A Star Is Born - Looking Back On Portimão

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 road skin dot co dot UK Welcome to Motopod the internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 762 I'm Jim McDowell with me across the pond in the UK as always Richard Jowett. Good evening Richard Even a gym. Good evening everybody. We've got lots to talk about this evening.

It's gonna be a good show Yeah, we do there's some fantastic racing that's going on right there But we get the housekeeping to do rich and let's get that done here because uh, it looks like there's some new subscribers That we need to talk about well Yes As I said a minute ago Jim although we were brought up to be told don't ask because you won't get clearly if you do Ask you will get so we're gonna keep banging this drum because having made the call out to people last week Or on the last show at least to say look We've got lots of people downloading the show not so many people that are supporting the show from a financial standpoint I have to say that we've had a fantastic response to that So I'll just quickly go through the list but suffice to say if people can step up and sub to the show I mean, there's good reasons to do so which we'll talk about in a bit as well So just going through in terms of our subscribers through PayPal, we've got Alan Fleming Nick Saban nori ito new subscriber Thanks, nori Rick Taylor new subscriber. Thanks to you Rick. Carl Huns. Come on in the UK Carl brilliant to have you on board and Jacob is also a new subscriber through PayPal. I think that's Jacob No cow if I pronounce that correctly Jacob and then in terms of our patreon supporters, we've got Scott Baldwin That's come on board.

So thanks to Scott We've got in terms of some people that were already with us Oli Dennis kindig Jeremy Burnish Jacob Roa Darren Andrews who's increased his support of the show, which is absolutely fantastic Thank you, Darren Paul Lang Gary Shavit and Steve So that's an expanded roster of people that are checking a few quid each month into the pot Jim And in some cases a bit more than that. So again, we've got big plans for the show There's lots with we're putting in place lots of organizations We're going through at the minute to give ourselves access to the BSP paddock to the MotoGP paddock We'll be doing a little bit of world superbike stuff We'll try and expand upon that as well and motor America, of course is going to be exciting this year so yeah, the more we get the more we can do and Just to sort of further that thought some people might have seen and hopefully people are Subscribing through the social media channels in terms of X stroke Twitter and certainly the Instagram channel Which seems to be the one from a social media standpoint Jim that is I think has the most reach these days I think that's sort of the go-to channel So if you haven't subscribed to our Instagram channel, please could happen to so But anyway, those that already have will have seen that we have got a very exciting association Just launched with tag Honda racing in the British Superbike Paddock now tag have been in the champion for many many many years I've had a few lean years by their own admission But they're now officially Honda supported and really looking to grow and move the team forward So we will effectively become you know Partner of theirs and they're gonna give us a lot of exclusive access So we'll be talking to engineers team personnel riders, of course And we will be doing a deep dive as the BSP season goes on following them all year I'll get to as many rounds as I possibly can And we'll talk to people give us the questions you want answering about BSP and what's involved in running a team Sponsorship all of it, you know, it's all up for discussion I can talk to anybody in that team supported by Charlie very kindly in the team who looks after all this stuff So yeah, we're gonna be doing a lot of BSP stuff this year and Paul who I mentioned he's come on We're gonna talk to him about perhaps stepping in and doing some of this BSP coverage along with myself Jim as well So that will increase things a bit further going back a little bit to the why I like to think of the glory days of The show almost where there were four or five hosts that dropped in and out from various points and people had their own You know specifics in terms of what they liked to talk about in terms of which championship it was Motor GP will always be our primary focus, but the more we can do around all supers By the way, if anybody watched the racing from Catalonia at the weekend I mean, wow, that was just unbelievably good race and then we must talk about that very briefly towards the end It didn't take long did it Wow? I mean just yeah off the scale. Uh-huh So there's that there's BSP not a motor America. So I know Jim you're gonna be at a couple of rounds Scott Bolton again Been involved with the show for a long long time.

He's gonna get to a few rounds as well So lots of content coming and the more we can get support from the subscribers and the listeners the better it is for everybody So yeah, that's the the little kind of bucket rattling exercise done again Yep, so I'll remind you all if you guys can't contribute to the show. We understand we get that But please go do where you get your podcast leave us a rating leave us a review that puts us back up at the top again We're trying to be the best fan based moto GP podcasts or motorcycle road racing podcast Basically that exists and that's the goal we can't do it without you and the support that we get from you guys So with that that's enough housekeeping rich We got to talk racing because whoosh Wow, what a weekend, but I guess we technically should look at a quick bit of news Let's just do this real quick We learned over the weekend that out of her as a two-year deal to ride a Ducati in the pre-match colors for 2526 I no surprise that out of her was going to moto GP. There's a supreme talent there Mouth watering that is that the Acosta out of her championship battle could be here potentially We'll have to wait a year to at least see them both on the track at the same time So we'll talk about that now we do have one piece of Listener feedback and this is from Scott Baldwin. So thank you Scott for writing into us He's talking about the ride height devices in the whole shot devices that are on motorcycles He tried to summarize what he says here with it but basically he's saying hey you know everybody used to roll up for a start the same on the brakes to compress the front end to set the Whole-shot device but nobody does that this year everybody sort of rolls up there's a bunch of button pushing and whatnot that's going on and the bikes drop and Literally almost are on the ground me if you what they had a really good the Sunday start of Bastion easy came up to the grid spot. There's a reason why we were focused on that We'll get into that in the race coverage But when Bastion Eny was done that bike was the fairing of the bike had to have been no more than about two inches Off of the ground at the start of all that So the question is how is all this really happening now and what's what's going on?

So I think what they're doing This is my guess is that when Ducati came out with the both the front and rear ride height that were both active if you will to where you could change the shape of the bike with the front and At the rear at the same time I think that what they've done is they've taken that device or a similar Functioning device and turn it into the whole shot device. So basically they're coming up There's a set of buttons that on the handlebar somewhere that they can then push to get it to go down It's gonna do the same thing. It's basically hydraulic pressure That's basically pushing against something to push it down to that point of where it is So, you know, it could be as simple as simple as you know, we're just That type of a system and I think that's how they're doing at that point The rear ride height is as they would operate on the bike, but there I believe that there's two different buttons There's one for a start mode now there Scott does make mention that there was they were showing pictures of the handlebar and maybe it was Ben Yaya's Ducati, but there's two buttons that are forward of Where you can't see them, but the rider can look at it I think those are the two buttons that control the ride height at the start of the race Because they're able to have that time to stop look forward you could see Bashe and he look forward a lot when he was Setting it up. I think Marquez does the same thing. I think they're looking forward to find a button They're probably got some dimples in them as well to try to help the rider figure it out in his gloves Which one is which one does the front one does the rear now that rear setting is different than what would happen in the race They're not gonna drop the rear as far in the race as they would for the start So hopefully that it answers your question Scotters That's what I think they're doing and how I think that they're doing it so really appreciate the feedback Scott I will I will endeavor to see what I can discover at coda might be a little easier for me to see what's going on there at the track and You know depending on who I can talk to it coda inquiring minds may ask if I'm right or wrong about that.

So Okay, I think that's everything before we start talking racing right rich. Yeah. Okay. So with that Let us get into the race weekend. We'll start as always with the moto three guys.

We looking at Qp1 now, I think we should preface this a little bit rich There was a torrential downpour that happened on Thursday night that basically made the track Positively disgustingly dirty before pre-practice on Friday In fact, you can still see the remnants of a lot of the dust from the dirt and whatnot that was on the track It must have been a heck of a rainstorm to actually create that So, yeah, basically everybody's first pre-practice was literally just a waste as they were it was a track cleaning exercise I think didn't they red flag the first moto three practice because it just it was there was pointless I must admit I didn't see it but it was shocking how much dust was on the track actually It was almost Qatar ish wouldn't it in terms? Yeah, I thought we were the desert again. Yeah, it was weird Yeah, but I suppose it's close to the coast. So it must be a lot of stuff But yeah, it was very very dirty green as they like to say Yeah, so they did some track cleaning and then people went out there So much like in Qatar the motor two guys got sort of the short end of the stick on the weekend for Time and tires and stuff like that moto three got it this weekend So well, maybe with the next weekend in Kota, but everybody will get their fair share and we'll see what happens there But in that first session Yamanaka for us Otto and Perez they all come through that session to get it there So in the second session Adrian Fernandez crashed out at turn at turn eight I believe for a while Kelsa was on pole followed by Alonso and Rueda but Rueda had time left So he had gotten across the start finish line and he was the only one of a group of people who made it in again This is a classic moto three thing that I hate Everyone waiting in the pits to go out when there's like one minute left like guys How can you not back figure the Clock properly is no one taking a time of how long it takes you to get down the pit lane and you add that to what? It would take you for a lap plus some Margin of error but typical moto three but because of that Getting across the line just in time to make one more lap Rueda would Rueda would go on to take a stunning pole lap to nip Kelsa who would start second Alonso was on the front row then Holgardo Rossi and Vire were all finishing out the first Two rows that's kind of what we always think that being those first two rows motor three Maybe the first three rows so on there you had or told you had Vire or told Farrelly and Ogden on that third row so we're kind of seeing where it is Munoz having a terrible weekend on there He just did not qualify well at all when the lights went out on Sunday you Rueda Rueda got the whole shot Alonso was right there with him Holgardo He also got off to a great start with Ratoro and and and Esteban there so Yamanaka and Piccares the new kid on the block out at lay apart They both went down at turn nine.

