MotoGP is Back! Austria Preview, Yamaha and Honda Silly Season Rumors

Let's get racing again! The Summer Break is over, and it's time to see if anyone can challenge Marc Marquez the second half of the season. I discuss rumors about Yamaha and Honda shopping for a Moto2 star, and preview the AustrianGP at the Red Bull Ring!

The Rundown:

- MotoGP News:
- Did Jorge Martin make his decision at the perfect time?
- Is Jack Miller going from being in jeopardy to a promotion?
- Honda and Yamaha may be fighting over the same Moto2 rider
- Free streaming service in the U.S. - Liberty makes their first move
- The Red Bull Ring! My Preview of the AustrianGP:
- The Favorites - is this the weekend for Pecco?
- The Watch List - where is the ceiling for Jorge Martin?
- The Hot Seat - Alex Rins is suddenly looking over his shoulder
- The Picks! For the Sprint, and the MotoGP race

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

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

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot net. It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Wilson.
Why hello, and welcome to Motoweek. My name is Wilson.
Thank you so much for listening to the only Moto
GP show on the Internet. I thought there would be
way more to talk about over the summer break. I mean,

(00:22):
there isn't nothing to talk about, but I was waiting
for something definitive to happen in terms of silly season,
and granted with Jorge Martin wisely staying put at a
parliam damaged reputation or not, and surprisingly it might not
be more on that in the second but that decision
by Martin pretty much closed the door on any real

(00:45):
madness behind the scenes during the summer break. I mean,
we have Pedro Costa saying yeah, I'm keeping my options open,
but that was really in reference to twenty twenty seven,
not next year, and that was spurred on in the
wake of his excellent performance on the KTM heading out
into the breakup or no, so no unexpected craziness happened,

(01:05):
but also no expected craziness and by that I mean
pretty much praymac Yamaha. They had set a deadline before
the summer break to decide between Jack Miller, Miguel Olivera
or someone else, but we still don't know what they're
up to yet. Of course, there are some rumors floating around,
and we will talk about those on the show today,

(01:27):
but who knows. By the time you hear this, maybe
that'll all have changed. Because, of course, now that MotoGP
is ready to get back into action, there are plenty
of opportunities for press conferences and decisions and announcements, and
we get back to action this weekend at a very
interesting track in the form of the Red Bull Ring,

(01:48):
which generally favors European bikes but really favors to Kati's.
And on top of that, it happens to be one
of the few pre existing MotoGP tracks where Mark Marquez
has never won a race. Peco Bagnyaya though it just
happens to be pretty awesome here or he has been

(02:08):
in the past, So this potentially presents a big opportunity
for Bagnyaya to start the second half with a statement weekend.
Can he do it well? I'll try to figure that out.
As we preview Round thirteen of the twenty twenty five
MotoGP World Championship the Austrian GP at the fast and
exciting Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. We're going to

(02:31):
talk about some MotoGP news and those rumors as well
before we get to the race. But before we do
any of the above, I want to mention the website.
If you haven't been there yet, you can find all
of the latest episodes as soon as they're released at
motoweek dot net. You can follow on Blue Sky just
search for motoweek, or on Facebook just go to Facebook
dot com slashmotoweek dot net and of course you can

(02:55):
comment there or on the Reddit sub at our slash
motorwek and if you do. I want to support the
program and don't feel obligated to do it. That's not
why I do the show, But if you want to,
it's appreciated, and you can do that on Patreon at
patreon dot com slash motoweek. I am super excited to
announce that over the break two more people joined on Patreon.

(03:17):
Thank you Vicky and Luisa Dora. I appreciate it so
much that you're supporting the show. I've got somebody behind
the scenes here that's like, hey, these guys are all
supporting your show, you need to do something for them,
and so that is in the works. And I know
I've said that a lot, but this person, she's not
gonna let me get away with not doing something. So
we're coming up with something that we can do to

(03:40):
say thanks to the Patreon folks, in addition to some
exclusive content every now and then. I don't want to
say anything yet because I'm not exactly sure what the
thing is gonna be, but they'll be a thing. So
stay tuned for more on that sometime in the near future.
All Right, So we've got a race to talk about.
I'm super excited to discuss the Red Bull Ring, but

(04:02):
I'm even more excited to discuss a couple of silly
season rumors, one new story, and I want to talk
in general about Jorge Martin because over the summer break,
there was something that really didn't happen when it came
to Jorge, and that's him dominating the headlines. I mean,

(04:23):
heading into Brenea, everybody was talking about a his return,
but be the dynamic between him and Aprilia and the
announcement and how this was all going to fit together,
and that talk kind of went away over the summer break,
and I think part of the reason for that is just,

(04:43):
I mean, how the news cycle works nowadays. I mean,
everything is a big story for a week and then
it just kind of goes away and nobody thinks about
it again. And because of that. I don't know if
it was on purpose or not, but Jorge Martin seemingly
picked the perfect time to backpedal on all of the
controversy between him and a Brillion, him potentially going to

(05:03):
Honda next season, and I said I would look back
and talk about his reputation. That's what we're gonna do.
I don't have any new updates or news about Jorge
Martin outside of the fact that he's racing this weekend,
and we'll talk about him a little bit later when
it comes to the Austrian GP. But I want to
talk about the perception of Jorge Martin and that situation

(05:25):
prior to Bruno and then after Bruno. Now, obviously people
were talking about his performance in the Czech GP was
a great second shot at an Aprillia debut. The only
real reports since then have Martine saying, hey, I've ramped
up the intensity in my workouts over the break. I'm prepped.
I'm ready to get it on this weekend at the
Red Bull Ring, and that's a track where he's excelled

(05:46):
in the past. But the focus right now, after looking
so good in Bruno, is pretty much solely on how
he'll perform heading into these next few races, especially considering
Aprilias gains in the first half at the hands of
Marco Pitzeki, and really very little, if any of that
chatter is about the epic drama that played out for

(06:08):
weeks on end between Lama when the rumors started and now,
or at least up until the time of the decision
where he was going to stay at Aprilia for next year,
and I find that very interesting. You know. I was
certain that this episode between Martine and Aprillia would really
damage his reputation in general and then make it very

(06:30):
difficult for him to work effectively with Aprilia, given the
tension and his clear desire to leave, or perceive desire
to leave to go to Honda, like I said, spand
weeks on end. But even I thinking that way, even
I'm far more interested now in how he's going to
perform this weekend than I am with the previous controversy,

