Portimao Puts on a Show, and ValenciaGP Preview!

Portugal gives us a thrilling sprint, and three manufacturers battling at the front! I break down the MotoGP action from Portimao, and preview what could be an unpredictable season finale in the ValenciaGP!

The Rundown:

- Portugal Sprint: Alex Marquez outduels Pedro Acosta in a classic
- Portugal MotoGP Race: Aprilia ups the ante with Bezz
- The Championship Picture: Bezz is a step away from P3, and Pecco is still in free-fall
- ValenciaGP! My full preview of the MotoGP Season finale!
- The Track - technical, and always full of unpredictable podium results
- The Favorites: Marquez is locked in, Bezz is close, while Pecco and Pedro battle for 4th and 5th in the Rider Standings
- The Watch List: four riders that could surprise this weekend
- The Picks!: For the Sprint and MotoGP races


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

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

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot neg It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Wilson. Well,
hello and welcome to Motoweek. My name is Wilson. Thank
you so much for listening to the only MotoGP show
on the internet that has just about the worst look
right now. I'm sorry for again not having a prompt

(00:24):
post race show a couple of weeks ago. It was
the card this past weekend. I may have ended up
Sunday in the emergency room. Everything is okay. Though they
said everything is good, I simply worked all day in
the garage on Saturday and I didn't pay attention to
proper hydration, which is super important, as I found out

(00:47):
by Sunday when I thought I was gonna pass out.
But everything is good, and now I've got a mission
because we need to talk about Portugal. We need to
talk about Valencia, one of the most predictable tracks over
the years in terms of results. We've got to talk
about third through fifth in the writer's standings, and we've

(01:07):
got to do it all in an abbreviated fashion because
I have a plane to catch in a few hours.
But don't worry, I will be back in time for
the race. Weekend, So no more about me, much more
about MotoGP. Let's go before we start, though, 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 whenever I

(01:30):
finally release some at motoweek dot net. You can follow
on social media blue Sky just search for motoweek or
on Instagram at MOTOWEEKUSA and leave your comments. You can
hit me up on Facebook at Facebook dot com slashmotoweek
dot net, or over on the reddit sub at r
slash motoweek. And if you do want to support the program,

(01:51):
you can do that on Patreon at patreon dot com
slash MotorWeek. All right, let's dive in here, starting with
last weekend in portamow and I am super upset that
we didn't get to talk immediately after Portugal, because man,
what a great weekend of racing and it all really
centered around that sprint race on Saturday, and I don't

(02:14):
think that the World Feed commentators were really exaggerating when
they called that the best sprint of the season. I'd
have to agree. I mean, the action was incredible at
the front between Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez, that pair
sparring back and forth multiple times before Alex finally made
the pass he executed on the front stretch stick heading
down into tern five, which was where Acosta had been

(02:36):
so strong multiple times before, and even at that point,
once Alex built a little bit of a gap and
you thought, Okay, that's it, it's over, Acosta brought the
fight right back to Alex in the closing laps, getting
right on the rear wheel of that Ducati through the
final corner heading to the line. But even though Pedro
lost out, the big story of the sprint for me

(02:58):
is that he and Kate were able to hold pace
all the way to the end, not only sticking right
with the best Dukati has to offer right now, but
he was also able to hold off the Aprillia of
Marco Bizeki, who had already proven that he's capable this
year of besting Ducati. So two legit competitors to the
throne now in Aprilia in KTM, but also a really

(03:23):
big boost I think to a Costa's already lofty position
on the Silly Season ladder for next year. I mean,
think about it, if he could be this good on
a KTM, which we know is probably only the third
best bike on the grid. What could he do in
an Aprillia or on a Dukati. So Saturday starts with excitement,
and that's not even to mention the non Ducati front

(03:45):
row of Marco Bizeki, Pedro Costa and Fabio Quachrraro. Then
we moved a Sunday and the rider who was the
least significant of the podium trio in the sprint, Marco Bizeki,
who just kind of hung out in third and never
made a real push back to the front after he
lost the lead early on, well, he obviously learned something

