Summer Break Week 2 – Rider Recap and the Suzuka 8 Hour - For The Love Of MotoGP

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Steve, my good man, How the devil are you?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm good, buddy, How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm very good, my friend, I am very good. We
weathered storm florists up here, Steve. We battled eighty five
mile an hour winds and we're still standing. So I'm
doing better than at least two Campa vans that I
have seen tipped over on the side of the road.
So yes, it's been an interesting few days up here.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, I gathered I was watching on the news. But
as a character, the caravan is it still standing?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
So we form We quite literally circled the wagons and
we formed a ring of cars around the caravan to
process it from the winds. Yeah, that might have been overkill.
I think it would have been fine. The caravan has
put up with one hundred mile an hour plus winds
in the winter here, so it's not that much of
a biggie for it. But we did park all the
cars around it just to be sure.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
The downside the thing with it here is the winds
weren't actually all that strong compared to what we get
in the winter. But the problem is the trees in
the winter don't have any leaves, so because the trees
are fully green, like there's been a lot of trees down.
The local pub they had a tree go down in
their car park and wipe out five twenty five plate
higher cars in the process. So, yeah, that wasn't so good.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Make sure it's claim is going to be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah exactly. But at least it wasn't our car park,
so not really happened.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
No, that is true. Yeah you got away with that
one man. Well, well you're also we got a little
breeze down here. I'm not going to rub it in.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Did you get anything Did you get any storm at all?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Or was it really we had a bit of wind,
a little bit of rain, nothing above them, okay, twenty
mile an hour. I stood outside, I was like, oh gusty.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I thought you. I was like, yeah, okay, yeah
it was it was fun. We were part of the
I don't know what two million people in Scotland that
ended up with power cuts that lasted ranging between twelve
and twenty four hours. Forty eight hours. Sorry, So yeah,
we're we're a few days late recording Tuesday. Oh we

(02:07):
I bailed out of recording because we didn't have power
until Tuesday afternoon. I think the power came back on here,
and then Wednesday we didn't record because why didn't we
record Wednesday? I can't remember now that was me, I think, Yeah,
I can't remember. It feels like it was a while
ago already. But it's Thursday and we're recording now, so
that's the important thing.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
We're here, We're on it. We are here, that is
the main thing.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, quite right, we're back. But yeah, how was your weekend?
And see if your storm free weekend?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
It was all right. I think I don't really remember
it if for honest, it seems like ages ago now,
but yeah, it was okay. Lots of family time again.
Yeah nice.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, well I'll do the job. And yeah, I'm very
happy for you that you did avoid the storm. Well,
it was quite fun. I did have to go out
on Monday night to go and pick up my shopping,
so I've got to experience the roads, which were interesting
to say the least. Yeah, that was fun. I got
to pick up the shopping, went to get fuel and
then there was no power so the petrol station wasn't
working obviously, So yeah, that was again an interesting drive back.

(03:18):
We were like, oh god, I hope we can get back.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
They don't have a back up hand pump in this
highland petrol station.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I suspect if you really needed it, there is a
way to get fuel. But yeah, thankfully I didn't have
to stress that we didn't actually get back and that
was that was the important thing.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
That's the main thing. You're also caravans standing, hostels still standing.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Quite yes, exactly all good. But yeah, so there's our weekend, Steve,
and it's the summer breaking Moto GP at the moment,
not but a huge amount happening in the motorgip world.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
No, no lots of social media. It was some very
lovely holiday destinations that the people have visited.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Very just a lot of abs on shore on the beach.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
There has been a lot of abs on show on
the beach, which are very jealous of. So these guys
are very rare and they're very how should we say,
attractive partners looking very elegant and lovely in all the
glory and it's just like you, sickening bastards.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's the world of elite level sport, mate. You if
you're an elite level athlete, you've got to be shredded
and you've got a lot of money. So with good
looks and a lot of money. You attract good looks
and a lot of money. That's just the way the
world works.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah. Yeah, so I'm off to skeggy as opposed to
for anyone any of our foreign listeners. Just google scared Ness, UK.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Scared Ness one of probably was once one of the
UK's premier holiday destinations. But as with all British seaside towns,
it's sort it's heyday in the nineteen fifties and since
then has just gone downhill further and further and further.
There's not many of our seaside towns that have survived
into their and kept the glory of yesteryear. Brighton is one.

(05:19):
Brighton I think is still quite a glorious place to be.
But that's because to me, Brighton is just a wonderful place,
because it's just a massive lefty community of just amazing people.
So I just love it down there. But yeah, most
of our seaside towns have not. Blackpool, I suppose, is
pretty good in most of It's a bit like if
Great Yarmouth was bigger and a little bit nicer very

(05:42):
as Blackpool.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah yeah, See, most of my family are still down
in the South End, which I've only experienced a couple
of times and don't really want to experience again.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I've never been to South End, though I've always heard
mixed things about it.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. The Great British Seaside is
just one of those fantastic things where I think you
either love it or hate it. You have to do
battle with this hench seagull every time. You can't buy
a chip without getting in a fight with the seagull.
You know, he thinks he's hard, You think you're hard,
and you end up scrapping on the floor and then
the RSPCA come and you're in trouble.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, and the seagull always wins.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
The seagull always does win. But spectating it's a great thing.
If you find a spot, you see, like just near
a chippy, all the seagulls hang out near the chippies,
and if you watch some unsuspecting fool walk out of
there with an uncovered sausage, it's game on.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's not a euphemism.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
No, that's not either. I was just going to clarify
that that's a badge in a cart that you're about
to munch on, not your wiener because that's just wrong.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, it's still not a euphemism.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
No, Yeah, sit back, watch and watch the carnage unfold.
It's glorious.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
I was once. I might have said this on a
show before, and I might have told you before, But
when I was a teenager, I was in Chromer, She's
our kind of closest crappy seaside town, and I was
there with a friend and we just got chips and
we were standing at the top looking down at the
promenade and the pier and everything down there. We're in
our chips and we're throwing the od chip to the
seagulls and it's great because you throw it and they
catch it from the air, and you're like, that was fun. Well,

(07:16):
I threw a chip and it went through the flock
of seagulls, none of them caught it, and it landed
in a woman's hair down below. Oh my good lord,
I have never seen it was like the birds like
that Hitchcock film. Mate just warm. These seagulls just dive
bombing her. She's running and screaming. I was. It was
obviously hysterical from where I was standing, as like this

(07:37):
fourteen year old boy up the top. But oh my god,
if it had been me in her position, I'd have
been trauatized.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Oh that's good. Yeah, oh no, what I'm doing this weekends?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, yeah, it could have been we could work. If
it had gone in like a baby's pram or something,
that would have been really traumatic, I think for all involved.
But thankfully for me, it was just a midlady woman's hair.
So all was good.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
All fine, Oh, Darshi Ryer. Yeah, at some point we
will talk about motorcycles, we promise.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yes, quite. So with that, Steve, shall we dive into
it and get chatting about some Moto GP.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Let's go for it, buddy, good stuff.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
So I'm Tim, He's Steve, and this is for the
love of Moto GP. If you are new to the show, welcome,

(08:48):
and if you are returning, welcome back. This is for
the love of Moto GP, the show where Steve and
I sit down with a couple of beers and talk
about Moto GP like we would in the pub. Steve
is on the Black Current and Apple Squash tonightil but
in a Corona glass.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
I'll try to trick myself.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, and I'm actually on the Impossibreu again tonight, Steve,
so we could both be the designated drivers. So when
this show goes off the rails and our tangents about seagulls,
chips and skeg nests happen, no one to blame about ourselves.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah exactly, But then you've told us that you love them,
so we will keep doing.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Them quite exactly. That's the kind of the point of
the whole show is we talk about motor gp and
we just go where the conversation takes us. We do
have notes and we do stick to the notes, but
we go off piece sometimes as well. We get the
roundabout route.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
We do we take the long way exactly.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
I do have a quick note before we dive in, Steve,
and that is that next week you and I are
sitting down to record an interview with Mark, who is
the marshal Mark Mark with a K. He's got many
names around here, but he's the listener that has been
in touch often the marshaling at motorgp races, a lot

(10:14):
of BSB races I think is in well too bike
stuff as well. So yeah, we'll be having a chat
with him about marshaling in motorcycle races. So if you
guys have any questions, anything, you have a burning desire
to know about what it's like to be marshaling at
most cycle races, then do send them into us and
we will make sure to ask him during that recording.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
We shall, And I'm looking forward to that. I've forgotten
about that.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, me too. I think that's going to be a
fun one.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, yeah, that will be good. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
So this week's show, Steve, like I say, there's not
been a huge amount going on. There was the Suzuka
right Hour at the weekend, so we'll have a chat
about that, and then I'm thinking, let's just run through
the ride in championship order right now as we've hit
the summer break, and just have give our very uninformed
opinions about how their seasons have gone and our thoughts

(11:09):
and feelings about them.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
We can do that, but it sounds like a plan.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Excellent. Well that's good. I'm glad you approved, because otherwise
I'd be scrambling for ideas on the fly. Do that, Okay,
you write the fucking show notes, then you do it.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Dig it.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, let's start it off then, Steve with this Azuka
eight hour. This is motorcycle racing's premiere endurance event, and
it did take place at this weekend at Sazuka in Japan,
the Honda owned circuit there. Yes, it featured a host
of well known international names as well as plenty of
Japanese talent, and there was a grand total of fifty