(06:52):
and I think there are a couple of reasons for that.
The first one I already kind of mentioned the news
cycle is so short nowadays with social media, that things
are in and out of somebody's brain like in a
matter of days. And I think in conjunction with that,
we have to look at the timing of Martin's announcement. Now,
I don't know if it was on purpose or not,

(07:13):
but saying heading into the summer break, oh, by the way,
forget all that Honda stuff, and then me trying to
get out of my contract, I'm just going to stay
put it in Parlia. This is going to be fine.
I think that was genius. It was a very smart move.
I mean, he makes the announcement, immediately, heads out on
track and has a good performance. Then after that three
weeks off, three calm weeks, and that is a lot

(07:36):
of time without the week the week rumor mill just
dragging on about, you know, the potential fallout from this
decision and the dynamic between Martin and his employer. And
of course, since Orge didn't set off a barrage of
crazy silly season moves, there's naturally less focus on the
negative side of that. Story because he wasn't the big

(07:57):
bad guy who made everybody start to break their contracts
and move around to different teams. And on top of that,
Yamaha was stealing enough of the focus on their own
with the Premax situation, which, like I mentioned, isn't resolved yet.
And then of course Honda, who thought they were going
to get Orge Martine, now have to figure out what
they're going to do in twenty twenty six and those
are far more concrete bits of silly season drama to

(08:19):
be focused on. And so the fire kind of fizzled
around this controversy with Orgem Martin. Now that's the first reason.
The second reason, of course performance. You know, after coming
out of the gate strong and Bruno Martin successfully shifted
the focus in the media back to his potential with
a brillia, not what happened in the past. And trust me,

(08:42):
he can distance himself even further from the first half
of the year with another strong run this weekend, and
once he wins a race, well, as we all know,
winning cures everything. So I think that any talk of
a potential negative fallout long term is going to go away.
And even though I find that kind of interesting and

(09:03):
a little bit strange. Trust me, I'm totally fine with it.
I mean, I would much rather see Jorge Martin get
back to racing at Aprillia and get on with improving
and challenging for podiums and potentially wins, instead of dwelling
on the fact that his management team made a series
of bad decisions on his behalf and that could be
the hidden third factor here is that the entire time,

(09:24):
and I've said this before on the show, I don't
blame Jorge Martin so much as I blame his management team.
They put him in this position, and so who knows.
Maybe behind the scenes, Jorge is a great guy and
he has an awesome relationship with Aprilia, and they aren't
holding him accountable for what his management has drug everybody through,
and that could very easily be the case. I'm just

(09:46):
not that familiar with Jorge Martin to know, so that
I found very interesting that there was very little talk
Ivanni about the Joge Martin controversy during the break, only
talk that he's ramped up his workouts and he's ready
to hit the second half of the SI season running.
But we also did not get an announcement from Yamaha.
Despite that, though, it appears if you listen to the rumors,

(10:10):
and that's all we have to listen to, so we're
going to talk about it, it appears that Jack Miller
could have a lifeline that, believe it or not, gets
him an upgrade instead of a trip out the door
maybe the World Superbike. So Yamaha have not officially made
up their minds yet as of the time of this recording,
but there are rumors that not only is Jack looking

(10:32):
a little bit more safe in his position at Pramac,
but Yamaha might actually be considering multiple options for him,
one of which could potentially be a move to the
factory team. So hey, if we're not gonna have Horae
Martine to talk about, this is a pretty good substitute.
I'll keep it brief. Here's the rumor as it's being
reported right now. The thought process is that Miller, in

(10:56):
a factory team scenario will become fabioquachurar teammate at the
expense of Alex Rans. Then Yamaha would pursue an up
and coming moto to rider to pair with Topakkrascott Leoglu
at Pramak. And when I say that, I really mean
Diogo Morera. The fate for rins in all of this unclear,

(11:18):
other than the fact that Yamaha would have to buy
him out of his contract, so one way or the other,
Rinz would be getting paid for twenty twenty six, although
I'm sure he would much rather be getting paid and
riding a bike as well. Now it all seems a
little bit wild that Miller could go from the hot
seat and possibly getting sacked to a promotion to the

(11:39):
factory team within a span of a couple of weeks
where he hasn't even been on the bike, right, But
a scenario like this would make sense for a couple
of reasons. Number One, Jack is better suited, in my opinion,
to help Yamaha develop that bike heading towards the changeover
and the new rule package. With his vast experience and

(12:00):
having ridden for nearly every manufacturer at this point, he
would be a much better development focused rider, a veteran
to have alongside Fabio Quachruro. That's a logical move. Number Two,
twenty twenty seven is the goal here. Yamaha is not
going to compete for a championship against Duccati next year,
so twenty twenty seven is what Yamaha needs to be

(12:23):
aiming for. Developing the bike to get to twenty twenty
seven is one thing, But even if they're successful at that,
you got to have someone there to ride in the future.
And let's be honest, that future rider on an awesome
twenty twenty seven bike probably is going to be Jack
Miller competing for a championship, and it probably wouldn't have

(12:44):
been Alex Rinz competing for a championship. Fabio Quatruro. Yes,
but he's going to start to get older. You need
somebody waiting in the wings, right, and so moving Miller
up then opens a slot at Premak to give Yamaha
somebody to develop into a contender a few years down
the road. And who knows, maybe as they get better

(13:05):
and better, that pushes Fabio in the meantime, And whoever
that young rider is that they pick and get to
agree to a contract would still be the youngster riding
alongside a veteran at Pramak in the shape of Roscott
lee Oglu, even though they would both be new to
Moto GP. You can't discount the sheer amount of experience

(13:27):
that Toprak is going to bring to the table. In
motorcycle racing in general, and that's great for a young
rider to help them develop, especially if they're both learning
Moto GP together. Right, So you've got an experienced rider
that's one championships in many races learning how to ride
a motor GP bike, and then you've got a young
up and coming rider who has yet to really taste

(13:48):
major success doing the same thing. They could potentially if
they get along together, help each other, and then draw
in the experience of Jack Miller the factory team to
kind of help them both come along so well. I
think you could have a very good mix of riders
in a scenario like that. Now, another factor, and don't
discount this one, it is a major one, is that