(04:05):
between Saturday and the main event on Sunday. He looked
fantastic right off the lights, quickly built a gap and
then never looked back for what was somewhat surprisingly just
his second Moto GP victory of the season. Now it
was his fifth overall win when you include sprints, but
it's kind of shocking how good Marco Bozeki has been

(04:26):
in the second half of the year and he's only
got two wins so far. On Sunday, although more on
that in the moment, we did get a hint of
another potential Alex Marquez Pedro costa shoot out for second
in the closing lapse, but Alex came up with just
enough on a very ragged looking front tire to hold
off the KTM and that pair completed out the podium.

(04:47):
You know, I loved that we got to see three
different manufacturers look pretty equal in terms of footing throughout
the weekend, and even Yamaha got in on the fun.
I mean, Fabio Quachuraro qualified on and yet another front row.
Then he held strong in fourth in the sprint, and
even in the Moto GP race he was encouraging. Fabio

(05:09):
was able to fight off that late race fade just
enough to come home sixth. So I would say the
news is pretty encouraging for Yamaha over the past few rounds. Yes,
they haven't been able to up their game the way
that a Prilia or KTAM have or even Honda for
that matter, even though Honda wasn't all that great in Portugal.
But at least Yamaha are gaining inconsistency late in the race,

(05:32):
which is a start for them heading towards the off season,
and a full court press on that V four which
we'll be back on track this weekend in Valencia, I
was also impressed by brad Bender having yet another brad
Bender like performance. He went from fourteenth to fifth on Sunday.
If only he could qualify the way the Pedro Acsta does,

(05:56):
his results could be fantastic this year. And then Jordan
Zarco returned to the Land of the Living. He finished
ninth on Sunday and he was the top Honda in
both the sprint and the Moto GP race. After some
really bad luck for joanmir this weekend, but with Mark
Marquez on the shelf right now and then Peko bag
Nyaya just not able to put any kind of consistent

(06:17):
effort together. He suffered his fourth straight Moto GPDNF on Sunday.
But with those guys kind of off the shelf in
terms of either being in the race at all Mark's
case or being competitive in Peco's case, the pecking order
right now Imoto GP definitely goes Marco Bateeki, Alex Marquez,

(06:40):
Pedro Acosta, so Aprilia Dukati KTM and who would have
thought that a couple of rounds into the season, or
even nearing the end of the first half of the year.
And on top of that, Dukati are looking very much
like they won't sweep the top three in the rider's
standings either. While Mark and Alex are lock for one

(07:00):
and two, those are done deals. Marco Bizeki is within
just a few points of wrapping up third overall for himself.
He leads the very struggling Bagnaya by thirty five points
heading into the season finale with just thirty seven points
left up for grabs, and I don't see Peko sweeping
this weekend. In fact, Bagnyaya has his hands full just

(07:22):
trying to hang on to fourth overall because shockingly, Pedro
Acosta's second half front has put him just three points
behind Peco, and of course, as we all know, he's
riding much better than Bagnyaya right now. So there is
high drama in the championship with Peco Bagnyaya potentially drifting
all the way down to fifth overall by the end

(07:45):
of this weekend of racing in Valencia. So what's gonna happen? Well,
let's focus our abbreviated pre race show on those particular
riders in the Championship, plus a couple of few potential surprises,
because Valencia is always to give us a couple of
podium surprises as we preview round twenty two twenty two

(08:05):
races this year, the season finale of the twenty twenty
five Moto GP World Championship, the Valencia GP, at the
Circuit Ricardo Toromo, located in beautiful Chess Day in southeastern Spain.
We're going to talk about what's coming up and who
I think is gonna win in just a couple of seconds,

(08:27):
all right, so let's dive into this weekend of racing,
the twenty twenty five season finale, the Valencia GP. And
before we talk about riders, and it will be an
abbreviated pre RACEIOW because I do have a flight to catch.
We'll talk about the top four active riders in the championship,
because three of them are still battling for their final