(11:51):
five teams taking part across three classes. That's the Endurance
World Championship Class, the Superstock class, and the Experimental class.
Three classes run at the same time, so there are
fifty five motorcycles on track at the same time. So
the grid is full to bursting, like it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, I watched some of this, actually I remember now.
I watched some of it, and it's nuts, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Nuts, I was. I watched a lot of the highlights
and stuff of it. I didn't watch it live, so
I've got a lot of the highlights and watched bits
and bobs where I can. And I didn't realize they
still have the classic start the whole grid, run across
the track, jump on your bike, and then start. I
didn't realize that still happened. So that was pretty wild
to see, just like fifty five superbikes just all like

(12:39):
that was pretty wild.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, I enjoyed it. I didn't watch much. I watched
some of the dark hours racing. Let's scare the shit
out of me.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Oh, it's mad seeing even during the light hours when
they've got headlights and stuff on that are just on
all the time. Like it's pretty wild to see bikes
going around the track with all their lights and everything on.
And then yeah when it got dark, Wow.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
What is watching somebody these guys tip it a corner.
I was like, your headline isn't even showing the apex
or the curb. It's just feel like not luck skill.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, we're still just memory in it, like it's muscle memory.
They know where they're breaking, markets are, they know what
they're doing, they know the lean angle they need to
go for. It's pretty wild just and it shows like
because all of these guys will know all of this
from the tracks they're riding all the time. Still the
MAGP guys that are riding around welllit circuits and all
of everyone's racing on a welllit circuit generally, and they'll
know all of the circuits like this, Like they can

(13:35):
sit back, they can close their eyes, they can visualize
the circuits. But it's weird seeing it actually them having
to do that as well as you kind of just
academically know they're doing it, but because they've got light
of sight, you just assume they're judging it corter by corner,
but they're not. They could do all of these circuits
like that.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, Yeah, they're really good. It's such a talent.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely is that thing, isn't it. Remember that
they were quizzing Mark Marquez and just giving him engine
noises and being like, what circuits this from? And he
could just reel them off just he could listen to
it and be able to tell you what the circle was.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
That's just barking. But then if you're doing it all
the time, that that information is going to get locked
in there. Yeah, so it does make sense. But then
at some point your head's going to switch off, but
I guess not. You're exsorlving all this information and it
just helps noises sounds. Yeah, just gets locked in there,

(14:28):
isn't nuts.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
It makes you wonder though, doesn't it, because I've only
seen mart Marquez doing that, and you kind of we
always talk about like the Great Riders, and you talk
about this in Formula one, you talk about this in
all sport. There are the greatest within that sport have
just got this extra capacity in their brain to just
understand what is happening on a level that just you
and I and most people just cannot even fathom. Like

(14:53):
it's so far removed from the way our brains work
that we just can't even begin to understand it. So
I do wonder whether all of the riders can do
that or whether it is just a select like the goats.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, it's quite interesting, I do. Yeah, that's a good point. Actually,
I would imagine to a certain extent they can all
do it. But then, like you said, the great ones
are probably could have been I do a bit more. Yeah,
so i'd emotion they all can to a certain extent,
but the knowledge of like you said, the elites, the goats,

(15:28):
it's just going to outshine I guess you would be
a good way of put it. The guys who can't.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
They talk about this Formula one a lot where they
talk about the drivers, the ones that are, like you know,
the multiple world champions, the people that are just some
of the best ever, and how they just have this
understanding of the race folding around them, even things they
can't see generally because they're we see a mogp they're
glancing up at the screens to see where else is happening.
Yeah exactly, But they've just these guys have just got

(15:58):
this extra level, but most of their competitors don't have.
But they just have this deeper understanding of what is
happening in every situation and can just call it from
the cockpit or from the saddle or whatever it is.
They can just call the races in a way that
most people can't.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. That it's insane really, But then that's
the skill that's what sets them apart. You know, to
have this kind of awareness and build a scenario in
your head, this is happening. I need to do this
and be like four or five corners ahead thinking, you know,
in your rhythm, just exactly like you say, Elite level
is just nuts.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
And that's a skill that comes in specifically useful at
the Suzuka hours, where you've got fifty four other machines
blasting around you all the time, and there's action at
every corner, with faster riders having to negotiate slower machines
all the time. I mean, Jack Miller said, and this
is a direct quote, you're dealing with up to fifteen
riders a lapse sometimes some laps more, some laps less.

(16:57):
You're slicing and dicing through the whole race, just kind
of trying to keep that average lap time to a
reasonable number. So He's just like, you've just got to
know everything that's going on because you're getting through people,
getting around people. You need to know who's around you
all the time, especially when there's fifty plus machines on
the grid.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, that's an insating amount. But watching it is a spectacle.
It's something I'd love to go and see live and
just sort of sit up. It's only a working day,
it's ours, so you could go and just sit and
watch it and just enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
I'd like to go to any endurance race, like a cars, bikes, whatever,
I'd quite like. I quite like to go to like
a twenty four hour and on the kind of race
I think that would be super cool.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, something line they have a twenty four hour race
and just up the road, but they do it two cvs. No, yeah,
I'm not even joking it. It is legit, mate, So
maybe we should absolutely go and spectate a twenty four
hour two CV race.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
That would be so good.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, we really I can't remember when it is.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Two cvs such a party. If it's this month, oh, mate,
in the middle of the sum Imagine that on a
nice night, middle of the summer, you go sit up
on the banking, take a couple of tinnies and just
sit there all night, just napping on the side of
the track. That would be so much fun that I'd
be so up for that.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, there's then looking at it now, two CV twenty
four hour Race and ba r C Club Car Championship
Saturday in the twenty third Sunday, the twenty fourth of August.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Mate, would be so good. If I'm in the UK
and August at any point in the future, we are
absolutely going to go to one of these events, mate,
I can. I think that would be such a blast.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, weekend ticket twenty six quid.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
That's so good. I love shitty local racing for them,
that's not fair. These are the TV is. Yeah, but
two CV racing is shitty local racing. But I like
these small, like domestic tracks for that because you can
just go for twenty six quid, just go hang out
there for twenty four hours and just watch cars blast
around and a lot of the time you're not even
paying fucking attention. It's just a backdrop of it. It's

(19:03):
just a cool place to be.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, we can. Ticket Holders are welcome to camp for
free as well. Look at that nice.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
I wouldn't bother. I just I take a tent in
case of weather ship, but I generally I just take
my sleeping bag and maybe a VV sack. Can just
go sit up on the hill and just wrap up
one for the night.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, it's amazing. Yes, on, I might have to go.
It's on the two hundred circuit.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
It was on the two hundred circuits a half nice.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, what else is on.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Tangent number one? Here? What's going on?

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah. One of the most intriguing single make categories, the
legendary two CV, will be pushed to its limit as
teams are free to four driver showcase the strategy, stamina
and determination in this unique endurance challenge. Adding to the
excitement is the debut of the Ktrum Grand Prix, a
two hour contest of strategy pack racing, plus the catermcademy

(20:02):
brings its signature wheel to wheel competition for a thrilling weekend.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
I just wouldn't really care about the carom racing. Now,
I'm just there for the twcvs.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah, i'd be there for the two TVs and
they look insane.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
That'd be so good, man, that'd be so good. There's
a race somewhere in the States called be twenty four
Hours of Lemons, which is just I can't remember what
the price limit is on the car, but it's a
super cheap car, no upgrades allowed. And then it's just
a twenty four hour race like that, which I think
would be super cool.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
That is pretty good. Twenty four hour of bearwitness people.
One there there is five Endurance racing for five hundred
dollar cars.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yeah, there you go. How good would that be? Just
five five hundred dollar car? And then you just get
a team of you and you go and race. But
I'm sure you need what actually is the States, you
probably don't need a racing license, but you know it's
all less out there, but I'm sure for the TWCV
stuff here you'd need some kind of club racing license.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, I've just got to that bit. It say it's
become a racer. All it takes. It's a cheap car,
cool friends and one weekend I'm not even joking. It'd
be so good a racer. Oh my god, it's playing
audio from her head and just scared the absolute ship

(21:17):
at me. I didn't realize it did.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
It hasn't played through this end, so I don't think.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Okay, fact, I can't even turn it down or you down.
Step one, pick a race, step two, join the team,
Step three, race a yank car.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Oh that's so good, mate, it's so good. I'd be
so keen for that if you've been more expensive for
us to fly out there to do it. But it
would be fun.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, I love the bit of the bomb. Racing is
not just for rich idiots normal. That's brilliant. I gotta
get off this website. It's still my headed.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
It would be a great event, mate, it would be
super cool.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
I love that racing is not just for rich idiots.
It's all idiots.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, that's really good.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right to ground this back to relevant, Yeah, back to
the Suzuka eight hours to real racing.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
So there's a lot of famous names in the suzukar
Hour this weekend, Steve, I'm not going to list through
the entire lineup, what with mostly nodding three riders on
their bike over the eight hours. Instead, I've just got
a list of riders that we've probably all heard of. Ye,
So from the Moto GP grids, most famously Johan Zarko
and Jack Miller were riding. Zarko for Honda, Miller for Yamaha,

(22:34):
and then from elsewhere in the international motorcycle racing world,
we had Carol Hannaka, Jason o'hanah and Dan Linfoot, Michael Vandermark,
Marcus Reiderberger, Stephen Odendall, Leon Has, the Marcel Schrotter, Carol
Idaan Powi, Coton Nazana, Kito Toba, Albert Rainas was there,