(14:10):
I'm sure that Dorna and their new owner of Liberty
Media wants Jack Miller on the grid. And I know
that some people might bulk at that idea on the
premise alone of you know, somebody should be on the
grid because they're from a particular country or particular part
of the world. But this is a little bit different.
This it's not like Jack hasn't proven that he is
a Moto GP rider time and time again. That's definitely

(14:33):
already been established, and Australia, as a lot of you know,
because a lot of you are listening right now in
Australia is such an important market for Moto GP, and
Liberty really wants to do the same thing Dorna did,
try to maintain the current fan base while also then
expanding out mostly into the US market. Keep that idea
in mind. We'll come back to that in a moment

(14:54):
as well. And so this is nothing new that Dorna
has wanted to have represent from all around the world
on the grid and Jack is super important in that
role as long as he can keep riding, and he's
certainly is capable of continuing on on the Motor GP grid. Now.
The only potential snag in this plan, outside of what

(15:16):
you do with Alex Rinz, is who fills in that
second Premax slot. Because everybody we talked about this a
couple of shows ago, everybody right now wants Diogo Morrera.
He is definitely the hot, silly seasoned rider, and of
course Honda, fresh off of losing out in the Jorge
Martin Jumping Ship sweepstakes, are also hot on the trail

(15:38):
of a rider that can make an impact in the future,
to the extent that they are seriously considering parting ways
with some kut Chantra over at LCR and with it
risking losing Idimitsu as a sponsor, specifically to take on
Diogo Morera, keeping their three remaining current riders in join Zarco,
Joan Meir and of course Luca Marini and I know

(16:00):
we're talking about the Primac situation, but I do want
to make a quick comment on what's happening at Honda,
or what potentially could happen at Honda, according to the
rumors as entertaining of a person as some cout Chantra
is in the paddock. If Honda wants to make that move,
they absolutely should. They don't have a Honda Asia talent

(16:22):
cup rider that's waiting in the wings right now, and
they can't afford to keep wasting a seat, and they've
done that for a long time and haven't gotten much
result from it. They need every rider they can get,
They need every bit of data they can get, they
need every result they can get. They are in a
position right now where they are desperately trying to move

(16:44):
that program forward, and they're trying to catch up to
a Dukati operation that is so far above them, and
if we're being perfectly honest, some count Chantra isn't going
to get you there. He's just not. So go get
a rider that can help move the needle right now,

(17:05):
or a rider that, once your other veterans move the needle,
can jump in and take over and be that rider
that carries you into the future, just like I suggested,
Yamaha needs as well. Not that Fabio Quachruar isn't capable
of winning a championship as soon as they give him
a good bike. He absolutely is, but he has a
shelf life just like everybody else. And you have to
constantly be looking toward the future. And you need to

(17:28):
find young riders because for every five or six or
eight or ten really hot shot young riders in Moto
three and Moto two, how many of them are going
to ultimately be Moto GP stars. Not very many. And
so you've constantly got to be looking for that next person.
And Handa knows this better than anybody else, because they

(17:50):
found Mark Marquez, right And so I mean, are they
gonna wait on maximum kiles? Maybe they will, I don't know,
but that's far off. That's a couple of years down
the road until that kid is ready if he ends
up being ready. Like I said, we've seen so many
hot shot young riders come up, get a shot Moto

(18:11):
GP and it just doesn't click. It is super rare
to find a young rider that's coming out of Moto
two and be able to turn them into a champion.
And that is evidenced by the small number of Moto
GP champions that we've had in this modern four stroke era.
And as we've seen once manufacturers have really gotten settled

(18:33):
in and developed their programs and changed the way that
they're creating bikes and providing bikes to talented riders. The
window of opportunity for these riders that do the couple
of riders that do make it all the way to
the top, that window is very small. I mean, look
at pecobag Nyaya. We don't know it might be over
for him in terms of championships, not in terms of success,

(18:53):
but in terms of championships. I mean your guys like
Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo and Martin Mary because they're
the exception to the very small championship role. Right there
are only a couple of riders that have been able
to be dominant over a large period like that. And
part of that is because the bikes are all getting
better and better and more equal and more equal, and

(19:14):
so it allows more riders with a similar level of
talent to step to the front. And so only reason
I say all that is because if you're Yamaha and
your Honda, you have to be thinking about the bike,
but you also have to be thinking about the riders
who can take advantage of that bike because the window
is small. And so even though you're Yamaha and you

(19:35):
have Fabio Quaterrraro, by the time you get that bike correct,
you might need the next Fabio qua Carraro. And Honda
doesn't have anybody I think right now that if you
handed them a bike on par with Ducati, that they
could go out and compete for a championship. So that's
the challenge for both of those manufacturers with these silly
seasoned rumors is there's only one Dioga Morera, but there

(19:59):
are two manufacturers. Is that desperately need to find somebody
that they can try to develop into their pecobag Nyaya
or their Pedro Acosta heading into the future. Even just
having that potential, even though it hasn't been realized yet.
But does that mean that the competition in the rider
market has to be between Honda and Yamahan and they

(20:19):
just get into a bidding war over this one guy. No,
doesn't have to be that way. I mean, Manuel Gonzalez exists,
and yeah, he might prefer to ride for another manufacturer,
whether it be a Prilia or Dukati. I mean, everybody
wants to arrive for Dukati. But if your Manuel Gonzalez,
and you're smart, if one of these two teams does

(20:41):
not get Marera and they pick up the phone and
call him, you say yes. I mean, just ask Joe
Roberts what happens when a Moto GP team comes calling
and you say no, thanks to hang up the phone.
I mean that shot may only come one time. You've
got to go with it. And I don't even care
if it's Honda calling, because Honda, in my opinion, Honda

(21:04):
right now is the twenty nineteen Aprilia on the grid.
And for those who weren't around back then, at that point, nobody,
nobody wanted to ride the bike Andrea and One got suspended.
They needed somebody to ride that bike for at least
two seasons. They started calling people and they all said no,

(21:28):
including Joe Roberts. And at that time I was like,
you know what, all these people who did not pick
up the phone and say, Okay, where do you need me?
I said, they would all regret it. And I'm not
going to put words in anybody's mouth. You just look
at where Aprilia are right now. If you can't ride
into Kadi, they are the second best option. The same

(21:49):
is true at this point when it comes to Honda.
I mean, Honda has the history, didn't know how to win,
and so I don't care who you are if you're
not a Moto GP. And they come calling in and
say we want you a Moto GP, you go because
they're not going to be terrible forever, just like a
Prillia wasn't terrible forever. So this will be very interesting