It was basically Yamanaka crashed and Piccares had literally nowhere to go And he was on the ground as well Lunetta and he had a high side out of turn five and that was there This was this was this race comes down to Rueda Holgardo or told Alonso and Kelso Those are the guys that are the main players as this race shapes up and goes down some things go through here You know Munoz has a great start. He kind of comes forward, but he then fades back out again Kelso is always hanging towards the back of that line of people and You had Alonso who was at the front went backwards and went back to the front then went backwards and then went back again Kind of like Alonso's motif if you will in the race One of the things that's interesting about this because of the lack of free practice on Friday Where a lot of teams tend to do their long run and look at the tire situation tires were all over the place There was some people had hard fronts and soft rear some people had soft hard hards Some were soft soft there people had all kinds of different combinations that really you really couldn't follow But it did make it interesting because we were trying to figure out like who had what as the racing goes on Vire made a dash up through the pack. He was coming to it as well He had got himself up to like seventh or whatever but what was really interesting was Rueda was absolutely untouchable in that fourth sector as Rueda would would lead he would pull like two Maybe three bike lengths in that fourth sector his speed Actually, it was his drive out of 13 and the corner speed Carried through 14 15 that put him ahead of everyone as they would go down the front straightaway now the draft pulled Everybody back together again as you would expect in Moto 3 But it was interesting that he just had that much speed on everyone at that at that point in the game Alonso had a small miscue at turn three. He had to sit it up. He was late on the brakes He tried to avoid Hulgardo and get out of and get out of that situation But at one point somewhere around eight laps left to go in the race Alonso got to the front and it looked like he was going to try to get away He had a soft tire on the rear so it was odd to see Alonso look like he was trying to break away from people But maybe he sensed something that we didn't know about or maybe he felt like the tire was going to last but it was like Wow That's a different idea of how to win a race from Alonso when we expect him to sort of be riding around in that 456 position the interesting fact is the person who's riding around in that 456 position on a harder rear tire was Kelso Kelso did not want any piece of the drama that was in front He simply and if fire caught him and was right there and passed him Kelso would fight right back to maintain that sort of sixth Place so at one point they got really kind of separated and the racing was just sort of processional But it all got pulled right back together again when we got down to like four laps to go at this point Kelso had charged up from the sixth to a fourth Helgardo had gotten to the front ahead of a lot ahead of Alonso and Ruraita was back to third then Kelso Got squeezed back to sixth, you know as the as the racing gets a little bit more frantic and elbows come out The odd man out in the situation and this was on the main stretch was the fact that it was a double draft and I think it was Ruraita and Vier who were trying to split around Kelso and they got real close together and I think Joel kind of had discretion is a better part of Valor here and Just catches the throat closes the throttle just that little bit that allows them to go back And he now is back in like that sixth place again But what happens then is we get into that last lap where?

Helgardo who has been leading rides essentially the lap of his life Because he needed to have a little bit of a gap going into that final sector because Ruraita was right there the whole time But it became a two-horse race between Helgardo and Ruraita Helgardo would hold on and basically steal a race from Ruraita in my opinion I don't know how you saw that one Rich, but Ortola would be third Alonso is fourth Kelso takes a fifth with a Vier sixth a great Moto3 race I don't think we were really gonna see a balance tires threw this off a little bit as to where everybody was but essentially You know, it was those main players that were there For me Helgardo had a great ride. Would you agree Rich? He did I mean we mustn't forget that they're still figuring out the Pirelli tires in this class Although what I mean you've alluded to the fact that people were on different tiles But I think amongst that kind of front pack of five or six as the race went on It was only Kelso that was on the medium rear Yeah, so he was the odd man out so whether that was a tire choice It didn't quite work It was hard to really know because it looked like he was biding his time didn't it? But then for one reason or another he never really kind of was able to make that tire Work whether it was an advantage or disadvantage. Obviously, we don't quite know one would assume it was a slight disadvantage He didn't win the race But I mean Helgardo again, we've talked about this a lot Well, certainly through the back end of last year and as we kind of approached the beginning of this season He did have this kind of start last year So the question in my mind is can he maintain this through the year because he really is a very strong rider And I think probably I wouldn't quite go along quite as far as to say that he pinched it from Rureda because I mean Helgardo did lead a lot of laps.

Yeah, that's true. And he did look very very good I guess I kind of thought he kind of pinched it from just because of the fact that Rureda was so strong through 13-14-15 that Helgardo had to ride a really good lap and get through that last section because I think Rureda would have gotten him if Helgardo hadn't rode 13 as defensively as he did. So by all means it was a pretty good It was good work by him to do that Yeah, I mean they had relative strength and weaknesses at different parts of the track didn't they? Whether Rureda, because let's just sort of backtrack a little bit Helgardo was very strong in the first half of last year as we've said and had various bad luck and problems and tailed off Which cost him, you know a chance to fight for the championship But he will have gained an awful lot of experience from last year Rureda by contrast came in as kind of the next Pedro Acosta That was kind of the fanfare that he came in with and had a pretty quiet Yeah, I think he broke his leg or got badly injured at some stage in the season Yeah, there was some injury that he that he definitely I'm pretty sure He kind of went under the radar a bit last year and didn't really capture my attention too much through last year But clearly again with that first season under his belt in the full Grand Prix championship, you know He's come out all guns blazing this year But I think possibly Helgardo is just that little bit more mature a little bit more experienced slightly better racecraft perhaps So I thought was perhaps was Rureda over doing it in the first two thirds of the race in terms of as you say He was so quick to that final sector which does take a lot out of the tire whereas Helgardo I think is a bit more canny So I think he was planning his ambush You know the thing that we weren't quite sure about was Alonso gonna do a kind of last two lap kind of thing that He normally does and whether he burned his tire out because he just didn't feature in the end did he so? No, it was an intriguing race It wasn't the most exciting races But it was certainly it helps us to say I think how this season is gonna go and it's a little bit That via wasn't a little bit stronger in the race perhaps he didn't have a particularly brilliant Qatar But again, we're only two races in so I mean I'm wondering if Fire doesn't quite understand the Pirelli yet.

Yeah, he's one of the bigger riders as well So he should be able to put energy into that tire, right? I mean being bigger you should be able to put the energy into the tire But is that what the Pirelli needs does it need energy to work or is it a lighter touch that these other guys have? It just seems like to me that's one of the things I want to talk about was where's fire and all this he's 60 Didn't really have a good guitar. I think based on what happened at the end of last year I think we thought we'd see him on the podium by now Yeah, and he's not doesn't mean that he won't figure it out But you're kind of spotting the guys a little bit too much here. I get it We've got 18 or 19 rounds depending on whether you believe Kazakhstan's actually gonna happen or not So you don't I don't think anybody wants to spot anybody and then again you've got Munoz who finished ninth which was Weird as well like Munoz doesn't seem to have it figured out either maybe I'm not sure It's if this is one of the things that I'm really curious about is is the Pirelli What does it feel like compared to the Dunlap?

Where is it straight? Where's its weakness? You know, I don't know where that is But this little bit of tire intrigue that's been going on in both moto 2 and moto 3 is really Fascinating I like the idea that I mean I like the idea that people are picking different tires and different combinations I think you it was so bland for a certain time there with Dunlap I am NOT knocking Dunlap people and Dunlap is a great tire. Pirelli is a great motorcycle tire It's just the fact that it was like well, okay everybody's gonna go with a soft front and a medium rear everyone's with a Medium front and a harder or everybody's on a soft soft It was like the whole pack was always on the same set of tires. There wasn't anything different There's no bit of the chess match that you want to see happen between riders But we do kind of see that now again Is this just purely because of the weekends that we've had you the rain in Qatar that left the Moto 2 guys without as much practice this one because it was so dirty For FP one for moto 3 that all of this just is part of the chaos that I love to root for But it's a storyline that I want to see and see how it develops as we continue on down the season And let's not forget we've lost.

I mean they've gone up. So Dennis Anci is gone. Jam of Massey is gone Sasaki has gone So, you know the complexion of the championship is different with a number of very experienced key riders It would always be up the front. They're not there at the minute So that you know The competitive order is reshaping itself and it'll take a few rounds for that plus obviously the jeopardy and the opportunity that the new tires Supplier brings in to all of this as well One person that was noted always has been notable in the first two rounds by their kind of lack of progress is Tatsuki Suzuki for example. Yeah, it's surprising that he hasn't gotten there.