(08:48):
spots this year. Plus I'll talk about a couple of
potential riders that could be surprises this weekend because Valencia
is so unpredictable, or has been over the years in
terms of who's on the podium. Nobody really dominates here
and we always seem to see one or two unexpected
riders pop up into the top five and sometimes even
on the podium. So I'll give you some of my

(09:09):
picks for who I think are the most likely to
be our surprise riders, and then of course I will
still make picks for the race, as difficult as that
might be. Right now, all right, but before we get
to any of that, let's talk about where they're racing
in Valencia, because the circuit Ricardo Tormo is much more
technical than what we've seen the past couple of rounds.

(09:32):
But that's not to mean you can't carry some momentum here.
It definitely is a combination of technique, precision, and quite
a bit of anes, and I think that's part of
the reason that we do see a lot of different
riders on the podium here. Part of it is because
the season is typically over by the time we get
to Valencia. Most of the positions have been sorted out already,

(09:52):
and so a lot of riders are thinking about the postseason,
where they're going to go on vacation, the awards ceremony
coming up, or maybe they're just focused on the postseason
tests that's going to happen immediately after this round, and
looking forward to what they can accomplish in twenty twenty
six so they can forget what they've done in twenty
twenty five. And when I say that, I'm looking squarely

(10:13):
at you, Pecho bagnyaya. But because this track is so
unique and so different to what we typically see in
terms of higher speeds and bigger corners, I think that
bike set up, track conditions, and rider approach really all
play a major role here, maybe more than all out speed,
power and breaking ability, And because of that we see

(10:35):
a lot of variation on the podium. Because of both
of those major factors, we see a lot of variation
on the podium. But let's talk about what makes this
place interesting. You've got the dog legs at turn three,
seven and nine. That's where precision comes in. It's more
about picking the right line rather than all out handling
or agility, and each of those corners provides the opportunity

(10:57):
to make up or lose a lot of time depending
on whether you pick the right line through there. And then,
of course there is that long front stretch that does
manage to churn out two hundred mile per hour speeds
that are kind of out of character with the slower
nature of the rest of the track. But remember that's
crossing the start finish line. And restarting sector one, and

(11:18):
then the fast stuff is done and you've got a
lot of twisty bits for riders to be able to
make up that advantage that maybe somebody like KTM or
Ducati might have. Now. The best passing zones are the
heartbreaking areas, obviously Term one at the end of that
aforementioned the front stretch, and then turn two is a
good spot as well because after the long straight that

(11:39):
hard left turn, you get a short straight heading up
to a very tight turn two, so that's an opportunity
for a pass as well. A Turn eight is a
great place for action, as well as turn eleven, where
riders are trying to wait as long as possible to
break and they're already leaned over from turn ten. It's
a very tricky corner where a mistake can cost you.
But by and large, the best part of Valencia is

(12:04):
that last combo. You've got these super cramped apecs have
turned twelve that opens up into a never ending left
hander at turn thirteen. You're carrying a lot of speed
on the left edge of the tire, and then you
have to figure out how to break hard enough for
the tight left hander that gets you onto the front
stretch and get the power on as soon as possible.
It is one of the most unique corners in the

(12:25):
sport and definitely a place where some unexpected action could
happen and a place where a small mistake could cost
you really, really big, especially in that final corner getting
the power down onto the front stretch. So that's the track,
and in the interest of time, let's get straight to
the riders. Now, we're gonna start, as usual with the favorites.