(22:09):
to see how it works out with Honda and Yamaha
and whether in the end they do decide to each
try to get a young hotshot rider to develop, and
then who they pick and who says yes and who
says no, and how that all works out. But I
think there's a very strong possibility that Dioga Morera is
going to be a Moto GP next year. And I
would be shocked if manufacturers passed on Manu Gonzalez or

(22:33):
if he does want to make a deal with a
Prillier or Dukati or somebody, if they can hold him
back from making a deal to move up to one
of the other manufacturers. I mean, like I said, you
gotta go if you're given the opportunity, because after a year,
just sign a one year contract. Then after that one year,
then twenty twenty seven, things are going to be like
wide open. Then you can make your move, but get

(22:54):
the experience on a bike if you can. I'm a right.
So let's move on and talk a little bit more
about media, because I said that we would come back
around to them. The Liberty deal was approved heading into
the summer break. The American company is now the owner
of Dorna, which is of course still running MotoGP and
Dorna CEO Carmelo Espalta still owns a decent amount I

(23:15):
think it's like thirteen percent of the operation of the
promotion operation, and so he'll still be in charge of
running and promoting the sport. But we talked about this
when the deal was announced that Liberty was definitely going
to try to do things differently the way they have
with F one and expand into other markets, specifically the

(23:36):
United States, and they have already gotten started on that process.
Even though they've only been the official owner of the
rights to Moto GP for a couple of weeks. They've
wasted no time. They're diving right in. They announced a
free twenty four hour a day streaming channel that's available
in the US that'll carry live broadcasts of all sessions

(23:58):
of all rounds for the rest of the year, I believe,
starting with the Austrian GP this weekend, but don't quote
me on that part. And I'm assuming they'll fill in
the rest of the programming with classic Races and some
of the other programming that they produce already for Video
Pass if they are looking for an American show that
talks about Moto GP to be on their US streaming

(24:19):
channel on okay, because I'm here and I'm just saying now,
if you're in the US, you can look for this
free channel on Prime Video, Fire TV, Fubo, and Sling
Free stream, along with PLEX and LG channels whatever they are.

(24:39):
The difference between this free channel and Video Pass that
we all pay a lot of money for is essentially
the amount of content you have access to, and then
more importantly, the ability to watch all of that content
on demand whatever you want, whenever you want. That's what
your money is going to when it comes to video pass.
To get right to the point here, I love this move,

(25:01):
and of course I have a very close perspective on
this because of where I live, and I'll be honest,
coverage of Moto GP in the United States over the
past well forever, has been largely terrible. I mean, they've
jumped around networks, most of them, you know, won't even
show the race live. You get a delayed broadcast. They

(25:25):
would do special things and I'm using finger quotes when
I say that they'll do special things for the US rounds,
where they would piece together and makeshift the local crew
to talk about the race and call the race, when,
of course, the few fans that were watching were already
used to the much more experienced World feed team, and
so you got like this kind of local, unpolished presentation

(25:47):
of the races, either at Laguna Seca or Indy for
that short amount of time, or more recently, when it
came to the circuit of the Americas, and so you
weren't getting the same level of ex experience that you
would get watching something that's consistent that you know, with
a crew that's been doing this forever. So the name
of the game. I think in US broadcast coverage of

(26:11):
Moto GP has been inconsistency. I mean some of them
wouldn't even show Moto two and Moto three, or if
they did, they would tape the laid in the middle
of the night days later. So having a reliable vehicle
to see these races I think is huge. Right now,
the downside of this approach, it's gonna be harder for
people to find I mean, they're not just gonna stumble

(26:33):
across a free channel on you know, LG channels, whatever
the heck that is. You're gonna have to know what
you're looking for. You're gonna have to be searching for
motorcycle racing or Moto GP to find the channel. But
once you do, the big upshot here is consistency of availability.
Once you know about it, you'll know where to go

(26:54):
to get it. And that is a big first step
in helping the sport gain more of a legitimate foothold
in this country. Now, of course Dorna, we all know
they love to take our money, and so offering free
access to stuff is a little bit out of the norm.
But if you really want to break into a new
market that's not just the US but anywhere, you got

(27:16):
to give people a carrot. You have to introduce them
to the awesomeness that they're missing, right, And obviously the
size of this market is worth it, and so it
makes sense to do something like this, So we'll see
how it helps. It certainly is only a first step,
but I think it's a solid first step. That's easy,
it's obvious, and it makes a whole lot of sense.
All right. So those are the new stories that I

(27:38):
wanted to talk about today. Now let's move on to
racing and our preview of the Austrian GP this weekend
at the Red Bull Ring. After a decent amount of
time on expensive beaches, in expensive hotels, or expensive chateaus
or even more expensive yachts, the starts of motor GP

(27:58):
are finally back in action the kickoff the second half
of the year, and of course the main question still remains,
can anyone be Mark? And while the answer in terms
of the championship is pretty much know the stage is
set for things to be far more competitive in the
second half of the year. I mean, Aprilia have made

(28:21):
an appreciable step forward. They now have Jugemart team back
to help them fully maximize those new gains. On Pedro
Acosta finally seems ready to lead the charge for a
KTM that does have untapped speed, we just haven't seen
it consistently. And then of course Fabio Quachraro is just
finding ways. He's finding ways to hang in there and

(28:41):
get results, as we all hope that Yamaha, maybe over
the break have found some way to catch up to
him at least a little bit in terms of improving
the bike. Then, on top of that, riders like Alex
Marquez and Maverick vian Yalez have had a chance to
get healthier, and we know both of them are capable
of competing for podiums, especially Alex way that he's ridden
this year. So the competition level I think is going

(29:03):
to be higher across the board. But can any of
those guys I just mentioned challenge Mark overall, Like I said,
probably not this year, but in individual races, yes, potentially,
And the opportunities start this weekend as we crank things
up again at a track where Mark Marquez has never won,

(29:26):
while Peco Bagnyaya has dominated over the last three years.
How big of an advantage does Bagnyaya have Well, talk
about him in a few minutes. But before we get
to riders, let's start by discussing where they're racing. The beautiful,
fast and furious Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. In

(29:48):
this track is just so much fun. I mean, big speeds,
big breaking, traditional stop and go style, and that of
course is music to the ears of an already dominant
Ducati because it plays to their biggest strengths. Now, of course,
a big part of that advantage comes from the massive
flat out stretches at this track, the front stretch, the

(30:10):
back stretch, up at the top of the hill, and
then in the past that exit of turn one, all
the way up through the dog leg into the very
tight and difficult Turn three. Of course, that previously infamous
run up the hill is a lot more different now
thanks to the Zarko Chicane, even if it isn't actually

(30:30):
named the Zarco Chicane. But if you want to know
why people call it that and you weren't around to
watch the twenty twenty Austrian GP just check it out
on YouTube or on video pass and you will find
out why Zarko gets credit for the chicine that exists there. Now,
that chicane does take some of the teeth out of
what was an epic section of track, but there are
a couple of benefits to having added in that extra obstacle.