Yeah, I mean he's jumped onto Sasaki's bike You know the bike that was run around last season So there's a few people underperforming and you've mentioned union a couple of times that he would be another one But we're only two rounds in and yeah, there's been a lot of changes a lot of different riders in different teams and so on and so forth So it takes a bit of time for this to start to settle out But there's no doubt in my mind that a whole guard over a day and Alonzo are going to be in all likelihood The three guys that you know are sharing most of the wins this season I think those three names are gonna be on the podium more than anybody else. I'll give you that one Yeah, interesting note here as well first Honda 10th after the really kind of stunning Qatar round you to a tighter twistier Circuit the Hondas weren't weren't there. So Interesting, I think we kind of talk about faces every year. We have done for several years Yeah, there's a Honda's always a couple of steps behind the KTM and I know there are other brands out there They're all basically KTM. They're all KTM clones.

Come on. They are they are They are. Poor old Honda. I mean Poor old Honda. I mean Not something you would normally say but their relative woes in Moto 3 because they're not that far behind but as you say 10th first Honda home is not great obviously Moto GP will come to and Well, super bike is borderline disaster as well at the minute So the Honda are not having a happy time at the moment.

No, and the KTM is completely different this year It's not it's charge the corner slam on the brakes and flick it in drive it back out It's not the corner speed beast that it was. Yeah, okay I don't understand the complexity of it Jim. You probably do Well, you almost certainly will more than I do but the KTM is quite different this year Very much very takes a very different style of riding this year to make the KTM work it you have to just charge the corner Slam the brakes on and then bend it into the corner You you can't trail break it to the to the apex and carry corner speed in it Just doesn't work that way now Do you suppose that KTM have done that because of the tar change that they knew was coming or is it just a Honda of? Not kind of thought about this enough under always seem to get caught a little bit behind the game in recent years Don't know I mean they used to be the guys that set the tone No, but those days seem to be somewhat behind us now or behind them was at the point Well, I mean, let's be honest find me any Honda throughout history that ever really handled I mean you've said it some some okay. Some are better than others.

I'll give you the RC 30 That one right that was that was a very well balanced motorcycle and it was very good You know, it was obviously good enough to win a couple world super like titles So that's sort of the outlier but the RC 45 was a beast It didn't want a term you had to make it turn RC 51 kind of the same thing It was it labored to turn you can go through the history with that, right? Where was I going with all this? Oh the Honda's just don't really handle well They've always got power always have got a motor right there. Probably not in Moto GP They're probably the third best motor now as far as like top-end speed horsepower I'll put the KTM and I'll put the Ducati ahead of them, but I just don't think Honda is going to improve Their Moto 3 bike when their Moto GP team is suffering the way that they are I think the priority is gonna be to make the Moto GP bikes better and you know I agree that you Honda has been on the back foot in all classes here of light But I would not bet against them in the new rules in 27 with the 850 CC motors and you know the idea of you can change around bore and stroke to do something different I wouldn't put it behind Honda not to have a decent motor that comes out of that one whether it's in a decent chassis It's a whole nother world depending on what we do with with aerodynamics or whatever it is that we're going to do So with that I think we'll well unless you have something else about the motor three race to savers Well, not about the race. No, don't you think I'm gonna correct myself?

I can you know imagine people screaming at their speakers as they're listening to this I mean it must be said that Massey was riding a Honda and won the Moto 3 championship last year So it's not disastrous for Honda, but the KTM has moved ahead again this year as tends to be the case and Honda Have some catching up to do in Moto 3. I think that's probably the point It's not that disastrous, you know as a constructor that are let's say the reigning champion Although you people can take their issues with how the championship was won last year. We won't retread that Anyway, but clearly the Hondas have a bit of work to do to get up front and Leopard for various reasons new riders You know, they're not the power force that they were last season are they or not at the moment at least, okay So after two rounds Helgardo leads the championship on 45 points followed by Alonso on 38 Difference of seven or toll or toll is 20 out on 23 then Vire, Rureda, Kelso, NEPA For Asada Rossi and Esteban, that's your top ten You know or moto 3 and with that I think we'll move to the moto 2 Qualifying event so with moto 2 qualifying I think in the there was no Dixon again Jake did try sorry rich I know that hurts. It hurts me too. I I miss Jake on the grid.

I really do He was he tried to ride it was determined that Himself and team discussed it and he decided to withdraw That was a heart-wrenching decision that Jake made I understand why he made it I applaud him for Understanding there's not a reason to ride a motorcycle until you are better You get three weeks essentially now to heal even more before we get to Kota So I truly understand where he was there, but we had in you know, the QP one Chantra Chantra Agurra Marrera and Sena Aegis all got out of that first qualifying session and the second qualifying session Vietti had a Huge moment with it where he almost just threw it all away, but got it back, which was pretty crazy Gonzalez would sneak in to get a pole he had a lap coming from absolutely nowhere and it was a great lap where he pipped Kinet and Are sorry where he pit sorry where he pipped Kinet and out of your because It was Gonzalez who would take the pole out of your would be second because he ran in that back to third I out of your or no Kinet simply for didn't have the speed to get past in there if I remember correctly Come I know it's our little backwards there But then it was Alonzo and then Joe Roberts had really not set a time at all that looked competitive But he jumped up on his last lap to be fifth following up on what was a pretty good qualifying and racing Qatar Seemed like momentum was still with with Joe which was good to see in this part of it Aranis was there then I Agurra and Garcia and Chantra that's like the first three rows for the race So that's how that part of it worked So we go into the motor to race now this one is not a tire issue because everybody was on the sc0 tire Which is the softest one that Pirelli brings which I think that's almost exactly the equivalent of their world super black tire Yeah, that's what they were kind of suggest. I don't know. I mean, I've no idea I'm sure there's some difference to construction or whatever between them, but their compound range is essentially an SC0 and that's like I think world super black or Qualifies on those or something like that But aside over Pirelli really is the soltos tire supplier to formula one though the sole tires applied to motor to to motor three I would not bet against Pirelli being the sole tires There they are the sole tire supplier to world super bike. Sorry, British super bikes are all on Pirelli Yeah, it seems to me like Pirelli wants to be the number one dominant tire in the motorcycle arena Like I do not put it past Pirelli to be on MotoGP bikes here shortly You would imagine that they're gonna tender as soon as the opportunity arises. It would make a lot of sense Yeah, but whether you stray into issues around monopoly kind of territory I don't know because as you say they're pretty much the tire supplier everywhere.

I mean obviously not a motor America That's America that American Dunlop in it. Is that right in the super bike? Yep Dunlop it is Dunlop, you know, which that's simple quick side note I promise people say what you want about Moto America There's a lot of people who there's there's there's as many people in the camp of that They need to go to a Pirelli tire in super bike in super sport Just as much as there's as many people say no stay on the tires that you're on I I mean, I can't help but sit there and go if you want to go overseas Wouldn't you want to be on a Pirelli? Well, these these decisions are always contractual and money-based and sponsoring and I get stuff right and again, I I'm hunter. I know that the Dunlops are made in America here.

Ah Whether Pirelli has a place to make tires here in the US. I don't think that they do I think all their stuff is based in Italy as far as I know, but that remains to be seen I don't know what probably will do but anyway enough about Pirelli because because this motor to race is It's pretty good pretty good race at the very beginning If you notice out of your stuttered off the line and then got going and I was like my first thought was Did he jump because I couldn't tell if he like Went with the light and then clutched it because he had a little too much or was trying to slip the clutch and it was Too much and or it was wheeling and he went for the clutch something to that effect Wasn't too sure what was gonna happen happen there, but he was at the front with Lopez and Agura and Gonzales there can't and then Roberts As soon as they kind of got themselves settled up there a little bit Lopez just barged by out of her at Her turn 13. It was a you know, it was boss Akura on boss Kura crime basically because it was just it was brutal Completely fair and I loved it. It was if that's just the definition of hard racing That was basically where that happened then the bombshell drops out of her has a jump start now They slowed it down. They showed several angles of it I'm not gonna disagree.

They've got sensors and all this stuff to figure out if you know the rule You cannot move before the light but holy crap. I'll tell you rich Algar didn't did not miss that by much. I mean it was razor thin of him moving before the light and I was like man. That's cool. What was call?

I I get the call I understand the call but the penalty for the call is Two long laps of inconvenience and at Porto Mayo, that's a long Long lap penalty. Yeah, so it goes around the outside of 13. It's at the end of the lap around 13 It's like whoo. Okay. Wow, we're gonna have to watch what happens here with all that so now it's a it's a watch of what happens to out here because because it's Lopez can net and Agur are there at the front Roberts in fifth and our Bolino has snuck in there to like seventh which Expected more out of Tony there was bad qualifying by Tony.

All right, and then I thought okay Well, at least in the race, he's gonna race to the front that kind of how he does it But you know, we'll see how that turns out here But out of your goes through the first of the two long laps. He went in in second He came out in 13th that put him five point three seconds behind now you have five point three So you have five laps in which to take both of those long laps He waited a couple laughs because there was a gap that was opening up now. They never show us the pit boards I wish we could see the pit board and stuff. I believe that the team was time Hey look, there's a gap between you where you're running in 13th and the people that are 1415 If you run two more laps, which you're allowed to do before you take that next long lap penalty Then he would he was able to put his head down get that little bit of a gap and then go right back in To the long lap penalty get that done and get it back again Well, you're kind of attention focused there about what's happening Lopez just crashes out of turn 13 with a half a second lead Lopez was getting away. I don't think there's anybody who would deny that Lopez was inching himself away But apparently he just went too far too much and lost the front end.