(22:55):
Wesa Yama, Naka, Jordy Torres, Loris Baz, Jonnis Volga, Joss Brooks,
and Davy Todd. So there was, yeah, a lot of
names that I think most psycle racing fans will recognize,
as well as just hordes and hordes of local Japanese
riders who would have been filling up with the majority
of the grid.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
There's a lot there from BSB. Actually, I was quite
surprised by that.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
A lot from BSB, a lot from road racing, a
lot from the lower classes in the Motor GP paddock,
a lot of superbikes obviously, so yeah, kind of the
anyone who's anyone within certain categories, is there.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Zarka and Miller unsurprisingly were the main contenders throughout the
race and especially in qualifying, but Miller, unsurprisingly unsurprisingly for Miller,
crashed went well on for pole position. He did manage
to remount, eventually finished eleven seconds of the pole, thankfully
for Miller. This was the top ten shoot out here,

(23:54):
so each rider for the team gets a running qualifying
with the fastest rider for each team setting that team's
time for the top ten and Andrea Locatelli ended up
scoring the second fastest time, meaning Miller's team were second
on the grid behind Jo Anzako Nice. In the end,
after eight hours of battling, it was the Zarko machine

(24:16):
that won the race, but it wasn't easy for them.
They only actually had two riders on their team, Zarko
himself and Takumi Takahashi. Their third rider was initially supposed
to be Luca Marini, who as we know, got severely
injured in testing. Then it was Ika Laquona who got
injured in Hungary in the World SUPERI round. Then it
was supposed to be Javid Vierhey, but he couldn't ride

(24:36):
because of procedural issues, but believed to be an inability
to get a visa in time, so in the end
they gave up. They threw in the towel and Zarko
and Takahashi had the extra word to do so, each
riding about fifty percent more than the other riders and
other teams, but they still managed to get the job done,
eventually winning by more than thirty seconds, although their leads
should have been bigger, but a late safety car bunched

(24:58):
the field up and they had to pull out a
gap again. I think it was in the last half
an hour of the race, vapalled thirty second gap.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, something like that. I think I stopped watching just
before maybe three quarters an hour, forty minutes beforehand, missed
all that bit. But yeah, a lot of work for
two guys four at four solid hours of racing and
heat as well, Like it's hot, there's nasty out there,

(25:24):
so yeah, Stammler of these guys with fitness plays off absolutely.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
The Yamahara of Jack Miller finished second, and the Suzukiv
Greg Black, Dan Lindfoot and Kakuro at Tsumi rounded out
the podium to make it three different Japanese manufacturers in
the top three, and this was Honda's thirty first win
from the forty six runnings of the Suzukra Hour and
their fourth on the bounce, as well as as Joanne

(25:52):
Zarko second in a row. So I suspect Zako's Motor
GP contract just got a little bit more lucrative.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah, I want another bonus. Hang on, how can
I get this? Oh? Look, you like this Azuka eight hour.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Exactly?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
I've done it before.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah quite so. Yes, and an impressive run from Zarako
too on the bounce. There an impressive run from Honda
to four on the bounce, and yeah, just an all
round good event. I was never going to sit down
and watch the whole thing, but I was catching snippets
of it all throughout the race and then watching the
highlights as they appeared on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah that's pretty much what I did as well. I
couldn't commit to the entire time. I would have got
shot as soon as the kids were on holiday. So sorry, love,
I can't look after the kids today. What are you
doing sitting in my house watching bugs again.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
For eight hours? This time the sun break. Well, yes,
it's the sun break from o GP, but it's actually
this is Yeah, so what you're going to do? Walk out?

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay, bags down the stairs.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Oh you're like, can you be quiet? I've got six
more hours of this yet.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, it was shut up a bit where you're renting
cool all you think about.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
No, I don't think that would go down very well, Steve.
I think the TV would be unplugged quite quickly.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah. Yeah, laptop would have been smashed over my head.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah. So yeah, that was This is a great hour.
Just yeah, an interesting race. Endurance racing is always interesting.
It's I don't know if it's more interesting on motorbikes
and in cars, but it's a level of peril when
you're riding long stints, tired for that length of time.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yes, yeah, there is certain elements of like fatigue that
kick in and you have to be super fit, probably fit,
and just you your mind conditioning. You can't switch off
for a second, you know, twenty four hour races when
you're watching through the pitch black dead at night, when
it's raining city weather, these guys must be absolutely drained

(27:58):
and you do see them, especially with the cars. It
gets back to the pits. Sometimes they're literally been dragged
out of the car.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Would you see the shots of Zarko and when he
got off the bike after the finals, dint like he
was ruined, Like it looked like it was that similar
to an Indian when Juwahim Martem just nearly. Yeah, it's
so hot, Like Zarko had that look about him, like
he didn't want to be there, he didn't want to
to talk to him. He's like, ah, right, just one
but fucking hell, give me a minute.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, let me get some water and ice bar, something
to eat and maybe twenty four hours sleep and then
we'll do this and then we.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Can do a podium or something. I'm really not in
the mood right now.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Yeah, but that's the thing. Yeah, I spoke as soon
as you finished. It's not over. You got pictures, you've
got photos, you've got fully podium, and you've got all
the other ship that comes with it. I've just one fox.
Oh god, I've got three hours of this pr ship.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah quite.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
There's no rest for the wicked and these scenarios.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
No, none at all, blessing, but they agree to go fault.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well exactly exactly, but there we go that has it.
That was Suzuka, Steve. So let's bring it back round
to Moto GP and let's I'll tell you what. Let's
take a quick break and then when we come back,
we'll dive into Moto GP and we will run through
the riders in reverse championship order and give our opinions,

(29:24):
because that is the most important thing.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
This is the one they wait all year forts very half.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
A year for this one, and then they get the
end of year one as well.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, that's the one they really sweat about. You know.
We get the messages avery time with the riders. Please
be kind.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, my bonus is relying on this.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, yes, yeah, my boss is listening intently to your
opinion exactly.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
And if that is the case, we can be bribed.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
So yes, we were. We are fully owped on this bribery.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
So guys, bear with us for just one moment and
we will be right back with you, and thank you

(30:16):
for going with us. We are back. Ladders are empt
My beer is still like half full, so we're just
going to leave it at the one alcohol free beer
for me tonight. Although you've had a juice top up
by looks of it, Steve, I have driggler fish.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Recently, I don't know what's going on, but my god,
I've been knocking some water back.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
Heavy stuff.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Mate on the heavy stuff. Yeah, fish juice has been
going down well.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Good. Well, it's good to stay hydrated. Good to stay hydrated.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, definitely hydrated.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Right, So, Steve, let's run through the Moto GP riders
and let's chat about their performances so far. We'll go
through all twenty seven appearances from this year. So some
of those are wild cards or replacement riders, but we'll
have a brief chat about them anyway and work our

(31:08):
way from the bottom. So in twenty seventh place Steve
in the championship. So far, the only rider with zero
points is one a leash As Spargaro. He's had what
two outings for the HRC test team and a single
outing for Proper or not re Castro Honda where he

(31:29):
was replacing Luca Marini in the Netherlands. Arguably he could
have had a point in the Netherlands, but I think
he graciously gave it up to allow Sonka Chantra to
score his first mateor GP point.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yes, it seems that way, and.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
There's not really anything to say about lesh Spargo. He's
a test rider. Now he's blasting around on test honders.
You don't really expect him to be up to speed
as he would have been, and especially not riding the
Honda right now.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
No, exactly exactly that, mate.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
So after that, up twenty sixth place overall with a
single point is the aforementioned rookie Sonkiat Chantra. It's off
one for Chantra up in in Motor GP. Many people,
I think, including us, sort of argued maybe he wasn't
quite MOTORGIP material, but he got the ride regardless, and

(32:19):
he has not really proved anyone wrong that single point
in asen Aside from that, he's he's missed a couple
of rounds for injuries. The last couple of rounds did
his need in knee in a training accident. So yeah, yeah,
it's not been the Motor GP year. I'm sure Sonkiat wanted,
but I hope he can come back and at least
ride for the remainder of the season. But the injuries

(32:41):
can be fickle things, so it is yet to be
seen when he'll be back.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yes, yeah, yeah, bless him.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
I'm not convinced he will be on the grid. Again
next year, but we will wait and see because he
does have a two year contract.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I think he does, yes, but we know the contracts
can be torn up pretty easily.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
So yes, quite yeah, twenty fifth place then Steve with
six points. Is Miguel olive Vera. His first year on
a Yamaha. It has not been pretty. He's had three
points scoring finishes, but let's not forget he took a
pretty bad injury very early on in the year, and

(33:18):
that in round two. In fact, was it firmin alder
gear that wiped him out and gave him his his injury?

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yes, I believe it was.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, I think it was, so yes, Miguel. But regardless,
Miguel has not impressed on the Yamaha. And it's sad
really because I was really excited to see him get
off the Katie and when he first moved to a
prettier and he didn't really do a lot, then again
blighted by injury and yeah again jumping off the prillier
onto Yamaha. It's kind of feeling like the end for Miguel. Really.

(33:49):
I don't know, he's looking like unlikely to be on
the grid next year, So yeah, I hope he gets
a bit of a run at the end.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yes, battered, poor fella.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
The past few years for Miguel have been kind of
Danny Pedroza esque with the the man just does not bounce,
and he's just been unlucky to get caught up in
everyone else's crashes. Like a lot of his injuries over
the last few years have been not of his own
doing at all. We've just been other people riding into him.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah. Yeah, he's just been in the wrong place at
the wrong time.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
All the time, exactly, And every time he seems to
build up any kind of momentum, it's just snubbed out
pretty quickly.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Next up then twenty fourth place with six points still
is Augusto Fernandez, the Yamaha Test and wild card rider,
and he has done three replacement rides for Miguel Olivera
as well as doing two wild cards for the Yamaha
Factory team. Are they both wild cards or did he

(34:50):
replace Rinds at any point? I think has been in
every round, hasn't he every round? So yeah, that's two
wild card rides. Two thirteenth place finish yes, of with
six points, one for the Parmak Squad, one for the
Yamaha team in the wild card, So just whatever, he's
a wild card and replacement rider. You can't expect much
more of him from that. And actually, on his Motor

(35:10):
GP history so far, two points scoring finishes across five rounds.
Really isn't that bad?

