he once
again rediscovered his mojo, channeling his inner marquees nests and
riding away with an impressive victory where he was already
gapping sprint Winter pecobag Yaya before the factory rider had
(15:39):
that unexpected hire puncture, and in the process, like I said,
a moment, Ago wrapped up second overall in the championship,
leading to that unprecedented one two for the Marquez brothers.
That landmark weekend for Alex not only propels him into
a Portuguese GP, where he's been solid in the past,
but he also has way less to worry about, locked
(16:00):
up that championship position that he's been working on for weeks.
So Alex doesn't have any podiums import him out, but
he does have some success here on multiple bikes. He
was fourth in twenty twenty one on a less than
stellar LCR Honda, then he was fifth in twenty twenty
three on the Grassini Ducati's first time around here on
that bike without the pressure of having to defend his
(16:23):
position in the championship, and then the confidence of his
speed and spang, and you combine that then with inconsistency
from competitors like Aprilia and KTM more on both of
them in a moment. Alex is very tentatively the favorite
heading into the weekend, but not by a whole lot.
And one of the riders that I'm not quite sure
(16:45):
will compete with him to be the favorite is the
next rider on my list. That rider, of course, is
Peko Bangyaya. And you know I was joking in the intro,
but really I don't know what to think or say
about Peco Bagnyaya anymore. He has become very Maverick Vinyalez like.
(17:07):
And what I mean by that is when all of
the stars happened to be aligned and he wakes up
on the right side of the bed, things are perfect.
But if just one thing, just one thing is out
of place, look out, because it's going to be a
bad weekend now. So Pang was the former. At a
typically Dukati track, Begnyaya speed returned. He was able to
show it off easily in the sprint. The Moto GP
(17:29):
race was a little bit more interesting because Peko was
ousted by an incredibly rare occurrence in the premier class.
He had a flat tire up till that point. He
was still fast, but not like he was in the sprint.
Like I mentioned a moment ago when we were talking
about Alex Marquez had already definitely left Peko in the dust.
(17:51):
By the point where the tire went down, he drifted
back the thirty was five seconds behind the leader, although
if that tire was going down slowly, that could have
definitely affected his pace, but he was still fast. I mean,
Peco won the sprint and he likely would have been
on the podium and the Moto GP race had the
tired thing not pupped up. So what does that mean
(18:12):
for this weekend? Well, he does happen to be the
most successful rider on the grid and portamow. He's got
two victories, three podiums and a sprint win and so
normally that would make you think, oh, well, he's just
gonna go out there and dominate. But the problem for
Peco Bagnaya right now is consistency. Which Peco, are we
going to get Malaysia and Japan or Indonesia and Australia.
(18:37):
You know, I put him on the favorites list, so
I'm obviously thinking that he has a legitimate shot. But
Peco desperately needs a second straight good performance to grab
back some of that confidence and momentum. It can't be
good bad good bad, because now he's lining up for
a bad weekend, right, so he really does need to
(18:58):
step it up this weekend and together back to back
solid weekends, and not just for his own confidence, but
third place in the championship is not that far gone.
I mean, Marco Bitzeki struggled last weekend and Pecko closed
back in. They're only a couple of points apart. So
Pecko not only has confidence to race four, but he's
got a very valuable position in the championship to race
(19:21):
for as well. We'll see if he can do it.
The last rider on my favorites list this week is
Pedro Acosta, and man, he is so frustrating because he's
continuing to ride really, really well, and he's continuing to
raise his stock for silly season. Heading in the next year.
His phone is going to be ringing off the hook
if it's not already. But he's finally slotted into max
(19:44):
performance on that KTM, And that's the frustrating part, not
really Pedro, but the KTM, because I think it's clear
to all of us that if he were given an
even better bike, he could attain even better results. He's
been a solid podium rider for five or six rounds now,
(20:06):
but he just doesn't have the bike to be a
challenger for the win, especially in the Sunday motor GP races,
and we saw that in Sepang. He had a double
podium weekend, but there was no way that he was
going to challenge either Peco or Alex Marquez for a win.