Was he a little deep? Was he a little offline? Was he a little bit in the dirt that maybe should or should not have been there due to the rain? Don't know but it sure looked like he was just a little too much out there But a little too much front brake and front end buckles and underneath it goes I mean, it's a tricky one jiminy because you You shouldn't really be crashing out of the lead that early in the race But who are we and certainly who am I to criticize? I mean he was halfway.

He was trying to get away. Yeah, okay For some odd reason i'm a big fan of Lopez because some of his behavior on track has been quite questionable in the last couple of seasons I think that's putting it reasonably mildly, but there's something about the way he goes about things I mean that pass he put on alder good was a proper no-holds-barred move, wouldn't it? You know, he's got a bit of a point to prove, you know Because alder has got that Pramak jucati works contract in his back pocket and Lopez has been pretty good. I mean alder go okay You know, he's the man of the moment because he went on that rip at the end of last season and so on Whereas Lopez was better in the first half of last year So he perhaps feels a bit disgruntled and has a bit of a point to prove So whether that was a bit of a contribution to the fact that he just pushed that wee bit too hard and again Have to caveat everything with you know, these guys are still learning these tires They haven't had a lot of track time on these bikes Particularly as you said jim both at catar and here with rain and bad track conditions and stuff That's really eaten into people's time to learn So you just have to kind of give him a bit of a pass on that one I think but it was a real shame because he was doing well However, other good things would transpire as the race went on. So lopez will come back strong No doubt and I definitely think he's going to be a title contender all season long this year for sure Agreed while we were figuring out what was happening to lopez in the crash roberts got by agura and was in a podium position Jim casually looked and checked the just gesture drawer to see if the flag was still there and it was and then promptly closed the drawer Keep it under lock and key jim Yes, yes lock it under lock and key, you know, so as as it goes on Uh kenett's now leading roberts has gotten to second ahead of gonzala and agura out agur is eighth And he's 3.3 seconds down and the man is turning fast lap after fast lap after fast lap He is the fastest man on track and the question became I think he can win this I really really thought out agur could win this race because there was just enough time if he could keep Because he was what was he he was taking like four and five tenths out a lap It wasn't like oh, he's taking a tenth here and then maybe two tenths.

He was chunks It again understand it is a spec motor in a spec chassis class basically Okay, I know there's four bosca quarters out there, please. I get it But still he's flying On this thing and that's the point the point is he he's flying But the other question was is he going to just torch the rubber because we sort of had that happen in in katar If you had the medium that was the wrong tire to be on the soft was the right tire to be on well Everybody's on the soft but the temperatures are different. The track surface is different There's a whole bunch of other variables in here And if he's really pushing it that hard is he going to have any rubber left when we get to the end? Well, no one really knows and we're not going to know until we actually get there So out of her and arenas are are struggling to are battling with each other for fifth can it's got six tenths on roberts Roberts has got three tenths on gonzalez. And then there's another further eight tenths between gonzalez to agura.

So gonzalez would get by roberts at turn one and I was proud because joe fought back to get back in front of gonzalez again And he did it quickly. It was a couple turns later fought back got back in front I was glad to see joe have that fight in him and he just was like i'm gonna sell for the podium Kind of a thing. No, he he was fighting for where he thinks he should be which is at the front of the moto 2 pack And I agree with that as well. Uh, kenett was starting to slide away from people at this point You know, he was up to seven tenths. I think he was gonna break away You know basically after that everybody from two to five was all together grouped together positions two from five had gotten together So kenett is basically sliding away on this and you're everybody everyone's thinking it like this is is this going to be Kenett's first win he's had many of these taken to him mainly Him crashing himself out of the lead that he now had but we saw lopez do it So you're going well, you know you give it and you take it away You know, maybe luck is gonna fall to the proper side for erin if all that was gonna do there But at the end it was truly kenett.

He did win the race roberts would finish second Very proud to see roberts on the podium there, especially a little bit of a medium really good racing katar. He's he like he loves katar He's done well here at port de mayo. He's got his victory is here. Albeit in some really strange circumstances Let's be honest about that one and up front But that was a really good ride by joe to be on the podium to be their second gonzalez hangs on for third Outaguer could do no better than get to fourth He's followed by then all the boska chorus because outaguer it's outaguer agura and garcia They're all there to get to sixth and with v87. So that's how that is how the race ended again Fantastic for kenett to finally get that victory that has been long eluding him The emotion in pourout was just great to see from him the team the everybody else was super Excited for erin to get that roberts with a great ride He's got a shot at this if he can keep it going I can't wait for coda.

I want to see how joe goes at home and then you know you had And wherever is going to happen with outaguer. So this is another this is a really good moto moto two race It had sort of the crazy twist it had the long lap penalty for outaguer It had the crazy which was lopez falling off in front of kenett and kenett winning Yeah, it was a very in fact I'd go so fast to say the moto two race was more enjoyable than the moto three race Which was not something that you get to say all that often But again might be something we say more now that we've got the tire thing Messing things up you were saying about outaguer's charge The thought occurred to me if it's true that the tires they run in the moto two class Are quite similar to the world super bikes then there is a a lot of precedent for the tire drop in world superbike You know when the pirelli goes it really goes and we saw this with nico buliger in the first world superbike race on saturday He was way out front had like a five second lead with five or six laps to go And then top rack, you know his tire just went off a cliff and he had no grit at all My suspicion was with outaguer that that charge was going to cost him at the end potentially I mean, you don't know because it's a different class and the front was trashed I mean you could see the yeah the blister and the edge on the right side of that pirelli front it was trashed Yeah, I mean different bike to a lot of the others, you know setup is important Every ride is different in terms of their weight and how they position themselves, etc, etc, etc So you can no two bikes are the same. It's true But I think it's generally understood that you know If you take a lot out of them, you're going to pay the price towards the end Whereas connect could keep a fairly steady pace of fast pace, but wasn't having to overwork the tires Let's say out front or as I order gear put that charge in and it was a great charge because as you say at times He was half a second a lap quicker than the guys up front But you kind of did have that feeling that he was going to hit a bit of a brick wall So overall finishing fourth for him was a pretty good result given that jumped up double long lap penalty a question for you jim Because I I remembered this happened with and it sticks in my mind because it was cal crutchlow where he you know again An infinitesimal little move. I forget which race it was It's a few years ago now because car's been out of the main championship for a while But it's often occurred to me that obviously you have the line that your front wheel can't go beyond when you start the race Why can't they have an intermediate line of two or three inches beforehand which gives you a little creep zone You still can't go over the extremity line of your grid slot because otherwise you're starting to take an unfair advantage But I don't see why they can't stop a little bit further back if they want and have a little buffer zone where if they Move just a tiny little bit. They're within that range where it's okay Provided they don't go over the the main white line of their slot.

I mean thoughts I don't have a definitive answer to why it's that way. I have I understand why they do it is one If you have everybody on the front row and nobody can move right? It's the fairest start you can possibly have it's also the easiest way to judge a start as Comparison to when the light goes to when the clutch goes and to when the bike moves If you allow that creep in there somewhere everybody's gonna want that creep and then it's gonna become well He had his wheel three millimeters closer to the back white line than I did Well, he's got three more millimeters of creep than I got and that's not fair and you wind up with all kinds of craziness That happens in there. I mean dirt track. That's what we did.

You'd roll up to that line They would pull your tire to that line First thing you did was want to roll that back as soon as they could turn their back and they were off they couldn't touch you Everybody's going backwards because everybody wants to have that creep in the dirt, right? That's the first thing you do Um, it makes it really difficult to judge that and i've been on both sides of it Especially if you have have like a we would have sometimes a staggered start restart in dirt track So the first guy then to my left was the guy running second third Whatever, dah dah dah dah as you go back and then they'd work the other way It's the problem then is that the only thing anybody's watching is the front guys, right? That's the other problem because if you let that go there's gonna be so many There's only so many eyes that are looking at the grid and there isn't there isn't one person for every bike looking at whether or not They're going or not, right? There just isn't well there was obviously a pressure sensors on the line on the grid now, don't they? Yeah, that's what i'm saying.

This is my point really. I mean bloody hell if you look back at a race from the 1970s I mean some people are three feet up the road before the light or the flag drops I mean it was an absolute joke back in the day Whereas now we've got technology the sensors so they can detect it But my point is if you've got a grid box, let's say it's a you've got a foot that you can stop in So your front tires on the ground there's a sensor in the ground Which can detect movement if you're three inches back from the absolute extremity of where you're allowed to start in terms of that grid slot And you creep an inch you you might get a penalty for that. Whereas you haven't really taken any advantage. That's my point I mean, maybe i'm wrong. I don't know this is something perhaps But if nobody else is rolling and you are then you have an advantage Not if you're beyond your grid a lot of grid slot, you're not because you know You can start you can start several inches further anyway, provided you don't move I believe that if you have any bit of momentum it is better momentum than anybody else, right?

