MotoGP Valencia– It’s a Wrap

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 Hello and welcome to Motopod the Internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 820 last race of the season from Valencia is the topic I'm Jim McDowell hosting from the RV or mobile command center as the guys at work like to call it and all the way Across the old pond in the Atlantic is Richard Jalot my co-host Richard. Good evening to you Yes, good evening Jim and happy holidays and before I forget and I will forget later So yeah, happy Thanksgiving to all of our US listeners including your good self that Jim. Thank you, sir Appreciate that that's a big one in the US, isn't it? Yeah, Thanksgiving is because a lot of people travel a lot of people will go see family during that time And then they'll kind of go back to home base for Christmas So the people do travel for Christmas as well, but it's sort of I think more along the line that people it's like the snow thing You know snow is definitely probably gonna come on, but we've already had snow at home Yeah, we had a good two inches of snow around the 8th of November.

That's early for us and That's the first time I could think of in probably 10 or 15 years We've had snow that early. Wow used to be that way. I like all the time when I was a kid, but not now Anyway, that's where we are here or whatever. So folks remember to support the show if you can that's great If you can't that's fine, too We understand you can support the show by going to www.modo podcast comm you can donate to the show there through PayPal or patreon Also subscribe to the show leave a review where you get this podcast Tell your friends about us gives us some likes and some shares and talk about us on social media all which would be greatly appreciate it and by the way, we had a fan from patreon Contribute some stuff this week rich. Yes.

That's right, Jim So yeah, we don't get that many messages coming through the patreon side of things But yeah, so somebody with the handle tag what we want to call it be handy said hi guys Just listen to your PI and supang podcast. Obviously that's going back a couple of episodes Regarding the Philip Island contract and other tracks in Australia We do have a track called the bend and I'll come back to that second So it says it's just over an hour east of Adelaide. It's a relatively new track where there's a lot drier than PI And as far as he knows it's approved for everything with the exception of f1 Which is obviously a good thing in most people's books due to approvals, etc So I do recall this track because I'm pretty sure two or three seasons ago I can recall watching something on YouTube where Joel Kelso Jack Miller few other notable losses kind of jumped onto some Australian super bikes I think it might actually been the final round of the Australian super bike season Perhaps people will remember that and let us know I'm sure I can't really remember too much detail about the track I need to look it up on Wikipedia or submit just to have a look at the layout So I'd completely forgotten about the band. Obviously we were talking about Eastern Creek We were talking about kind of Moto America or sbsbs type tracks, you know, there's plenty of them in Australia I'm sure but those are not up to standard and I've completely forgotten about the bend So it might be worth doing a sort of YouTube search on that and seeing if you can pull up that thing from as I say Two or three years ago Pretty sure it was and so sort of refreshing the memory on the layout of that place because that might be a viable alternative then So thanks for letting us know on that appreciate that. I did not know of the track called the bend I mean we were going through like well, could you go to Adelaide?

No, because it's a street circuit Could you modify Millbourne? No, because that's in the park and you could maybe get close, but it would be dodgy at best So if there's actually a track that's great approved for motorcycles out there besides Philip Island Although I just don't want to see the island taken off the schedule, but no Well, you know, but there is gonna be that Liberty media push to go to Other places and other things just as much as they've done that with former the one and I mean You know you always hear about how they're wanting to get rid of spa or they want to get rid of Monza or they want to go someplace other than that and it's like oh, I just come on just stop it Just stop stop stop because I don't want to talk about that because there's I'm not saying that those tracks shouldn't be grandfathered in But I think there's tracks on the calendar for Moto GP. We'd all agree We would not want them to be eliminated from the counter PI tops my list Yeah, I think my jello is on the list. I mean after that I mean, I'd hate to see Aragon lost because I like the Aragon circuit. So I'm okay with that one in Spain I do think that Silverstone is a good track as well because it's a place where they can really stretch the legs on a Moto GP Bike, so, you know, we've got those four.

I'd love to see us go back to Suzuka, but I know that we can't there Just isn't the safety that's there. So we're forced to be at Motegi, which is I could do without that Yeah, it's Honda's place so there's a distance second to Suzuka that's for sure Distant third. I mean, I think there's anything else on there I always wonder if sugo still around because they went to world tour bucks there like in the early I want to say the later 80s early 90s. Yeah late 90s. In fact, yeah, possibly into the early 2000s Yeah, yeah, lots of interesting places there.

Could you go to Fuji? Yeah, well that was the other one that we spoke about wasn't it when we were talking about this very subject a few rounds back so yeah like you I don't want to see PI disappear, but if it did then Yeah, we ought to check out the bend. Yeah, see if it looks not a suitable replacement because there is no such thing as a suitable Replacement for PI but should that definitely and to be fair, I don't think so. I'm doing Liberty media It's just a lot of these tracks just don't get enough fans into and they can't pay for themselves. That's the issue Hopefully Liberty media will do some of these rounds that are a bit scarce when it comes to numbers Hopefully Liberty will help with the promotion of the sport because I mean we've both Criticized our own individual home rounds in this regard and again PI Its problem is weather and kind of location isn't it?

Which means that the crowd there is usually pretty thin and I think their problem as always is always has always been kind of just Lack of funds really so hopefully that might be one area of positivity that Liberty do bring along with all of the other Associated Rasmut as which is slightly less to our taste, but I mean, there you go give get I suppose I Suppose since we're on the subject of Liberty media we all know that we are going to have a big show about Liberty media and What their takeover means and what we think it means and all that good stuff So along those lines guys I think Rich and I agree here that we're gonna probably take like two weeks off to Kind of relax and take a moment to ourselves then we're gonna come back with like a Liberty media show But we also want to know are there other things that you want us to talk about or cover or look into as best we Can while we're in this break between this oddly three month break to racing resumes again I think in Thailand if I'm not mistaken or Thailand we go in Thailand next year rich I think I think yeah. Yeah, I think we start in Thailand. So wherever so the idea is guys what ideas? What do you want to hear? Do you want to hear me catch up with Mark Miller?

Do you want us to try to find someone that you've wanted to be interviewed? Do you want us to try to find them? So give your ideas send them into us motopod at motopodcast.com which now do our best to get that done for the offseason and Give you guys that data that you want with that said rich. Are we ready to talk about Valencia and the season ending race? Yes, just before we do just because I know I forget advice Jim I just want to apologize that I missed the last couple of shows However, great to hear you chatting with Skylar last time.

I'm not quite correct. Call it a blast from the past It wasn't that long ago, but it's always great to hear Skylar's voice and you two riffing off each other So appreciate Skylar stepping in because obviously I was on the other side of the world It was just all over the place in terms of time zones and jet lagging God knows what and obviously prior to that I have my internet meltdown where I was basically without any For a week without any internet coverage. God knows what happened But yeah, you cannot imagine how difficult life is when you have no internet in the modern age It's just one of those things just take it for granted when it's not there. Life is hard. It's first world problem But I apologize and I just vanished from the call after about what 30 minutes Jim and that was it I was done.