Now that being said, he was still really really fast
(20:27):
at a Sepang track where KTM hasn't really enjoyed a
whole lot of success in the past. And the best part,
the best part for Pedro Costo about the Malaysian GP
is the double part of that double podium weekend, a
cost of finally put together a complete round. It was
his first since his twenty twenty five breakthrough back in Berne,
(20:48):
where he scored his first sprint and first Motor GP
podium for the Factory RC sixteen since that point since Bruno. Yeah,
there was a double fourth in Catalunya, but the rest
of the weekend featured plenty of speed, but never the
weekend long results that went with it, because in at
least one race or the other he always ran into
(21:09):
some sort of problem, either self made or external, but
that didn't happen in Sipang. He was able to put
everything together start to finish, and that leaves me hopeful
for this weekend in Portugal, which is a track where
he has had success before. He scored his first ever
Modo GP podium in only his second Premier class race
(21:30):
last season at this track. That confidence I think should
definitely carry over. But the question is to what extent.
I mean, even that really strong run in Sipang lacked
pace to the best of the Ducats, so podium potential
there for sure. The win that's the big challenge, and
that's the next step that a cost To and KTM
(21:51):
are going to have to take together and that they
desperately I feel, need to take before the end of
the season to set themselves up for a run at
Ducati in twenty twenty six, and of the two rounds left,
I think this is the best shot for both rider
and bike to get that victory. All right, So let's
move on from the favorites to the watch list. These
(22:12):
aren't necessarily riders I think are going to finish just
off the podium. They could compete for the podium. Any
of these guys could win, well, maybe not any of them,
but at least one of them could win. They just
all have very interesting stories heading out of Sipang and
heading into Portugal, and that is why I'm focused on them.
This week. We're going to start with Marco Bitzeki and
(22:35):
the short story here is that Bez was thoroughly disappointing
in Sipang, but I don't think that we should be
too alarmed by it. I mean a prilliest struggled early
in the weekend, putting the power down, but Bez recovered nicely.
In the Malaysian Sprint, he very quietly went from fourteenth
(22:57):
all the way up to six then a half length race.
Now he wasn't able to capitalize on what he learned
on Saturday and translated into Sunday because they cleverly decided
to pick the medium front tire, which, as Peco bag
Yaya could tell us all, was not the right choice
for that race. So the results, for one reason or another,
(23:19):
they weren't there in the last round at all, which
was very uncharacteristic for Bez in the second half of
the season. But now he comes to a track where
he was sixth last year and landed on the Moto
GP podium in twenty twenty three. Given his overall speed
since the summer break, which is undeniable. I mean, he's
been the second best rider in the sport next to
(23:40):
Mark Marquez in the second half, and given the fact
that he's coming to a track where he's had success before,
and given the fact that he has a ton to
race for, he's cleaning the third in the championship by
just five points over Peco bag Nyaya. And you can't
just assume that Peko is going to have another bad round.
That is not a winning strategy. We've to that before.