So if you're if you're cutting enough to be able to you know, again the pressure sensor is there but what triggers it? so if i'm smart enough to Be able to adjust my bike so that when I let go of the clutch And I start that roll I can get the bike to wheelie a little bit or transfer weight off the front Am I going to trip the pressure sensor or not? How many guys are going to try to go after that one? Right? We have enough problems with tire pressure sensors, let alone wheel sensors to figure out whether you're moving or not Let's just not even go now.

I know we've also introduced more Yes, we can't do any of that from a spectating point of view, you know having somebody get a long lap I don't think that matters to I don't think that that I mean, oh, sorry. I guess I cut you off I shouldn't have done it Please explain your point because I think what I was going to answer is not what you were going to ask So well now all I was going to say again was that you know when these things happen and a rider gets a long lap Or a double long lap from a spectator's point of view it Introduces interest because they've then got to fight their way through as indeed aldegaard did but from the rider's point of view It must be a real kick in the what's it's when you've told away to get that position and then you know, you your front Moves what a few millimeters centimeters And you get that level of penalty just seems a bit tough to me And I just wonder if there is a better way but at the same time, yes, I do take your point That's not introduced yet more controversy. There's enough of it already normally I thought you're gonna say like all spectators don't care about what what happens there at all at the start of the race And i'm going like no way. No way everybody can understand a jump starter or not. Oh, yeah No, no, I think everybody understands and is as you know is invested in every aspect of the race Certainly the people that listen to this show Oh, yeah, watch the races like we do we we're over every little detail That's why we're talking about it more than we ought to be ad nauseam, right?

Yeah Okay, so With that let's look at the moto 2 world championship Kinet is now leading the world championship on 31 points roberts is in second place on 29 points Then we have gonzalez garcia lopez agra baltis Ramirez vietti and arenas So let's say one last thing jim. Sure. Go ahead. Love love love love joe robert's new crash helmet design. Yes, it's brilliant I love it, too I like it.

I like it a lot too really sweet. It seems like he's really gelled again with uh american racing team because I didn't quite understand the whether he was still Getting coaching or advice from hopkins or not because hopkins stayed with american racing when joe went over to talatrans But I don't remember if he was going back and forth a little bit in that Or if there was really as much time that they could spend together because I think really technically hopkins's American racing's rider coach. Yeah for those riders and i'm wondering if it's just Having him back again that just kind of maybe puts joe at ease a little bit You know as far as I remember hopkins is a californian too Yeah, so I mean it's one california into another laid-back california. I mean laid-back california anyway, but you know, but that's a stereotype, right? He's Roberts that is certainly seems much more comfortable back He does I don't know what caused him to leave whether he just fancied past his new thought it might kick on his career Which it didn't so he's kind of gone back and but I don't see it as a backward step to go back there No a sideways move perhaps although actually saying that based on the results from the first two rounds.

He's actually taking a step forward, doesn't he? So yeah, and ramirez doing pretty well as well I know it's controversial the way that all spun out at the end of last year with you know The riders that were in that team set up getting kind of binned off late in the day, which wasn't great But anyway putting that to one side american racing having a pretty solid start to the year, which is Good for all the american fans and elsewhere as well great great for the american fans with that we will go on to moto Gp and go to the first qualifying uh costas in that first group, you know nice only just only only just Just uh, but then you know, I think everybody else is there who you would expect to be there of the leftovers Acosta is the outlier of it all but alex marquez Pipped acosta by five thousandths of a second to be the fastest man in that q1 session But what really counts is your q2 session? Well rins and quattraro actually made it directly to the q2 the two. Wow. Let's try that again Made it directly into q2 Those two made it directly into q2 jim has it right now, which was great to see marquez Was down at turn 15.

He had tucked the front and took a very long slide along the pavement there again you See marquez I think struggling to understand the ducati because I think in that moment of front end griplessness That he went to the diverged idea of how he raced the honda Because that's what he knows and that's not what the ducati won. Well In at some point on the sunday it transpired I heard that he had actually activated the rear ride height device a wee bit too early and unloaded the front Which is why he crashed. Oh that was what caused the crash and qualifying. That's what i'm sure that's what they said Yeah, so you just press the button a wee bit too quick That's a bit ballsy way back there 14 down the hill and you're gonna drop the back end. Yeah, that's ballsy But then again marquez has got balls i ain't gonna because it was noticeable Let's not get ahead of ourselves or not get ahead of myself, but he crashed quite a lot this weekend Didn't need you.

Yeah, that's where the old marquez showed up where he likes to fall off So he's starting to explore the limits, but I do think that that qualifying crash Uh was just a a slight glitch Well, it was a mistake on his part But an understandable one given that you know, he hasn't got much experience on the ducati and it just caught him out Because when did d when did gg walk into marquez's pit and talk to him was that after qualifying or was that after the sprint? I can't remember. I can't remember. It was qualifying. I don't know.

I just know dg walked in there I wish I would have noted it more succinctly But they had a long conversation with each other and dg gave it jg had the goatee stroke going and yeah And he's been intently as to what happened fulsome in his praise of marquez, hasn't he? Uh on some of his social media posts as well He I don't know if he has somebody doing it for him because obviously he's italian and but his his english is absolutely outstanding And if you read any of the stuff that comes out on linkedin and the various social media channels Yeah, very very eloquent guy and it's clearly a big marquez fan because the chat is already started about whether marquez actually goes up and partners Bagnari next year in red tasty thoughts there, isn't it? That is going to be a discussion point. Well, although What happened on sunday might have put a slight dent into that but we'll come to that Details rich details. Yeah.

Oh, so, uh, where were we? Oh we were into we were into qt discussing marquez's crash Well, we one thing we didn't talk about Acosta in that first session that the front end just going down 14 Just absolutely just hammering that front end on that bike In fact acosta loses the front and grabs it so much quicker than what marquez Marquez ever did in the time that he was on his honda like marquez would have had the front fold would have been on the bow Picked it up and gone on leaving a big blackie from the front acosta felt that way before marquez would ever felt that And then you know, it just seems like and it just didn't faze me went right back out there and just wobbled the bike around Even more it just it did it harder. It was Stunning to watch acosta come through the qt to q1. It was starting to watch him all weekend jim To be honest, we're gonna get there I mean I'm conscious that we mustn't irritate the listeners too much because you and I obviously as I think yeah The vast majority of people are kind of looking at all this transparent thinking this It almost doesn't seem quite real But before I forget to mention it because we were talking pre-show The blip is his moto 2 2 years where he would almost look Yeah, not ordinary because he won the championship but conventional on a moto gp bike He's looking like he did on a moto 3 bike Isn't he and you can talk about it more in terms of what he's doing with the front end But boy god does he put some force through the front of that bike and yes He does pivot the rear end around even more so than say brad does on the ktm and that's saying something No, if anyway sideways, it's him and it seems like a cost us even more sideways But let's get back to the qualifying. We'll discuss those we'll come to that when we get to him Yeah, just don't let me forget to talk about that.

Okay, uh so Uh, where are we at martin had got a lap cancelled because of track limits is the only Conversation about track limits that happened all weekend long and it very was blatantly done So there was no that was correct call take that lap away, which they did Martin went to pole. He was invested by bastionini But then y'all is then best at martin to be third then yaya would be fourth on the grid followed by miller bizecki Acosta would qualify seventh marquez would be eighth then quattro Binder and rins and that qualifying session. So that's where we are. So we go to the sprint on saturday at the sprint Mir almost crashes on the siding lap. Did you happen to catch that?

Oh, I didn't it was no Oh, yes, uh beer about threw it away on the siding lap. Um, uh, it was It was crazy Because he had basically grabbed the front brake or whatever it just didn't work and it was really odd that that was there When we saw a paige or acosta on the grid, his eyes were closed. It was full concentration full visualization He seems as though he can sort of black out the distractions and really come and find that center that he needs to be in um, then we we uh We saw as they came to the line bastionini was having trouble with the hole shot device He was pushing up and down on the bike trying to collapse the forks trying to make it work He really couldn't get it to work. I'm like, oh, okay. This is going to be interesting here It was he going to what are we going to do?

He did get the back end Dropped down but the front end was definitely not locked or for some reason he couldn't activate it or got it out of sequence again There's a very specific process it takes to put these bikes into a launch condition. There's a mode probably for the ecu There's a mode for the rear. There's a mode for the front It's got to be the front first then the rear and then they sit down It was definitely interesting to watch what amount I will call it minor panic by bastionini as to what was going to go on And you could see in the body language He was like i'm just not going to get a start here because he knew what was going to happen because everybody else has got theirs Right, but he's going to do his best. It did wheelie a little bit off the line I will admit but he wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it still Was not the best start compared to what everybody else did miller would lead into the first turn g that ktm off the line Right, we know how good it is as always then yes, then banyaya then vinyalas then bastionini Then mart marquez and then martin pager would fall back To 11th at the start of that marquez put on a hell of a ride to go up to fourth and push bastionini Back to fifth marquez would go up to third because he would just stuff on that motorcycle wherever he could put it There was that aggressive marquez that you hadn't seen So in years in two or three years because he was riding on the front He was trying to put the bike in places. He shouldn't have put it and getting away with it So he kind of saw that old marquez come back rins went down at three At turn three zarko was down at turn five the rear stepped out on bender and he went down to Uh akasta got to seventh marquez was all out of shape in turn five He was all over at the bike was just twitching back forth whichever way Um, it was amazing to watch that day because turn five is the downhill bottoms out there and to get back up martin got by Uh marquez which was a great move kind of did what marquez does to everybody else banyan is out front going away Followed by vinyal's martin mark marquez miller banyan akasta and then banyan goes wide Into turn one a rare mistake by the world champion.