So you went solo to complete that one and did a sterling job So again, thanks to you and apologies to everybody else for that IT meltdown, which was most unplanned and very unhelpful for my point of view But anyway, there we go Hopefully things will be a little bit more stable this evening and just to finish off your point Jim about people kind of writing in And saying if they'd like us to sort of cover certain historical topics or speak to certain people If they do have some people that they'd like us to try and track down and that's not very easy to do But if they did then perhaps throw a couple of questions in that they'd like asked as well I certainly have a possibility to speak to James Tozland I've been meaning to do that for ages and I guess I could probably get James Whitham as well Which is somebody that I know has been asked for as a an interview Quite like to catch it with Dave actually ex-host Dave Neil Perhaps I have a chat about BSP this year because we haven't really done much on BSP And again, that's something that you and I are talking about whether we want to try and Grow the show a little bit next year, which will come to on another occasion So I think that's everything I just wanted to throw in to the mix There was something else but it'll come to me later. We have one bit of news rich between Vinalas and yeah, I mean there's not much to say really but yeah Maverick Vinales and Jorge Lorenzo Kind of teaming up. He's gonna be like Not a spotter but a kind of a performance coach sort of a help throughout the weekend analyzing data and so on I'm tempted to say unkind things and I'm not going to do it because we're getting into the season of Goodwill I'm just think that Maverick is quite an up-and-down character and I'm not entirely convinced that this is Necessarily going to make things an awful lot better. I hope I'm wrong because I have a big Maverick Vinales fan It's just he's a little bit hard to follow really because you just never know what you're gonna get Obviously, you know his season was ruined with that crash in the Saxon ring So I mean Lorenzo has a lot of experience but was himself quite a actually put this party Jim a sort of Well, what we'd say in Britain is a Marmite character, you know, you love or hate really so Yeah, I mean, let's see let's see if it actually helps to Smooth out the performance curve of mr. Vinales because he is so up and down and Just needs more consistency really and never ever was it thus in his MotoGP career, which is long now Let's not forget.

All right, I think that's it. I think let's just get into the Qualifying for Moto3. Yep and get everybody's decided as to what is finally the final race of the year I mean, this is the 22nd round that we've been to that just seems amazing I think way back when Skylar and I were doing the show like you're getting one not that long Which is not that long ago as you pointed out rich I think there was what 18 rounds so we've had like yeah four rounds back into this So it's like I don't even remember we would get that triple header of like Japan, Australia, Malaysia And man Tyler and I Skylar and I would just be like, oh dude. No, man Let's just skip one of these we'll put something together in there somewhere, you know Anyway, oh we were in Valencia So let's start with Moto3 the first qualifying session had coming out of that session was NEPA Uriate Fajah and Danish so Uriate and Danish are gonna be in the series next year along with Gorman which that leaves some really good young talent coming up and finding seats in so it's gonna be interesting See those guys and you know full-time see what happens for them But once they got out of that session when they jumped into the second session Literally everybody sat in the garage and did not go anywhere So it clicked down to 11 minutes and 30 seconds to go and there was only three guys that were on track and they were Sort of the guys from the first qualifying session who were out and I was like, well, when is everybody gonna go out? I was never gonna leave this to like eight minutes or so, you know So that they could get maybe two runs at it because is that all they need or all they want?

Not really sure but it was finally with nine minutes and 30 seconds to play they finally came out Keeley's went to the top right away followed by Almanza and Fernandez five minutes to play Almanza was on top He was faster than Keeley's but Keeley's was on a hot lap, but he had a wicked chatter and I think it's turned seven Do you see it rich? I mean literally the whole bike was like bouncing off the ground You can see track and pavement underneath the tires. Yeah, one of the worst chatters I've ever seen I'm not sure how the kid actually hung on to it But I mean, hey, it did kill his fast lap. That's for sure So he definitely didn't get out without something bad happening as a result of it a Gorman was down He had made it directly into that key session But when it came out and the clock ticked to zero it was Fernandez who went to the pole position followed by Almanza Keeley's Linetta then Morelli then Carpe NEPA Peroni and for a Sado are on the first three rows I don't think there was too much there that we thought I mean I was shocked personally Richard the fact that the Honda's actually were as fast as they were You had Fernandez and Almanza the layup part of which you always know those guys are always fast But then Lumetta was there too, you know on another Honda and then you had Morelli who was also on a Honda You know and that's M. Lav right, you know, yeah, it's like whoa.

There's quite a lot Honda's there You know, you know first nine you had one two three four five. You had six Honda's in the first nine Where was all this earlier on within the KTMs were you know completely and totally dominant? So I was like get on Honda for finding something or the guys finding something Michael Lovetti mentioned actually on the TNT coverage that they had I think he said a slight upgrade to the exhaust system Which had given them a little bit more but I suppose the question is what is it about Valencia? That was so good for the Honda's I don't suppose it's that KTM suddenly taken a major step backwards Then you tend to think of the KTM been a bit better punching out the corners. Don't you?

I don't know if I got that wrong is it Honda that we always say is a bit better at the turns I think Honda's always a dumb faster At least their motor three bucks has always been better in a fast flowy circuit, right which this is not fast and flowy But I think what it is is that there's not enough straightaway after the turn For the punch of the KTM to be enough to get by a Honda. Oh, okay Yeah, you know what sounds like? Hmm, I think they can punch out and get going but then they got a break again So you can kind of the Honda guys can kind of stay with it and ride a line I've always thought that the Honda was a little better at holding its line and a little better maybe on corner entry But that's just the way that it is I guess so definitely something Yeah, you know, it was definitely interesting things had changed and had gone completely weird at this point in the game But you know, that's where we are. We lined everybody up on race day to go 20 laps I mean, I think the interest here was like where was where was Keely's going to be He was trying to get the second in the championship over top of Picaris so you think that was the interesting part of it was was you know? I think also there's a little bit of interest could Keely win another race.

I think he's won but two Three races so far this year as a rookie So there was I mean, that's that to look forward to but Keely's got off with a great start He had a whole shot lead into turn one, but Fernandez was leading by turn two Ogden was then down at the eight nine turn which got him caught out Then you know as things settled on the second lap bills Almanza Keely's Fernandez Carpe, Linetta and then Morelli now Fernandez in Almanza now they start they go bumping into each other at like turn 13 You know and that bumped them Almanza down to a so the lay apart boys were not taking any prisoners even amongst themselves I think both of those guys want to win and we've seen Fernandez be kind of close this year But he's never really gotten to the final step Kelso was down at turn 14, but he was able to quickly back up and rejoined it again and kept going why I left five It's Fernandez. It's Keely's Linetta Carpe Morelli and Almanza That it would then get by Keely's at turn four, but then Keely's goes back by at 11 So there's a bit of a tussle that's going on there as we go So, you know we get that then we've got Fernandez by lap 10 or sorry by lap eight Forasato had made his way to third like, you know There was some good racing where guys just sort of scattered every which way and somehow magically for Asado just sort of appears In there. I mean he did have a good qualifying start and he usually is one of the guys that are stronger towards the end of a race So I'm not surprised to see him get there But you know, this is a little sooner than usual because it's not even halfway yet at the halfway point Fernandez was leading fault with Keely's right behind for Asado, Linetta Carpe Pini and then Almanza so the front six here had like a half a second lead and there was definitely the first group and then there's a second group and Forasato was working hard to get by Keely's and those two were going crazy now Keely's went wide at 14 which kind of left the door open for Forasato to get by there, you know Keely's again, I don't think he knows when to quit sometimes Yeah Gets in there real deep and you know, it's just it's kind of crazy with it But to be old and wise first you must be young and stupid and unfortunately I'm now an at old and wise because I was young and stupid I don't like the phrase particularly Jim But with killers it felt like with him being on the KTM amongst all these Hondas It felt a little bit like for the first time all year that I can think of in fact longer that it was kind of Turned up to a gunfight with a knife. It's right as he was concerned and I think he was just having to override Hmm, that's a good point. Yeah, I mean there hasn't been those guys challenging anywhere and suddenly they show up And I don't know if you knew what to do with it I mean you're pretty much right on the mark there I think anyway with five laps to go Fernandez is still leading killies is still second then it's for Asado and Carpe Pini and then Luna now Linetta has lost the lead pack with four to go and I think he just sort of gave up either didn't have any tire left You know wasn't going anywhere just you know I'll take this top four and call it done for Asado moved his way to second with three to go But then we get to the last two and well, you know, Keely's is gonna try something, right?

