Thailand Title Chess

Motopod, proudly supported by Road Skin, a UK label specializing in protective outerwear for motorcyclists. Modern biker clothing that you can wear all day long, and engineered to save your skin. For the road, for life, visit roadskin.co.uk Hello and welcome to Motopod, the internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 747 on Halloween. And just to make it even scarier, Rich is back.

I'm Jimmy Tao hosting, Rich is back to host with me back from British Columbia. Correct Rich? Good flight, good time? Yeah, very, very wet in Vancouver, which as I was just saying to you a minute ago, I think pretty normal. So pretty much home from home in terms of the British weather at the moment.

So yes, but it was very busy, tiring, but productive trip. So it's always nice to get home. Yeah, home is where the heart is. I'm gone for work. I love coming back home.

Can't wait to get back home sometimes. So I feel you. I understand it. So folks, if you like the show, and you have the means, if you could donate to the show, that would be great. You can go to our webpage, www.motopodcast.com.

There's links to PayPal and Patreon, whichever one you choose. And you can do things for a little like $2 US per month. Really helps us out with server space, things like that. But we understand, we get it. Times are tough.

It's hard for everybody. If you can't, if you could just go to wherever you get your podcast from, if you could leave us a review, be great. That'd put us back in the algorithm and help us get other people there. And we would greatly appreciate that as well. For all of you who have written reviews, we appreciate that very much as well.

With that, Rich, I think we'll just cut straight to the racing. I agree. Yes. Oh, you know what? Actually, let's back up.

We've not heard what you've had to say from the island. Everybody heard what I had to say about the island. So give us your thoughts quickly on the island. Well, first of all, Jim, congratulations on the solo show, because that's not easy to do and very nice and brief compared to our usual left and right turns. But well done for that.

And thank you for covering that, because just with the time difference and stuff, it was just kind of impossible to make that work. So my thoughts. Well, I mean, I did watch the races, although I've since travelled back to the UK and gone through some jet lag and stuff. So my sort of abiding memory is really weather and tires. I mean, that seemed to be the thing, didn't it?

Obviously, as you told everybody and as everybody knows very well, they switch because of the weather, they switch the MotoGP main race to the Saturday, which was an interesting change. And that really was one for the ages, wasn't it? Because with my team trying to make that soft rear, was it that he went out for the race on trying to make it last and just kind of not holding on to the end. I mean, that was a really, really very, very exciting. I can't remember too much about the Moto2 race.

So I'm guessing that one might have been a little bit of a humdrum affair. Yeah, that was all about really the siding lap, because everybody and their brother crashed, Acosta crashed there in the wind and the rain or whatever. They had talked to Darren Bender on the grid and he said it's all about trying to get temperature in your tires if you can't get it. Yes. Yeah.

So it was like, well, then he went. I guess that race is really about Acosta's recovery. Having started on the on the back of the grid, it's about him racing up to ninth. Granted, there was a ton of people who fell off in front of him. But I do think the kids smart enough to understand that this is don't lose a keep it on the island, so to speak.

But I also think Aki was right there like, look, you don't have to bring this home. People are going to go crazy right inside yourself and get as many points as you can and we'll live to fight another day. And he did. So that was really the story of Moto2. Yeah.

And Moto3 likewise, a couple of people that fell off on the siding lap. I mean, bizarre season and certainly bizarre second half of the season for Danny Holgado, because he went down and kind of cut his head quite badly, didn't he? And was that the whole I think I needed a couple of three stitches, didn't it, at the end of the race? So, I mean, fair play to the lad for jumping back on the bike and going out and putting in a pretty solid performance. But as we're going to talk about in a minute, he's sort of having a really sort of tough time of it at the moment, isn't he?

So, yeah, that was kind of not too much more to add to your own good work, really, Jim, in terms of your summation of it all earlier in the week when it came out. Yeah. Moving on to Thailand. I mean, superb couple of races there. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what you got to say about those.

Yeah, well, we're going to start out with Moto3. We'll look at the qualifying quickly in the first session. Kind of the big hitters that were there was Munoz, Kelso, Nepa and Adrian Fernandez. All four of those guys did go through to get to the Q2 session. And Q2, Hanchu was nerfed into the pits by Marrera.

There was definitely some hard racing there by that guy with five minutes left to go. Masi was 12th, Helgardo was 9th, Sasaki was second. And David Alonso was 10th. You just don't think that those players are going to be in those positions at that time. Hanchu was on top with three minutes to go in the session, I should say.

I was going to say the race. But when we got done with qualifying, Hanchu would stay on pole. He would be on the front row in that pole position on on Sunday. Marrera was second, Sasaki Yamanaka. Vier, Flores Sato rounded out your top two rows.

The question was always going to be given the nature of the long, two long straightaways that exist on this track, could Hanchu keep it going and have a win on this track? He was very fast through the what should we say, the last four or five turns, the sweeping sections of the track that were there. But we wouldn't know the answer to any of that until we got into the Moto3 race itself. The start of the race, Hanchu was kind of had a hole shot with Sasaki right there with Marrera right behind him. They made it through the first turn and they get through the kink, if you will.

That's there. That's turn two. As you head down to the 180 degree turn three, which provides a midriff of different lines, people go to the inside. People were on the outside. And it was just absolute craziness at turn three.

Vier, I think, was like fifth or sixth, and he went to the front in that turn. Well, after turn three, it came out Sasaki wound up being in the front. Masio was there again. These are guys that were starting. You know, Masio was seventh.

Vier was fifth. It was those guys made such a massive move in that first turn. It was impressive to see that kind of riding. I think it's even more impressive that everybody did it cleanly without really bumping into anybody. And they were giving each other the room and the respect that they deserve.

And it was just like, OK, that was like a wake up call. We need to be paying some serious attention because this race is probably going to be wild. And that was the kickoff. That was the fuse that lit the firework that became what is a mental Moto3 race. I mean, we're used to I think, Rich, I think you and I are used to races where you can't take notes.

You're watching the screen. You get to watch it two or three times. And we talk about how these are great races and they're really fun to do and talk about. And this one is even more mental than the ones that we usually have. This one had a flare of special.

I don't know if it's one of these ones you show your friends like, oh, this is why I watch Moto3. But it's still it was pretty mental the whole way through. It got even crazier as we got into the second lap of the race. And that was because Sasaki was down. The championship leader or, you know, a guy fighting for the championships, I should say, was down and it looked like he was going to make up a lot of points.

He was running in the front, but he was well ahead of Masiya, who seemed as though he was struggling a little bit, at least in the earlier part of the race. But he went down as a result of Munoz's bike, having a problem. So essentially Munoz was coming through, I believe, the turn. Is it the turn five, six part of the track? I believe it's somewhere in that back section.

It was after four, which is the high speed turn that is basically down one gear, flicking in and hold it wide open. That's got to be cool to do on a Moto3 bike. I would love to do that or give it a try at least once, but not without it. Now, with 30 other vultures there trying to run me off the track. But Sasaki was down.

Now, I looked at it initially and I saw because what had happened? They showed it from Sasaki's bike. He was unsighted or Toro was directly behind Munoz at the time. He was able to or Toro that is, was able to get around the slowing bike. And in that brief second of Sasaki being unsighted and this being a bike on the racing line going really slow, to which I instantly thought he caught a false neutral, which caused the bike to not drive forward, which then could cause Sasaki to plow into him, causing both riders to go down.

It was sometime later in the race when it kind of calmed down for that little bit. That Moto3 races seemed to have that calm before the end. You know, that the 5, 6 last before everybody sides they just be cool and ride their race. Simon Krafar said, hey, it was a gearbox issue. They're not looking at electronics or looking at the gearbox.

So I was pretty close on that one. Maybe not a false neutral, perhaps maybe a broken cog gear and those transmissions and whatnot that maybe gotten weak over time. That caused that issue. But that was a big moment for that part of the race, because now Sasaki's down. No sooner had that happened.

Masaya went to the front with Alonso, Forisato making a great race of it because he's the teenage Japanese sensation. Holgardo was charging up the pack at this point. He kind of got the bit between his teeth. He had went backwards, but nope, he was going forward. This front battle of Meyer, Masaya, Alonso, Anju, who had now joined the gang and Forisato with Marrera and Ortola.