(30:54):
Most notably, you see less people making mistakes up in
turn three and blowing that corner at the top of
the hill, And because you have to hit the brakes
in the gas a couple of times, it creates another
opportunity for some good dive bomb passes. Although trust me,
even though it's less fast breaking down into turn three,

(31:16):
which is otherwise known as Rama's corner there, you can
still make a pretty big mistake there, and we're gonna
see that all weekend long out riders, especially at the
Motor too and Motor three level. All it takes is
just something small. You either break a little too late
or you try to cut that very tight corner a
little too much. Either one is gonna send you wide.

(31:37):
You break late, you're gonna go wide early in the corner.
Try to cheat that apex too hard and you're gonna
run wide late in the corner, but the result is
gonna be the same. You'll lose a bunch of time
and even more momentum heading across the top of the
hill on that backstretch going into turn four. But even
though this is almost entirely a stop and go track,

(31:58):
there are some sweepers. We do get a short stadium
section which is actually really cool, especially if you check
out some on boards from past races, you'll see how
much fun that section is. It's not titan technical. Instead,
it features big sweeping changes of direction with a ton
of edge time, a ton of throttle control, and it's
a nice contrast to the heartbreaking heart acceleration of the

(32:20):
rest of the track. And then the final couple of
turns after you get out of that stadium section, to
me at least, are very reminiscent of Catalounya. And then
once you get through those couple of wild right handers,
that's it. It's done. It's fast, it's short, and really
that's the challenge of the entire track at the Red
Bull Ring. You've got these long stretches and you want

(32:43):
to stay on the throttle longer and longer, and go
faster and faster before you finally hit the brakes. But
the nature of the corners you get into at the
end of these long stretches really want you to back
them up a little bit, and so it's tempting to
push further and further and further in carrying more and
more of that big, close speed. Next thing, you know,
you push too hard, you've run wide and you've lost

(33:04):
a ton of time as a result, and that is
where the real skill comes in in the Austrian GP.
For me, the best corners of this track are the
final two. It's not easy to pass there, but great
opportunities for last ditch efforts to line up, especially that
final corner, and we've seen that in the past thrilling

(33:25):
final lapse, mostly between mart Marquez Andre Davitsi. Also, even
though there's no chance of that this time around, but
that final corner, if you've got two guys that are
relatively close to one another, that could be definitely the
center of excitement because somebody's going to try to do
the dive bomb and see if they can hang on
to it, not run wide and get on the throttle

(33:45):
and shove their way to the front. So it is
definitely the most exciting part of the track, and even
in that respect, it's reminiscent of a place like Catalouonya.
The other thing to think about, because we will be
in the Austrian mountains here is the opportunity for rain
and that has played a huge factor in the past,
most notably that Bradbinder race, which there's another one that

(34:07):
if you haven't seen it yet, you've got to go back.
I think it was twenty twenty one. You have to
go back and watch that Brad Bender victory at the
Rebull Ring, either on YouTube or else on video pass
if you have it. I believe that year that race
was the Austrian GP, not the Steium one, but it rained.
Bender stayed on slicks all the way to the end

(34:28):
when everybody else was on wet. It was a crazy,
crazy race. Fortunately, as of right now, the forecast is
looking fine, very very small chance of rain. I don't
think it's going to bother us, all right, So that's
where they're racing. Now, let's talk about the riders who
to look out for. I will do this how we
typically do a race preview. I'll talk first about the favorites,

(34:48):
three riders who I think have the best chance of
winning this weekend. Then we'll move on to the watch list,
a trio of guys who I think have very interesting
stories coming into the race and I want to discuss them.
Then at the end, I'll talk about the riders on
the hot seat, the ones who have to go out
and perform this weekend for one reason or another. So
let's start with the favorites. We'll take these guys in

(35:10):
championship order, and as usual, that means that, just like
we have for almost the entire year, we're starting our
discussion with Mark Marquez. And I don't want to start
sounding like the world fied announcers, because you're gonna hear
this like a million times this weekend. And I've already

(35:30):
said it like three times I think in this show,
maybe two times, but I do have to mention it
at least once more because it is such a rare thing.
We're coming to a track where Mark Marquez has never
won before, I know, right, And on top of that,

(35:50):
he's not even the most successful rider on the Moto
GP grid in Spielberg this weekend. Now, in Mark's defense,
this place has never been a Honda track. I mean,
those guys have scored a grand total of four podiums
ever at the Red Bull Ring since the return in
twenty sixteen, and Mark is the owner of three of

(36:11):
those four podiums. I'll give you a second to try
to guess the remaining Honda rider that's been on a
Red bull Ring podium since twenty sixteen. That's right, Danny
Pedrosa is the other one. And even once Mark got
on the Ducati on the Grassini Dukati, he could only
manage fourth in the Motor GP race last year, and
he distant thirteen seconds off of pecobag Naya's winning pace.

(36:36):
So this track has absolutely been a test for him
for sure, and he knows that too. Now. Of course,
the elder Marquez has two big things going in his
favor this time around. First, he's not just on any Dukati.
He's been on the factory Dukati that's been so dominant

(36:56):
here over the past couple of years. And more importantly,
as we all know, he is completely racing out of
his mind this season, and especially to close out the
first half. I mean, even by Mark Marquez standards, which
are typically incredible He's been on a completely different level.