So Keely's gets by for Asado at two and first thought it goes back by then killies goes back by a 14 So now whatever killies thought I think here was get past for Asado and then I can worry about getting to the lead And get to Fernandez on the last lap as Asado went back by killies at turn one which ruined the idea of Killies probably having any run at anything run at the guy at Fernandez now Carpe was then by killies because he got By at turn six where they basically just sort of knock. Yeah, it was KTM on KTM crime, right? It was a mugging where Carpe just mugs killies But you know, it's like Carpe got by but then killies got back by and then Carpe just like no This is it done here. I'm going back by even he did it at 14, which you know Do it the last turn last lap get your thing going on there And that was the chase down to the flag which left Adrian Fernandez to win his very first moto free race I mean, he's been there for quite some time rich and this is his first breakthrough Yeah, which is good for him. Finally his brother had finally won in Australia in moto GP Which I thought was phenomenal and then for him now to win That was a really good is a really good weekend for the Fernandez is if you will Carpe would be second on the podium then the final spot would go to for Rosado, which was good for him Then it's peeny killies and then piqueurs.

It snuck in to take six then Linetta Amonza Rios Peroni nepa Morelli Gorman and Danish and crucis all taking points. So that's how the race finished That's who's on the podium. If you look at the championship standings what we all know Jose Antony Rueda, he is your world champion He's been world champion for quite some time and he was actually at the track He was recovering from the severe accident that he had in post Malaysia if you will, you know He had been repatriated back to Spain and even though a dutty had been repatriated back to Switzerland although he still had faces several surgeries and a much longer road of recovery To get through all the injuries that he sustained from that accident But it was good to see that those guys were back at least back home more than anything else Yeah, I have to say Jim. Actually, there's been a lot of criticism about the way that whole accident unfolded Obviously I wasn't on the show I wasn't able to kind of give my opinion on it and you covered it when you kind of went solo on That show because I dropped out with my internet trouble and so we don't need to go back over it But there has been obviously a lot of backlash and talk about I have a crash actually happened the Necessity is many of us see it and I certainly do for them for the warm-up sessions to return So that if there are bike gremlins which can still happen on a sighting lap But you are likely to catch them on a morning warm-up quite what Rueda was doing I mean these things happen so fast It's you know, so no kind of criticisms or judgments for my part, but you know These things do happen from time to time but it did transpire over the Valencia weekend that both riders were Resuscitated trackside as in brought back as it were because it was such a severe accident So, I mean really really really serious stuff again, and we do find ourselves saying it's quite often I'm not laughing but kind of dodged a bullet again Really with that one because you know one or two riders could have been killed there And when you've got people basically with their hearts stopped and having to be shocked back into life trackside Not good and that obviously explains why it was such a long delay So to see Rueda back at the track is phenomenal really is just a testament So, you know, okay, they're young boys and girls that race at this level in Moto3 and so on But nevertheless and it goes to show how phenomenally fit and able to bounce back They are because I mean you've death door a few weeks prior So yeah, other than that, I mean it was a fairly uneventful race for Moto3 really which is odd because Valencia is effectively a Moto3 track as far as I'm concerned anything bigger is not really suitable for the track I mean you going through your notes just reading that made it sound a lot more exciting than I remember it being to be honest with you But that's probably because you condensed it into three minutes rather than done to sit through 20 laps or whatever It was the one thing that was notable in Fernandez's win was the way that he absolutely ruthlessly took his teammate out I mean amongst didn't crash but he really cut him up and cost him any chance of the race win So that Fernandez fire is still there But I do have a sneaky suspicion that this is a bit what they call the trickle-down effect because I know From again the stuff that's been talked about on TNT and because we know how good Davide Brivio is in the track house Kind of leadership role now It's well known that he had a pretty sort of serious heart-to-heart Sort of come to Jesus session with Raul Fernandez midseason and since then Raul Has become the rider that we've been waiting to see since that Stella Moto2 season that he had I don't think it's a coincidence That Brivio is there and that this turnaround is happening and I suspect some of this is starting to rub off on the younger brother To who can still do the vicious knife fight routine on track. It's true But as you said, he's been around a long time and now he's won a race So now the challenge for both him and Raul obviously up in MotoGP is can they turn this into some sort of consistent form?

And I suspect they probably can now Brivio is just I don't remember when I interviewed him in Silverstone. I kind of asked him that question What is the magic that you bring him and like Aki Ayo? He's another one. They really are Phenomenal kind of people managers and performance athlete managers in particular Love to know the secret really of what it is how they go about doing it because you know There's some good people up and down the pit lane, but they seem to be particularly good at Stabilizing tricky talent I would say put it that way But otherwise not much to say about the race really other than what you've said Since you brought up Aki Ayo he is I believe the main reason that Ferdroso has looked as good as he has on the bike across the east. Sorry.

Yes Pedro does it say paid up to say? Yeah, I meant to say Okay. I know what I meant to say is Pedro Acosta. It just came out wrong It's vacation people leave me alone, but I think he's one of the reasons that cost has been really good You know here at the end I think I think he sat him down and said look, you know We're gonna have to incrementally get this thing to there and you know now I think the really the only grip but I will talk about that in Moto GP But continuing here just because we want to go through the championships and whatnot We had we had Picaris hanging on to second place, right? I mean Picaris was six feet Keeley's was fifth in that race so that you know, there's not way that he was gonna overtake him So Picaris is second in the world championship.

He's his third I I don't know about you rich, but you got to think that keely's is like odds on favorite for world champ next year I mean at least right now though. Yes will give him a run for his money That's for sure and some of the new talent has fresh talents coming in and if Fernandez and Honda make a better bike Well, who knows what could possibly happen? There's always that person that we don't think about that will somehow pop in there on us As proven by the fact that we're wait is world champion neither one of us thought that that was gonna happen So no, we know nothing about their talent right car pay penis move into layer part. I think he's yeah He's got these yes. It's a month It we always say it with motor there's so many rider and bike combinations that could do it You just have to put a good season together Don't you and be consistent because these guys don't fall off a great deal in the Pirelli era.

They've got so much more grip now Yeah, okay See some you know some silly accidents happen just by people being a bit crazy But generally speaking the attrition rate hasn't been high and those hardly anybody that I'm in Auckland I'm early on as you pointed out, but there weren't that many crashes really that I can think of all through the season in races So yeah, it's been a good season one little thing Jim on the last lap Yes for us are to actually cross the line in second, but he had a Track that's right on the last lap somewhere. So here in car pay got yeah switch a route on the roster That is right. You're right. I forgot about that Yeah, cuz they were talking about that because I get what is it where they go right before they go into 13 They come out of 12. There's that it's a really tight I don't want to call it a she came but it's a tight flip-flop or whatever Yeah, and he did touch the green and so that's an automatic drop one place in there, which I forgot about So yeah, that was the only drama at the end of it I was more excited about the fact that Fernandez actually had won a race finally to be honest I did actually find myself wanting him to win the race as well because he's been close quite a lot and again I have to add a lot of his on-track antics Historically, I haven't really liked very much but you know, he rode a good race and bar the first lap or so He basically led the whole thing didn't he and there wasn't really that much action.

Nobody could really touch him So you have to off the old cap to what was a very very good performance on the day So fair play to him and great way to go into the offseason Yeah, so finishing off the top ten in the motor three world championship after Achilles Carpets fourth Munoz is fifth, but Munoz had the broken femur so he wasn't able to defend his position Kelso would be sixth Fernandez because of that wind jumped up to seventh then for a Sato then Yamanaka and then Peroni with the final tenth place position. So we will move to moto to Qualifying now, this is the only championship that's left to be decided Is this one between Gonzalez and Marrera in? Moto to the big thing was and I don't a lot of people made a big deal about this rich But Marrera was in q1 He'd been there before numerous times and has always qualified well on that second qualifying session I was not super concerned that he was in there But boy they tried to talk it up as if this was you know, Gonzales is moment to shine and whatnot And so we've look at it in that context here We had you know, Aranis can that more rare who only did a couple laps and saved the tire to use in q2 Which was smart and so latch they all get in to the second session Well halfway through whole guard who has pulled out wonderful laps Throughout qualifying in motor to especially the second half of the season where he's just like absolutely down in 10th 12th place Just comes in and just throws down a red helmet red helmet red helmet red helmet and puts himself on pole was leading Now then go Vara was second, which that's a bit of a unique name being in there then so latch Munoz Very about this and then a screech on the forward who's been looking now I screech the last five races or so looked really well on that forward now Marrera was 12th and Gonzales was 18th It's like well look Gonzales I don't know if Gonzales his head screwed on right anymore after what's going on to him, but he's 18th Okay, all right, let's figure out what's gonna happen here So we get to two minutes ages it put himself on top called by Aranis and then it was like nope Nope, nope. It was cool Vara who would go on top ahead of ages. No, no No, it was whole guard.