That is a great group of riding going on there. They were literally in any order at any given time. You don't pass at four because it's a high speed corner. No, they passed there. You don't pass at five because it's a tight turn.

You pass there. You can't pass through eight. No, you can't pass through the sweepers at 12, going until 11, going through 12. Nope, they did. It didn't matter.

These kids were every which way. And I think half the fun was watching them going to turn three, too. They passed at one. They if there was a corner and anybody let off or anybody gave the smallest amount that you could possibly give up, these kids were all over each other to get there and get it all done. Anju had some serious attachments because he went through and passed a bunch of people at four, which shows the level of intelligence that all these kids have and they know and they see what's going on.

When Anju did that, then they all started to pass it for because they realized it could be done. You know, what's the saying? You plan God laughs. Well, everybody had a plan of what they wanted to do. And as soon as Anju started blowing past people at four, they were like, whoa, wait a minute, we got to change this up a little bit.

Otherwise, we're going to get shuffled to the back of this pack. Helgardo got his way to 10th and he looked like he kind of stalled out. I didn't know if he had used up his tire. Did you think he'd used up his tire at that point, Rich? Well, it looked for all intents and purposes like he was going to be in the podium battle, didn't it?

And he just kind of stalled. So there was no other obvious reason for it, unless he was nursing some kind of technical problem with the bike. But that's not really very usual, despite what we were just saying about what happens, Munoz. So I'm guessing, Jim, yeah, that it must just have been a bit of a tire issue and just couldn't sort of push on any further forward from where he got to at that stage. Yep.

We had six laps to go in the front five and finally to start to develop a gap for the whole way through the race. It had been literally a pack of about 12 riders that were battling for the leader had a chance at any of the podium positions. Vier and Forasato had contact. It came out Forasato on the inside. Vier just gives him the elbow on the straightaway like, whoa, hey, buddy, I'm over here and you can't push me off the track.

And when that had happened, it became very argy bargy again, because we're talking about having about five laps to go in the race. And it was it was elbows out for everybody everywhere on it. Alonso had made his way to the front, followed by Masi. Vier was Vier was vying for the podium. Say that five times.

No, she does. Thank you, sir. Alliterations are not my thing. But hey, that one just came out. Ronshu started to come up and he was running, I think, fourth at this point, followed by Forasato.

So again, now this front five is sort of going to decide who's going to be on the podium and who's not. They literally had about three tenths to the other guys and was gaining about a tenth a lap on everybody else. So it was looked like it was going to be settled sort of that way. We got down to like two laps to go. Masi is out front.

Alonso is there in second. They're starting to go argy bargy with each other. They're getting elbows out. People are getting real close to track limits. Some people are getting pushed off because of it.

And yet they were just still head down running for it. On the last lap, Vier would lead to start. Alonso was second. Masi had gotten shuffled back to third. Forasato was in there.

Ronshu had fallen off the pace. I think he got knocked out or ran wide and lost a lot of time that he wasn't able to get back. So Vier and Alonso, they go by Masi. Like he'd thrown out the anchor. Vier had a huge moment that took him out of the seat.

And he was at five. And he and this sort of like broke the group up. That one moment of indecision caused everybody who was behind Vier to roll off the throttle and back on. But it gave Alonso the ability to come forward because he sort of was on the right place at the right time. He was actually trying to set up Vier for a pass.

So it played into Alonso's hands as it ran down. Everybody, you got to think the last corner, there's going to be some carnage that's going to happen. However, Alonso, having been through this before, I think namely like the Osterreich ring in Austria, the Red Bull ring, I guess, because I'm old school. What was I going to say? Blimey.

That shows you how long ago I was watching Formula One racing. But Alonso leads going into the final turn. Brilliant move to park himself on the racing line at the center of the apex so that anybody who was trying to undercut, a la Forisado, Vier, Mastia, who really got caught up in Alonso's bid because Mastia was out wide waiting for everybody to go wide as they exited. And he'd come on to cut back to the apex. He couldn't because Alonso was stuck there.

Brilliant move by Alonso. I mean, the kids got some smarts. You know, they said earlier, I think both Matt Bird said how he must have been watching the Asia Talent Cup race because that's how the last lap was decided for their race was the same thing. So you've got to pay attention to all the racing that happens because you may learn something that you didn't learn or didn't know or didn't think about doing until you see somebody else doing it. But that led up to a drag race to the line that was won by Alonso.

Forisado would finish second. Vier would get that long awaited podium. Mastia was relegated to fourth because again, he had no momentum because he got stuck behind Alonso and had to go complete full throttle. Shut off. You watching me just the whole thing gets closed.

Antju then finished fifth. Elgardo had kind of figured it back out again, had kind of rode to the front of the second pack, if you will, and he wound up being fifth. Bortelli then seventh. Rossi was eighth. Yamanaka ninth and Tola tenth.

Rich, a fifth. Tint rich, a fantastic mental Moto3 race. Your thoughts? Well, Jim, I pretty much like you said, point was trying to make notes. It was a crazy, crazy race.

But what was so astonishing to me more than anything else was just a the sheer amount of overtaking that was going on. And they, by the way, these are three kids and these are hard moves. And the astonishing control, you know, there weren't many people that went down. Really, when you think about it, there were a few crashes during the race, of course. But in terms of that lead pack of the pack sort of split up a certain stage mid race.

But even so, in that top kind of 15 or so riders, I don't think apart from the incident that took Sasaki out, obviously it delayed Holgado quite badly as well. He was caught up in that when Munoz had that whatever it was gearbox problem. So really just amazing the intensity of the racing and the fact that everybody stayed the right way up. That was what was kind of like the big thing for me and quite a how via save that. What would you well almost high side on the last lap was just the start.

I mean, whether that's luck or judgment or a bit of both, who knows? But I mean, he stayed on. But that was with what about a third of the last lap to go and he was miles back. So for him to finish third was, you know, I had to watch it several times to figure out how that had happened. And as you said, it was really Alonso parking it going into that final turn that kind of mess Massey up and just allowed that drag race to happen.

It was just had everything that race, didn't it really? And a brilliant, brilliant nail biting finish as well. You couldn't have asked for more from that race. I mean, what a way to kick off the day. Again, it was it was passing everywhere.

It was clean passing hard racing, which I think we all love. When I was doing it club, I loved a good hard race. I don't care if it was for eight. If you're having a ding dong back and forth kind of a thing and it was clean and then you rubbed a little neck, I rubbed you a little back. It was I was one of the greatest races you had and you live for it.

These guys had to have been enjoying it. I mean, the grins that came out of those guys helmets and Park Formae was quite amazing. You had the high sides, the almost high sides. You had you didn't have track limits. That was amazing unto itself, you know, given all the time that these guys spent there.

Now, race control, I think, did a really good job. A lot of guys got pushed out. They got pushed out by other guys. So, hey, that's not a track limits problem. That's not you not continuing your arc.

You have nowhere to go because this guy is pushing you off. Yeah. So, I mean, it was just everything you wanted in a Moto3 race. And you're just like it left my mouth watering for what was going to happen in Moto2. Because you thought grief, man, this is going to be another one of these great Moto2 races or something.

But it's just everything that you wanted in a race. It was just it was a belter. I think you're right, Jim, as well to point out, given how much we certainly I have grumbled about race direction over the last couple of seasons or so, probably a bit longer, there does seem to have been a sea change up in the control box. It seems to me because as you said, there were several occasions or two, at least I can think of in that Moto3 race where people clearly got nerfed a bit wide just because it was pack action. And they did go into the track limits area, even though they're on a warning already.

And nothing was done about it. So that is good to see. The only other thing I wanted to say really was very, very, very unlucky for Sasaki. I mean, he was visibly upset by what had happened. I mean, it's just one of those things.

I mean, what goes around comes around. I suppose things tend to even out over time. But he just got the wrong end of the stick on that one for sure, because he had absolutely nowhere to go. And that closing speed just goes to show that even though the Moto3 bikes, they're still going pretty damn quick. And when a bike slows unexpectedly like that, there's just virtually no time to react.

Although, interestingly, the guy Sasaki was unsighted because it was all Tola in front of him. He did just react quick enough to jink out of the way. But Sasaki, for whatever reason, just didn't have the time to react in the same way. So that was very, very unlucky. Mention also to Furusato, first podium in Moto3.