Speaker 2 (35:16):
No, not considering so yeah, nothing to really shy about
that one.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
No quite Next up twenty third place then Steve pol Aspargaro.
Now Paul has only been in for a single round
where he did he replace? He replaced Maverick Vinalez, didn't
he the Tex three team for Yeah, the last time
out in Bruno and Paul finished ninth in both the

(35:42):
Sprint and the Grand Prix for that round, scoring his
eight points. So that is a cracking showing for the
rider that was dropped at the end of twenty twenty three. Yeah,
dropped for Pedro Acosta. Essentially, Yeah came back, has been
working as a test rider and as a pundit and everything,

(36:04):
but yeah, KATM test rod and replacement rider, and yeah,
cracking showing. That's a really good Katm's test and replacement riders.
You know, Danny p comes in and nearly scores a
podium and did score a podium actually a sprint race
in me wild spar Gro comes in points in a
sprint Ana Grand Prix at the first time of asking,
so yeah, that's a cracking show.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
And from pol Yeah, it's the World Blessing.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Next up, also on eight points, another test and development
rider here, Lorenzo Savadry. He has partaken in one, two, three, four, five,
six rounds this year, replacing Juehe Martin at a prillier
in the factory squad for all of Martin's injuries. So yeah,

(36:49):
you know, eight points from that many rounds isn't great.
That's been a fifteenth place and a ninth place, so yes,
but that's again it's Lorenzo Salvador, isn't it. We've seen
what this guy can do and what he can do,
so this has just kind of part of the course.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Twenty first then is the man he stood in for
Joe Martin nine points from one point scoring finish this year,
which was at Bruno, only his second race weekend of
the year. Martin's season has been a absolute fucking roller coaster,
with the lows much much lower than the heights have

(37:26):
been high. Yeah, kind of unfortunately for him, the season
has been not only categorized by injuries, but also by
contract debacles. Just yeah, it's been a stupid year for
Martin so far. The defending champion. That number one plate
has not seen very much action at all and shown,
but it is a shown. But the prettiest form is

(37:49):
they are on the rise ja Martin in the first
time of asking pretty much scoring a seventh place. Like
the rest of the season, I think we're going to
see much much more of Martin fighting up and near
the front. I suspect he will be on par with
the Zeki sooner rather than later.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah, I completely agree with that. You know, straight back
out after all those injuries, seventh place, it's going to
be rusty, it's going to be probably quite nervous. And
he comes back and scores the seventh. You can't grumble
at that at all.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
No quite. And you know, if that had been the
first round of the year, we'd all be like, Wow,
that's that cracking start. Well done Martin. The fact that
he had all of the bullshit going on before it
kind of takes some of the shine off it. But
then when you consider that, actually, I think it makes
the seventh place even more impressive because he's down. What
was he saying? Four thousand kilometers of riding time.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
It's a long time, yeah, over all of.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
The competition, and yet still manages to come in midway
through the season, score this seventh place and show that
the Martin that we all knew and loved last year
is still there. So he can still come back. Whether
reputationally he can recover from everything else that's happened at
this point is a different story. But if he starts winning,
then we'll all forget pretty quickly, the Petulance school crowd.

(39:07):
Yeah exactly, and we love a winner, we do, yeah, exactly.
Just above Martin in the standings then in twentieth on
ten points is Taka Nakagami. Nakagami has had three rides
this year, interestingly for three different teams, one for the

(39:28):
HC Test Team, one for the Castro Honda team, and
one for the Mitsu squad. Only one of those has
given him points, and that was a sixth place finish
in Lemon for the Test team, and that scored him
all of his ten points. Well, yeah, quite did do well.
Other than that, he's the sixteenth and he had a
DNS in Bruno. He hurt himself in the oh he

(39:50):
got knee injury in a crash. Yes, yeah, yeah, one
who had a knee injury, So yeah, that's not I
But now a sixth place in the one is cracking.
And again we know everything we need to know about
a Tackamack Army. There's a reason he's not on a
good full time anymore. And this is just a solid
position for him to be in the championship considering that

(40:12):
he's only had three outings.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Next up then Steve, another Honda rider, nineteenth with thirty
two points. So we've got a big jump here, that
is one Joanne Meir, So, yes, it's a big jump
in the points, but it's still another year to forget
for Meir.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
I think me when you look at that run, it's
pretty painful, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Retirement ninth, retirement, retirement, retirement, retirement, tenth, seventh, eleventh, retired, retired, retired.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Jesus, we've got to remember as well, four of those retirements.
I think other people are crashing into him.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah, it was just pretty rough. It is such a
show for him because you could potentially be a lot
further up the order if he wasn't just a magnet
for everyone else's crashes.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah, but there's there has to be a reason that
he's become a magnet for everyone else's crashes. A few
years ago we were talking about Zarko when we Zarko
kept getting into weird situations where it didn't really look
like he'd done anything wrong, but he was involved in
some pretty massive crashes. It could have maybe you could
have apportioned slightly more blaming to Zarko than someone else,
but most of them were racing incidents. But it gets

(41:30):
to a point where if you're involved in this many incidents,
something you are doing is having an impact on that.
And I think Mihir has said something about this and
said something about the way the Honda rides is causing this.
It's just so slow on the straits, and that it
means people are really trying to take opportunities on him
on the brakes, but he's good on the breaks and
the Honda's pretty good on the breaks, so people end
up careering into the side of him. So, yeah, there

(41:53):
is reasons this is happening. But yeah, it's not been
a good well, it's not been a good time at
Honda for Meir, and this is just another extension of that.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yeah, exactly. I think if I was mere, i'd be
looking for a way out pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
But at the same time, the results when he is finishing,
he's finishing better like this. They're mostly top tens, and
he's scored points in sprints as well. He's had what
three ninth place finishes in sprints and eighth place finishing
in the sprints. He's scored a few points in the sprints,
and the fact that he's scoring top tens or he
does finish races is a huge improvement on where he
was last year and the year before with the Honda.

(42:28):
So while he is still crashing, he's still being crashed into,
it's happening in higher positions than it used to be.
So yeah, this is still an extension. Yeah, it's still
an extension of his Honda story so far, but there
is a glimmer of hope.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
I think I think there is. Yeah, I'd still be
maybe covering all bases and having a way out in mind,
but it is improving. So I think it's what I
hit that point with Honda that you've either got a
shit it's so much faith and stick it out or
jump ship early and try and secure something now to

(43:09):
be on for when the new rule set comes in
and the changes.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
The problem though, isn't it the new rule set anything?
Because if it wasn't for the new rule set, then
you'd be like, all right, if you're mere, you jump
ship and you try and get Catty as a satellite,
your Catty somewhere and job done. But in the facts,
you're on the most successful team of all time. Coming
into a new rule set, they could create another V
five kind of machine here that they I'm aware of that,

(43:35):
but that kind of just dominance that they've created before.
And then you're laughing. You've put up with all of
the bad stuff, all the bullshit, and you've got through
that and now you're in a championship winning bike.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah exactly. It's a big gamble. But what do you do.
Luckily we're not so we haven't got to worry about it.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
No quite. But I do think if you're in a
factory squad coming into the new rule set, just stick
it out for at least twenty twenty seven and you
just see what your factory can produce for twenty seven
and then you make up your mind what you want
to do.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
After that, yeah, exactly that, I agree with that one.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
So eighteenth place, then Steve is one. Alex Rins. He's
on forty two points here. Alex Rinns has had another
disappointing season. Although he's scored points in every race apart
from the first one, and he's only scored points in
one sprint race. They've pretty much his best finish is

(44:30):
a tenth, so they've all been just outside the top ten,
so between ten and fifteenth, and the Alex Rinns Yamaha
experiment kind of feels like it should be over. He's
got another Urines contract. There's no talk of it breaking,
but no, oh man, this is much like Miguel Lavera,
isn't it? Like I was sort of Alex Rins on
a Yamaha, and if the Yama was good right now,

(44:52):
I think Alex Rinns would be up there. If we
were looking at the Yamahas of you know, twenty fifteen,
or we're looking at the Amahas late noughties, like, he'd
be winning races and he'd be able top We know
he's capable of that, but he's not capable of forcing
a machine that's not doing what he wants it to do.
No like Couaaterao is capable. So he's being kind of

(45:13):
really really put to shame by Coudrao and by Jack
Miller actually, who was ahead of him in the championship
as well.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Yeah, exactly, So I don't know. It does feel like
it's over.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, it's just a disappointing time, a really sad, disappointing
time for Rins at Yamaha. And I hope next year
is different, if they can get their V four sorted,
but I'm not holding out too much hope, and I
think if if the next year doesn't work, I think
Rince is probably off the superbikes for twenty seven. I
can't see many people being too keen to sign him

(45:47):
unless he signs to know a KTM satellite deal or something.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, yeah, it's not great, but I was sit back
and see what happens, see what he wants to do,
and how comfortably is risking all with this machine.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Yeah quite, but it's just sad.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Man.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
I was such a big Rins fan. I was like Onzuki,
the Rince is the dark horse of the championship every year,
Like he's good for race wins every year. He's good
for a bunch of podiums every year. But yeah, the
move obviously he moved to Honda, he won that race
at at Kota for LCR, and then he just battered
himself and has just never been the same since.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
No, since those injuries. It has just never been the
same m which is a shame.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
It is a shame. It is a shame. Seventeenth place then,
so far this year, Steve with forty nine points is
a Bassianini Basiani with that move to the Red Bull
Tech three team this year, and this has not been
a move that's gone well, is it not?