Oh, because he'd come around and take it. So, okay. Hold on. Where's everybody at? so you get the fact that Gonzales is down to fifth and Marrera is 17th, but Marrera pulls a lap out at the end to go to 9th So qualifying ends up with Holgardo on the pole followed by Govara then ages then you had Aranis after that and then you had Gonzales He would pulled out pulled up for a fifth place Then you had a screech fire Munoz and Marrera is in ninth and then Vietti finishes out your top ten So, okay This is not you know This championship because of the fact that Gonzales had the troubles and stuff is a 24-point lead for Marrera Allen race day Which basically it's like all Marrera's got to do is finish 14th or better.

He's still going to be the champion So there's not a ton of pressure on him other than don't fall off Don't get involved in everybody else's problems. But the amazing thing was to me rich Marrera the whole weekend smiling laughing Having fun on a motorcycle. He didn't seem to be bothered by any of it where Gonzales has been Not smiling down to the dumps riding tight if you will and having a major mental Fauxpah along the way has really not helped him any I was shocked that you know Everybody was looking at this like oh somehow Gonzales is gonna pull off this win There there was gonna pull off this win of the championship I should say I don't thinking you guys are really underestimating Marrera, you know This is a kid who has a three-year LCR contract to ride He has a contract with Honda now whether that's in L at LCR or whether that's in the well It's gonna start out in LCR, but his other two years are potentially at factory Honda for all we know We have no idea we have no idea where this calendar this kid's going to go But for the way that people were talking I was like man You you think this is gonna be some sort of close championship battle and I just didn't really think it was going to I mean Did you think it was gonna be tight? You know, I mean your kind of comment about the general demeanor of the two riders I think tells you everything you need to know about the form over the second half of the season It's all been Marrera on the up and Gonzales on the down really hasn't it not all of it his fault I hasten to add because obviously he's had some bike failures He's disqualified because of a software glitch and blah blah blah So, I mean he just his shoulders have dropped more and more round by round haven't they whereas Conversely Marrera has been kind of going in the opposite direction So they've had a complete switch around really in first and second half of the season for whereas Marrera was you know Thereabouts in the first half of the season, but it was all Gonzales wasn't it? You know, we had that Aprilia Moto GP test sort of around midseason and Basically straight from there on in things started to go bad for him I'm not saying there's a link between the two things.

It's just an observation I think it's demonstrably true if you look at the results. So yeah Just the rubber the green as they say in snooker, you know, just hasn't worked out for Gonzales You know added to which he had the disappointment of being overlooked from Moto GP place and Marrera bit younger Probably a bit more marketable Brazilian, you know helps a lot. I think I'm not suggesting for one second He's got a Moto GP ride because of his passport But it is the case that the fast South American is now world champion in Moto GP is not a bad thing for the sport in general So Yeah, I just like you I mean for Marrera to have lost the championship would have been an extraordinary turn around Really because he's even if he'd fallen off Gonzales still had to win the race and that was not going to be Easy given how many fast people there are in Moto 2 So yeah, but he didn't well, I don't say Gonzales didn't do himself any favors by sort of being so sort of downtrodden looking But you can kind of understand why he feels that way because it's just been a bit of a horror show really for the last Four months probably but certainly from midsummer onwards. It just hasn't gone well Yeah, the two bike failures that weren't his fault the sulfur glitch and the rock in the radiator, you know That's racing but I think that put pressure on him to ride harder than he was capable of riding with that Chassis on that tire on that day and he winds up having to crash in Malaysia And you know the other things that happened to him along the way. It was just hard to get through I don't know if this is actually true my just this is my feeling I think of the two I would argue that Marrera is the more naturally gifted rider That's how it looks to me And I think that I agree with you that has just been born out in the way that things have Have gone long because of course, you know Marrera's had his ups and downs through the season as well You obviously have that silly crash in Germany and then a basically a no-show at the next round in Bruno Probably as a remnant of that crash which was a big one If you remember he went off track came back onto track and got clouded by Alonso And that was a big accident and probably was quite badly injured from that So, I mean they both had their respective ups and downs.

It's true But Marrera just yeah just feels more like the sort of the talent that you would expect to go straight on up to Moto GP And as we'll find out he does so with you know, the right credentials now For sure at the start of the race that the Munoz and Baldus crash at turn two But Guevara got the whole shot over Holgardo and Arenas and Aegis who kind of went backwards a little bit I think Gonzalez now Marrera isn't ninth Marrera isn't ninth. So that's how that one's going on a Screech was in there as well and we have a Got burned for the jump start So Screech had a little too good of a start and so he's gonna have a double long lap for his troubles By that five will various still out front with her daughter right behind him Then Aegis is moving himself up to third then it's or tola and Gonzalez now, you know Marrera still nice So well, there's no way that Gonzalez is gonna win the championship, you know, cuz Marrera is just riding where he's supposed to be Then can net got a double long lap for the turn to crash that that happened Which you know, I shouldn't say that Baltis crashed it to I should say more like Baltis got ran super Turn to which would be a more accurate statement to say So you have that problem that has their cars? Garcia crashes at turn two Aegis is the third and Aranis is wide at turn two and you know This is a racist final moto to race. He's going to the World Supers or going to the Superbike Podoc I guess mm-hmm, but Gonzalez does get by Aranis and so he's back to fifth and by lap 10, you know Gonzalez's through a bar. Sorry is still off front with whole guard aegis or tola Gonzalez and Aranis and Marrera still lingering around there a ninth well or tola does get by Aegis and Vier is coming on and he's gaining the track and he's in six now because he's gotten past Aranis by 15 the only thing that's going on is Gonzalez his virus gotten by Gonzalez and then they Gonzalez kind of fights back for a couple corners But basically fire then takes over the position Gonzalez is having problems at this point the announcer was saying that he's got no rear grip and that's true Because he couldn't make anything work coming out of turns.

He the bike was sideways It was sideways and not driving forward at the same time. So that was causing a problem you know Gonzalez loses a place to slouch because slouch was coming and What not then we realized that Gonzalez truly has burned up his rear and he pulls off he heads into the pits with five laps To go they eventually did put another tire on the bike and send me back out again But with four to go Bavaria is still leading and whole guard. Oh has not solved the riddle to get by him whatsoever He's tried the whole race, but he hasn't figured it out yet. Viar had made his way to fourth Gonzalez rejoined the race after a tire and with one to go Guevara is leading over Helga or total fire and slouch and that is how they finish with Guevara Oh, God, I'll pull on on the podium. So Guevara gets a win.