He's over the last few races, that kid's been showing some form. And it's interesting how this builds with time. I would also actually like to point out, although he didn't finish in the points, I think he might have been 16th. But just from a British perspective, without wishing to be too biased about it. But Josh Watley is now also starting to show a bit more form than he's shown up until now.

We know the VisionTrap bikes are not bang up to date bikes. And we know Scott Ogden, who's one of the taller riders, has some issues with the fact that they're perhaps not bang up to date. And maybe don't have quite the power that some of the other bikes do. But Josh Watley, who has kind of struggled probably by his own mission, I would expect. But again, in the last few rounds, he started to appear much closer up.

I think he might have even got through Q2 in one of the recent sessions. I might be wrong, but he was certainly troubling getting into the Q2 session. So nice to see progress, but that's by far and away Furusato's best race. So again, although we've only got three races of the season left to go now, which is a bit frustrating when you start to hit a bit form. It's going to be interesting to see how a couple of these youngsters, if they can keep that going, because with a podium under his belt, it might just be that he runs rampant for the last two or three rounds now.

And final thing on Moto3 Gym, did you watch the post race interviews in the pen? Yeah, but I didn't really catch much of it. I breakfast was calling at that point. That's perfectly understandable. Colin Vyer, who I've never seen on screen before, so I never heard him speak.

I was expecting this very thick Dutch accent, which is quite a recognizable accent for anybody that spent any time around Dutch people, as I certainly have. He sounds like he's from the East End of London. I'm going to have to ask him about it when I see it. Hopefully I'll get to see him in Qatar because he's got an extraordinarily odd accent for a kid from the Netherlands. So I'm kind of wondering where he's grown up or he's spent a lot of time.

I don't have anybody in motor pod land, listenership knows your answer to that question. So if you do, let me know. But yeah, I was just kind of slightly amused by the fact that I was expecting this Dutch accent to emerge and sounded like somebody on the cast of EastEnders. Well, I didn't pay attention to that part of it. Like I said, it was playing and I was preparing breakfast.

So I probably should have paid more attention. Let's look at the championship standings. Masiya having come home in that fourth place allows him to be on 230 points. That puts him 17 ahead of Sasaki. Sasaki caught a break.

Let's be honest, you know, you give it and you take it away, right? You had a whole bunch of points that you gave away, but then, you know, you get to take a few back because everybody else kind of helped you. Big, big thank you to Vire for getting on the podium. Yes. I mean, I hate to think of next year, but Furusato, Vire and Holgardo and Munoz and stuff, those guys are going to, and Alonso is going to be wicked for a whole season.

Now, these kids are just, these kids are rickies and they're figuring this out. I think this is not Furusato's full second year. He had a few races, I think, wild cards at the end of 2022 and he's a full-time 2023 ride, I believe. Something like that. I know he had a couple, they had a start maybe in Japan or something like that.

But Alonso has now crept into third on 205. I mean, that puts him 25 down on Masiya. That's not to say that he can't win this title either because anything can happen as we have seen from what went on today. Holgardo is now level on points with, or I guess I should say Alonso has now gone to level on points with Holgardo and they're both 25 points behind. It's not out of it.

Anchi's on 39 and given the way this craziness is happening, it's looking a bit more of a problem because Anchi's going to contend with Qatar and the big long straights that are there. And if he's not able to really do much here, you don't think that he can really do much at Qatar. I think his championship bid is pretty much over. He's got a Moto2 ride. I think he's going to be fine.

I think he might do better on a Moto2 bike just from his physical size when he gets on it. Anchi fifth or Tolo is sixth. Murera then Rurata, Vier thanks to that podium finish. And Munoz is your top 10 in the Moto3 championship. It occurs to me, Jim, that the curve ball that might come, given how tight this championship is, I mean, as you say, Anchi is 39 back, which is starting to look like a bit of a bridge too far.

But although we did say this last year and it didn't transpire, but even later this year, Valencia, if that is a nasty kind of cold wet affair, which is every chance it could be, that is going to be very tense, that Moto3 race, because if you fall off, you're done, basically, aren't you? With the points being this tight, because as you say, four people within a win on points. So yeah, if Valencia is sketchy, which I wouldn't be surprised, that's going to be a bit of a nail biter, I think. And that's something really odd that happens between now and then, but we've only got Malaysia and Qatar to go, so it's not an awful lot of time for crazy things to happen now, other than the usual Moto3 race craziness. Yeah, I think Malaysia is going to be really interesting with these guys.

Just the two long straights, tight turns, these guys are going to end in a wider track than most of the other tracks we go to. It's a very wide track, and you kind of frequently see them going four or five into some of the turns there, so it's going to be one of those races, probably. Every single Moto3 race is just kind of crazy in one way or another, in that you very, very rarely get a Dormoto3 race. And this particular track, and it strikes me that Malaysia is very similar in the sense that you've got a couple of very long straights, so you can't, unless something happens to break the pack like a crash, slipstream is everything, so you tend to get pretty big, close packs racing all race long, so that is great. Whereas Qatar's a bit different, because you've got the main front straight, but then it's all kind of third and fourth gear stuff until they get back around to that main straight again.

So there is an opportunity there for people to break, I suppose, but Malaysia will be good. But again, you never know what the weather's going to do there. Sure, it could bucket down. You never know. Well, let's move to the Moto2 race.

Quickly at qualifying in the first one, Gonzales, Agura, Arbolino, Slatsch, Loews, Guevara, they're all in that first session. So that was pretty good hitters in that first session. But Slatsch, Arbolino, Loews and Guevara go through. Agura is out, so he does not make it through to the second qualifying session and a chance to run for pole or be any higher. I think he has to start 13th on the grid for something close to that, maybe 15th.

But we got into that second qualifying session, Slatsch going down at turn five, six minutes to go, and Acosta hasn't set a lap time yet, because he's had a lap that would have been on pole canceled by a yellow flag due to a crash by Kinet. So we're kind of waiting, this kid's had pace all, he was fastest in practice, you're waiting for him to go to the pole. And what happens, Altegr just digs deep and just puts a lap down that like, nope, can't touch that pal. It was followed by Acosta, then Arenas, his teammate, Kinet, Chantra and Ramirez. Altegr had an absolutely incredible third sector to take that pole position.

The Bosca Cora obviously has always been known for its cornering speed and its prowess to hug a line and hold it and go fast doing it. And that section of the track, that third sector is all about stringing the corners together. And Altegr did an absolutely great job to do it and a well deserved pole. But it was always like, well, what's going to happen in the race? Because Acosta's had pace all weekend long, but you never, you don't pay points for qualifying.

You only pay points when you get there on Sunday. We start the Moto2 race on Sunday. It's 22 laps, but we have to realize that Acosta has a chance to wrap up the title. The maths are simple. Acosta finishes first, Arbolino finishes 10th, Acosta's champion.

If Acosta finishes second and Arbolino somehow finishes 15th, it's Acosta's championship. So we're at the first time for, Moto3 is going to Valencia, MotoGP is going to Valencia. So this is the first time we have a game point at all, and it's in the Moto2 race. So this is kind of what we got to watch as we look at the race Altegr takes off from pole, Acosta goes with him, Ramirez is right there, Chantra, Lopez and Arbolino all right there on the way. Arbolino now falls back to like 9th.

Kinet got a double long lap penalty because he jumped the start. Oh, fractionally moving just before the light. It was very, very close. I felt sorry for him, but you know, he did jump it. Yeah, no, yes, he jumped, but he jumped.

Joe Roberts had a crash. This is all like on the first, on the first lap, we determined all this craziness here. Then we got down to the lap 18 to go. Dixon is coming in to turn three. He goes way late on the brakes and he lost Celestino Vietti as he goes into that turn.

Big high side for Jake. Over the bars, lands flat on the hump on his back. Boom, Michelin Man style leather action slides off and he was in some discomfort when he crawled to his knees. I think his wind was knocked out of him. And well, I've done that before, man.

You just can't seem to get enough air back in fast enough. You're just like, what did I do? Did I puncture a long hair or whatever? I just want air and I can't get it. It might have been on all fours in the gravel thinking, oh my God, what did I say about Darren Binder at Silverstone?