Speaker 2 (46:50):
By his standards? No, the results just haven't happened. The
results that we know he's perfectly capable of. I've just
not been there. This one has not paid off at all. Which, yeah,
it is a show, because this guy deserves to be
much higher up the standings.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, exactly, I mean what have we got? Well, a
third place in the sprint at Bruno is the highlight,
and potentially it could have been a podium in the
Grand Prix as well if you're on the crashed out.
But aside from that, a seventh place in Texas is
the best. And he's still got that late race pace,
like he's still cap clo.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Up at the end. It's just it's too late.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Yeah, Like the De Casti days, if he could qualify
like on the front three rows, you were like, Okay,
if a Mayer can get a good launch here, he's
probably going to be pretty good at the end of
the race. He'll make up a lot of ground. Yeah,
And if he's starting on the back two or three
rows like he has done every single race this year,
it's too much ground to make up, especially because he
hasn't got that pace at the start of the race.
It's always late in the race that he gets it.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, exactly, shame it's a very big show.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah. Next up then sixteenth overall with fifty one points
is the rookie i Agura riding for the track House
are Prettier team here. I season started on such a
high entire, Yeah, fourth place in the sprint, fifth in
the Grand Prix. But it's kind of just slowly slipped

(48:24):
away from there.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, it's all gone a bit south doesn't help with
that injury, but yeah, I don't know, it is slowly fading.
Such a promising, great start that was just teased us
all and then kind of he's scoring points.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
And often in the top ten.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah, but it's not to be. No, I think he
led us into a false sense of security right at
the start, and then from there that's just been the
benchmark and maybe we should have just gone, WHOA, hang on,
is this just luck for the first race and kind

(49:11):
of reset our thought process. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
I mean the guy's are rookie like, so we have
to remember that. And I think we all kind of
I'm certainly guilty of this. I saw his first couple
of rounds and it was like, Wow, look at him,
go this is incredible. This is like Mark Marquez esque
rookie performances. This is going to be amazing, and that
obviously didn't come off, and that's to be expected. I
think we probably all expected too much of him, as

(49:36):
you say, and this is a perfectly respectable rookie season,
absolutely respectable good. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's a
shame it started on the high and it's kind of
dropping off a little bit as opposed to be the
other way around. But still half season ago. His seat
is safer next year no matter what, So I think

(49:58):
he will improve. I'm certain of he's just gonna will
he be able to consistently perform like he did in Thailand.
Will have to wait and see.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Yeah, that one, we really have got a wait as well.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Next up then, in fifteenth is Luca mariny On fifty
two points and the factory Honda's best rider, best performing
riders so far. Even after his huge injury that he
received testing the Suzukra Hour, he only missed three rounds
in the end, and after that came back and actually

(50:32):
quite best result in Saxon Ring, which was a sixth
place overall. Surprise, it's been points in every single race
that he's taken part in this year.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
He's been kind of consistent. Look at his results all
the way through. Apart from that injury which led him
to miss three rounds. If he had carried on that trend,
he could have been a few more places higher. Again,
as we've always said in the past, not where you
expect to see a factory Honda at all.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Marine's fault, No.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Exactly, that's not his fault at all. Considering what he's
riding wasn't bad, isn't bad at all.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
I think this is a good season for Marine. And
when I say points in every race, I mean in
every Grand Prix. He's only scored it one springt.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Yeah place in America.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yes, Yeah, I think it's it's it's been a good
season for Marine. Actually, I think are going to be
very happy to keep him, I imagine for at least
in a year or two. And yeah, he's he's results.
His highs haven't been as high as mears highs have,
but he's just consistently been in and around the bottom
of the top ten.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Points.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Yeah, is he the only rider to have scored points
in every race he's taken part in this year?

Speaker 2 (51:51):
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
I think he might be.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Yeah, I think he is. Actually, I'm just.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Scrolling down the tame here. Yeah, I think he is
the only rider to score points in every race he's
taken part in every Grand Prix he's taken partn Yeah,
and points been prized. He's got to keep getting those points.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
M Yeah, apart from first place.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Well, no, because he missed out on points in the
Texas GP.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Of course, yeah, of course missed that. Yeah, a good point.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
So, yeah, it is Luca is the only rider to
score points in every Grand Prix that he's taken part
inn takeaway, Yeah, quite next up then, fourteenth place. Jack
Miller with the same fifty two points as Luke Marini,
but he's had a fifth place finish versus Luke Marini sixth,
which gives him the fourteenth place rather than fifteenth. Miller's

(52:49):
year has been a classically Miller year. Flashes of speed
and brilliance, plenty of crashes, plenty of burning his tires
out in the early lapse and dropping back through the place.
But yeah, four retirements from Grand PRIs, a top five finish,
a top five in a sprint, and then really much
around that kind of tenth place Mark give will take

(53:11):
a few places.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Yeah, classic Miller. I'd say classic Miller.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
And the fact he's doing this on the Amaha and
he's second of all the Amahas, behind only Fabia Cosserraros
the Amahar ahead of him on a Yeah, okay, it's
a full factory machine, but it's with a team that
have never run Yamahas before, so that's an interesting place
to be. I think it's been a really good season
for Miller.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Yeah, I think this is okay, and.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
He's outperformed what I expected him to do.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. I think he's probably worry.
I thought he would be all things considered.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Yeah, next up then thirteenth place, Raoul Fernandez with sixty
six pointints. Now, Ralph Fernandez, I've been guilty. I've said
this to my show before. I've been guilty of saying
that I think the Fernandez experiment is done and dusted.
But you look at his results here, especially the results

(54:12):
over kind of the last four rounds, and it feels
like Ralph Fernandez might just be getting started in Moto
GP after three or four seasons.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Yeah, exactly that just looking at what he's done, he's
steadily building now. Yeah, and it does. I think you're right.
I think we may now just be seeing a little
bit of progression, let you say, after a few seasons.
But we've talked about people being a slow burn in
the past, and we've taken a while to build up.

(54:44):
Maybe this is just him finally his feet now and
just finally coming good, getting some good results under his belt.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah, and overall, just I think it's been a really
solid season for him. He's only missed eleven points, what
two Grand Prixs, He's had a top five finish, a
bunch of top tens. Yeah, he's I think He's just
been a really solid season so far for Fernandez, and
I'm glad that he managed to stick it out for
at least other year or two.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yeah, yeah, exactly that.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
That twelfth place then Steve on sixty eight points is
Brad Binder a third of the four ktms right now?
Was his best finish a sixth place in her wreath,
but overall a pretty disappointing year, I think for Brad
right now. The fact that he's not only being bested
by his sophomore team mate pederal A Costa, but also

(55:42):
being bested by Maverick Vignalez, who granted is only a
single point ahead, but he's brand new to that machine
and not in the factory team. Yeah, I think things
are not going well for Brad right now.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
No, No, this has not been the season we thought
Brad would have at all. Let I say he's been
bested by two other writers writing for the same manufacturer.
We're see greatness from Brad in the past, doing some
incredible things. Don't get me wrong. It's has some six
place finishes, but we'd like to see more of them

(56:15):
from Brad. It feels like he can do better. I'd
say he realistically is probably the first one that I
could say I'm probably sort of disappointed with this season
so far.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
That makes sense, Yeah, I agree, Yeah, No, I agree completely,
And I think that's just because our expectations from Brad
Bender are so high, Like this guy's finished to six
in the championship for so many years on the bounce
and this kind of this has been disappointing. But it's
only disappointing because expectatorly set the bar so high in
and so yeah, it does feel like, yeah, I'm with you.

(56:51):
He's the first kind of real one.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
You go.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
It's like Rins is sad where he is, but you
don't really more of him right now. Yeah, I think
he do expect a bit more.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
Yeah, yeah, as we said, then, one point ahead of
him is his quasi teammate of Maverick Vinalez riding for
the Tech three team, and I think in complete contrast
Brad Bindar, I know there's any single point between them,
but Maerck Vinals has been astounding this year on that KTM.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
When it's worked for him, he's really made it work.
I had a podium taken away from him, didn't he
because of a higher pressure infringement. Yeah, led a bunch
of the race and Qatar looked really really solid in
many times this year, a bunch top five finishes. Yeah,
just a really solid year. Even though it's only a

(57:41):
single point between him and Brad. Let's not forget he's
got two non scores from an injury you received at
the end of the Germany and then yeah, and then
he didn't partake him Bruno, so that's kind of helped
Brad catch up a little. But yeah, really good from Averick.
I'm really look forward to seeing what he can do
as he gets the grips more and more with that machine.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Yeah, I think there's good things to come here.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Yeah, me too. I'll be surprised if there's not a
podium on the horizon for him this year.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
At that point, I completely agree.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
That then brings us into the top ten. Steve so
the top ten. Tenth place is our top performing rookie
so far this year. Fermin Aldager on ninety seven points.
Furman's rookie year I think has been what everyone hoped
it would be. The highs have been super high. There's
been quite a few rookie era crashes, but yeah, he's