(12:46):
We're going to talk about four riders instead of three
because I want to discuss this championship battle for third, fourth,
and fifth overall in the points. Then I'm gonna talk
about four more riders that are on my watch list
as right that potentially could be surprises heading into this weekend.
After that, I'll make the picks. So favorites, we'll take

(13:08):
these guys in championship border, which means we are obviously
going to start with the only rider in this group
that doesn't have to worry about the championship this weekend,
and that is Alex Marquez. Now, he didn't quite have
much for Marco Bitzeki on Sunday in Portugal, but Alex
brought the goods as expected on Saturday, and more importantly,

(13:30):
he's not just re established some consistency, but consistency battling
for the top spot. Over the last two rounds, Alex
hasn't finished lower than second. He has a sprint victory,
a Modo GP victory, and his average finish over the
last four points races is one point five. Now at Valencia,

(13:50):
the best indicator we have of where he's been in
the past isn't terrible. His only run here on a
Ducati was on that Chrisini like two years ago. And
remember last year we didn't have a Valencia GP because
of the tragic flooding through the area that had to
move that final round of the year, so it's our
first trip back since twenty twenty three. That raced two

(14:12):
years ago produced an eighth in the sprint for Alex
and a sixth in the Moto GP race, so that's
not bad. He improved from Saturday to Sunday, and I
think based on what we've seen this year compared to
the rest of his career and even to the rest
of his Ducat career, I think that that is enough
of an established track record to know that he'll be

(14:33):
in the ballpark based on just simply how much he's
improved through the end of last season into all of
this season, and best of all, for Alex, he'll be
running for fun and for bragging rights. I mean, he
is Ducatti's top rider right now. He's Ducatti's best hope
right now, and with no points to protect, I expect
him to be aggressive and I expect him to be competitive,

(14:55):
but at a track where all out speed isn't quite
as important. I think he'll have a lot more competition
to try to be competitive with, and specifically, I think
there'll be more from Marco Bitzeki, who, after that blip
in Malaysia, and it was a big blip, was absolutely
back in Portugal despite not being a big factor in

(15:17):
the sprint, although he was still on the podium, he
was awesome in the Moto GP race, arguably his best
performance of the season, and it came in exactly the
right time in the year to all but lock him
in to third overall in the rider's standing. So we
talked about the points just a moment ago. Now. Bez
has never done much in Valencia. His best result was

(15:38):
a seventh in the sprint the last time the series
was here two years ago. But you know what, a
seventh in the sprint is all he needs. He just
needs that three points to seal up a top three
championship result. And that's the only reason that I'm not
one hundred percent certain Bez is going to be the
rider to beat this weekend. Okay, that's the biggest reason.

(16:02):
I mean, Valencia is always full of surprises, so you
never know who might win. But the thing about Bez
is he has to protect the points right now. He
doesn't have to win, but he absolutely has to not wreck.
And we've seen this happen so many times to riders
before in Valencia, where you know their place in the
points is essentially decided, but they do have to protect

(16:22):
a little bit and so they race to that level.
And that's why a lot of times we don't see
the series champion winning at Valencia. Sometimes that happens, but
more often than not it doesn't because they're just trying
to protect the points so they can ensure that they're
going to be the champion, because that's way more important
than winning one particular race. Well, that could be the

(16:44):
same thing for Bez when it comes to getting third
overall in the championship. That would be a massive accomplishment
for him, especially considering where he started the season, and
if you remember all the way back to the beginning
of the year, I thought it probably was capable of
a top three in the championship. I just thought they
were probably gonna do it with Jorge Martin. I didn't
realize Bez was going to be the guy. But here

(17:06):
he is, and that could affect the way he approaches Saturday.
And I would not blame him at all. I mean,
if he just wants to protect points and lock in third,
I would do it too. But Sunday Sunday could be
his time to turn it up a notch and be
the favorite. It's just hard sometimes for riders to do that,
to lay back on Saturday and then really up there

(17:27):
game on Sunday. But we saw Bez do it this
past weekend. I port him out. He wasn't able to
contend for a win in the sprint, but boy, he
clambered the field when he came to Sunday. So I
think he's got a good chance, although I'm looking at
him to be more of a Sunday rider than a
Saturday rider. And then the next person we gotta to
talk about is the person that Bez is trying to