This sort of thing does happen. I mean, to be fair to Jake, and I've got a massive amount of time and respect for Jake Dixon, as everybody knows, he's brilliant. But even by his own admission, and he did apologize to Darren Binder in the round after Silverstone, wherever it was, I forget now, but because obviously he was the red miss came down on that particular day. And he said some things that on reflection he regretted. And part of the reason why he should have regretted it as he did was because sometimes it happens to you.

I mean, for all I know, he might have had a brake problem, you know, front brake issue, because that was a weird crash, actually, because he was so far back and even just maybe just completely misjudged it or the only need to break what I had a foot later, and that's all it takes. So, yeah, one of those but yeah, sometimes you have to chew your words a little bit, don't you? And we all do, sometimes time. Oh, yeah, sometimes you do. Just remember, folks, that was Brit on Brit.

Okay, so it was not the American dodging on the Brit. It's true. As I say, Jake himself was very humbled by the, what's the word? That's probably not the right word, but well, he felt the need that he had to apologize to Darren Binder and the team, you know, following his outburst at Silverstone and he was right to do what he did. Agreed.

All that. See, Outaguer, Acosta, Chantre, Ramirez, Lopez and Arbolino, who had now worked his way into that top six, we got Garcia going down with 15 laps to go. Arbolino goes by Lopez at turn three. So now Arbolino is now fifth. Well, Kissane Championship lockup goodbye at this point.

I mean, it was kind of a little outrageous to think that Arbolino was going to finish 10th or 15th in this race. Arbolino was just too good and has been too good all year long. He did have that bit of a slump there and, you know, like he didn't win. I didn't say it, but he hadn't won a race until he won at Phillip Island in the wet since I think France was his last win, which goes to show you like where Acosta ripped off, like I think seven wins in that timeframe. So it's pretty impressive by both those guys to be where they are.

The race continued on. You had Outaguer, Acosta, Chantre, Ramirez, and then Arbolino and Lopez. That's how it stacked up after that pass. Outaguer is out front and really nobody is going to touch him. I held out hope until we got to like 10 to go that, you know, Acosta was going to be able to run him down or whatever, but he just kept putting a 10th on Acosta.

He just, anytime Acosta ran faster, he just upped the pace just that little bit. Arbolino did continue his charge forward. He did get by Ramirez and that is about where he would stall out in all that. Unfortunately, what we didn't get to see was the charge that Iagura made through the pack. He came from his lowly starting spot of 15th maybe on the grid to be running up by Ramirez.

Essentially, Iagura would get Ramirez with two laps to go and it would allow him to finish in fifth, which was an outstanding ride by Iagura that we didn't get to watch, which really upset me. Outaguer wins, Acosta second, Chantra home race podium. The crowd loved it. They loved every bit of him being there. Arbolino was at fourth, Iagura, Ramirez, Arenas, Lopez, Guevara and the final top 10 finisher was Manuel Gonzalez.

It was a dry Moto 3 race, I apologize, but you had a little bit of action with Dixon there. You had Joel Roberts having a crash as well and then you did get the chance to watch Arbolino come forward a little bit, take a few spots, but really there's nothing more to say about Moto 3, Rich. Moto 2. Yeah, Moto 2. But you didn't say Paul, you don't want to acknowledge it.

Yeah, to be fair, we've had some very exciting Moto 2 races this year, but this is not one that's going to be troubling the replay part of the Dawn of Streaming service, I would imagine, over the coming few years. I watched it on catch up because I had quite a long line on Sunday morning because the object lag was hitting me a little bit. So I watched it on catch up and I have to admit that by half distance my notes say I'm fast forwarding now. That's why I actually wrote it down because Aldegaard just looked totally assured out front and it was kind of in a positive sense just desserts because he kind of I think he would have won in Australia if it had not been for the weather. Obviously he didn't like the rain and one thing and another.

So he was due this win and it was nice to see him. This is his second win I think because he won in Silverstone this year, didn't need to break his duck in Moto 2. The cost had just never looked troubled in second. It was just one of those sorts of races Jim really wasn't it? I mean as you correctly pointed out, well the excitement but also the head scratcher from the Honda Team Asia's point of view was Ikeura Suddenet, who'd been all at sea from what I could gather pretty much all weekend.

I mean did you say he didn't even make it into Q2 did he? No, he never made to Q2, never got out. It must have been further down the grid than 15th then because that would have been the top 16 in Q1 wouldn't it? Or was it top 14? I don't remember.

He was quite a long way down and hadn't really been showing any form and didn't really feature in the first half of the race and suddenly yeah the speed arrived. So that's a bit of a weird one. Obviously he's out of that team next year anyway. He's going over to ItalTrans is it? Trying to think where he's off to now.

One of the other bigger teams anyway. So yeah that's really all there is to say about the Moto 2 race. We hope for better things in Malaysia. So let's take a point standings. Acosta is on 300.5 points.

Arbaluno at 237.5 points. It's a 63 point lead that Acosta has. It's all but over here. I mean there's something really bad that's gonna have to fall on Acosta. I see him being in the top three in Malaysia.

I see him being in the top three in Qatar and he's just gonna walk his way to this title. Dixon is still in third. Kinet fourth. Chantra fifth. Ferminoutaguer in sixth.

Lopez, Gonzalez, Salach and Iagura cracks the top 10 with that fifth place finish. So that is how the point standings are in Moto 2. Got to write this time. With that I guess we're gonna have to go to Moto GP and see what goes on there because this is the other race. That's a great race but first we must discuss a little bit of what happened in practice.

Now Jorge Martinez's bike lost one of the wings off of it to which as they were heading into the pits to do time attacks and qualifying, check qualifying, set up that kind of thing, the parts in question or pieces of the part in question flew up and hit Marc Marquez in the shoulder and he said well it didn't really matter. It was before time attack. It hurt for just a minute or two and I just thought it was debris off the track. My point has been that these wings, someone's going to get hurt. I don't want anybody to be hurt by a wing that gets knocked off in an racing accident but we've now seen that there is a possibility it can happen.

Yeah and it definitely was a bike part was it because I only kind of caught this somewhat fleetingly. Initially I thought perhaps he just had flicked something up from the track surface but there was an errant body part that came loose and flew through the air was it? Right yeah it was so again you know we had something that hit somebody. I don't think any of us want that to happen. I don't want it to happen but I just think it was interesting.

Well I mean the point Jim is that clearly it distressed Marquez a little bit for a minute or two and it was on his shoulder so if one of those things hits somebody in the neck which is obviously vulnerable on a bike because it's one bit you can't easily protect so you are the skin and the cartilage in your neck and one thing and another. You don't want a piece of body work which might be carbon fiber but it still weighs something and when it's traveling at speed it has you know a certain amount of mass and velocity to it. It's not really a good scenario that so I think your concern is well founded really. Yep Mark Marquez is in the first qualifying session. I think we would all expect that Miller was there which I did not expect.

DG Antonio was there. Alex Marquez was there but Alex goes through along with his brother. Now his brother got towed there by Miller and this goes to a point I don't want to sound like a rant here but there was a tremendous amount of dawdling that has been going on by MotoGP guys looking for that tow. Specifically Marquez. I understand there's nothing in the rule book that says that you can't do it.

I also understand that the Honda is not capable of going fast unless it's in the tow of something and then it starts to work right for whatever reason. So my thing to you Rich and this is what I want to talk about more is do you think that they would change qualifying to say like maybe a single rider qualifying attempt like SuperPole just to stop that from happening? I really hope not. I hope not too. I hate that kind of format.

I hated it in Formula One. I hated it in World Superbike but they got rid of it thankfully in both of those categories. I think it would be a really kind of bad step for MotoGP to take. This is just an error actually having just been relatively singing their praises. I think this is an area where the stewards are perhaps not being tough enough on the MotoGP riders.

Whether they're a little bit scared to sanction people but you can't be handing out sanctions to the Moto3 crowd and the MotoGP boys get away with it and it is getting really very silly now. It's not just Mark Marquez. I mean they're all at it now. I wonder whether over the course of a single lap where front tyre pressure is not going to be so much of an issue as in building front tyre pressure because of heat. I wonder whether tucking in behind somebody in the hole in the air particularly if you're on a slightly slower bike which would apply to the Hondas for example with the amount of aero that's involved on say a Ducati now if you're behind that thing and it's punching a hole in the air for you you are going to get an advantage for that and over a lap as I say probably the front tyre isn't going to be a problem for you in that regard.