(58:35):
had a couple of podiums well, he's had a gron
pre podium and a sprint podium in Lemon. Let's not
forget they were in super tricky wet conditions as well,
so you really had to put it out on the
line there. He's also had a podium in the sprint
in Aragon, so yeah, he's Yeah, this is just a
great rookie year. There are some retirements and some non scores,
but that's to bed and yeah, everything else is really

(58:56):
solid from Aldigare so far.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Yeah, this is fantastic from him. I'm really pleased for
his rookie season. I think he's doing a great job
so far.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yeah. Next up in ninth place with one hundred and
two points is Fabio Cotturraro top rider or top Yamaha
in the championship right now. Fabio is just classically Fabio
this year, just ringing the neck of that machine, getting
so much out of it when it looked impossible to

(59:25):
do so. I mean, he was clearly going to win
at Silverston before his bike blew up. He's had a
podium in her wreath. He's had a bunch of pole
positions this year and a couple of sprint podiums. Like
he's a couple one sprint podium. Yeah, he's just looked
great Faio Coatturraro. It's such a shame that he's been
hamstrung with this Yamaha for so many years since he

(59:47):
won that title in twenty twenty one. Yeah, but yeah,
hopefully Yamahama has to sort it out and give him
a competitive package into the NU rule set or even
next year with V four. But I'm not holding out
too much.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Hope, No, I do hope something comes good for him soon. Yeah,
he should not be down here in the championship. We
know he could do so much better. But like I
said on the flip side of that, all things considered,
what he's doing with that machine is incredible. Quite so,
all things considered, it's I don't know how to describe it.

(01:00:19):
I'm disappointed, but I'm also really pleased.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm disappointed because he is where he is,
but I'm very pleased that he's been performing at a
level to get that bike up to where he's got it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Yeah, exactly that well put thank.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
You eighth place overall. Then Steve and the first of
our riders to talk about that has won a race
this year on one hundred and nine points is one
Joanne Zarko, and much like fabiocotri Here, Zarko is hamstrung
by his machinery, but he's making the absolute best of

(01:00:58):
what he's got. He is far and away the best
performing Honda one hundred and nine points. The next Honda
next best is Luca Mariini on fifty two. He's got
more than double the points of any other Honda. He's
got more points than the rest of the Hondas combined.
Joon Zarco is just wow.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Like the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
He's such a fucking enigma, Johanzarko. You put him on
a Tech three Yamaha. When he first arrives and he
leads six laps with his first race, he then crashes
out fine. He then scores a bunch of podiums in
his first two years. The world is coming up with Zarko.
He moves to KTM and the whole fucking thing falls apart.
It takes him years to rebuild. He eventually scores a

(01:01:44):
race win at Philip Island last year with Paranactive Casti,
the team that had the best bike that he'd been
on for two years, and he only managed a one
race win while his teammate was fighting for a championship
for two years now, dumping back onto a crappy Honda,
and he looks like he's just the best Riot's ever existed.
He's won a race, he's scored podiums. He just looks amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah, this guy, I don't know how he does it.
It's phenomenal in his own rights, considering he's had what
four non scores in Gordon Breeze this year. Yeah, it's
just nuts, all right. The last what he said, two
retirements on the bounce since that second place at Silverston,

(01:02:29):
full of.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Twelve retirements from the last last five races.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Yeah, so that's not a great run. But when you
look at the start of the season for him, pretty
damn good up until Silverston is really good apart from
the seventeenth in America. The rest is phenomenal. This guy,
like you says, hopped onto this bike and can just
do things with the rest can't. And Honda should be

(01:02:55):
bloody thankful for him at the minute because he is
just absolutely rescuing everything for him, really is they should
be checking everything out and then go in and winning
Suzukah for him as well. This guy should be welcomed
home with fanfares and bunting and all sports. He deserves
a lot of praise. This guy. He makes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Yes, absolutely, he's having an amazing year, an amazing season
so far. And yes, that win at Suzukah, the win
at the morning in the a GP, like it's just
going to be surely guaranteeing him another multi year deal
on a factory contract to stay in LCR and ride.
But I listened to an interview with him today maybe yesterday,

(01:03:37):
and he was saying he's quite happy to stay ELCR,
but he would like to be the number one honder
rider on paper, but staying in the LCR team, so
he wants the best bike. And I mean, you're stupid
right now if you're not to give him all to
make sure he's got his machine.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Available, pianos, guitars, everything. Yeah, exactly, he's just going to
hand over.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
Yeah quite seventh place then, currently Steve this season is
one Pedro Acosta, his first year riding for the full
factory KTM team, his second year in Moto GP, and
it's been a bit of an up and down year.
It's kind of I kind of thought that Pedro Acosta

(01:04:21):
had quite a disappointing season, but much like Brad Binda,
that's just because our expectations were so high, because actually
it's got one hundred and twenty four points. Next KTM
is Maveric Finale is down with sixty nine points. Who's
scored loads more points than every other KTM. He's had
solid finishes. He's only had what one podium in Grand

(01:04:41):
Prix that was Bruno, and one podium in a spring
also in Bruno, so that's given him a nice healthy
points boost. But every race he's finished, apart from the
first one in Thailand, every Grand Prix he's finished apart
from the first one in Thailand, he's been inside the
top eight, and he's been consistently scoring good points. He's
kind of doing what Brad Binder has done every other
year on that rebel KTM, which is just consistently scored

(01:05:04):
good finishes, snipe the odd podium and end up pretty
high in the championship because of it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Yeah, yeah, the guy, all things considered, you know, it's
having a great season. It's just the same. Last season
was so good being on the Tech three bike. Now
he's stepped up the full factory we just expected more.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
But the bike's got worse.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
The bi Yeah, that's what. Then going on to the
bike has got worse, which when you take that into consideration,
seventh place with one hundred and twenty four points is
bloody good. And you look at that run through the
middle from guitar up to asen it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
Yeah quite four, fourth.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Fifth, fourth phenomenal. Again, KTM should be chucking everything that
he wants him.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
I think KTM are trying very desperately to try and
throw everything he wants out. I don't lose him at
the end of next year, and he's in that sicky situation.
Hasn't he spoken about this already today? What the fuck
do you do if you're in a factory team right
now going to the new rule set, your best bet
is just stay in your factory team, and I hope
that your factory is the one that makes the goods.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Yeah, And there was the announcement today that Katima committed
to much GP as well, haven't they? So?

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
I missed that that until what twenty thirty two or something.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
Something like that. I'm just going to see if I
can find the article right quick, but I can't typically.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
It must be a five year commitment for the new
rule set.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
Yeah, something like that. But yeah, they've committed to staying
for longer. So with that in mind, you thought if
I was him, I'd be looking at it going right solid,
that's paid a big multi year deal and let's go
for this.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
If I was peder A Costa and my stock was
still as high as it is, because his stock is
still super high, I am absolutely not penning a multi
year deal with the factory. I will pay a lucrative
deal for twenty twenty seven with an option on my
side for twenty twenty eight onwards, and I will be
looking at the rest of the grid because there are
many teams and many manufacturers that will jump at the

(01:07:09):
chance to sign Pedro Acosta to their factory team if
they feel like they have a space for him. Yeah,
and many will make a space for him.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Many will. Yeah, if you're this good, many most places
will open the door for you. All he's got to
do is keep doing what he's doing. If you can
finish what the last two force, the rest of the
season will count the way he's going, people will open
doors no matter what.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, And yeah, there's already plenty of interest
in him. And yeah, I mean even if you Catty perform,
I think it would be the dream story. If KTM
could just give him the bike he needs, it will
be the dream story for him. It will be the
dream story of KTM. But if they can't, I don't
think there's a seat on the grid. There's maybe one

(01:07:58):
seat on the grid that would be truly safe if
peder Acosta came knocking and that seat belongs to mart Marketz.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Yeah, yeah, that is true. Though all things the guy's
still having a great, great season.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Yeah, sixth place. Then overall, here on one hundred and
thirty nine points is Frankie morbid Deli Now again, much
like Zarco Frankie is this just a enigma because sometimes
he does what you expect Frankie to have to do
and he puts the bike on the podium. But other
times he does weird things. But his results are good,

(01:08:32):
like the majority of his results here are top five finishes.
He's had a couple of podiums, He's had a few
sprint podiums, like one sprint podium is it?