(24:00):
Hoping that the other guy does poorly doesn't win championships
and it doesn't win races most of the time. Sometimes
it does in both cases. But you cannot assume that
Peco is going to be bad at a track where
he's been so good in the past, and so Bez
is gonna have to focus and I'll be watching to
(24:20):
see if he can muster up some more success this
weekend than he did in Malaysia, which would be pretty
easy to do. And I think he will be more
successful than he was in Sepang. Next up, is Fabio Quatrroro,
who celebrated one of his best overall weekends of the
year in Malaysia. He was fourth on the grid and
then fifth in both races, and the important part about
(24:42):
those fifth place finishes is that that's kind of where
he started and that's kind of where he ended up,
which means that the m one didn't fade in the
Moto GP race the same way it has in so
many other races this year, and that leaves me optimist
that Yamaha can continue that trend or maybe even improve
(25:04):
a little bit, and they're racing at a place where
Quaturo has won before he took the top spot in
twenty twenty two. Now, I'm not really sure whether Yamaha
is set up right now to follow a Prilia, KTM
and now Honda in terms of getting these podiums late
in the year, but that would be an amazing accomplishment
for them, even challenging for a podium, and if they
(25:26):
can find a way to get that kind of success,
just get on a podium between now and the end
of the year, that's very likely the best way for
Yamaha to try to convince Fabio Quachuraro not to finally
jump ship to Dukat in what promises to be a
wild silly season. I think a lot of people forget
the Fabio Quachurero is still young. I mean he's only
(25:48):
twenty six years old. He should be in his prime
years right now, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight. I
mean that should be like pure speed Championship style results.
And so it's going to be very tempting for him
to look at Kattie and say, I got the ability
to go out there and do exactly what Mark Marquez
just did. And so Yamaha's got the V four, but
(26:11):
a little bit of success prior to the introduction of
that V four full time would probably go a long
way towards helping them in Silly season. Then we have
jo Amir and I was kind of expecting that Luca
Marini was going to be the Honda rider that took
the factory team to the next level. But out of
(26:32):
the nearest gravel trap, here comes Juan and somehow he
did it. He landed on a surprising podium in Sepang.
But get this, get this, believe it or not. Despite
how good he was in Sepang, in the motor GP race.
This wasn't even ju Amir's best weekend of the year.
That happened a couple of rounds back in Motegi where
(26:54):
he was third in the motor GP race and fourth
in the sprint, so he was better start to finish. Overall,
I would say Honda has done a fantastic job in
the second half. We've talked that length about Luca Marini's
speed and consistency being like a sixth or seventh place rider,
where he started the year outside the top ten. But
Mir has really upped his game with the improved bike
(27:15):
as well. In the last four rounds, okay, He's finished
five races. Four of those five results have been in
the top five. Overall, his average finish when he makes
it to the checker flag in the last four rounds
is an impressive five point two and that is with
an eleventh place result in the Australian sprint. If you
(27:37):
take that out, his average finish is three point seven
to five. I mean, that makes Sepang not look like
a fluke. It makes it really look like Honda has
taken another step forward toward the Italian bikes. Now. The
only problem for Meer specifically is that he also has
three retirements in that span, and that's such a It's
(28:00):
a common theme not only for this year, but across
Mer's entire Honda career. I mean, he's wrecked out of
twelve of the twenty Moto GP races this season and
seven of the twenty sprints, So in forty races he's
retired nineteen times. That's almost half. But of course the
big difference is at the beginning of the year, when
he was making it to the end, he was barely
(28:22):
inside the points. Now he's legitimately looking like he could
challenge for a top five on any given weekend. So
I'm really looking forward to not only see if he
can back up his excellence Ofpang with another good round
in Portugal, but if he and Honda can make it
through another race weekend with points in both events for
(28:43):
just the third time the season and the fourth time
since sprints were introduced. Yeah, for real, that's how bad
joy Mer's results have been on that factory Honda. So
that's the watch list. Now let's move on to the
hot seat. These are a trio of riders that I
think as solutely have to go out and perform this weekend,
and I will tell you why I think that, and
(29:05):
we're going to start off that list with Franco Morbidelli
and spoiler alert, his VR forty six teammateers up next,
because those guys are in the thick of an incredible
battle in the standings and Frankie, after a couple of
off rounds, came back quietly strong in Malaysia. Now, both
(29:26):
VR forty six riders had speed, but Morbidelli's double fourth
not only beat out Fabio di jan Antonio, but it
moved him back by his teammate for sixth overall in
the championship by a single point, and that sets up
an epic battle between those two guys over the final
two rounds of the season for that spot in the championship.