That's his first or totally gets a podium. That's great Viar has another great race. He's in fourth, right? So there's all the moto three guys that we saw from last year sort of dominating the top four Which means that this series is gonna be wickedly awesome next year Because these guys have got a year under their belts because Alonzo is gonna be there too and whatnot Aranis is fifth Dixon in his final race before going to the world's true bike paddock is sixth then ages slid back to seventh Vietti was Seventh or sorry eighth ninth was Arbolino tenth was Marrera then Lopez is 11th Ramirez Escrides to latch in Canada are the last people to take points and with all that You get a world champion from Diego Marrera who wins on 287 points 30 points clear of Manuel Gonzalez and the really crazy part is that Marrera overcame a 61 point gap to win the championship which shows you that how is a season of two halves We're Gonzalez had everything going for him in the first half had nothing going firm in the second half and look at what happened Right Baltis would finish third in the championship jumping over Aaron connect Great because Aaron had the double long lapse we couldn't hang on to Because that incident turned to so we couldn't hang on to his place in third Dixon would be fourth in the championship. Elgardo was sixth then Vietti Aranis Alonzo is ninth and then Sena ages his tenth I think next year's moto 2 races might be just some barn burners with all the motor three guys.

They're all looking Stout and good now rich. What do you think? You've nailed it there Jim one of the things I was gonna say really is I cannot recall a moto 2 season where the moto 3 Rookies were so also the moto 2 rookies up from moto 3 were so good I mean, yes, it's taken Autola and Vire in particular some time to find their feet But what I always say is that the ones that make the switch in the first season generally will go on and do well Now interestingly Guevara who this must be his fourth season or certainly third because bearing in mind He was a moto 3 world champion going back a few years You know he gets his first wins and look how long it's taken Him to get that and he has again through this season He has been starting to show you that he's getting to grips with things But it's taken a hell of a long time and he's kind of lucky He's probably just about saved himself in the moto GP paddock in general because at that point you do get the kind of Albert Aranis another M moto 3 world champion. Let's remember where it's just kind of times up You've been around too long you're too old now, you're not gonna go to Moto GP So off they go along with Marcos Ramirez who obviously has been unceremoniously dumped out of American racing as per their usual contraction Anagans off to world super sport. So yeah, just a fantastic job from the rookies this year Alonso, Hulgado or Tola and Vire I think that's the main ones.

Who else is there? Was there another rookie of note? No, I think that's the main ones aren't they? So The only other thing I was gonna say just in terms of talking about team leaders or people that are involved in teams again Draw a strong correlation between Diogo Marrera and Livio Supo who is in that Mmm, I can't think of the name of the team that Marrera is in now. It doesn't matter anyway, but Livio Supo Oh, Taltrans It's Taltrans.

Thank you Supo ex-ducati HRC moto GP guru kind of quietly found himself in moto 2 just of late and a Massively positive sort of force for good in there You know and Marrera season has just got stronger and stronger and stronger And I think part of the reason why Marrera's looks so sort of steady and kind of up for it There's somewhat down to Livio Supo being there as well because you need strong people like that in your corner so you get through this stuff, you know and He's another guy that's just yeah everything he sort of gets involved with his tends to be pretty good really Supo So glad for him as well as the whole metal trans team Yeah, that's their second world title for a tall trans. Yeah, cuz Bastionini was a world champ for them, wasn't he on that bike? I believe that's correct. Yeah. Yeah, I'm like you I'm really looking forward to next season because there's a bit of a clear out of some of the old guard a couple of people Aaron Connett being one that immediately springs to mind who he was leading the championship at one point Well nearly in the season very early on I think yeah It was that certainly there are thereabouts anyway quite close to Gonzales and just completely fallen away And Dixon kind of had a tough year on that Bosco Skira chassis I suppose maybe that's part of it.

But yeah people's time just naturally comes to an end, doesn't it? So and there's just so much young talent in moto 2 and Next year will be a mouth water in prospect and I'm looking forward to chatting about it Yeah, I think moto 3 and moto 2 are gonna be really good next year. Yeah for sure. Yeah Yep. All right.

Let's look at the moto GP. Okay in the first qualifying session We had been der Ben Yaya Zarco Marini Martin. Yes, Jorge Martin came back to ride As Vinny allah's did as well and then Raul Fernandez was there as well Looks like been yeah, I had like a bike problem where he basically pulled off to the edge of the road There I was like was it no fuel or whatever, you know, cuz he was second in that but bender knocked him out But basically Zarco When hasn't been I had a bike problem this season That is true, I don't disagree with you on that one, but yeah if it wasn't for bad luck You'd have no luck at all kind of things But Zarco was second quick, but nobody could touch Raul Fernandez who was the fastest man in q1 We go to q2 I got to take time and talk about the rear tire temperature graphic that they showed us It was on a costas bike and you were able to see the tire heat up as it goes to the corners I thought that was really cool stuff and they tried that in form of the one for one or two races back about three to five years ago and It was almost as soon as it showed up. It was gone again and not to be seen again one They said that well it provided no information at all to the casual viewer of the race To see what tire temperature the tire was mmm Okay, but I do think it's interesting to see that. Oh someone's tires are Less hot than somebody else's tires and there is a you can after a while sort of learn something But the biggest problem was the teams themselves and from one Did not want this information out to so that people could figure out where the strengths and weaknesses of their cars were based On the tire temperatures that were being presented to it I'm wondering how long this tire temperature graphic for Moto GP is Going to be around because somebody's gonna figure something out by looking at that data as to how the KTM works versus how the Honda works Versus how the Ducati use their tires and somebody's gonna be able to follow the setup pattern to get the most out of those Michelins You agree or disagree rich?

Well two points Jim firstly, although it's getting there Moto GP is not as annually retentive as Formula One So I'm not quite sure people will be as bothered as the killjoys over in the other paddock Okay, the second thing is because we don't change tires during the race by and large I know you have flag to flag and stuff. You're not really giving as much away But particularly if they only show that information in the race So I don't think it's as contentious to see it and for me, okay I'm not a tire technician So don't shout me down people that are massively into car racing but for like Formula One tires You know, they're pretty flat and yes, you can see if they're hot or cold I don't of course in much of that differential heating whereas obviously with the the Acosta graphic, which I really liked actually I'll be interested enough. Anybody doesn't like it if it's a bit too sort of PS4 PS5 kind of gamey Fied because I know you kind of have that sort of thing going on there But I personally found it really quite informative and I like to see you know with a bike jobs He works moving around left to right so much you do get that differential heating and I think that's kind of quite interesting To see it added a bit for me now it might become a bit tiresome or a bit tired quite quickly as well I kind of liked it I'm you know I'm all up for innovation if it tells you something useful and I kind of felt that that was quite interesting to see Yeah, so I hope they kind of keep that, you know, I don't be flooded with it But I think you know a certain if they only did it for say one bike and one rider and it switched around Race to race. I think that could be quite interesting. I agree.

I thought the graphic was interesting I thought it was very cool to see a cost of tire heat up as he slid it around the corner and you Watch that heat generating build and all that good stuff And I think if they keep numbers off of it and they just let it be sort of let's say blue is cool Red is hot and you've got sort of green and orange in between somewhere. Yeah, I think we're okay I think you I mean again, I think it was cool, right? I'm not saying that it wasn't cool I'm just waiting for the killjoys to go. Nope. We're not gonna do this per se right, but I do also like the other graphic is that when you are on Board and I think it's only if you're on board the tail section looking forward at like a cost or whoever They show a graphic in the corner that shows the track and tells you what turn they're in Now I find that to be very useful right because it's sort of hard on board at some tracks to know that they're at Four or five or they're heading to Three or wherever it is that they are on the track So I like that graphic too and I hope that one stays up But I really wish they would just put a you know a graphic somewhere when they're on the lead shot of where they are So what turn they're in so you know where they are on the track It's not even do tracks like you know, I mean, I think we all know where they are at Silverstone I think we all know where they are if they're at Magellan I know where they are if they're at Coda, right?