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
One? But good results overall, And yet he's on the
best bike on the grid right now, the guy should
be higher than Sick. He should be ahead of his
teammate who is on the GP twenty five, which is
weird to say, but the GP twenty four is clear
a better bike right now. He definitely should be ahead
of Marco Bozeki on the Aprillia, but he's not. So

(01:09:06):
I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed. But again,
it's just because expectation is so high.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
Yeah, yeah, I think this when we get into kind
of this top six, top five era area, a lot
of it comes down to expectation, and we've got to
remember that these guys are now the elite level of
the elite level, and it's hard when you look at
say the points, the points gaps between them are not

(01:09:34):
very big at all. There's a big jump between fourth
and third. It's difficult to pick apart. Well. I think
all the things considered A kind of would have liked
more from Frankie and hoped for more, But realistically, when
you look at the caniber of competition at the top

(01:09:56):
there the bikes at they're all on people having fantastics
seasons that the broadly didn't weren't expected to have such
good seasons are there. It's not bad all things considered,
I think, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Yeah, I agree. Fifth place then, as we mentioned, is
his teammate Fabio Digian Antonio. He's only three points further
ahead one hundred and forty two riding that GP twenty five.
He's had a couple of Grand Prix podiums and one
sprint podium. Yeah, but the seasons between the two of
them have been very similar across the board. You know,

(01:10:32):
good finishes, a couple of podiums here and there. Yeah,
but I kind of always expect Frankie to be doing
a bit better than Fabio. But Fabio is on the
GP twenty five, so obviously Tokaty saw something extra in him.
They wanted to give him the newest package. It's the
shame that newest package hasn't come off for anyone that
isn't called mant Marquez. But it is what it is.
I think Fabio has had a good year all things considered,

(01:10:54):
which is amazing to think, like, I'm quite disappointed Frankie's year,
and then you score three extra points in your name's Fabio,
and I'm like, great year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
Yeah, it's weird, isn't it. But this is pretty fine.
At least they're close in the championship. So when it
comes down to like bragging rights in the office, it's like, well,
you just beat me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
It doesn't matter if you win by an in still
win the point. He's still winning exactly fourth place. Then,
and this is a rider that has been astounding at
times this year, and that is Marco Berzeki, riding the
factory of one hundred and fifty six points. Bazeki has
taken a win in Silverstone, he nearly won, in Asen,

(01:11:34):
he nearly where I didn't really nearly win. In Bruno.
He came pretty close in Germany to winning the Spring.
I would have been interesting what he could have done
in the full GP there if he hadn't retired. But
it's been a great year for Bazeki. I didn't expect it,
and again this comes down to expectation. I did not
expect him to be performing like this on the Apprellier
in his first year. But he has had some really

(01:11:55):
good races, showed some really really good pace and been
this is mark obseek he twenty twenty three. This is
not twenty twenty fours mark. This is that are pretty
hoped they were signing and they got the guy.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Yeah. Yeah, this year he's stepped up. We know he
can do it. He's proven that in the past, he's
proven it again now and is arguably one of the
reasons why Martin stayed with the Brilliant when he looked
at the good results he was having and to me,
this is right where he should be. You know, we
know he's capable of this, we know he can do it.

(01:12:30):
Not on this spec. He's ragging the hell out of
this thing and making it do things that arguably it
shouldn't be doing, but he's doing it. So I think
this is a fantastic season, really is for him.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
I'm really looking forward to seeing Martine up to speed
on this bike. So we've got a representation of how
good or just where this bike should be of what
Bozeki is actually doing, because this could be astounding, or
it could be that the bike should have won three
or four races this year and it needs a Martine
on it to do that and not a Bozeki. But
it could be because I think it's clearly the second

(01:13:05):
best bike on the grid manufacturer in the standings it is,
but only clear by about twelve points. But it does
feel like the Aprilia is definitely the second best manufacturer
right now, and maybe that is this is where Berzeki
should be. But he is ahead of three do Catties,
He's ahead of every other factory team, so he's doing great.

(01:13:27):
I think I think it's been a really solid season
for him.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
So yeah, yeah, I think it has. I think it has.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
Okay, let's stay before we dive into top three, We're
gonna take one more quick break, and then when we
come back, we will crack on with the three do
Catti riders up top. Let's good stuff. So guys, bear
with us for just one moment and we will be
right back with you. Thank you for bearing with us.

(01:14:07):
Bladders are empty, are also empty. That was a very
quick realization that Steve's bladder was about to burst, So
let me down and you guys got a nice ad
break in there. So we can really thank Steve's bladder
there because it helped us pay for the hosting of
this podcast. So we're gonna do.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Yeah, happy days. That was strategic.

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
Later, so the top three in the Moto GP Championship
right now, Steve third place with two hundred and thirteen
points is Peco Bagnaia. Peco has taken one race win
this year in a Grand Prix, no sprint wins. He's
scored one, two, three, four, five, six podiums. He's had

(01:14:57):
a pole position, He's had some podium and sprints as
well scattered through there. But you can't help be disappointed
by the fact that he is so far behind his
teammate right now. This is the two time world champion,
the guy that's finished top two in the championship the
past four years, and yet it feels like he's being

(01:15:17):
thoroughly trounced right now.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
It really does. The guy, by his standards, is having
a horrid season. He is getting properly beaten up by
two other jucasties, and yeah, he's a long way back
at the point. This is for a long time, this

(01:15:40):
championship runer has been over. Yeah, and you look at
what he's doing and how hard he's trying, the troubles
he's had with his GV twenty five, he just it
feels like it's getting better. It feels like since probably France.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
Then this is a mad thing. Does it feel like that?
Because he won in Texas? Yeah, Okay, Mark crashed out
of Texas so maybe he wouldn't have won there anyway,
but he won in Texas, second in Qatar, third in Spain,
France was the DNF. Since then, he's only had three
third places. It feels like this is his strongest run
with still the first part of the year, the first
four rounds where he scored five rounds sorry, where he

(01:16:20):
scored four podiums and a fourth place finish.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
Yeah, I don't know. Since the retirement and the sixteenth
place in lamont I just for some reason feel like
now maybe he's settled and it's improved, and like his
pace has been faster, like he had pole position last
time out for no fastest lap in as In. It

(01:16:44):
kind of feels like he's bridged the gap a little
bit to just kind of close down the other two.
But he's still a long way off and there's still
a lot to do, so by his standards, this is
a season stiff yet.

Speaker 1 (01:16:59):
But yeah, I mean it's his worst season since twenty
to twenty at this point. Yeah, which is pretty wild
to consider his worst season on the fact of you Cati,
But if this was any other rider, we'd be like,
look at those results, what a great season the guy
is having. It's only because his expectations are so high
that this.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
Two time world champion, they're going to be massively. You
would not expect him to be third. If he was
second right now, considering the person in first, you'd be
all right, okay, look who's up against. But the fact
that there's two of them up there, yeah, it's not good.

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
No, not good at all. I think Bagnia is going
to have to do some real soul searching and decide
what his plans are moving forward. I think his plans
will be just stick with your catty and wait for
ma Marquez to retire and then he can become the
Tasman rider again, and then he can go and win
another championship or two.

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
But as long as steps up and fills those boots,
he'll be okay, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
And that's the problem, isn't it. Because we're seeing Alex
Marquez in second place right now, outperforming him comprehensively. And
there's other riders that are ready to jump into the
fold here fermin Aldegare, Pedro Costa obviously exactly, Martine. If
he can get sum out pretty early, there are guys
that are going to be ready to fight him in

(01:18:19):
a way that clearly no one is ready to fight
mart Marquez right now.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
No, no talking about Alex Marquez. And second, the guy
has been just insane this year. No one expected this,
especially Peco. There's no quite element that has just beaten
Peco down. Yeah yeah, poor old Peko.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
It's not going well quite, But like you say, Alex Marquez,
what a season Alex is having this year? Second place
finish is just what? This is madness it four six
second place finishes in Grand Price four five, six, seven,
eight second place finishes in sprints.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
Just mister Aaron Kennett of Motor GP over here.

Speaker 1 (01:19:06):
Yeah quite, And he's won a race he won in
her wrath, so he managed to pull off a Grand
Prix win there. He won a sprint in Silverstone, so
he's he's not just finishing behind his brother every time.
He is sometimes beating him in her wrath. Okay, a
bit weird. Mark had that cock up and crashed and remounted.
But the Silverson sprint win was a legit sprint win.

(01:19:27):
And actually you know what, Paco's winning Texas was only
because markets crashed out in front of him.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
Gifts, But yeah, quite to win first, ye must finish,
so yeah, you take all these gifts with open arms, welcomed.
But no one saw the season coming from Alex at all.
So this guy has just been phenomenal this year.

Speaker 1 (01:19:53):
Yeah, he's just been absolutely belting. And the only person
that has been better than him this year is Mark Marquez.
My just we run out of superlatives for this guy.
He is just incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
I don't know what to say about when you look
at like the list of winds and then let's start
to start first and first two wins, pole position, fastest lap.
I mean, jesus, come on, Yeah, Argentina first and first,
pole position, fastest laps, Like fucking hell, I share the wealth,
spread it. And this just carries on all the way

(01:20:29):
through apart from that retirement in America because he crashed twelfth.

Speaker 1 (01:20:33):
And Aragon pole position, fastest lab and winning the sprint.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
Yeah, the worst weekends so far is Aragon. Although he
won the sprint, there was no pole position and no
fastest lab. That is truly his worst round. And then
you go to France, no pole position, no fastest lap.
But I was still the second of the first. Anyone
else will be like second the first. I'm going out
and celebrating I'm getting pissed. He's hell, I didn't get

(01:21:00):
the pole position and the fastest lap. This is a
you know, he'sn't counseling for three weeks. I didn't get
from the.

Speaker 1 (01:21:07):
P exactly, but it is that exact clean sweet But
he said one, two, three, four, five clean sweeps which
have been wins in both races, the poposition and the
fastest lap. But aside from that, you know, assen, it
was just two wins. There was no poposition, no fastest lap.
There fastest lap, but no pole position. Like, it's just

(01:21:32):
wild has done this year.

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
Yeah, considering all that has happened since that crash and
how many people, like how many people broke him off,
will he be the same We were truly robbed of
those years, absolutely, because you look at him now, it's
like he's never been away.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
Quite.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
He's just got a few more scars to show and
it's just come back and it's just schooling everyone again.
Absolutely everyone. I don't know, I'm so gutted that we
lost those years.