Sorry Jim I won't edit this out. I can tell it's Halloween. My light keeps going off so nothing's working. My microphone is playing up and the headphones don't work. I mean lights coming on and off so yeah Halloween.

Anyway yeah I just think race direction needs to get a bit of a grip of this one and start to have a quiet word in people's ears to say look if you keep on doing it you are going to start to suffer grid penalties of whatever it would need to be because we've seen a few cases lately in MotoGP of people actually dawdling on the racing line so we don't want a rule change or some knee-jerk change which is to the detriment of everything because they wait long enough for a nasty accident to happen. I'm thinking of a kind of moment it wasn't for this reason but when Mark Markos went plowing into the back of somebody in Moto2 a few years ago you know that enormous sort of rear ending of somebody who's dawdling along yeah we don't want to see that so I think they need to get a grip on this one. I mean Markos has been doing this for a few seasons for probably for differing reasons I think probably the reason now is because there is an advantage in following another bike closely behind which is fine I mean there's nothing against following people it's always hanging around and sort of dawdling potentially on the racing line or close to it that I think is going to result in a nasty accident before too much longer if they don't cut it out. Yeah that's my take. I've prescribed the Casey Stoner theory go out there throw it in the fastest freaking lap you possibly can go there boys go chase it.

Yeah I mean that's what they're there to do isn't it? Get it done. Yeah I don't know I just fear that they're going to do something as you said to the detriment of what's happening. I don't want to see a super pull stock format or something like that but you get the idea that they would think that it would be like more dramatic of TV like oh you know I know what you have now is great I love the way it is in these two sessions and a couple people get to go through the next one and the same when they you know put that into moto three and moto two and I love it I think it's great I think it's you know it takes a while for the drama to build but it's only 15 minutes and good grief you know it's over in a flash so but I just wanted to point that out because this has been getting worse and worse and worse and I'm just thinking I'm gonna send her watching now I'm like man someone's gonna give here at some point something has to give so. In fairness Jim there are those one or two riders who don't do this I mean Jorge Martin okay you might say well he's on the Ducati but he just goes out and sets laps Vignales he's the same he tends to go out on his own set fast laps so I accept that if you're on a Honda or a Yamaha okay you're not gonna be troubling pole out there on your own but that's just a factor of where they are in development terms at the moment.

Like you I was a bit dubious about the Q1 Q2 format when they first did it because it was a little bit oh let's follow Formula One again look what they're doing but I actually think it does work I mean I'm a traditionalist if it were me they just would have 60 minutes like they used to have they just go out there and do as many laps as they want and it'll all build up to the end so or 40 minutes whatever it used to be I'm thinking of Formula One perhaps in the good old days when it was worth watching which isn't anymore but this format does work but I don't really think they want to be changing it because it's good TV it is I do I do think it's good I do think it's really good the other point that's all Apple one at a time qualifying as well is it's inherently unfair because conditions change over that period of time and it will potentially advantage one person over another whereas what you want is a able to go out at the same time they just need to keep out of each other's way a little bit more but I do think that that doesn't matter because the track changes in the 15 minutes that they're out there and we all know it's the last guy sometimes that makes the fastest lap the trick is to back time yourself the point is though that with a one by one thing you don't have choices when you go out I see yeah that's my point gotcha all right oh anyway in the second qualifying session I don't think this is any surprise Martin just went out and blitzed everybody he is a qualifying machine and he's now taking that qualifying speed and is turning it into sprint wins he's turning it into race wins he's becoming a very well rounded rider in MotoGP that's scary because he is quite the beast right now and he definitely has momentum on his side Luca Marini would finish second qualifying that came from like nowhere I did not see Marini anywhere not a fast lap at all until right at the end he popped himself up there too he was followed by Olesh, Bizeki, Bender and Benyaya. Benyaya at least having a decent time to be on the second row the ball though just barely he just beat out the Marquez twins then Vignolo's Quattroraro with a pretty decent ride on the Omaha. Zarco who would start 11th and then Augusto Fernandez would be 12th that's how we would start the race or how we start the sprint it's how we start the main race but we start the sprint next and we go to the MotoGP sprint. Martin just gets out there puts down goes gone never had it this is just Martin's thing he's gone that's just really where it is Benyaya was back in ninth because he got passed by Zarco at the start you know he fell backwards this seems to be what Benyaya does he doesn't get to start for some reason I'm not sure why he doesn't want to get his elbows out in the sprint race which I noticed I'm not sure if there's he just thinks everybody's just going way too crazy so he's just going to play safe maybe I'm not sure where he thinks he's going to be. Olesh went from third to fifth he started to go backwards Marini was right behind Martin Bender was right there in third Benyaya was starting to get going once he sort of got used to whatever he needed to get used to he just he just suddenly started to get going with with 10 to go he started to pull in the people that were in front of him and you know I guess the guys in front were pulling away I should say so I think he decided oh I I do need to get the points I've got to get going here he did Bender tries it on Marini but doesn't really succeed Benyaya gets a track limits warning Bender then goes by Marini the question was could he catch could he catch at all or hey Martin that was the question Bender did have a little bit of pace but the question was it took him a while to get past Marini.