(37:17):
Five rounds straight of double victories in the sprint and
the Motor GP race. And it's not just that he's winning,
it's how he's winning. He just seemingly decides he's doing it.
It will He just flips the switch and he's like, oh,
you might be leading, but when I feel like it,
I think I'm gonna take the lead and then win
the race by seven seconds. And that is what is

(37:39):
so intimidating about Mark Marquez right now. And because of that,
despite the fact that he has not won here, he
still remains the favorite for me. I mean, the majority
of the credit for that is definitely due to his
current dominance, but part of that, at least a small part,
is that, in addition to Mark being incredible right now,

(37:59):
that is also amplified by the fact that there's at
least some level of uncertainty with the other two riders
in this category, starting with his brother and the next
guy I want to talk about, Alex Marquez, who up
to this point has been as close to automatic as
any rider on the grid other than Mark this season.
That is, of course, up until he wrecked and fractured

(38:20):
his left hand in Assen. Now, his comeback from that
injury in Germany was solid. He scored a second right
out of the box in the sprint race, but then
Alex struggled in Bruno, and I don't know if that
was a crack in the armor or not. There's gonna
be a lot of competition starting this weekend, because Jorgey
Martinez back, and because Marko Bazeki is getting better and

(38:42):
better and better, and because you know, somebody like Pedro
Acosta has started to establish a little bit of confidence.
And so when you think about that in terms of
what Alex Marquez has been doing and how little he's
been challenged racing behind his brother, you know confident that
the speed that he showed us in the first half

(39:02):
of the season isn't going to magically disappear. But it
does make me doubt whether he'll pick right back up
with that second place consistency that has shocked and impressed
everybody this season, because he's gonna have to fight off
more quality riders on quality bikes. Now. Just like mark
doesn't have a win in Austria, Alex doesn't have a

(39:23):
podium at the Red Bull Ring, but he did have
an excellent weekend in twenty twenty three his first on
the Grassini Ducati, scoring a fifth in the Moto GP
race and a fourth in the sprint. So he can
be fast here and that experience should prove helpful this weekend.
If he's one hundred percent healthy, Alex is absolutely capable

(39:44):
of fighting for his usual spot on the podium. But
he's also way more susceptible to that increased competition from
those riders I just mentioned, but Zechi, Martin Acosta and
maybe even a couple of others like Fabio de jan
Antonio and if he drifts back far enough Fabio Quachrararo.
I mean, he's far more susceptible to that than I

(40:05):
think Mark is up at the front. So both the
Marquez brothers are primed for a good weekend. Then we'll
round out the category with a rider that could be
both one of the riders that would be pressuring Alex
and a rider that, like Alex, should be prepared for
some new second half challengers himself, and that of course

(40:26):
is pecobag Nyaya, who, like I mentioned at the beginning
of the show, has a fantastic opportunity this weekend. Why well,
because since the second race of twenty twenty one, and
there were two races that year because of COVID. Since
that second race of twenty twenty one, Peco has been
nothing short of amazing in the Austrian GP. Now, the

(40:49):
fun part about that is he didn't actually win the
second race of twenty twenty one. Brad Bender did. But
remember that was the rain race where Brad his ginormous
brass ones were going to be at end because he
stayed out on slicks and defied the laws of physics.
But that weekend set the stage and every time out
since then it's been all Peco. Starting in twenty twenty two,

(41:13):
he added three more motor GP podiums and two more
sprint podiums to that twenty twenty one result, and all
of those subsequent podiums, every single one was a victory.
And that means that Peko Bagnyaya has won his last
five times out at the Red Bull Ring in points
paying events, and that is big, especially for a rider

(41:35):
that limped into the summer break with a mediocre Bruno
after looking like he was finally getting back into some
consistent podium form. So he needs a confidence boost and
he's going to get one. At least in terms of
past performance at the Red Bull Ring. We do have
to be honest though, I mean, Peco is not on
top of his game right now, and while he might

(41:57):
have a good history here and that does give him
a confidence boot, overall, he's still lacking confidence in the
bike and probably in himself too. And no matter what
happens here, I don't think that if he goes out
and absolutely destroys the competition this weekend in Austria, I
don't think that has any major impact on his chances

(42:18):
to catch Mark season long in the championship. But it
is a really really good opportunity for Bagnaya to turn
in a great round, show us some solid results and
try to establish some real momentum on that bike going forward.
This is probably his best chance yet this season to
challenge Mark, even if it's just for one race. So

(42:41):
those are the favorites. Now let's move on to the
watch list. These aren't necessarily riders I think we'll finish
immediately behind the podium, although at least one of them
I think has a chance to be on the podium
and maybe even could be for a win. But they
all have very interesting stories coming into this weekend and
for that reason to be watching very very closely to

(43:01):
see how they respond and see how they ultimately perform.
We'll take these guys in championship order as well, and
we will start with a rider that we have documented
very well in terms of him making at least one,
if not two steps forward in terms of progress heading
into the summer break, and that's Factory of proly rider
Marco Bitzeki. And oddly enough, despite bez being on a

(43:25):
Ducati up until now, he doesn't really have a dominant
history at the Red Bull Ring. He landed at the
back of the podium in the twenty twenty three Moto
GP race last year in the full length event he
finished sixth, and that's it. I know it's not a
whole lot for a Ducati rider here, but far more importantly,

(43:46):
it's what he's done recently that intrigues me about his
potential for this race. Butzechi was absolutely on it for
the last three rounds heading into summer vacation. We had
already thoroughly documented like I mentioned, and the step that
he had made after the first six rounds, well, he
took another step forward in the last three weekends heading

(44:09):
up through Bruno in those six points races at Asen
Germany and Bruno Marco finished five of them and his
average result, wait for it, his average result in those
five finishes two point six. Yeah, in a world dominated
by Dukati and a Prelia rider had an average finish

(44:29):
on the podium and in fact he was on the
podium in four of those five finishes. He's racing really
well right now. It is clear that Aprilia have made
appreciable progress, not Mark Marquez challenging progress. But remember they've
had three weeks off to work on getting this spike
even closer to Dukati and of course now with Jorge

(44:51):
Martin back, that could spur on even more games for Bez.
So this is going to be an interesting weekend for
him and once again there's going to be a lot
focus and attention on Martine and in those weekends this
year where the media has been obsessed with Jorge, that
seems to have freed Bez up to go out there
and run his best. That seems to be when he

(45:12):
scores his best finishes. Well that happened this weekend, Well
we'll find out. Next up on the watch list is
Pedro Acosta and Acosta's lone Moto GP outing in Austria
last season, and his rookie year was it was mediocre.
I mean, he was thirteenth, but he was very good
at the Red Bull Ring and Moto three and Moto two.