So but it's like oh well, we're gonna go to the new track in Hungary I have no idea which ways left and right and where the backstretch is on that thing yet I mean, you know at some point I'll learn it but it's gonna take me a couple years because you don't get as much Time as the riders do to study a track if you will see what you're saying Yeah, so, you know, I want to see some of that stuff, but I don't want it to get tilled But I want to enhance slightly too I don't actually like that camera that looks forward from the rear of the bike because basically pretty much all you can see is the Riders ass which I find to be quite uninteresting I would much rather look back behind, you know If there's a rider in close attendance and by the way What happened to that gyro cam that they used a few seasons back because that was really cool as well Yeah, and that's disappeared completely. So that's a bit weird because I thought that was quite again a quite an interesting innovation Yeah, the idea of leaning was really easy to see that way Yeah, because that stayed perfectly like oh they he's way over to the left and you're looking straight ahead. Yeah, I agree with you Yeah, I mean this is obviously stuff that we could talk about in the Liberty show Where oh sure, you know, there are things that they could be doing I think that would enhance the show people might think other things and I'll see that's fine. That's what I've chatted about it alright, so basically Alex Marquez and Morbidele then Quattraro Acosta and Fernandez and did you were there by about halfway? That's kind of who was fast right there my cost the guys wait a second bez went to pole Then Alex went to second digi it was down to fourth there But when it finished off we actually had Bez taking a pole position followed by Alex Marquez Then digi Antonio then Raul Fernandez hater Acosta of fifth now I'm like, wow, I thought this might be the track that Acosta could win at but I'm like Trying to win from fifth is gonna be tough Then you had Quattraro and sixth and morbid Ellie Miller out of your mirrors are killing Girl were those 12 writers there so we'd go into the sprint race and I thought well, you know Hey, look, we probably get a really good shot at seeing Acosta sort of maybe win a Win a race because his ability to get a whole shot get out front stay out front and then just sort of hold everybody off But then find late race pace because everybody's tires have worn down and the cost has been on the worn tire the longest He's figured out how to manage it kind of a thing and get there Sounds like I was pretty excited for this.

So as it starts off, we only had the Aprilia's were on soft fronts Everybody else had that medium tire on there So I'm like, ooh, there's something to watch if the Aprilia's are on something different, right? but Bez had led in led to like the first corner and then He wound up going straight all the way back to six as he sort of wrote like everybody wrote underneath to me The dreaded hole shot device did not release So he's in dragster mode and has no way to be able to turn it and you know We took him until turn two to actually unlock the system which again Well, I'm glad that we're banning those and that they'll be gone after next year because I think these things need to go away Just for reasons of this to be honest with you But Alex would jump out front followed by Acosta then and then Raul Fernandez, Quattroraro, Digia and Best Then Mir and Marini are down at turn two and you know conspiracy theorists among us all went crazy because oh Honda only needs to score seven points and I'll have to go to sea level concession So they decided to trash each other. No, let's face the fact here. Mir screwed up big time Lost the front was down and it just so happened that the bowling for riders concept that happens Because we all know that when you lose the bike It's tangential force spins you off at a tangency point and that tangency point led directly to Luca Marini Who happened to be his teammate? Yeah, that was that sucked for Honda and it was an oops But I know these guys got to figure out how to work together, right?

Because if they don't and there's gonna be even in more trouble come next year either way they were down together then Miller had split had gotten into out of her and Had contact to turn two and he got so much an arrow knocked off of him, you know Out of her just I don't I don't know which way it was without her just missed it somehow fierce You know, right or Miller did right and I think the thing that got Miller a penalty There was a fact that it had knocked out of yours hand left hand off of the bar You know because I mean it's like if you hit him that hard you knock his hand off That's kind of gotta be a little bit too aggressive. I mean, there's a point there somewhere But what was interesting was that they made it they made it be hey, you need to drop three places It wasn't take a double long lap or whatever it's like oh this is a three just to drop three places and this is the part that like I I love what the refs have done this year rich as far as penalties and whatnot I think it's been good But here here's an incidence where it's like wait a second Why in this race is it dropped three positions for what would have gotten you a long lap penalty in any other race? Somebody's gotta explain that one to me And if all the ones that constitute a long lap penalty This one in my opinion was way more severe just because of the fact that you broke a ton of arrow off of out of yours Okay that arrow shouldn't be there anyway Hey, you get you also have his hand completely knocked off of it as well He's lucky he didn't get his hand broke to be honest You see I'm not quite in the same place as you on this one and I think fairly unanimously across the other Podcasts I listened to it's not obviously not all of them but I think a lot of people are saying what's that actually a penalty really and Why the hell where did this drop three places thing come from because we haven't seen that before that I can think of No, I can't think of it either might have been long lap penalty Perhaps you would say but it seems a bit convenient because I would have lost three spots So it kind of felt a bit of a retribution penalty now I would need to go back and watch that gang only saw it sort of live in the race and I made a note of it Miller kind of just kind of lost control of the bike rather going into that turn just misses breaking mark I think so he was kind of like all crossed up Sliding and contacted out of there. So yes, but it wasn't a dumb ass move He just kind of overcooked it a little bit and I would have just happened to be then and he did hit him hard Jim, I mean you're quite right But I don't think I'll do good would be sort of stomping down the pit lane wagging a finger at anybody for that If when you consider some of the moves that he's pulled this year So for me, I would have just about had that as a bit of a out of control faux pas There was no malice in it Aldegaard just happened to be there neither of them went down as a result Yes, Aldegaard lost some positions, but you know, he likes a bit of rough and tumble himself and he seems even themselves out so I thought the penalty was unwarranted in the first place and then the actual penalty I just thought was bizarre and Much more punitive actually because Miller had actually pulled a bit of a gap thereafter And so to drop three places, which is why I didn't do it in the end He got a double long lap penalty He just ignored the penalty or didn't serve it when he should have done because he was obviously annoyed and I think he made his Feelings very well clear in the media debrief later on from the sounds of it You know because Jack tends to speak his mind being an honor real easy as so yeah, I'm Credit where credit's due we've said all season long compared to what we had before and no disrespect to Freddie and his crew But things have been markedly better this year like massively better in terms of consistency And a bit of leniency and common sense here and there but for me this was a bit of a weird one Yeah, I think Miller deserves some kind of a penalty I'm firmly in that camp given the basis of everything else that's happened this season But some penalty needed to be applied to Miller again. I'm with you Like where did this three drop three place thing come from?

I mean should have been in my mind you take a long lap penalty Amen if we go back to the actual racing action really, you know This is stuck in sixth place and basically Alex goes on to win this race a Costa will hold off Raul Fernandez or Indigia as they they wear down but you know, it's Alex's race to win then Acosta is second DeGio Antonio is stuck in third there then real Fernandez Zeki would become fifth and then morbid Ellie's sixth then Quattro Bender and I Aguera scores a point because he finished ninth in the sprint race So that was the sprint it was like oh wow, you know, that was not sort of what we were expecting I don't think we expected that to actually happen, but it did and so it's like well that leads us into the race Like well, if that's what we got out of that one. What are we gonna get out of this one? You know kind of a thing with it all so if We start off there We have to start with another incident only this time at the end of the warm-up lap now After you do your warm-up lap your idea is that you are there because you get your tires up to temperature You have your brakes at temperature you come to your spot on the grid You find your spot and you put your bike in there start getting your procedure done that gets you into your whole shot mode So that's what Alisha sparker is doing Sitting on the grid in his box getting the Honda prepared for the start when morbid early just inexplicably runs into him For no reason at all but I could come up with or come to and the impact is hard enough that Bez loses control the bike and actually crashes if you will on the main stretch first thing I thought it was Skyler's complaints about Modelli from the previous Racists like oh that went to fruition real fast not a fan No, yeah, but I'm like how boneheaded do you have to be to do that Like if we go into comparisons of things, right? Yes, it's a boneheaded move that we're way to has But that while there's bike had physically quit on the racing line I can kind of like, you know given everything that's going on a signing lap things that you may be looking for trying to figure out on your bike and Yada yada yada because there is no warm-up as we know I can kind of understand how that could happen Especially giving what happened with debt while his bike here. I don't have any excuse for morbid Delhi on this whatsoever other than sheer stupidity or Whatever you want to call it.