Marini was riding a really good race I was hoping Bender could make a go of it but he tried but he got there but he didn't really put anything on him so with five to go it was Martin it was Bender it was Marini Olesh Bezeki Marquez had gone to pass Benyaya and then Marquez got by Bezeki and then with one to go Olesh went wide at three as everybody sort of tried to funnel into that 180 degree turn Marquez got by Olesh and then Marlesh got back by at turn nine and then Marquez went by at turn 12 but it was Martin who would finish in the number one spot Bender had nothing for Martin I think as Martin felt threatened he started to open up the gap on Bender Marini would get a well-deserved podium position Marquez would finish fourth on the Honda shocking I mean right right I think it goes to show that he's just got such an immense talent because I think you and I both agree I think everyone would agree without a doubt that that bike is horrible horrible well certainly as compared to all the bikes around him yeah oh yeah I get it this is a sprint race and it's only 13 laps it's half the distance and I think Kenny Roberts said anybody can ride a piece of shit for four laps or something like that but I mean I just the the determination that he's showing Simon Krafar said this too he says despite what you think about it think about the determination and this ability that both Quattraro and Marquez are doing they come knowing that they're going to be fighting an uphill battle every single weekend they have a smile on their face they treat the fans with respect take pictures autographs they do all that stuff they come in there and then they give you a show half the fun is trying to figure out how Marquez is going to get through qualifying half the fun is trying to figure out where he's actually going to finish half the fun is to see what Quattraro can pull out of his hat because they he's done it before yeah and that's what you're looking for it's like and good grief man I am 100% he's on that Ducati next year Marquez is going to be at the front all the time if not winning races and I think Stoner said something to the effect that Ducati has trouble developing their 20 their new bikes so Benya is going to have a 2024 Martino have a 2024 Marquez is going to get a 2023 in a shit ton of notes all right so I'm like you may not know which way Marquez went with the Ducati we don't know I am so looking forward to the test of Valencia the day at a Tuesday after because I wouldn't just know how fast he's going because you know he's got to be fast I hope they're showing that test on the on the dawn of they are yeah because that'll be a heavily watched day with Marquez out there oh yeah I mean it's good for the sport if Marquez is back in the front it'll be better to sport if you put Quattraro back at the front right yeah I had tweeted I don't know if you still tweet if it's x I don't know anyway I put out there the little interview that happened with Pedro Acosta and Acosta had it figured out he's like people love the celebration they love when you win that you do something different and unique and fun and they want the rivalry they want to see Marquez versus Quattraro they want to see he says he knows he gets it there's a show he understands what Rossi understood there's a show there's a point about racing there's a point about making it a show some episodes ago Jim one of us said something along the lines of Pedro Acosta is kind of like the perfect fusion of Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi in a way you know he's super super talented ruthless when he needs to be but he gets the promotional side of it both from his own point of view and for the wider championship which obviously benefits him as well so hopefully he won't be under too much pressure next year and certainly not in the early part of the season well I mean there's going to be massive expectations on him but I think by the time we get to 24 25 he's going to be seriously seriously hard to keep you know off the top well certainly off the box one of them so yeah that's a map of Walter and Prospect just right there never mind Marquez on a Ducati so this leaves us with an 18 point advantage Benyaya 18 points ahead of Jorge Martín going into the Sunday race at the beginning everyone was on a medium front hard rear except for Alex Marquez he went medium medium nobody went for a soft at all so we got off the start Martín again had a whole shot Marini right there with him Alayce right there with him Benyaya making a much better start this time to be there in front and he sort of was way more aggressive Benyaya picked up Binder and Alex Marquez went by Binder as well there was some elbow out action from Benyaya I think he realized the points are on the table can't let Martín get away got to be aggressive got to make a start need to get there because let's face this I think that there's no pressure on Martín I think all the pressure is on Benyaya what does Martín got to lose he's got a great season going I mean I know he wants to win a world championship I understand I get that there's pressure there but I've said it before I'd rather be the guy coming from behind because what have I got to do I got to go for it right I don't really have to second guess myself if I want to pass at this turn I just pass because I have to I need to get to the front I need to win I need to get points I need to be ahead of Pekka Benyaya yeah and you know let's be honest Indonesia aside Martín hasn't really dropped the ball has he I mean that was a curious crash that you had as we discussed at the time we don't need to go over it again but I'm not a psychoanalyst and who knows for sure only the people closest to him and the man himself knows but Benyaya looks tight at the moment because all the pressure is on him he's the reigning world champion he's the works rider people are kind of considering that it's his championship to lose now and as you say Jim is Martín's to go out and win if he can and nobody's really expecting him to do it perhaps apart from himself and that crash aside he'd be well in the lead at the minute so but he's building again and I mean he's the king of the sprint that was his fifth sprint win and as we're going to talk about was you're starting to talk about now he was pretty strong in this race as well he was you had a six rider group that was out the front Bender did get by Marini so he got by faster and I was hoping okay now longer race we know that the KTM has got the carbon fiber chassis it's got more edge grip later in the race Bender seems to be able to maximize that Miller for some reason doesn't seem to be able to maximize what the carbon fiber chassis gives Bender so that's a bit odd I'm not sure why but it's something about how Miller rides that doesn't jive with it but it's something that Bender obviously gets and we were going to see what was going to happen I was very curious like I know later in the race probably the edge grip is going to be Bender's yeah meanwhile and all this Marquez got by Benyaya that was a little argy-bargy but they were both losing time and Benyaya got himself backtracked back to seventh place not where he wanted to be Martín and Bender were then sneaking away from the battle there now Marini was right there too it was pretty much the front had been settled here for the biggest part of it it was Martín Bender, Marini and Aléche and Benyaya now at some point Aléche and Marc Marquez had a battle and that was really pretty good I mean there wasn't too much happening at the front you're waiting for Bender to close up it wasn't happening maybe Bender was saving tires trying to stay out of Martín's draft to keep the tire temperature in the front where he needed it was Bender keeping his powder dry at some point you had to think Bender was going to have to have a go and just waiting for that to go in so we're sort of in the little law that kind of happens here in the middle of the race but Benyaya starts to turn this back around and you know this is the thing I know what I ran about the TV we didn't see Agurra go through the pack at all in Moto 2 yet they did show us this great little battle that Aléche and Marc Marquez were having oh and by the way they also showed us Benyaya as he started to work his way back up and he actually got back to fourth place so Benyaya has kind of been up and down like a yo-yo for a little bit here and I was like okay what's Benyaya done to this tire he's got the hard on we know that he's got a medium front okay he's got the same tires as the guys out front if he's punishing this tire more having to work through the front is he going to have anything at the end so again there's sort of this build-up happening it's an intriguing chess match if you will right you know somebody's like oh okay take my pond okay well rook tonight seven blah blah blah you know wherever it is that we're going on a chess board here and it just was interesting to see how this was going to play out which I mean that's the thing I love about the fact we don't have radios and we only have a pit board you have to make a decision yourself you're there on your own you don't have anybody telling you there's somebody 10 seconds behind you every 30 seconds when you're going around the track as you are in a Formula One car or whatever I think is what makes motorcycle racing unique is you are there the team can't do anything for you except give you a board tell you're in a group of six and tell you what your plus minus is and how many laps you've got right and half the time I doubt you could read the whole board as you're flying by at that time anyway well Alex Marquez went down at turn 10 the front end just kind of folded under him a little weirdly that was really late in the corner for him so I don't know if he lost rear grip which pushed the front because he had the medium rear on you know he had the medium rear as opposed to the hard rear so was his grip going away if he didn't have the grip was it starting to go sideways and that forced more pressure to the front and he turned it tucked it in it just seemed like that crash was a little odd to me that how he went down on first glance I thought he might just click the curb a little bit too hard with his front and it just folded on but Simon Graver on the dawn of feed at least which not everybody listens to of course I think he was suggesting that the front got unloaded a little bit just for one reason or another perhaps because of the rear tire that he chose so yeah a bit of a shame though because we didn't get to see whether that choice was going to be a good one or not no again you're sort of waiting like well Martino the soft and Philip Allen you know you got to sort of wonder about that you know that's the ifs and buts you know yeah all that good stuff Quattro and Marc Marquez are now trading places so it's fun to see those guys going at it again again we got to see them actually trade places so that was pretty good they were giving out at heart as well yes they were they were no quarter given no quarter taken uh eight to go Bizecki finally got past his teammate Marini Martin and Binder have now developed a 2.2 second lead ahead of Ben Jaya Binder is then by Martin but he kind of runs a little wide and then Martin goes back by Binder but Ben Jaya is about a half a second off of this right now and you're wondering what maybe Ben Jaya is going to come to the fore because now these two started dicing right Martin and Binder are dicing so now they're cutting each other up they're not getting the drive here comes Ben Jaya into the section it's like oh now this is going to become a three-way battle here because it was obvious Martin could not get away it was obvious that Binder had edge grip because now he's attacking in that like you know six laps to go kind of a range that's when I wouldn't want to start my attack right I wouldn't want to wait to the end I would at least want to test and probe to see maybe where he's weak where I'm good so again the chess match is starting to play out and here comes another player and that's going to be Ben Jaya now if Ben Jaya was starting to close in maybe that forced Binder's hand a little early