(45:34):
He had to win a second and a pair of
fourth place finishes. And more importantly was what he did
in Bruno. Finally having that breakthrough weekend that we've been
waiting on all season long. Acosta scored his first Moto
GP and his first sprint podium of the year. And yes,
I had to go back and look that up because
it did not sound believable that it took half a

(45:58):
season for Acosta to get on the box just once,
but that's how long it was. And not only did
he get there once, but he then got there twice.
So that's a big momentum boost heading into the break
and he backed that up I think with the reassurance
to KTM that he's in this for at least the

(46:18):
final year of his contract in twenty twenty six, because
there were those rumors floating around that he might bail
at the end of this season. He made it pretty
clear that that's not the case. Now, especially since he
was able to extract the performance that he was expecting
out of the bike in Bruneau, so that I think
will have him and everybody at KTM feeling more positive

(46:40):
as they then come into their home track, and everybody
is definitely going to be ultra focused on getting one
of those KTM riders a really good result this weekend,
and Pedro is their best shot. I think. Now the
big question for me is whether what we saw in
Bruneau out of Acosta was an anomaly or is that
the new norm for him. You know, we've seen various

(47:04):
KTM riders this year show us speed, that it's there
in the bike, but no consistency, and so this weekend
in Spielberg we get to start to find out if
Pedro has truly harnessed it and if he's on the
road to consistency, if he's got a chance of continuing
with similar results. This is the best place for him

(47:24):
to start. He's got home field advantage and there's going
to be a lot of enthusiasm surrounding him in the
program this weekend. I mean, then the final rider on
my watch list for the Austrian GP is Jorge Martin
Once again, everybody is going to be focused on him
this weekend, But like I mentioned earlier in the news segment,

(47:45):
instead of being focused on the fact that he's returning
or what the dynamic is between himself and Aprilia, now
that focus is going to be on what he did
in his return that impressed a seventh place result in
his first full length race back, and it's also going
to be on what that result means going forward for Aprilia,
especially considering the way that Marco Pitzeki is running and

(48:08):
even Trackhouse has been showing his speed. So there's a
lot of positivity, there's a lot of enthusiasm surrounding in
Aprilia and their ability to make ground up on Ducati,
and so the focus is going to be on, Hey,
what can Martin do with this? Now? His solid comeback
performance in Bruno was at a place where he hasn't

(48:29):
really had a whole lot of success in the past.
Different story coming into this weekend. Not only has he
had three more weeks to get healthier and the ramp
up his workouts, but he returns to the track where
both he and Ducati are much much better. Wheor Hey
did play second fiddle to Peco in Austria a year ago,
but he still has three motor GP podiums, two sprint podiums,

(48:53):
and remember he scored his first ever premiere class victory
at the Red Bull Ring as a rookie in twenty
twenty one, So there is opportunity for him here, just
like there is opportunity for Peco. I mean, will Martin
be at one hundred percent this weekend, Probably not, but
he's gonna be a heck of a lot closer than
he was back in Bruneau, and the controversy, like we

(49:15):
talked about, that seems to be behind him. He's gonna
feel like he can accomplish something here. So it's gonna
be very interesting to see where the limit is for Jorge.
And that's why I'm watching him this weekend to find
out where that limit is, because this is his first
opportunity to show us really how much potential he has
with the RSGP, now that we're at a comfortable track

(49:37):
for him. So that wraps up the watch list. Let's
move on to the final category, which is the hot seat.
These are writers that I think absolutely have to perform
this weekend for one reason or another, and the center
of focus for this episode is going to be Silly Season,
and so we're going to start by talking about Jack

(49:58):
Miller and give and what we talked about a few
minutes ago. It seems like Jack is in a good
place with Yamaha. But I'll tell you a solid performance
to back up what he and his team did in
Tuzuka over the break that certainly wouldn't hurt things, and
this is a good track for him to do it,
I mean, given the limitations of the Amaha, and I

(50:19):
think I should actually rewind there for a second, because
I did not mention this when we were talking about
Jack Miller and his prospects next year with the Yamaha.
Over the Summer break. Jack was on the Yamaha team
for the Suzuka eight hours now. Apparently Miguel Oliver was
also supposed to be on the team, or maybe initially
was supposed to be on the team, but because of
his injury, he couldn't do it. Jack instead gets the call.

(50:42):
Those guys finished second overall, second to a Honta team
that featured Joe and Zarko and so Yamaha we're very
very happy with that, and it seems a bit unlikely
that they would fire a guy that they're about to
run in an eight hour endurance race during the same
summer break. So maybe part of the delay is because

(51:04):
they didn't want the perception to be that being in
that race favorite Miller over Miguel Alavera. But I also
think that them showing the trust in Jack to go
out there and perform at that race is yet another
indication that they feel comfortable with him on their bikes,
and so to come into the Red Bull Ring and

(51:25):
back that performance up with another good one, I think
would go a really long way to solidifying Yamaha's plan
for the future. Now, Miller did not used to get
along with the Red Bull Ring at all on the Honda,
and even in his first few outings on the Ducati
he wasn't terribly good. But once he got the hang
of this place, different story. Three podiums on the Desmo

(51:47):
that carried over into his KTM years. He had fifth
place results in the sprint in the past two seasons,
and now he's got to try to carry that momentum
into his first chance at this track on a Yamaha. Now,
if we look at his performance heading into the summer break,
remember he and Miguel Olivera had that challenge. You know,
they're going head to head to find out who was

(52:08):
going to stay and who was going to go. Well,
both riders started that challenge off in like the worst
possible way. But where Olivera has continued to struggle, Jack
has been really solid at least the past two rounds
on Sunday, And if he replicates that type of performance
and in those races, I think he was eighth and
twelfth or eighth and tenth somewhere around there. If he

(52:30):
can hang around at the back of the top ten
again this weekend, I think that will go a really
long way towards convincing Yamaha that it's time to finally
make a decision. Now, his compatriot over at Honda is
really Luca Marini, because Marini, like Miller, is out of
a contract this year, and he's in a very interesting
position because while he might have a bit of a

(52:54):
clue what is happening for next year, all of us
are generally in the dark, even more so than we
are with Miller. I mean, there's not a lot of
rumors at all about Marini's role heading into twenty twenty six,
possibly Obviously the Dioga Morera rumors are there, and he
is on Honda's wish list. But with the possibility that
some count Chantra could leave and then that would usher

(53:17):
out eating me to his a sponsor, and apparently Castro
would come in and carry that second bike at LCR.
That would then make room for a young rider and
also leave space for Marini to continue on the factory squad,
and that would be a good thing, because we've talked
about Luca this year. He is the second best Honda

(53:38):
rider this season after it joins Arco. Despite missing three races.
He missed three races with injury, he's still ahead of
his factory teammate juanmir and more importantly, again despite the injury,
Marini seems to have come back at the same level
that he left off. He finished sixth in Germany twelfth

(53:59):
in the Czech Republic, both of those races on Sunday.
We're talking about Sunday races. In both of those events,
he was the best of any Honda rider in the field.
The only exception to that rule where the sprints, where
Zarco had him beat out. And Marini not only has
been performing as best as he possibly can, on the Honda,
but he's also always been good in Austria in Moto GP.