I don't know if it was they say the wind was coming from behind So they had a bit of a tailwind. I don't know if you misjudged that a little bit I don't know if he just got the braking wrong You if you break wrong and you're going down that crest the back end is going to come up more than you expected It could have moved around on him. He had to set it down had to let off the brakes He runs wide and he falls back to fourth. It was all kinds of sideways there and he just was swapping sides It was again a rare mistake by vinyaya. He vinyaya has this sprint race won, but he doesn't well that then leaves vinyal's out front followed by martin followed by mark marquez and We finish off with vinyal's getting by martin To win the race followed by mark marquez and martin falling back to third because there was some great riding by Both vinyal's and mark marquez to get by in the last couple of laps Vinyaya would struggle home to fourth then miller then bachini akasta would go seventh then it was alaysh Then quadtraro and round top 10 was raul fernandez.

The sprint was intriguing. We didn't we saw a mistake from vinyaya We saw martin who was the sprint god Seemed to be normal in that race marquez is on a podium with a ducati granted It's just a sprint but we're seeing flashes of the mark marquez brilliance that's in the background and then there's vinyal's Sorry gary, uh with the win. It was like, okay the Everything got switched on. I I think it's just a really weird sprint race, right? And no matter how you slice it Where do we start with vinyal's?

I mean He Again sick before the weekend started. Yeah, I mean It was not the weekend really that you would have expected him to have done Well, I mean crucially got the bike off the line. I mean, that's always really he's always quick Sometimes he doesn't really qualify as well as he should given his practice pace But his big weakness in recent times Well pretty much all through ever since he left sezuki As far as I can recall is that yeah, he just always seems to have problems getting off the line now Whether that's a him thing or a bike thing, you know again We don't know he's always sort of insinuating that certainly with regards to the aprilia that there are improvements required to the start procedure The clutch etc, etc. So well, okay. Sorry gary, but you know, we're gonna sing his praises a little bit here You know, he's a phenomenally fast rider and as much as he irritates the hell out of me I've always liked vinyal is I still got one of his t-shirts up in the drawer So which is from his sezuki days to be fair, but I was always a big sezuki fan But I just thought it was great to see him up the front and to win a sprint I know it's not technically class as a full grand prix win, but I don't really care about that jim I don't know if you've kind of got any views on this but as far as i'm concerned in some respects Winning a sprint is an achievement, you know That's very very different and difficult because it is a much more intense race and it was pretty frantic at the beginning of that race It has to be said So I thought vinyal was outstanding to be honest with you and okay banyaya Slightly take issue with you that you know But in terms of not making mistakes very often because he is prone to making mistakes and sort of throwing race-winning opportunities away Well, I was only thinking I can only really think of like two I mean he did coda last year and then I guess he gets a mulligan every year somewhere I mean everybody kind of gets a mulligan.

Yeah, he does fall off I guess a little bit more than what I really earlier in his works Ducati career that first year which was what would have been 2020 or 21 He did make a lot of unforced errors, but he's a much different much more accomplished rider and he's a world champion So okay fair enough whether it is win that caught him out or just a little mistake as you say It wouldn't take much because it's so fast going down that hill into turn one I mean, you've only got to be a millisecond late or do something different and that's what's going to happen So but yeah, just really pleased to see vinyal as get a win good for him good for aprilia apart men than else I think is also important. I mean I tweeted out, you know in all the elation towards vinyalas, which was totally well deserved. I think You know the whole team. Oh, what's his name? It's escaping me now But the team manager he deserves a lot of credit because he's really gelled that team together and you know Brought vinyalas in which people were surprised about at the time given the nature of his departure from yamaha a couple of seasons ago But it's starting to gel.

So yeah, I was personally thought that was a great podium with uh, mark marquez in second I mean, that's a standout ride from him as well. So yeah lots to point towards some really great racing this year Dude, I think we're in for some really good racing to be honest with you. It's it's it's all shook up You know, it's the it's the what is it is the fox among the chickens, right? Because you've got marquez. He just isn't going to care and with akasta Good grief.

Yeah He's like, whoa boys and girls. So with that let's go let's go to the main event, right? The 25 laps that we do on sunday martin got a whole shot marquez was charging up from his eighth place grid spot Morbidelli ran off then or was out but then rejoined later on from a crash What is the sad state of morbidelli? He's on a pre-match ducati and he still looks as bad as he was when he was on the yamaha We know now aldiger aldiger. Sorry has his seat rich.

What's going on there world superbike bound. That's what I think I mean unless he gets some sort of a let's not forget in all likelihood both seats at pramakera Next year, so we know aldiger's on one I find it a little hard to believe that martin will stay there Even though the team are obviously saying they want him to of course of course are saying that but he's going to want a works Bike somewhere else. He does have works bike. Well, what I mean is he wants to ride for the works team So, yes, technically, yeah, he's on a 24 bike So he's not any material disadvantage, but he doesn't have the kudos and I think he well We know that he felt pretty hard done by by bastionini getting the ride previously. So Morbidelli though unless he gets rescued by vr 46 But that could end up with him back on the yamaha as well, which probably wouldn't be something that anybody would necessarily want.

So Yeah, I think probably His time is starting to look shaky I mean he had a colossal crash at portimao preseason which ruled him out of all of the preseason testing. Let's not forget So he is yeah, he's behind he's on the back foot really on the back foot at the moment and struggling with injury again But that's been the case for what the last three years now. I forget where he really injured himself badly I think it was a crash at lamor Did his knee in and he's never been the same rider since So I think it's like starting to look a bit shaky for poor old frankie morbidelli. Yeah Yeah, so alex marquez would fall at turn five. He tucked the front ralph fornandez crashed Miller went wide at turn one and both bender and akasta leapt by to get ahead of him Martin is out front.

He's kind of pulling away. Vinales is right there keeping pace with him bastionini Bagnale are battling with marquez their bender than akasta now this next portion of the race The front four guys are where they are and there's not really a lot that's going to change The action is all around a kid named akasta because akasta gets by bender And on a hard move hard, but fair right and he gets by then akasta immediately just Dropped bender like he would have thrown the anchor out and put it into reverse and he Raced up within two laps was right with ben yaya the world champ Now the kid doesn't even care at this point because that's just another motorcycle. It's in he just puts a pass on ben yaya Going into one that is probably one of the if it doesn't become the pass of the year It is a strong candidate for it because he comes in hot he leaves the braking Way later than he probably should have he clears ben yaya and he knows he's got a problem because he can't get to the apex so he Throws the bike in dirt track style. I mean you could Easily have been looking head-on and been able to read gas gas on the side of the bike because he's that sideways with it Now as you as richard said earlier, he's riding like he rides his his moto three bike He wants a different apex that's earlier and tighter so he's got it slowed down or And he's ready for it. He turns the gas back on but as we said rich he was riding only the Second race.

Well, I guess one two three fourth race on that bike in the moto gp class I think he was running on talent alone. He makes the decision to ride sort of like his moto three bike He throws the gas on but that's not right the thing to do Because this bike has power and grip which now picks the front back up Pushes him off his line of his apex and akasta just simply cracks the throttle turns it on and makes it go Sideways again and finishes off that corner. All this is within a blink of an eye I had to back it up like three or four times One of the things I think about this that's so amazing about akasta is he's riding it like it's a moto three bike He has lines that are so different than anybody else carries the corner speed amazing trust in the front end There is something about the fact that there's a ktm dna lineage here that that moto gp bike Has inherently some I know it doesn't really have genetic makeup But it has some makeup in it that is exactly like what akasta had before and he's Flourishing on it because it's natural to him. You know the best description I can give you to use I'm a big honda fan. I love their cars.

I love their civics. So i've had si's a crx I wanted the type r I bought a type r and I was worried because they won't let you test drive one I'm like am I making the right decision? Well, I get in the car. I started up It makes that same sound that every civic makes when you start it It makes the same sound in the gearbox when you go into reverse backwards and it has the same little notchiness for second gear That all of them seem to have there's something about the dna of that car that I understand and I love Akasta has that same relationship with this Motorcycle and you are going to see some wizardry from this kit with that on the flip side to all this is The ktm isn't that bad of a motorcycle and it makes you wonder what jack and brad are doing because unfortunately Akasta is shading them right now I mean they always say jim the best riders the best drivers depend on what your poison is outperform the machinery that they've got and You know every so often I mean, I know we've said it and we're gonna sound like broken records And we're gonna do this a lot this year. I'm afraid Every so often a talent comes along and it just outperforms Well, it does two things it outperforms the machinery potentially if the rider driver doesn't have the best machinery and Yeah, just the pure talent just shines through I mean I said to you before we started recording jim with regards to Akasta we were furiously swapping whatsapp messages during the race on sunday We were you don't know what you don't know and so Akasta Doesn't know what a pre-aerobike is like.