maybe Binder wanted to be like three or four laps I'm not sure how that one played out but Binder was definitely deciding to get going with it six to go top three are all together they're all right there then Binder's by at turn eight Binder forces the issue he gets by at eight that was his strong section of the track a little more edge grip than Martin had so Binder actually goes to the front he's beating Martin and Ben Jaya Bezeky and then Alaysh and then Quattroraro has now gotten into sixth place Martin throws it back by Binder at turn three so Binder leads from eight across the line leads a lap they go to turn three and man Martin just threw it in there on him just drove it in deep now Binder didn't really protect the line he didn't have to but there's so many different things that were going on in that point so this is with two laps to go Ben Jaya we're going towards turn 12 here now we've made it through the back of the track we've gone through 11 we're starting to go into 12 and all of a sudden Ben Jaya either I don't know if he just misjudged the two bike draft because Binder's wanted to go back by Martin but here comes Ben Jaya just like on the outside cruising by to the front like they went three wide into 12 exactly I didn't know what Ben Jaya was doing I don't know if it was just one of those things because I mean I can't really explain to you what it's like in the draft but like racing it like road america for me if you're towed by a couple of bikes and you say okay I'm going to grab my brakes just a little sooner than I would normally at my brake marker it's like you have no brakes the suck is so great it's like I know I've got them I'm on them as hard as I can I'm pulling them for everything they're worth and we are not stopping and it's a scary feeling when you're in that so I even the best even the guys at this level are still misjudged how much suck they're getting from the got you guys in front and I was just wild like there goes Ben Jaya I'm like holy crap this is going to be an amazing last lap it was a great try I cannot put anything past Ben Jaya he was trying Martin and Bender what happens is Martin defends the rest of the way because Martin gets himself back in front there that dive at turn 12 you're kind of waiting for Bender to do the same thing on the very last lap that Martin had done in the previous lap it doesn't happen Martin wins the race Bender finishes second and then you had Ben Jaya third only to find out the dreaded track limits Bender ran off I don't know which turn it was I think it's turn four yeah I saw him do it you could tell he'd gone over the green it's the last lap so yep rules are rules that's a rule I don't like I understand why it's there I'm not going to argue with it rules are rules Bender fell afoul of it and was demoted one place so the podium Martin Ben Jaya Bender Bizecki Quattraro fifth Marquez and six which again those two guys for being on the Amahas and the Honda respectively they did a great race to finish where they were the whole weekend Marquez was saying we maybe have a 10th to 15th bike based on pace I think Quattraro was in the same boat thinking about the same thing for them to finish where they did I thought was amazing after Marquez it was Marini and Leicester Spargrove man how far did Leicester go backwards there I don't know what happened but it was a backwards thing for him I mean our attention was obviously gripped by what was going on at the front as it should have been DG Antonio after that Zarco in 10th Morbidele Mir stayed on the bike and actually got points then Bastiani Nakagami and Raul Fernandez scoring a point as well so those are your top 15 an absolutely belter of a MotoGP race I thought it was fantastic Rich it certainly was Jim there was some good overtakes in that race which is not something we say or have been saying a huge amount of this year in MotoGP obviously it's been a criticism with the aero and stuff but it's an impedance to overtaking obviously it wasn't like a Moto3 race because MotoGP is not Moto3 but it was just one of those great races just built and built and built and built and had what you always want which is a classic last sort of two to three laps yeah okay the binder thing I mean I don't know what he's not in the championship hunt so it's not a big issue at the end of the day although he'll be annoyed with himself and the team will be starting to get a little bit antsy with him I would think because this must be the at least the fourth possibly in the fifth time he's been demoted a place for a last lap track limit infraction so he does sort of you can see some sort of sarcastic message coming on to the bike at some point about turning circles and stuff can't you because the KTM is that kind of a team so that was a shame for binder and it's I mean that was a huge let off for Bagnier even though that's only what three points is it difference between second and third that is a significant little bonus for bagnier given how tight this is with martin so yeah that was a significant moment you said about sorry go well I was just gonna say the the difference is it's five points difference between first and second yeah and then it's a four point difference between so martin stood a chance of having uh five nine points he would have gained so they were 18 apart it would have been nine had bignier not been able to jump up and grab those other four points so I mean this could be crucial as we go on um continue now since I've had the point rant so mention about anaceous fargro dropping back which I'm assuming could have been tires for example maybe just sort of ran out of time I mean vignier has retired the bike and I know because I've read on twitter whatever the I forget who put it up there but somebody that's clued in enough to comment on this vignier was complaining vociferously with the team about the heat of the bike as in when he was on the tank he was saying he was boiling and now obviously they're all used to riding these bikes which run very hot but the priller I think is right at the edge of acceptability at the moment so whether alaysh because he went through the whole race whether he started to suffer and I mean suffer in the real sense of the term because they are actually getting burnt on that bike maybe that was part of it I don't know Jim but I read it so I'm just reporting it if anybody else has read or heard something different obviously let us know about that but yeah great race I mean that's fundamentally what we always want to be able to say in it was a really exciting nail biting race and you didn't know who was going to win pretty much until they came out of the last turn yep that's great it is what you want uh let's look at the points championship now after that so it's a 13-point lead that benya has over martin cursey the extra four points that he was gifted by bender hi martin is probably going over there like dude I thought we had a deal but apparently the things happen it is between these two guys because bzecki is now 79 behind the leader three races left 75 points up for grabs so mathematically that's been done bender earlier in the weekend had been eliminated from contention bzecki now is eliminated from contention being 79 behind the leader so even if those guys crashed out bzecki and won everything he would basically be four points behind them which is sad but true then bender alaysh zarko vinyals marini quattroraro and miller uh how about a little juicy rumoriness till end off here so with the honda I have heard and this is on gp news I watched this video at lunch today so I just want to talk about it here quickly it's been rumored but honda had tried to buy gg gelinia from ducati okay I think that's a bit you know I think I mean honda's got a checkbook big enough that they could do it I just don't see gg actually moving consequently that means that honda has now started to poach some high-end f1 talent to work on their motorcycles supposedly so that's interesting it was tossed out there that honda's first choice to replace marquez was olivera but that got sold by the fact that honda only wants a one-year deal or sorry honda is only offering a one-year deal okay which is interesting because it looks like dg Antonio is going to take that one-year deal to be at honda while marquez is riding essentially for free at grisini he'll be paid by his leather sponsor he'll be paid by his helmet sponsor he'll have all his personal sponsorship money but he's not getting a salary from grisini and the interesting fact then is people now because honda's only offering one year deals that they think that come next year with this arrow work they're going to get from the f1 stars that have showed up to help their motorcycle that they're somehow going to have this revelation and somehow get marquez to get back on the bike in 25 I I mean okay that's wild speculation that I think is but I had to say something about because I just think it's so crazy that people are drawing lines to get to here and there I mean it's like okay people stop let's take the tin foil hats off for a minute and come back to reality I think the ship has sailed you know marquez is not going to go back to honda it would have to be a marketing improvement well yeah I mean it's speculation to a point jim I was shaking my head whilst you were saying that but only over the time scales I mean I can't foresee many scenarios where they turn that bike around to become that enticing you know marquez has a year on the grisini ducati I still firmly believe there's a strong chance he'll end up at KTM in 2025 maybe for a year or two I mean depending maybe stay race fit as in uninjured now for the next few years he's certainly got another three or four years in him and you could certainly see him going back to honda for a swan song year and kind of then reestablishing that long-term honda ambassador kind of role that he was always kind of penciled in to have it's not completely ridiculous to imagine that you could go back to honda that might indeed be why they've let him go now because they might think that they have a chance to get him back and it's better to leave on good terms now unlike what happened with Rossi for example and get him back later on if they can turn it around but it will certainly take them two three four seasons I would imagine even if they do get some f1 talent in and that's not a guarantee of any kind of success on the aero front because that's been tried and hasn't worked out in the past for many different reasons and many different teams so it's just going to take work but it's interesting that all the things you've just said about him trying to poach delinia and of course they were I mean I can afford to do it it's a bit like you know the whole kind of new eater ferrari thing that's been on off for years and years and years isn't it I mean the money is not the objection it's the it's the move away from home for delinia I suppose but it does show a change of approach from honda and that is a very revealing thing and a kind of it's not what they want to do because it's not the Japanese way historically but it does show a change of mentality and that does bode well for the future both in terms of turning the bike around in a reasonable amount or sensible amount of time and also their commitment to staying in the championship because you know obviously one of the other rumors that have been doing around is that they might just think so don't wear off because it's just not worth it anymore but marcus is showing that with the right talent on the bike they can extract results from it but it's just too much risk for reward most of the time yeah I think KTM did hire some f1 boffins to sit there and you know figure some stuff out on the bike yeah I don't know if Ducati has any f1 aerodynamicists but they do have people who definitely understand aerodynamics I wouldn't be surprised if there's some crossover with Ferrari there I was thinking more to the sort of the even going back as far as the 990 here you might remember John Barnard was involved with Kenny Roberts's team I think on the on the chassis side of thing or the frame and there was a guy called Alan Jenkins who was one