(17:48):
beat out right now in Peco bag Nyaya. And in
all honesty, Peco is probably simply hoping that the season
just gets over with as fast as possible so we
can go home and try to figure out what on
earth happened all went wrong. But as I've mentioned a
couple of times in the program already, he is smack
dab in the middle of the biggest battle in the

(18:08):
rider championship right now, clinging to the slightest bit of
hope that a Motegi like weekend could give him a
chance to reclaim third in the standings, all while trying
to fend off one of the hottest riders in the
sport right now, the hard charging Pedro Acosta, who's looking
to relegate him to fifth overall to finish the year.
The good news is that Peco is the only one

(18:31):
of the major championship contenders with any real success here,
at least in the premier class. He's got two podiums,
both of those Moto GP victories, and he's won two
of the last three races run in Valencia on Sundays.
That's excellent that's exactly the type of performances he needs
to turn in this weekend. The bad news is that

(18:53):
he's been an unmitigated disaster to end the season on Sundays.
I mean, we already talked about this in the Portugal
section of the program. He has now dnfed in the
last four straight Moto GP races and in five of
the last six. I mean, that's crazy to think about

(19:15):
with Peco bag Nyaya. And that was after having only
one retirement in a Moto GP race up to that
point in the season. That was in Silverstone for those
who were wondering, so he'd only have one all year,
and then in the last six he's dnfed five times
in Moto GP races. It's wild and it's unexplainable, and

(19:35):
I'm sure that Peco is going to try to figure
it out in the off season. Now he has to
come up with something big this weekend. And I'm not
even talking about getting back the third and the standings.
That's pretty much decided. He's got to come up with
something big to keep fourth in the standings because, let's
face it, the way he's racing, it's going to be
really difficult to hold off Pedro Acosta, and because of that,

(19:57):
I'm not terribly optimistic. But there is a so over
lining here because in the middle of all of those DNFs,
in five out of the last six rounds, there was
Motegi where he swept the weekend. So maybe there's a chance,
a slim chance, but a chance. Now, keep in mind,
if he does sweep the weekend, that Marco Pitteki would

(20:20):
have to score a grand total of two points or
less for Peco to take third back in the championships.
So I think that battle is done because Marco Pitteki
is gonna score something even if he doesn't win. But
the big performance really is to hold off Pedro Acosta,
and I think it's gonna have to be a double
podium because Acosta, who we're gonna talk about here in

(20:40):
a moment, is very likely a double podium rider himself,
and so the stay ahead of him, Peco's got to
score some real points. So third is off the table.
Fourth there is a chance, but it's kind of a
slim one considering the next strider we're going to talk
about and how he's riding, and that of course is
Pedro Acosta, who for me is essentially Fabio Quatrararo, but

(21:04):
on a better bike. And when I say that, I
mean that through I think sheer talent alone. He is
willing that KTM the better finishes than maybe it's ready
for right now. But since the RC sixteen is overall
a better bike than the M one. Where Fabio Quachurero
is maybe taking a tenth place bike and just making

(21:27):
it finish fifth, Acosta is taking what's already a sixth
place bike and making it a consistent podium finisher. I mean,
over the last seven races, seven points races, three and
a half rounds, his average finish is two point eighty five.
I mean he's on fire right now, especially considering the
bike he's on and how the other ktms have been

(21:49):
performing and who he's been able to race competitively with.
I mean, he's taking on the best that Ducati and
Aprilia have to offer right now and he's beating most
of them and it's super impressive. And yeah, he might
be over performing the bike a little bit, but he's
just that good. And once you get that momentum, going

(22:09):
from good finish after good finish, it does tend to
build on itself. Now this will be his first Moto
GP he weekend a Valencia, but he has won here
a Moto two, so he knows how this track goes.
And Acosta has been so close, so close to getting
Katm the win that they are so desperately looking for.
I think he wants to show Katm he can win.