He's only familiar with this 2024 machine so he's just Riding it as he feels is the best way and you know, the best way is clearly very very very fast So I mean it must be scary for everybody else out there at the moment because he's putting some hard Clean but hard moves on the very very best that are out there at the moment and it's going to be As I sort of only half jokingly wrote to you on jim It's going to be hastening the early retirement of one or two riders or moving to world superbike or something like that Because yeah, these people come along every so often I suppose this is the second part of what I was trying to get at earlier on I lost my train of thought That they kind of shift the goalpost This is kind of what we saw with Marc Marquez when he showed up on the honda an extreme front end Style that he had across is kind of doing the same thing But it's on a 2024 aero dominated bike. So it's a bit different And may I just sort of recount the john watson thing that I said to you because I think this is how one or two people It's true. It's true. It's very true I think this is how one or two people are going to feel so back in 94 after senna was killed in inmela the bbc here in the uk ran a little documentary show on him And they happened to interview john watson who was a very accomplished formal one driver multiple race winner in his time And he was out on track testing at brand's hatch I guess this would have been about 83 84 when senna first turned up in the tolman or possibly Would have gone across to the jps lotus at this point Anyway, the point was that senna overtook watson in testing at brand's hatch and up through the hawthorns the back end of the track up towards The old dingle dell corner watson said he just was in awe watching this car in front of him and the words that came out Of his mouth were in those three corners I knew my time in formula one was effectively over because senna was doing things with the car in terms of that He had that that sort of furious pumping of the throttle method which in the turbo days You had to keep it spooled up on the turbo beast So he just was kind of like floating the car three on pure, you know wheel spin and sliding and you kind of see I don't understand riding bikes well enough even though I do ride a bike but an appallingly poor Level and you'll be much better place to talk about this an i-engine But even I can see that a costa is riding the bike in a way that looks different for everybody else a You can see that his lines are different. He was much tighter, which means he's earlier on the gas Coming out of some of the terms important now and going into the turns.

Well, that's a whole other story I mean you could spend hours talking about that because the bike is like way out of shape sideways as I think I alluded to Early period 990 cc moto gp when the electronics weren't there and they were kind of backing it in because the slipper clutches were So kind of underdeveloped at that stage He's putting so much trust and speed in the front end and he's pivoting the bike By throwing the rear end out as well and he's doing all of that whilst overtaking people and cutting a tight line So he's definitely moving the goalposts and a few people are going to be scratching their heads chief amongst them His teammate augusto fernandez And jack miller I would think as well I mean binda I think had a bit of an off race because I think he was trying some stuff on the bike and it didn't quite Work out and he'd had a bit of a rough weekend. Anyway, he crashed on the saturday. So You know binda's a stellar talent as well But there's absolutely no doubt that the costa and him are going to be teammates and the question at the moment is is that Going to happen within this season? I don't think it happens in the season I hope it doesn't because I think it's better that the costa's in gas gas and just purely for have a poncherole I want to see him smiling his way through a whole season with this kid and his team because he deserves it You're so right about how a costa rides. It's so different than anybody else and It is I think he has I don't know how to say by skill by luck or whatever He's figured out that because you have to have these harder tires That you have to work with with the air pressure and stuff with the aero that the only way to ride is to ride it harder The harder you ride it the better it sticks and if it sticks now I can pivot the back and he's just changed it Fundamentally because everybody else if you look at everybody else on the grid who's there?

There's some exceptions. There's a few that aren't there. I guess if fornans pops out that Most everybody rode moto gp bikes before they became aero dependent super aero dependent, right? I mean some of them, you know, there's the little wings in the front that we're playing around with But now these things are ride height devices and they move and they change shapes and all this other stuff and a costa Just changes shapes with it. He just doesn't care because he said he doesn't know I think of it this way a costa is this rare breed.

He has he has everything you would ever want He has the racer part of it down pat, right? He also has this ability to manage races and learn While he's doing it at a high level, you know It's the great all the greats have used 90% of their brain to race But 10% of his thinking about what else is happening around you and where everybody else is and where are they weak and where? Where are my competitors weak and where am I strong? Where can I take an advantage? He is an absolute dream of a person to have as an interview for the things that he says I mean the the comment of matt oxley will you put your balls on and go?

That's just gold in a way that no one else is going to do it and yet he still has that assassin style Of going after people and not caring that that's mark marquez or that that's peko ben yaya Or that is who brad bender it doesn't matter. He's still going to go after you He has all this and the the thing of it now is is that you look at it It's all raw and we're going to watch this mold and change in shape as he Really figures this out and then becomes a true bonafide superstar like we're talking if ktm can continue the bike Development and give him incrementally something better He's going to become dominant at world championships to the point that this may be the person who actually beats rossi's nine, right? Well, he's certainly that kind of epoch changing. He's that kind. He's that kind of he is definitely So, I mean it's it's phenomenal I I cannot begin to try to explain to everyone Where akasta is on the thinking scale, which is the part that's there He if you wanted to have the dna of the ultimate racer you would have the brain of wayne reyney You would have the skill and natural ability of like a freddy spencer with the assassin's creative mark marquez If you had all that mixed together, that's pedro akasta And he still has respect for the other things in this world that don't really he's humble he understands his place You know, I mean his father was a fisherman.

I think right that's akasta's dad. Yeah, that's right But he's his hero is michael dunlop, you know from the roads He's just absolutely positively brilliant in what he does and how he does it and that can't be coached That's just him being the person that he is Yeah, there's a little bit of the kind of the rossi free spirit about him at the moment and let's hope that that doesn't get He can't lose that driven out of him through success and through you know He'll have to become a bit more corporate Although they already are, you know, very well trained when it comes to this sort of thing by this stage But you hope that that essential kind of magic that that love that you can clearly see that he has that you know That real sort of pizzazz for everything around what he's doing You hope that that doesn't get kind of driven out of him as the cynicism grows because that You know there's a degree of inevitability about that as people's careers wind on but he's right at the very very beginning And to be doing this in the second round is just jaw dropping really and he hasn't told saxon ring to be the youngest writer to win of ogp race plenty of opportunities and I think in the last show gym we were saying, you know, we were Surmising that we could foresee a podium come in. Well, there it is, you know, so now a win I mean the other thing that we shared is that if there's a slight weakness and then I emphasize the word slight in very small Font it would be you know The the single lap pace to get himself on the first one or two rows if he what not if when he gets that win figure Out and that could be within the next one to two rounds You know, he will definitely be a contender for for race wins Then because at the moment he's having to come through from what row three or four or five And that's a disadvantage particularly in this era of bikes with all the aero so But it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much So I mean lucky in a sense for him that they changed the tire pressure rule But well lucky for everybody and particularly for the spectators as well Um, so he doesn't have that worry of getting, you know, binned out of a race on a penalty at the end But I mean, it's absolutely just mouthwatering. Isn't it every race coming up at the moment? Uh, it is you've got a resurgent potentially a resurgent aprilia in there as well marques come in on the gcatches He figures it out.

I mean loads to look forward to I mean, we haven't stopped talking about the race yet But because we got sidetracked by you know, the wonder kid But yeah, there's wasn't really a an awful lot more to talk about really because the costume was the the big sort of show stealer Yeah He is he stole the show but he stole it for other reasons too because as he got past benya Martin was trying to break away martin was is there with vinyals and all that and really you now have settled in you you've got martin vinyals bastionini You got akasta. They're just there hanging out and you're wanting to see just where it's going to go It's settled in and you thought okay. This is it akasta misses the podium. He's going to be fourth, you know, that's okay But you know the racing god smiled upon us with the final Fourish laps to the point where marquez puts his head down to try to get to the podium So he gets aggressive and he gets aggressive on on Banyaya to which then they go to turn five and well marquez puts the move on But he runs in tight, which means he goes why he's gonna vee it off if you will square the corner and dive back down Well, who's there but benyaya the two of them come together in touch They fall off it was deemed a racing incident rich. Are you okay with that or do you think somebody's at fault?

I'm totally okay with that. I think I thought it was a pure racing incident 100 behind you It was a racing incident. I would say 50 50 in actual fact I mean a lot of people have been saying are 70 peco or you know vice versa whatever for me complete 50 50 I'm a 60 40 peco only because of the fact that You saw marquez go by you were able to see what he was going to do. He was going to come back I don't argue you trying to get to that point But you kind of should have been prepared for at least the contact that you were going to have But I think that applies to mark marquez as well because he might well have known having gone a bit wide that banyaya would probably Come up the inside. They're both unsighted as well because one's looking left and leaning off the bike The other's kind of in a blind spot.

So that's why I go 50 50. I mean, it's just one of those It's one of those things again. It's just it's that's going to happen because this is what you're going to see because this championship By this happening and seeing what's developing here. This championship is wide open There is as much as I thought early in the year man. Wow, banyaya's facile not to call it.