of the preeminent f1 aerodynamicists oh I'm going back into the sort of the early part of the noughties probably he was around for a while and I can't remember who I think he might have worked with Ducati as well so there have been dalliances between f1 and and obviously there was Mario Illin who came in with that um what was it was it suitor that kind of bike that only ran for two or three rounds at the very end of the 800 era I don't know you're I but I'm a couple of other people are associated with it but the Mercedes engine builder Mario Illin his name was he was associated with that I'll have to look that one up I can't remember the name of the team now but unless it was a suitor so I think it was a suitor anyway so it's not unheard of but no they've tended to be a little bit sort of stillborn some of those kind of associations but obviously things are different with the level of aero now and we know that red ball technologies are heavily involved with KTM or that's what we read believe and that bike is certainly a masterpiece of aero level or low that so it is slowly happening for sure yep one last thing for me and then we can get out of here I don't know if it's just the camera angles at this track or if it's because we have these the exit out of turn 12 the exit out of turn one then the exit out of three but if you were to watch the Ducatis and their rear ride height adjustment and make it against uh like the Honda the Ducati drops so much faster than the Honda does the Honda takes a while to get there but it gets to the Yamaha takes a while to get there but it seems as though the Aprilia the Ducati they drop within a second and they're going where everything else is a slower progression that gets in there that's one of the things I think that Honda Yamaha need to work on because you can have more torque you can have more power which they could probably easily find Yamaha maybe not so much engine configuration let's set that aside here but if you can get the bike center of gravity lower quicker you're going to be able to accelerate harder so I think that's one of the bigger areas that they need to work on as well aero is a part yes very much so but also they have to work on that part of it again we've said it before here and I'll leave it here everything on that bike from the whole shot device to the rear suspension sagging to the aero all have to work together as one unit and they cannot be piece milled onto an existing system yeah and the Duke is still the best is still the best bike and you could see that really in the valiant attempt that binda made to win that race and he nearly did but you know martin was able to just chuck it up the inside and make it stay on the and that bike is just the khm is very very close and certainly with binda on it but it's just not quite there but we're talking tiny tiny margins now so all of that bodes well hopefully next year if they can make a bit more of a step but who's to say Ducati don't make a bigger step with something else because you know again that's why Honda went with the big checkbook number to Gigi Dillinia because him and his team you know they always turn something up don't they and I suspect they won't go too radical next year with the 24 bike so maybe marquez won't have quite as much of a not advantage that's not what I mean but I think we've learned from the last couple of seasons where they went they got themselves a bit befuddled in the first few rounds annoyed their riders who were kind of doing test duty effectively when in a championship this tight you can't afford to take your eye off the ball for one round one session even let alone two or three rounds that was on last year I think wasn't it where banyan was really quite critical of the 23 bike as it was then no the 22 22 bikes sorry which took a while to get going but once it did obviously yeah I mean he he was super quick on it so yeah the only other thing I do need to mention one other thing before we go Jim but what you make it Miguel Oliveira in the second half of the season good point I don't know why something's missing I do not know what it is I I would have thought that they would have been much farther ahead than where they are although that is a year old Aprilia yeah and maybe it's just that everything else has moved just that much farther forward maybe I don't know I can't answer it because he looked good at the beginning of the year it seemed like that was working well and it's sort of just fallen off and I don't think it's Olivera's ability to ride at all I I don't know it's a mystery it's a it's a very big mystery about what happened and I don't have a good answer I've got three thoughts and I'll probably forget one of these as I go through I mean I think as you say it's a year old bike I doubt there's any development going into that bike and I suspect because of the nature of the Aprilia factory there isn't much trickle down from the works team going on at this point either so it might be that they're just falling further and further back but what's slightly curious is that the Olivera has had a really poor few rounds and I rate him massively as you know whereas Raoul Fernandes has actually been outshining him quite significantly in the last three or four rounds that I can think of and if Fernandes is starting to get his head a long laugh because it's been a long time in the coming a bit too long for most people I would suspect but he is actually putting Olivera in the shade so my only kind of thought is perhaps that Olivera has been so beaten up this year and it's such an intense championship in terms of number of rounds you know the number of back-to-backs and triple headers you know perhaps physically he just needs the winter break to recover now and he perhaps his shoulders are down a little bit his head's down a bit body's hurting bikes not being developed anymore maybe just wants to wait until next year and get on the current Aprilia although the same thing might happen next year of course yeah just a bit of a curious one really because Olivera is so good it's very sort of noticeable the degree to which he's having a struggle at the minute yeah I again I have no thoughts it's a great thought maybe he is just beat up maybe he just is that way it's just I'm done so let's pack it in get through these races and get out of here go on to next year I mean he was obviously tempted to go to Honda so you maybe you got to think that maybe it's a funding issue maybe R&F doesn't have the money I mean it's possible I don't know if you've been on the factory team and now you're on a satellite team what would you want to do go back to a factory team any factory team so I don't know I mean it could be just some disillusionment of some kind certainly for the paycheck although the Joanne Meir lesson is a salutary one to look over the fence at because although again Meir's perhaps not had quite such a bad time with it in the last few rounds again it was not much of a showing this week and I don't think he crashed in either the races and that is obviously no that's of a sort but where was he quite a fair way down just outside the points I think yeah but as far as I know R&F said no no no Olivero's got a contract next year we're not letting him out of it I think that's probably what happened so perhaps he's a bit demoralized just right I did that into the mix as well it'd be all right everyone I think that's everything we could talk about possibly for Thailand and Malaysia you're bitch you've got one more thing well not to do MotoGP Jim if you'll just um allow me I've got to talk very very briefly about the World Superbike round final round at Hare. Race one pretty good race Razz Gaffioglu took it to Bautista but Bautista kind of did what he's done most of this year and kind of once he got to half tanks and the fuel load kind of rode off won the championship so you're thinking you know something possibly won't be that great if you can go to YouTube and watch the first two laps of the sprint race because it got red flagged after two laps but the first two laps were crazy so I recommend people go and check that out and then race two the final sort of feature race of the season was like the two laps of the sprint for the whole race the only thing that was disappointing in it was that Johnny Ray last race for Karasaki bolted out front was doing a bit of a Mark Marquez you know completely not overriding the bike but kind of riding it so hard that you kind of knew that there was a risk he was going to crash which he did well he did remount and finish but it was just a barnstorm of gym start to finish Razz Gaffioglu Bautista Rinaldi Domiagata was in there just brilliant if you can spare half an hour to go and find that on Eurosport or on YouTube or wherever it is well worth your time because it was great the only thing to tell was last corner Razz Gaffioglu who won the race on the track stuck his rear tire into the green so he lost the lost the wood his last race for Yamaha because obviously he's going across to BMW next year who incidentally BMW well I don't think they are at the test at Jerez down tomorrow but Yamaha wouldn't release him from his contract which has gone down not terribly well as you might well imagine so there's a relationship that's ended on a sour note which is never never wise really if you hope to tempt the person back one day yeah so Bautista did the triple but he was very lucky to do that because I mean Razz Gaffioglu he only just dropped his rear tire just into the green on the final turn you know the famous you know Rossi Ghibanao Marquez Lorenzo something always happens in that last turn but yeah great world superbike final round in Jerez so worth going and checking out if you can find it and then also Jim just I'm now making my arrangements for Qatar which is only what just over two weeks before I head off there so I'm starting to get in touch with the various press offices seeing how I can line up I've got Sam Lowes confirmed obviously I've got LCR confirmed in terms of Lico Ciccionello, and I should get some time with Alex Rins and the two of these there and Takenakigami as well I'm not allowed to go anywhere else too much with MotoGP that's kind of my instruction from dawn of this time but I've got free rein on Moto2 and Moto3 so I'm kind of going out to all of the press or many of the press officers so I'm hoping to get Aldegar, Lopez, Jake Dixon, Joe Roberts, Rory Skinner from the British point of view and then quite a bunch of the Moto3 team so if they're just really shout out to the listeners if there's a particular rider or a particular question for one of the riders keep it clean keep it reasonable but if anybody's got any burning questions that they would really like to ask and I can arrange it and I can fashion it then let us know and I'll do my best so that was it. Okay well on that great news I think we'll end there uh try to end there so again if you have anything for Rich's time in Qatar hit him up it's at richardjowett on x instagram threads I'm at MotoRGB and Instagram threads and X as well if you want to you can send your comments or questions for Rich's riders for Qatar to motopod at motopodcast.com and since that is everything that I can think to make sure that you get what you want in for Richard's trip I'm going to sell you ride safe. I'll just say Jim that people do have questions for the riders probably best to send them through the motopod email that you just gave rather than out on the live channels just keep it private and then you know I can then select the bits and the ones that I think you know I can actually work with if you know I mean in terms of who I get to see because don't forget I had this in more Superbike in Donington there will be press officers sat in the room with us so you'll get shut down if you ask to taste a question so I'll have to be done in a sort of um yeah in a constructive and interesting way but yeah I'll do my best anyway so people got some good ones yeah put them on the motopodcast that no what's the email address Jim I can never get it right motopod at motopodcast.com for any questions for Rich to ask the riders at Qatar. Okay ride safe everyone see you next time.