(22:31):
I think he wants to show Dukati and everybody else
he can beat them, and of course, in the process
increase the chances that they offer him a big fat
contract for twenty twenty seven and beyond. But beating pecolbag
Nay in the championship that would take him a step
further in that role. You know, I imagine he's going
to be super motivated this weekend, hopefully not over motivated

(22:55):
to the point where he makes a mistake. Okay, So
those are the main play in the race this weekend
and in the championship picture. But if there is one
thing that we can be certain about when it comes
to Valencia, there is always a surprise sometimes two. So
with that being the case, I'm gonna take the watch

(23:15):
list this weekend and turn it into a list of
riders that I think have the best chance to be
surprise finishers, maybe even on the podium, but I'm thinking
more top five in this case, and we're going to
start this list and we'll take him in the championship
order with for me and Audegear. Now he is the
rookie of the year that's already been figured out, and

(23:37):
you can see how it tends to play out whenever
he has a really good brown. So after each of
his three Moto GP podiums this season, he struggled in
the rounds immediately afterwards, and I'll just outline them very
quickly for you. He finishes third in France double third
weekend actually, then no points in the Sloverstone Sprint, finishes

(24:01):
eighth in the race. He did rebound a little bit Narragon.
He was third in the sprint and then sixth in
the race, but then right back to ninth in the
sprint and twelfth in the Moto GP race once they
got to Mujello. Then you fast forward a couple of rounds.
Second in Austria. That was followed up by a sixteenth
in Hungary and then a fifteenth in Catalounya. Fast forward

(24:23):
a couple of rounds. He wins in that breakthrough in
Indonesia and he comes back with a fourteenth in Australia.
His Australian round across the board was bad, and then
he wrecked out of the Malaysian GP in Sepang, and
so you can see it's a high note and then
a couple of low notes, high note and then a
couple of loan notes. But not only was Portugal a

(24:44):
nice solid comeback. He was ninth in the sprint but
fifth in the Moto GP race. But he looked really
good on Sunday. He was fast, he was aggressive. We
saw that run in with Brad Binder, but he powered
his way through and so he looked very encouraging to
finish the weekend in Portugal. He's one in Valencia in
Moto two, and so I think he's got a really

(25:06):
good setup, some past success here at other levels, and
then a little bit of momentum coming out of Portamo
and then we go straight into this round. I think
that gives him a good chance of being maybe even
a surprise podium finisher. Next up is Fabio Quachuraro. We
talked about him a little bit in the context of
Portugal and the Yamaha's ability to maybe not fade as

(25:29):
much at the end now as they were even five
or ten rounds Ago. Yamaha has been getting better mostly
at the ends of races. They're still losing out big
time on top speed. We saw that in Portugal. But
the good thing for Fabio here at Valencia is top
speed isn't nearly as important. Yes, you can lose out

(25:50):
on the front stretch, but that's at the beginning of
the lap. There are plenty of twisty bits after that
to make up lost ground. So that sets the stage
for the Yamaha to be a little bit better in general,
and that gives Fabio a better opportunity to help push
them into the postseason. He has landed on the podium
here before. He did so the cap is fantastic rookie season.

(26:13):
He followed that up with a showing of fifth and
twenty twenty one and fourth in twenty twenty two. That
was before the Yamaha really started losing lots of ground
to do Kati and the rest of the competition with
an improving bike. I'm optimistic because if anybody can take
full advantage of incremental improvements over at Yamaha, Fabio Quachraro

(26:33):
Kim And since we're on the topic of Yamaha. I'm
looking very forward to their next outing with the V
four this weekend, heading into postseason testing, where I'm assuming
and hoping that Fabia is finally going to get his
hands on that thing and we get to see what
it can really really do. Right. There are a few
more riders on my watch list here that I think
have the potential to do something interesting this weekend in Valencia,

(26:55):
and one of the guys who I'm really optimistic about
is Brad Binder. I mean, he was so good in
terms of race pace at Portugal. He went from fourteenth
to ninth in the sprint, then given a little bit
more time, he went from fourteenth to fifth in the race.
And he's actually really good at Valencia. He's got two
Moto GP podiums and a sprint podium. In fact, in