(29:49):
I think they're both far enough behind Pedro Acosta and
he's running so well that there's not really a realistic
chance that either of those guys are going to make
a play for the top five. But that internal VR
forty six battle is super close, and I am certain
that even though it's a fight for sixth, both those
guys know what's at stake, and both those guys want
(30:09):
to beat the other one in the season long points. Now,
Frankie does have a podium in Portugal. He landed on
the box in the first ever race here in twenty
twenty and then he was fourth in twenty twenty one.
The only problem for him he hasn't really been very
good here lately, So Ken Morbidelli step it up when
the championship spot and bragging rights at VIA forty six
(30:30):
are on the line. We'll find out now. Of course,
the other half of that equation, as I alluded to
a moment ago, is Fabio di jan Antonio, who, despite
being generally excellent in Australia, lagged behind his teammate in Malaysia,
and he doesn't really have a history in Portugal like
Morbidelli does. Did he His best result here is only eleventh. Now,
(30:54):
Consistency is the problem that's been his achilles heo all
year long, and we saw that between Australia in Malaysia
and he needs to break out of that mold and
put together two good rounds in a row if he
wants to be top six in the championship, because again
he can't assume that Frankie is going to falter especially
given his history at the final two tracks. He's got
(31:15):
to assume that Morbidelli is going to score points and
so now it's time for Digia to match that. He's
got to make a decisive move. He's got the better bike,
now it's time for him to use it. And then
the final rider for me on the hot seat this
weekend is an a Abastianini, and he's in a different
category than the VA forty six riders. He's going to
be fourteenth in the championship one way or the other.
(31:36):
There's no moving up or down for him. He's been
so so inconsistent this season, but when he's on he
can challenge for a top five or top six result,
and he was great here a year ago. He was
second in the Modo GP race and less than a
second off the pace of winner Jorge Martin. Now, of
(31:56):
course it was on a Ducati and now he's on
the KTM. But Pedro Acosta's proven to us that the
KTM is capable of running for podiums. So now it's
up to Basionnini to match those kind of results on
the same bike at a track where he's been able
to perform in the past. So while Marbadelli and Digia
(32:17):
have something to race for against each other, for Basiinini,
I think it's twofold for him number one, trying to
find some pace to give him some momentum in general
on the KTM and also silly seasons coming up. And
he is a very talented rider who just hasn't meshed
with at RC sixteen. But if he can show some
(32:38):
results that are more consistent to what we're seeing out
of Pedro Acosta, his phone's going to start ringing as well,
and he could have some opportunities to move around. So
it's in his best interest for his future to go
out there and start performing this weekend at a track
where he feels relatively comfortable. All right, So those are
the riders. That means we only have one order of
(32:58):
business left to take care of. I gotta make picks,
and man, these picks have been so hard, so hard,
since Mark Marquez has taken a seat for the rest
of the year. And by the way, Nicolo Bulaga is
going to get his first ever shot at a Moto
GP race, riding a factory du Kadi and filling in
for Mark Marquez. Such an exciting opportunity for him on
(33:19):
the heels of just narrowly missing out on the World
Superbike Championship this year too to parkrat scot Leo Glue.
But this is a great reward for him. He won
a lot of races this season, has built a lot
of confidence as a rider. It's going to be fun
to see him apply that to a Moto GP race.
You know. To PROC was like, hey, he's gonna be
top ten. I don't expect a whole lot out of him.
(33:41):
I mean, it's just such a different animal, and he's
never been in one of these races before and so
I'm not expecting anything world changing. But it's just a
great opportunity for him and it's going to be fun
to see what he's able to do with it. But
back to the task at hand. Picks are difficult when
there's no more Marquez, but I will give him my
best shot anyway. Here in my top three for Saturday's
(34:04):
sprint and then my top five finishers for the Moto
GP race. In the sprint in third, I'm gonna go
with Pedro Acosta. He's been so fast lately. I don't
see that changing, even if it doesn't necessarily mean a
victory for him in second. Going back to Marco Pitzeki,
I think that his comeback from Sepang starts early on Saturday,
(34:26):
and I think that we'll see a lot better for
him out of him and your winner in the sprint,
Alex Marquez. He's been so great on Saturday afternoons all
year long. He's been fast here, he was great in Sepang.