And in fact, he wound up smacking the tail section of the Honda so hard he broke a bunch of arrow pieces off of it and Fractured bones in his hand left hand which meant he couldn't ride it to test the day after Yeah, can you make an excuse for him rich? Cuz I sure can't know like everybody else on total loss words really I mean in isolation you'd say that was weird But we talked about Franky morbid Delhi a lot over sort of well being slightly unkind I suppose corn that's all boneheaded things that he does. They seem to lack spatial awareness That's the issue, you know, I don't know there's any suggestion that he does any of this stuff particularly Deliberately he just sort of loses focus. It seems to me and somebody I'm tempted to say it was probably Simon Patterson on the race podcast I only I was only sort of half listening to it if I'm honest I thought probably doing the tape or something in the morning, but but he made reference I would need to go back and check when and where it was but morbid Delhi obviously has had a lot of big crashes in His career But he had a particularly bad one few seasons ago and he had quite a serious head injury as a result of it And it does make you wonder whether or not it kind of slightly affected some aspects of his judgment You know in terms of his awareness of what's going on around him. I don't know I mean, that's just wild speculation on my part and I don't get sued But there's clearly something not quite right because he just does things you think why the hell did he do that?

And Sunday was an absolute classic Example of that when you say, you know the procedure Why the hell was he that close to elayish in the first place when he knows he's gonna be sort of stopping on a dime To get the front whole shop device engaged There's just no excuse for it and obviously, you know, he paid the price by breaking his hand and missing the test So it's not if he did on purpose I'm not suggesting that but he's just sort of calamitous this guy in the off the bike when he's talking to the media and stuff He's so eloquent and calm and considered. I'm sure he's a great bloke to go out and have a beer with You know all those things and nothing no malice in the guy But he just can't stay out of trouble on track and it's very very hard to understand I mean in fact his broken hand allowed the idiot to take a ride on a motor GP bike at the test Yeah, everybody has a sell-by date, right? I think morbid Ellie is reaching the sell-by date. Sorry Well, I think there's a wide sort of band of thought that the fact that he has the VR 46 connection And he's in that team is really the only reason he is still in motor GP at this point I mean not to say he doesn't put in good performances because he does I mean when he can have a sort of a clean Race he tends to finish quite well But he just gets involved in far too many kind of shenanigans the vast majority of which are on him Yeah, for sure. Okay, so we got everybody we got the bike off the track Well leash gets himself set and they throw the lights right best gets the whole gets a whole shot this time followed by Alex And did you and then Raul Fernandez and Acosta doesn't make a great start and then you had out of her now Pekka was down off and into the gravel at turn four now.

He was forced there by Zarco And then I goes into the gravel Drops the Ducati and calls it an end to a miserable 2025 season it says that's it I'm gonna trudges back off to the pits thinking Everything's gonna have to be better when we get to get the prat we get to bring the new bike out on Tuesday and see if this is going to fix the woes that I have in some way or fashion So that's where then y a season sort of ended in a gravel trap I think it was somewhat fitting given the disastrous time that he's had the crashes everything else But that's where he was now Fernandez made his way to third on this now Oh, I should mention that Zarco gets a penalty for this because I think he was trying to get around Alagagor or out of her didn't have as much drive out of the corner and Zarco has more speed He's like, oh, I'm gonna go around him awesome Boop he goes out there and doesn't realize that Ben Yaya is there and then bangs him into the gravel trap So he then gets a long lap penalty. How about a drop three places? I was yelling drop three places at my TV. I don't know what anybody else was you know So then Fernandez gets into third right Acosta will go by did you and get the fourth? So it's best Alex Fernandez Alonso did you and out of her that's a cost of sorry No, long sir.

I agree then crashes out of turn one. It's like alright eyes down at this point Then I think you could safely say the race was pretty much done, right? There was some times where a cost is running about a half second faster than Alex's and you're hoping that a cost is gonna Sort of do something on worn tires and try to get there or whatever But he doesn't really seem to be able he kind of gets there, but he can't really get anywhere else now Fernandez gets by Alex right because Fernandez is good. He just got by Alex the 1314 He just made a great move up the inside pushed Alex off line and there you go. That's it, right?

Acosta was trying to gun that down too, but he was up wide at 7 He was trying to break there to get past Alex whoo by a lap 20 we got best Fernandez Alex Acosta did you and out of your then Acosta finally does get by Alex at turn 5 and well Well, did you get by Alex to you know, that's a question Did you then does get by Alex at turn 4 now Alex having won the sprint race is having a miserable race on Sunday? That is for sure. But the question was could did you get to Acosta? Was there enough laps to get there? Don't know Basically quattro crashes with four laps to go three laps to go Fernandez is like, you know Three seconds behind Bez Bez is in his own zip code at this point Then it's did you is all over Acosta?

Um, then did you does get by Acosta that turn four and when the race finishes off it is Marco? Buzzecki winning it on his Aprilia role Fernandez finished second on his Aprilia Then it's did you on the Ducati which then you had a cost on the KTM then out of her Alex falls back to sixth I mean he had nothing to really race for Alex had second place in the championship locked up So I don't I don't want to say he took it easy, but he definitely just didn't have the pace and race Luca Marini would finish seventh and get nine points for Honda That means that Honda loses the group D concession and has moved up to a group C concession Which is they're still allowed to test anywhere they wanted to and whenever they want and that's how much as they want But they can't use their two GP riders. They can use only their test riders So I guess Alash is gonna be riding a whole lot more than what he did This last year, although Alash on the 36 the the 26 bike looked to be Pretty good. I thought Where were we all mariney bender then Miller a bashing he ran out at the top ten. Um, that was kind of a crazy race now Jorge Martin did pull off after 16 laps That was a team decision.

He was still beat up. They wanted him to test So he did a few laps said hi to his fan club and pulled it in and was as he put it extremely tired So the GP season is over, you know, Alex Marquez is our Marquez is the world champion, right? He's still some 32 points or some 78 points ahead of his brother Which tells you how incredible his season was that he he sat out essentially five races It didn't score maximum points in any of them and still has a 78 point lead. Yeah, it's pretty wild Alex's second now bears got the third having bested Acosta who was fourth who having bested Ben Yaya Right because Ben Yaya didn't score any points then did you morbid Delhi out of your quattro Fernandez and bender that is the how the world championship ends in the final race rich anything to say well Good to see consistency from Acosta. So again, I think there's that accio Influence is across the let's remember was pretty vocal and getting a bit petulant in actual fact Which is understandable given his talent and his desire to do well Fast forward to the end of the season and he's seen two of his kind of what you might call compatriots Raul Fernandez and for me now to get both winning races and he still hasn't won a race in motor GP so he would have more reason now to be spitting his dummy out, but very measured and Again, I entirely put the KTM performance down to a key.

I have an actual fact Yeah, not just a cost of performance just the steadying of the ship that feels like and if it hadn't been for Maverick being injured I think he would have been much more prominent in terms of top 10 Possibly top five even a podium here over there in the second half of the season. I mean that's genuinely yeah Who knows and binda? Interesting with binda He has a guy called Phil Marin coming over to crew chief him from next season and Phil Marin's been with top rack in world Superbike for the last five or six years and is a really really top crew chief So it will be very interesting to see how those two, you know him and binda get on at KTM I don't know why Phil Marin hasn't been allowed to come or hasn't wanted to come the top rack into the Prem act team We'll see how that works out But I think provided nothing financially disastrous happens or you know The new owners of KTM or majority owners of KTM don't sort of suddenly decide they don't want to be in Moto GP anymore be Kind of yeah cool to see how KTM continue this I don't want to call it a resurgence because that would be overstating it Certainly with the cost of they've got that seminal talent that can overcome a lot of the other issues That are around be they performance machinery political financial etc He's the guy that will rescue the brand at the moment, but he does need to win a race next year, doesn't he? Otherwise, he'll be off. Yeah, the pressure is on KTM to provide the grip that he wants Yeah, so that he doesn't lose grip during the race if he does then the cost isn't with a shout at winning Two three races this the next year, right?