(27:19):
terms of overall Premier class podiums at Valencia, of all
the riders on the grid, he's tied for the most overall.
Do you know who he's tied with? Multiple riders? Actually, yes,
Jorge Martine is one. No, pecobag Nyaya is not. We
already talked about him earlier. He only has two career podiums,
but the other riders, He's tied with Jack Miller, believe

(27:43):
it or not, and then Poula Spargo also has three. However,
Maverick Vignalez is currently slated for a Valencia returns, so
if mav is backwell, Pole is not part of the statistic.
But if Maverick can't go this weekend, well, then you
have three riders, four riders rather that have three career
podiums here, Bender, Miller, of Jorge Martin and Paulis Spagro.

(28:08):
And that's a great example of how the podiums get
spread out. I mean, these are not the biggest name
riders in the world outside of of course, are defending
champ Jorge Martin, and yet they all have multiple podiums here.
That's what happens at Valencia. And since Bender's done it
multiple times before and looked really, really good in Portugal,
if he can qualify better, He's got a shot to

(28:29):
do something. And then the final rider on my watch
list for this weekend is Iogura. Stick with me here,
all right. He was strong on Sunday in Portugal, and
despite the fact that he hasn't had a lot of
success at all in Valencia in the past. In his
entire career, he has just one podium. It was in
Moto three a couple of years ago. He is exactly

(28:52):
the type of rider that seems to come out of
nowhere in the season finale, a guy who clearly has potential,
who hasn't been able to realize it yet, hasn't really
slotted in, and then we get to Valencia and then
craziness happens and he comes out of nowhere to compete
for a podium. And I think part of that happens
because those riders are still in full on attack mode

(29:16):
when a lot of others are already focused on the
postseason or unlocking in their points position in the standings.
So yeah, he's a long shot, but hey, we saw
an even longer shot his teammate ro Fernandez win a
race a couple of rounds ago. Fernandez got banged up
in Portugal, So I don't know if he's going to
be able to come back really strong in Valencio or

(29:37):
if he's just gonna try to bring it home to
end the season. But Ogra still has a lot to prove,
still has a lot that's unproven about him, and he
is one of those riders who I think is going
to be in full on attack mode when some others
are just trying to cruise to the end of the season.
That could open a couple of doors for him in
terms of opportunities. So we talked about the favorites, we

(29:58):
talked about my watch list. I made a mistake and
said this was gonna be an abbreviated pre race show.
But we've talked about eight riders when we normally own
a regular pre race show, talk about nine. The only
order of business left to take care of then is
to make picks for the final race of the twenty
twenty five World Championship. I'm gonna try my best. I've

(30:20):
been hit and miss since mart Marquez has left the grid.
I think we know what the new pecking order is
right now, but Valencia definitely is a wild card in
terms of results, so I'm gonna give it my best shot.
I'll give you my top three picks for the Saturday
sprint and then my top five for the Motor GP
race on Sunday. Let's start with the sprint in third,

(30:41):
your first surprise of the weekend. I'm gonna go with
Brad Bender if and only if he can qualify well.
If he can't, then you put Marco Bitteki in the
spot instead. Yeah, that's right. I'm not picking bez to win.
So Brad Bender in third with a little lass in parentheses,
Marco Bazeki in second, Pedro Acosta. He is super motivated.

(31:06):
He is racing so well right now, and unlike somebody
like Marco Bozeki, he's not gonna feel like he has
to protect points in the sprint. He's got to go
on the attack because he has to find a way
to pass Peco Bagnaya for fourth. Overall, so Pedro second,
and then your winner, Alex Marquez. He has been so
good on Saturdays all year long. I don't see why

(31:28):
that would change here. He's riding a huge wave of
momentum from the past two race weekends. I think that
could easily carry over into a solid sprint for him.
Then we move on to Sunday and the Moto GP race.
Here are my top five, and this might be a
little out of the ordinary, but again, Valencia isn't out
of the ordinary. Place in fifth, I'm gonna go with