He's got a lot of momentum right now. I think
that he's got a pretty good shot in the sprint.
Then as we move on to the Moto GP race.
(34:46):
In fifth, I'm gonna go with the same rider I
just picked the win the sprint. I'm probably really wrong
in this one, but I'm gonna go Alex Marquez in fifth,
and then in fourth Pedro Acosta still fast, but I
think there are some motivated riders that have something big
to race for that might finish ahead of him that
brings us to the podium. And then third, I'm gonna
(35:10):
go with Franco Morbidelli. I'm not sure if it's gonna
happen this way, but Frankie definitely needs it and he
is podium capable, so I'm gonna put Frankie on the podium,
and then I'm gonna make an even bolder choice for second.
I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but give me
Peco Bagnyaya for this one. He's been so good here
(35:33):
in the past, and he's coming off of a weekend
where he did show some speed. He's got a lot
to race for. I think that he can have two
decent rounds in a row. I think I'm gonna take
a flyer on him in second, but it's still not
gonna be enough because your winner this weekend in the
(35:54):
Moto GP race, Marco Bitzeki. Can it probably win another
one with that mark in the field, I'd say it's
a good possibility because I'm betting on bez to come
back strong. So in the sprint, Pedro Costa third, Marco
Pitzeki second, and you're winner Alex Marquez. Sunday in the
Moto GP race, your top five Alex Marquez fifth, Pedro
(36:15):
Costa fourth, and on the podium Franco Morbidelli, pecobag Nyaya
and your winner, Marco Pitzeki. Do you agree? Do you disagree?
You know what to do? Get on Facebook, get the Reddit,
Tell me why my picks are absolutely terrible, and who
you think is going to win the race instead? And
since we have a race that means as long as
nothing else in my garage blows up, we will have
(36:36):
a post race show. So check back at the conclusion
of the weekend. I'll recap all of the Moto GP
action in Portugal, I'll review the championship picture, and then
I'll give you my take on the weekend of racing.
One show note for next week, the Valencia pre race
show is probably going to be a day early. I'm
going to be doing some traveling on Wednesday and Thursday
(36:59):
because it's a holiday week here in the United States,
and so I want to make sure that I don't
push the show too late and miss the start of
the weekend. So I think it's actually going to be
maybe one day early, so look out for that, but
everything else should be as normal one way or the other.
There are pre race and post RaSE shows coming up.
We will do shows in the offseason as well. I
(37:21):
don't want to your to miss a single one, So
if you have not done it yet, I would highly
recommend you subscribe to the program. You can do that
on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher player, dot Fm, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Audible podcasts. Basically, go to your favorite podcasting site. Type
in motoweek. You should be able to find the program.
(37:41):
Of course, you can always get all of the latest
episodes as soon as they're released on the website at
motoweek dot net. You can follow on social media on
Blue Sky just look for motoweek, or on Instagram go
to at MOTOWEEKUSSA. Most importantly, find the show and leave
your comments on Facebook at Facebook dot com, to week
dot net, or leave your comments on the Reddit sub
(38:02):
at our slash motoweek. And if you do feel so
compelled to support the program, which you're not obligated to do,
but if you want to, you can do that on Patreon.
Just go to patreon dot com. Slash motoweek. Links to
just about everything I mentioned can be found on the
website at motoweek dot net. All right, so let's find
out what happens this weekend, whether Bez can have a
(38:23):
big comeback, whether Peco can keep his momentum going, or
whether it's just gonna be all Marquez all the time,
just Alex not Mark. We'll find out and then we'll
come back and talk about it, so until then, I
want to thank you so much for listening, right say,
and I'll talk to you soon.
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