Yeah It's just a matter of how they develop the bike I think one of the cool things to me about KTM is one is a key. I oh he has studied that ship, right? You know, I think the ship was in rough waters They relieved the cap and they put a new one in board into the steady hand showed up and said look boys Okay, this is what we're gonna concentrate on this how we're gonna do this. This is a methodical approach We're gonna use everything as a test session We're gonna make ourselves better and by the end of the year You got a minute cost to had sprint podiums and whatnot and you know He had podiums on in the races and you got to give a lot of credit to Ackee I think in getting everybody calm down and everybody focused and this is where we're gonna go Yeah, and I think the most refreshing thing to me is is that the new guy who's honed up most of the money to save KTM? Shows up with his kids in the pad up, right?

Sits next to pit buyer and he looks he is what I would be if I was a team owner in Moto GP I'd be jumping up and down screaming and carrying on just having the time of my life Watching racing from inside of the pit box and he is and I find that in such contrast to how you see Gigi delinia, he's just calm Stroking the beard, you know Tardazzi's got Tardazzi only usually ever has anything happened When his riders are down then he kind of blows up and it's all heim waving because it's Italian right Didn't whatnot great and it's just different to see how they are as opposed to everybody else, right? David Rivio is just really calm too. Right? Yeah, you guys have really turned that around a track house You've got a win. You got a second place on a podium.

I mean, that's incredible, right? You've you know Those are things I never would that were not on my bingo card for 2025 for sure. Totally. Yeah I mean again, I've got various ideas as you have and hopefully listeners will have a few ideas Well the things to talk about clearly we need to do a bit of a review show in terms of your highlights from Moto GP I mean, I'm kind of overlooking. I've just written it down actually the comeback, you know, because Mark Marcus has won a championship again, you know after everything that he's been through and I don't know so buying to this the greatest Recovery in sporting history thing.

That's a packed field of contenders for that particular accolade But he has come back from a an incredibly serious setback And the fact that you say he hasn't been around for the last four or five minutes He still won the championship with a huge points lead us It's been embarrassing for everybody else really in many respects and none more so than his teammate but I suppose we need to have a chat about the test don't we because Yeah quickly. Yeah seems to be a little bit better for banyard, but it's a test So you can't really read too much into it. Yep. So only Moto GP tested on Tuesday at Valencia Raul Fernandez was the fastest bike there. He on his Aprilia, you know His top speed was amazing at 330 although Zeki on the new aero That they had was at 340.

I mean that's over 200 miles an hour 206 I think Yeah, yeah, I know think about Magello slash felt by on slash You know coda with the big back straight there Which is kind of wild? Alex was next there then out of your Acosta then In the 129 fives then vinyala is having a 129 six So, you know you had two of previous to Ducati's two KTMs is like Noah's Ark. We're all lined up two by two And Then, you know, there's two more two guys because it's Gigi Antonio and Beliga Then it's the KTM of bender then yeah, then they're looking at a 129, you know, that's tense You know, I don't think then yeah, I would be there but he was definitely happier than he has been So apparently the 26 bike is a little bit better to his liking Well, I mean who knows what he was actually riding true. He was probably on some Frankenstein bike or some kind right? Again listen to some of the other podcasts there isn't really much new stuff to talk about I think at the test because you know, obviously we've got one last year You've got an engine freeze factors are probably starting to turn a lot of their budgetary attention to the 2027 or Increasingly to the 27 bikes In fact this new fairing that Aprilia were running was somehow a development that they will use with the new 850 I was here somewhere taking advantage of something that I've changed that allows them to run a slightly narrower bike So I think that was the only genuinely new thing that was out there to be honest I don't think we're gonna see anything particularly revelation or until we get to Malaysia in what will that be February time?

And of course, nobody in this particular test Nobody wanted to have a big crash and injure themselves going into the winter break So yeah a little bit of a non-event really well top rack gone onto a Moto GP bike for the first time I mean, that's not I mean, he's still gagged. He can't talk really about it. Yeah, but he did he was on the v4 Yeah, they're all of them were and he was the second fastest Yamaha as well. Yep faster than rinse Yep, faster than Miller. Yeah again, I don't you can draw too much into that and it's not the first time top racks ridden the v4 Either he's had a couple of private tests on it, but this was his first official one I can I just say actually Jim?

Yes He wasn't allowed to say anything but fair play to BMW for even letting him do the test because he's still Contracted to BMW until Christmas I think and he needed permission from them to actually go and start riding the yam They could have been a bit petty minded about that and we have seen that in the past from other teams or other manufacturers So no tick in the box for Bima there because it was good that they allowed him to do that Albeit he wasn't allowed to talk to the media. Yep, Marrera getting on with the LCR Honda was slower than top rack I mean, I don't know what we expected really from Marrera I mean he had one test on it before and it is the Honda So, who knows and then you had yeti getting a little ride on the VR 46 because you know Well, we're Delhi broke his left hand because he had a brain fade You know how's it gonna be right so yeah, that's testing I don't think we can draw a lot about it except for I think you know again Well, we've come to learn is that the approach is a really good bike I think it is the best bike out there. Nope, and then do coddies the second best bike KTM is the third best bike And then you know Honda's sort of the fourth best bike and then the Yamaha's, you know Sort of bringing up the rear that's just how it is Anyway, that's everything from Valencia including the testing remember folks right in Tell us things that you want us to talk about find out discuss on the show in the offseason So please write in but a pod at motopodcast.com Give us your ideas thoughts says we formulate the offseason and again rich Take at least two weeks off to get things ready prepared for probably a season review then probably a Liberty show Is how I'm seeing it rich But that's everything so the racing is complete. We can now focus on the holidays and Christmas and all that good stuff and Then we'll be right back at it again with testing and then sure enough. It'll be race season right around the corner Yeah, it's not a long offseason is it these days?

So although like you I've got some ideas of stuff we can do that plus a bit of time off Yeah, we'll be back around to well world super bikes to generally gets kicked off around about end of February March time Motor GT's a little bit later, but not much given how many races they have to cram in. So yeah They'll be back around again pretty soon We do want to sort of try and think about how to expand the coverage a little bit perhaps with some additional help I mean for example Jim and again, I'm embarrassed really but Again, it'll be some content for the these coming weeks I do still have some stuff that Scott did for us back in the early part of the season Never never mind the stuff I collected at Donington with the world super bikes But I just haven't had time to sort of think sideways really with everything else going on with work and whatnot But this slightly quiet appeared now is an opportunity just to catch up on a few of those things But yeah If there's some particular people that listeners want us to track down in terms of personalities You know in terms of a few personalities and then that's somebody else I've been meaning to catch up with all years Greg Haynes Just chat about world super bikes because I have watched all of the world super this year And I've watched all the BSP as well. We just haven't really had time to cover it in detail So that's perhaps something we need to try and do with other help next season if that's what the listeners want I mean, obviously, um, that's what I would like to happen But it's a question of what people want to be able to listen to what sort of content they want to access So, yeah, let us know I mean we are here to serve in our own little way But we do need some more help. I think I think that's kind of where I'm at because next year I know you're flat out busy with work Jim, you know, the pressure never stops. Definitely the case for me I'm probably gonna be doing a bit more travel as well potentially so that makes life a bit harder So we do need some extra flex in the system I think just to try and mean that we don't miss shows or fall behind with stuff, which I'm most guilty of it's true But there is a reason for it Anyway, it'd be nice to recharge the batteries for a couple of weeks and get back with some other content agreed All right, everyone those in the US enjoy us Thanksgiving.

Yeah, other than that I want everybody to be sure that they ride safe. Cheerio