(54:23):
He's had fourth place finishes the past two years in
the full length race, and then he was fifth and
twenty twenty one. Now, of course all of those results
did come on a Ducati, so you kind of have
to take him with a grain of salt. But like
I said, I think he's in a very similar position
to Jack Miller. I think he's relatively safe right now,
but a good performance at a track where he's already

(54:45):
comfortable would definitely come up big in helping him and
helping hand to solidify their lineup for twenty twenty six.
I mean, then the final rider I want to talk
about it on the hot seat this weekend is of
course Alex Rinz, because he suddenly appeared to be in
a very very precarious spot, so performance and especially performance

(55:06):
asap is kind of critical to take his claim or
whatever claim he has left at the Motor JP level. Now.
To be fair, Rinz hasn't been terrible on the Yamaha
this year. He just hasn't been all that good and
most importantly, he isn't taking those steps forward or showing
us those flashes of speed that we've seen out of

(55:28):
Fabio Quaccerraro and internally at Yamaha. He's also lagging behind
Jack Miller as well, so going out there and showing
us anything this weekend would be good. He doesn't have
much of a history here. He's best finished in Schpielberg
is sixth. He did that multiple times, but that was
way back on at Suzuki. So he's going to have

(55:49):
to come up with something and we'll see if the
rumors that are floating out there light a bit of
a fire under him. So those are the riders, which
means the only order of business left to take care
of on this episode is for me to make picks.
This is an interesting one because, like I said, Mark
doesn't have the record here the Peko does, but he

(56:11):
certainly has the performance momentum this season and especially very
very recently heading into the break. So we'll start with
the sprint where I'll pick my top three finishers. Then
we'll move on to Moto GP. I'll pick the top
five in that one on Saturday. In that sprint race
in third, I'm gonna go with Peko Bagnyaya. There is

(56:32):
potential there to win. I just don't know where his
confidence level is going to be coming into this weekend,
so I'm being a bit conservative with him. In second,
I'm gonna play very, very safe and go with Alex Marquez,
mostly because there is potentially a lot of competition, but
they're really going to be trying to figure themselves out
and their bikes out, and that's gonna leave a space

(56:54):
for Alex. He knows exactly where he stands, and I
think that puts him in a very good position to
go out there and perform right out of the box.
And then your winner in the sprint, I mean, are
you surprised here, Mark Marquez? I mean, come on, Mark
was on fire heading into the break, and while there
is always a chance that he could start the second
half a little bit slow, knowing that he has a

(57:15):
bit of a point cushion he can rely on. I
think that's gonna be balanced by the fact that he
is well aware that he's never won here, and I
think he's going to be super motivated to go out
and get that first ever Red Bull Ring win. So
those are my top three for the sprint. We move
on to the Moto GP race. In fifth, I'm gonna
go with Jorge Martin. I know knee injury, the layoff

(57:39):
and everything, but come on, the guy was seventh in
Bruno and he is better at this track and more
healthier coming into this one, so I think top five
is absolutely possible for him. In fourth, I'm gonna go
with Alex Marquez. He's still super fast. I just anticipate
that the competition level from Saturday to Sunday is going
to increase little bit because of that on the podium.

(58:02):
In third, I'm gonna go with Marco Bitzeki. He's got
tons of confidence right now and he definitely knows how
to manage his tires for a push at the end.
In second, wait for it, I'm still going with Peco
bag Nyaya. He's so good here and I think he'll
race well. But I just can't at this point go

(58:22):
against Mark Marquez until somebody shows that they can legitimately
compete with him, even if he doesn't have a MotoGP
win at this track yet. So I'm gonna go with
Mark so to recap in the sprint in third, Peco
in second, Alex Marquez and your winner, Mark Marquez, and
Sunday in the Moto GP race, Jorge martine In fifth,
Alex Marquez fourth, and on the podium Marco Bitzeki, Peco

(58:45):
bag Naya and your winner, Mark Marquez. Do you agree?
Do you disagree? You know what to do. Get on
Facebook or Reddit and tell me why my picks are
terrible and tell me who you think is gonna win
the race instead. And since we have a race, that
means next up we will have a post race show,
so check back at the conclusion of the weekend. I

(59:07):
will recap all of the MotoGP action in Austria, I'll
review the championship picture, and then I'll give you my
take on the weekend. After that, it'll be your turn
give me your comments on Facebook and Reddit. We'll discuss
them on the next episode of the show. And then
we'll also already be preparing for the return of the
Hungarian GP and the series debut at Balaton Park. I

(59:30):
don't know what's gonna happen there, but I don't have
to worry about that until next week. Right now, we've
got the Red Bull ring in front of us. I
cannot wait to find out what happens, and I cannot
wait to talk about it. We've got a lot of
episodes on the way. I don't want you 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, Sprinker, Stitcher Player,

(59:52):
dot Fm, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible podcasts. Basically go to your
favorite podcasting site. Type in motoweek. You should be a
to find the program. 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 blue skot just search for motoweek, and of course
you can always leave your comments on Facebook at Facebook

(01:00:15):
dot com, slashmotoweek dot net, or over on the reddit
sub at our slash motoweek. And if you feel so
compelled that you want to support the program, you can
do that on Patreon. Go to Patreon dot com slash motoweek.
And once again I want to thank our latest patrons,
Vicki and Luisadora. I really really appreciate your support of

(01:00:37):
the show. You don't have to do it if you
don't want to, but I really thank you if that's
what you would like to do. So links to everything
except for the Blue sky Thing can be found on
the website at motoweek dot net. All right, so got
a big race coming up. Can't wait to find out
what happens, and we'll chat about it as soon as
it does. Until then, I want to thank you so

(01:00:57):
much for listening. Ride safe and I'll talk to you
soon