(31:50):
Peco Bagnyaya. He ends the year on a little bit
of an upnote, but not quite enough to be able
to make him a contender for third, and I I
think that I'm not going to pick Pedro Costa above him,
but I think Acosta is going to be so close
that it makes no difference and that Peco's probably gonna
lose out on fourth overall. In addition to that, in fourth,

(32:13):
Fabio Quatrararo, this is a track where it's going to
be easier for him to hang in there. If you
can qualify well, I think he can stay close to
the podium even if he's not quite on it. Back
of the podium spot in third, I'm going to give
that to Alex Marquez, yet another podium in a year
that has been filled with them. For a little marquees
in second. This is surprise number two for the weekend

(32:36):
for me and Aldegaer after that little spark of enthusiasm
and speed and aggressiveness in Portugal. I like his chances
to be a surprise rider this weekend. We know he's capable.
He's done it before multiple times, so this could be
a good weekend for him. And if you don't like
that pick there, then this is where you can slot
in Pedro Acosta. I think he could just as easily

(32:56):
finish second in this race, and boy, what a great
battle it would be if Aldegaer and Acosta had this
intense battle for second and third, just like we saw
out of Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta in the sprint
last weekend. That would be phenomenal, especially given the history
of those two riders. But then your winner in this one,
after having secured his spot in the championship in the sprint,

(33:19):
Marco Bitzeki turns it all loose and wins. A great
setup for the offseason and a potential championship battle between
Ducati and Aprilia in twenty twenty six. So I like
Bez in this one, although remember we're talking about Bez
this way without that real measuring stick of him going

(33:41):
up against Mark Marquez on a regular basis. So to recap,
in the sprint, I've got Brad Bender third, Pedro Acosta second,
and your winner Alex Marquez and the asterix theres If
you don't like Bender and third, put Bitzechi there. Then
in the Modo GP race, pecobag Naya fifth, Fabio Quatroro fourth,
and on the podium Alex Marquez for me and out
of gear or potentially Pedro Acosta. If you don't like

(34:03):
the out of gear surprise pick and your winner Marco Bitzeki,
Do you agree, do you disagree? You well, you know
what to do. Head on over to Facebook or Reddit
and tell me why my picks are terrible and who
you think is going to win the race instead. And
since we have a race, that means that as long
as nothing bizarre happens this weekend, we will have a
post race show check back at the conclusion of the

(34:26):
weekend where I fully intend to talk about all of
the action in Valencia, review the final championship picture, give
you my take on the weekend, and give us a
little bit of a setup for what we might expect
in the Valencia Test, which is coming up on Wednesday,
November nineteenth. And by the way, it has been confirmed
Mark Marquez will not be making a triumphant return to

(34:48):
the Ducati at that test, which I think is probably
a pretty wise move, and honestly, I don't think that
anything he does on the bike in that test is
going to dynamically change the field. Earl and kids TM
are gaining and they're going to continue to gain, and
so really crunch time is going to be preseason testing

(35:08):
next year, and in the process, we're also going to see,
hopefully a little bit better, how that Yamaha VI four
is going to fit into the twenty twenty six Moto
GP picture. So we've got a lot to talk about
coming up, not just the final race of the season
in Valencia, but we've got the Valencia Test to talk about.
We've got Silly season to start considering, and before you

(35:30):
know it, the twenty twenty six season is going to
be here. And not only are we going to have
to focus on that, but on the impending rule change,
which is going to be huge for twenty twenty seven.
It is not only going to be difficult to understand
for everybody, but it could be a huge shakeup for
the entire Moto GP landscape. So a lot to talk
about in the off season. There will be a lot

(35:50):
of shows on the way. I don't want you to
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(36:12):
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(36:32):
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so until we talk again fingers crossed a couple of

(36:53):
days from now, I want to encourage you to a
drink water. This episode of the show is sponsored by Water.
I want to thank you so much for listening. Ride
say and I'll talk to you soon.