Speaker 1 (01:22:10):
Yeah, imagine what his taddas would look like right now.
They've had a good bike and have been able to
race properly for those years. I mean This is more
dominant than his twenty nineteen was at this point. So
where was the summer break in twenty How fucking hell?
I won't many rounds in twenty nineteen? Was I won two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

(01:22:30):
So we go to Austria at that point obviously you
finished first and second in every race. But okay, it
doesn't look like it was much more dominant. Said, but
it does feel more dominant now. I think maybe I've
just forgotten that because we've got yes exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:22:48):
You know, with everything else that's going on around it,
and you add in like this soap opera drama story
of the injury, the comeback, you know, the shift from
Honda to to Caddy. It's such a fairy tale story
that whenever this movie comes out, people will queue up
to play him. It's one of those scenarios where you

(01:23:10):
just couldn't write it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
Yeah, quite, and it is more dominantic. He's only had
six wins in this point last nineteen. He's had the
eight this time, so he's more on top of it.
But you're right, it's just an incredible story. The film
of Mark Marquez's life is just going to be something special.

Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
Man, if you could sit down with this guy when
he's like eighty or ninety, you find him in some
swanky retirement home somewhere. It's this crazy old dude that
no one knows going on. He was the best in
the world. And they're like, all right, Mark, all right
and settle down taking beads. So long forgot about and
then you get this recounted tale and everyone's like, what

(01:23:46):
the fuck. It's a sublime story. You couldn't write it,
you know, Hollywood could not script this.

Speaker 1 (01:23:56):
No, quite. Yeah, it's just it's an incredible thing that
he's managed to do, and he's just did you just
run out of where he's to praise it?

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:24:06):
I don't think he needs our praise. He's had enough
praise for everyone.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
Mate. He probably hates it by now. He just wants
to go down the shops and it's just like, just
leave me alone. I know I'm good.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
If there's no chance he hates it, absolutely done.

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:24:20):
If he hated it, mate, he's got enough money. He'd
have just retired and brought himself on an island.

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
Exactly. He probably has water island. We just don't know
about it. Yeah, quite yeah, but bless him in what
a career, and there's more to come. This guy is
far from done. No one could until someone could truly
beat him at his best, This guy's just going to
keep going. And there's no one on that grid at
the minute that truly looks like they could take it
to him.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
At the minute, there's no one. There's no one in
motorcycle racing right now that can take it to mart Marquez.

Speaker 2 (01:24:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:24:50):
Maybe you put top rack on a fully spect out
Dukattie and he's ready to go. He's had a few
years experience. Maybe he's the guy. But and maybe Pedro
Costa could be the guy, and maybe if I would
be a could be the guy, but none of them
have proved it. Right now, it feels like there is
no one that can touch Mark Marquez. The only person
that can, as we've seen plenty of times throughout his career,

(01:25:10):
the only person that can be out Mart Marquez is
Mark Marquez.

Speaker 2 (01:25:13):
Yeah, this guy is just next level.

Speaker 1 (01:25:16):
Yeah, Oh, dear Mark Marquez, I know, what a time
to be alive. We get to see this happen.

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
I know, I've got to say it twice. It's been fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
Yeah, quite so. I didn't see the Valenteer and Rossi era,
but yeah, you did. You got to. This is the
second time you've been able to see it. I don't
know how many sports there are where you get two
goats that have been around at the same time. It
feels like it's something that doesn't happen very often.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
Yeah, I got to see the full sandwich as well,
like the rise of Rossi, the transition to markets in
the middle, and now the dominance of Marquers. It's fantastic.
I love it. Yeah, as a fan boy, I always
thought i'd hate it, but right now I think it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
It is quite funny because you were obviously such a
tier Rossi fanboy. I did think you would struggle to
fall for Mark Marquees in the way that you have,
in the way I've fallen for him. But I know
it's amazing to see that you've just been able to go.
You know, Vandier Rossi was the goat of his era.
Mark Marquez is the goat of this era. They're close
enough that maybe we could compare, but you can't compare

(01:26:20):
Van Teer, Rossi his peak and mar Marquez at his
peak because they just never met at their peaks so exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:26:25):
And it's the sport as well. It's not just you know,
if it was all about ROSSI I'd just switched off
and probably gone, Tim, I don't want to the podcast anymore.
But it's not. It's about the sport. It's about the racing.
It's the spectacle, the circus, all that comes with it.
Very much like WWE, it's all the fan for the
hype and the pomp. Not to take anything away from
those guys, it's just the thing, the thing of it.

(01:26:49):
Ah just attacked myself at the disk.

Speaker 1 (01:26:52):
And you know, the really solid script writing in WWE.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
That's a fantastic I just watched this little docu series
on it that basically explains it. It's fantastic and you
can see and it is just brilliant to watch because
all those times when I defended it rigorously as a kid,
not scripted.

Speaker 1 (01:27:10):
Mom, it's well accepted. It's the most scripted, not even sport,
just entertainment products.

Speaker 2 (01:27:19):
It's more choreographed than the fucking ballet.

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
It's fantastic, but you love it. It's that draw of it.
It's you can't help it, and that's what most up is.
You know, it transcends an era for the sport.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
Yeah, yeah, that's fair. But it also has the parent
of not being scripted.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
Yes it does. If you script this, you imagine like
having a writer's room meeting, you know, cross row lap four,
ditch it son. Imagine that all these like thoroughbred racers
who are just there are like, oh, hey, my team,
we know you could wrap up the championship this weekend,

(01:28:02):
but it would be so much more dramatic if you
just bind it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
So I think you need to give Nelson P. K
Junior a call and see how that feels to be
told to do that and then to go through and
actually do it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:14):
Really, Oh, this has happened to Formula one, has it?

Speaker 1 (01:28:17):
This has happened in Formula One, yet not to the
same extent to throw a championship away. But it was
absolutely deliberately crashed so we can get a safety car
out and your teammate and win the race.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
Jesus No, I'll have it out of the door like
a rocket. Vote.

Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
Many people were, including the team boss at the time,
including Big Junior actually, but the guy that really benefited
from that, Fernando Alonso is still in the sport and
still very highly regarded. Yeah there, well, quite involved in
two big scandals over two years, Crashgate and Spygate. So yeah, interesting,

(01:28:50):
Crashgate being the Singapore crash obviously, Spygate fascinating, really good
ten part BBC Sports Strangers crime series about Spygate. It's
worth a listen if anyone is into any Formula one.

Speaker 2 (01:29:03):
History, I'll give that a look.

Speaker 1 (01:29:08):
Yeah, so that is the kind of thing that has
happened in Formula one ba GP.

Speaker 2 (01:29:12):
That would be done, that would be done with it,
no way quite well.

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
That then, Steve does bring us to the end of
this show.

Speaker 2 (01:29:21):
It does, buddy. You know, that's gone quite quick.

Speaker 1 (01:29:23):
It has gone quite quick, which considering we had no
news or anything to talk about, We've got an hour
and a half out of this one, so that's not bad.

Speaker 2 (01:29:30):
That'll be such tangents as well. That helped.

Speaker 1 (01:29:33):
Yeah, quite exactly. So, unless you have anything else to
add to, my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
I don't think so, buddy. What are we now? Was
we're halfway through the the mid season. We've got another
weekend and race I believe.

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
Yeah, exactly, because we're doing this show late. You and
I are going to be sitting town to record again
in a couple of days, and then the day after
that we're recording with Mark. So we've got a lot
of looking at each other through a webcam coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
So that's not a bad thing, not a thing at all,
and we're going to get threesome soon. That's gonna be fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:30:05):
There we go. What a treat. Yeah, yeah, it's a
clothing optional chat Mark, so just bet our mind.

Speaker 2 (01:30:16):
Don't have to know the background. We don't judge.

Speaker 1 (01:30:21):
So anyway, that before we scare Mark off here. That
does bring us to the end of the show. If
you guys listening have any questions, any comments, or anything
you want to hear from Marshall Mark, you can let
us know and get in touch with us on We Are.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
For the Love of Motor GP and you can find
us on Instagram and Twitter loosely, or come and join
the Facebook community. I don't think we've anyone joined for
a week or two, so we're probably due to a
fishing session. You get all your mates in come and
join up a chat, boost the numbers. It all helps.
We thank you. Jim says, you've got anything for any
questions for us to put some mark anything that is

(01:30:57):
burning into your mind. You want to know about Marshall
on a race day, drop us a line. We are
for the love of MotoGP at gmail dot com and if.

Speaker 1 (01:31:07):
You want to help us out, we are over on Patreon.
I think I think we're still up to date. We
do need to sit down and record some more, but
I think we're good for this.

Speaker 2 (01:31:16):
Yeah, I think would you record an't we we are?

Speaker 1 (01:31:20):
Indeed, I've got some ideas, so I'll be working on those.
So yes, come and help us out over on Patreon.
Joining up at any paid level get access to monthly
bonus shows. Plus's the entire pack catalog of monthly bonus
shows we've done. We've got various types of shows. We've
got some remember when series talking about the GP, Yeah, quite,

(01:31:40):
We've got some looking back at different riders or different
champions of various series, see what they've done since. We've
got some speculative fiction shows which were fun to write,
some what ifs, what would have happened if the rookie
rule was wasn't scrapped, So we've got some of those
as well. So there's yes, some very in there across

(01:32:02):
that one exactly. If you sign up and you listen,
let us know which ones you like, which ones you'd
like to do more of, and we will happily do
more of them because they've all been fun.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
They have been fun, they are good shows.

Speaker 1 (01:32:13):
Quite we like to think something like the way we.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
Would started to blow our own ego and the water.

Speaker 1 (01:32:20):
So until next week, guys, stay safe and look after
each other. Goodbye to guys. Music is by Andrew Greenwood.
Thanks for listening. Goodbye,

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Summer Break Week 2 – Rider Recap and the Suzuka 8 Hour

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Summer Break Week 2 – Rider Recap and the Suzuka 8 Hour