This 24 bike is insane Here comes the third championship in a row. Well, akasta is going to be a cool side note No, it's like all this is now front and center including the akasta portion of it the marquez resurgence that's happening Oh, and by the way, we've got a rivalry back again, which jeez like we just didn't like We have been smiled upon for this season because this is how it's going to be all year long jim Also, I think the significance although there was a little bit more significance to the banyaya Marquez crash not so much the crash itself because as we've just said, I think that was pretty much shared responsibility there But you know, that's two bulls in the same field that one's in the works team The other could end up in the works team, you know There's a lot that's staked there and although he had his visor down, of course You know that'll look that banyaya shot across the marquez as they were kind of trudging off Marquez was busy picking his bike up and I think he did remount and rejoin the race whereas banyaya didn't but You can just feel that this one's going to boil up and boil over A good few times and I would not be surprised if the next occurrence is at cota actually because marquez is obviously going to be Strong there and banyaya's got was good there last year. I know he crashed in the race, but Yeah, there's going to be I think that's going to be a season-long Story because there's quite a bit of politics behind the scenes there and some big egos for that matter as well Yes, there are it's very very spicy for us to watch So spicy anyway We're still not done with all the craziness because as we head to the final lap, of course now this this crash Here here this still has akasta off the podium at this point But what happens now on the last lap is that you get vinyalas on the last lap having a problem with the bike He goes in he basically all of a sudden he was always catching martin but on the straightaway martin would pull away and this time it was like Even worse because vinyalas had kind of gotten by martin I think a little bit there and martin come back by It was like oh there's like wow like what happened to the bike and some people said well He's he was celebrating early like galashe did in catalonia. I'm like, no that body language is not that to me I thought we were whatsapping back and forth. We thought the bike had run out of gas I really thought that was a probability.

Yeah, but it wasn't because Vinyalas then carries on to turn one. He runs wide he then falls With all you know gets sort of high sided off the bike come to find out it was a gearbox problem The bike wouldn't go into sixth gear occasionally He'd keep trying and eventually it would which meant he was down on Speed because he was in fifth running on the rev limiter instead of running on sixth there The gearbox packed up and was done and so that then gives acosta The podium that we wanted him for him to have martin wins Bastianini is second great. I love bastianini being second. That was fabulous acosta's third then it's bender miller besecki quattraro Alish Olivera and dj antonio in the top 10 marquez would get a 16th credit for a 16th position I do think he because zarko got the last point so it is a wild and wooly Crazy season that we were going to see and the best part was when they interview acosta for he says well You know we did pretty good today, but we really need to work on our one lap pace and qualifying He knows that that's what he's got to fix he knows he can race with them He knows he has the bike to race with them. I can't imagine being pit buyer I'd have to have a grinectomy because literally I would not stop smiling the whole time Like I couldn't I wouldn't be able to stop myself and then you know and then acosta thinks What is I don't think his person but peyote?

Is the head of the group of the ktm group? He thanks him he turns you know, thank you Thank you to pit. Thank you to the team. He understands that this is not him It's about this bigger picture. He's he's he's everybody's dream He just really is I just he's it's I know we ramble on about this I know we really probably shouldn't but guys you have to understand you're watching something that is that I didn't think we'd see again This soon when marquez did what he did starting like in 2013 That was something incredible because there was a ledge and then there was there was an edge and there was a ledge Beyond the edge.

Oh, okay. Well now a cost is even farther along probably quicker than what marquez was perhaps right and let us say that Acosta is more healthy than marquez because we don't have to worry about Delopia with a bang to the head. We don't have to worry about the arm or the shoulder now He did break a femur. I'm not gonna deny that but he took the time off He rehabbed properly those kind of things and yeah, okay. He's 19 years old.

He's like rubber I got that too But I can't think of any 19 year old that has the poise and the mental capacity that Acosta has it is truly the old head on young shoulders Yeah, I mean the only I say the only negative and I don't negative is the wrong word The only sort of slight downside to all of this and I don't mean this at all in an insulting way So nobody should take it this way But it's a kind of a shame that he's spanish if he were a non-spaniard non-italian That would be so good for the championship because it would open up, you know Another major market somewhere else whereas spain and italy have been so successful at producing talent After talent after talent. So it's not a shame that he's spanish But it would be from the point of view of the sport if he was I don't know south american or american American you'd have another race in the us guaranteed somewhere. There'd be another race It would be even bigger box office from the championship's point of view But I mean irrespective of all of that, I mean Acosta is going to be a global superstar I don't think there's any doubt about that The question for me is does he kind of reach the markers level of fame and adulation or does he go that next step? Then get into the sort of the michael jordan valentina rossi and senna kind of league where they transcend the sport My guess is he transcends it. Yeah, I hope so because I mean that that would be obviously a great thing for moto gp at a time Where well in a period of time, let's say over the last few years when the sport has let's be honest I think it struggled a bit in terms of social media or social presence and audience figures spectator figures.

These have been Problematical particularly as formula one bizarrely has done so well driven in large part. I think drive to survive Yeah, agrees you uh, you know the racing on track in the behavior and all the whinging and moaning or you know The off-track drama and stuff is so pathetic and boring and just depressing really compared to you know The glory days that I consider a formula one in the 80s and 90s But I know you're putting that to one side moto gp has a massive opportunity now to really become a bit more global again In its reach and if the powers that be and you know We're hoping we might either you or I at some point this year might get to speak to dan Rosamondo who seems quite willing to have a chat with us which will be interesting because we can ask you three of these questions About how does moto gp now go this next step or several steps to increase its presence on the global stage in terms of people? Kind of watching this spot and thinking bloody hell. This is good You know, I know there are problems and I was having a little interaction with one of the subscribers I think it might have been darren. I I'm trying to remember i've been speaking to a few people but who was kind of making the point that The direction the sport's gone in is just not his cup of tea and isn't really watching it very much and that's a shame But I understand why you know you look at one of these bikes and think well What does that relate to because they're sort of spaceships now aren't they really and my personal hope is that the 2027 regs bring them back to looking a bit like they're used to which is a bit retrograde I suppose but I'm not a big fan of all the aero if i'm honest and all the devices and stuff I think we could well do a getting rid of some of those for various reasons safety would be one of them So anyway, that that's for the future But in terms of where we are right now There's a massive opportunity for the sport with a talent like lacosta coming on the scene Yeah, it is they cannot spoil this they cannot miss this opportunity.

You don't get these they don't come around very often So we'll take that We have been going for quite some time with this one, but we'll look at the points from this now Martin leads the championship on 60 points. He's going to have it for three weeks until we get to austin Binder is second and points bashti third then ben yaya He's falls that non-point score drops ben yaya down the list of fourth acosta is fifth in points And he's you know, I get it He's 32 down But I gotta believe that there's so many people are gonna be taking points off of everybody else in this championship that it's gonna be wild To see this championship unfold it is not going to be a bore Like I thought it was going to be that I am 100 sure of but yeah 100 agree Yeah, yep, so that is everything from this weekend, which is great again I will be in coda anybody who wants to meet up have a chat at coda Please reach out to me on my instagram or my twitter x whatever you want to call it at moto rgv It's even at moto rgv on threads as well So if you guys want to have a chat something like that we certainly can while i'm in coda Because I will be there for the weekend as well and although we've kind of run the clock out now Maybe we'll have an opportunity to do it briefly next time But anyway people really ought to try and seek out the world superbike races from cataluna at the weekend the sprint race in particular On sunday morning was just off the charts great. I mean if you can find it on youtube, it's probably there Go and find it top rat razzghatti. Oglu Winning two races on the bmw. I mean people thought you had made a huge mistake going to bmw The talk persists about bmw coming into moto gp once the new rules are announced.

I think it's going to happen I don't necessarily think top rat will come because he might be getting you know, perhaps a bit bit old for it by then Although he'd be worth a punt But i've always said that within the world superbike context he is a next level talent there In the same way that marquez has been in moto gp in recent years and acosta most definitely and clearly is So yeah, he turned a five second deficit into a win on on the saturday first race because bulaga burned his tire and top rat I mean the bmw has never worked at catalina Rear grip has always been a problem and yet he was on fire all weekend won the sprint race as well Uh, it was on the podium. I think in the final race So if you can find the world superbike races, they do really deserve and demand more close scrutiny in terms of our sort of race Reviews jim although I know you don't get to watch them So again if somebody out there in the listenership is you know a full-on world superbike supporter and fancies doing a you know Maybe not every race weekend, but an occasional you know two or three times during the year world superbike catch up I'm happy to do that because you know, I watch world superbike much of my wife's annoyance along with everything else Pretty religiously and it's absolutely fantastic this year. You got inone in there paid in and you've got sam lozies turned up Led the first race. Okay crashed but doing really well on the jucati just you know There's so much to talk about it's so good the racing and they do look like proper motorbikes as well most of them So that's in its favor as well So yeah, let us know if anybody wants to come on and chat a little bit about world superbike at some point this year I'll catch up with greg haines again in a few weeks. I've already organized that so yeah I think that's everything from me.

Yeah, great weekend of racing. I mean, yeah, just awesome Give me more of those and i'm happy. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah hidden the candy shot.

So with that rich I will tell everybody to ride safe