Week late to the party haha but well, hell of a round at COTA. Met a lot of riders and independent business owners and among other great two wheel friends at the paddock that hooked us up, it was an amazing weekend honestly. Highlight of the weekend had to be, the owner of 64 degree racing who is an Aussie out of CO, got to meet Jack Miller at his box and gave him a 64 degree racing straw hat, which jack gladly accepted. Jack is just a pure class act and just can't hate that dude, he's just rad as hell, got to also speak a bit with Brad Binder while we were in that area as well, had talked with him, his brother and Cam Petersen during the MotoAmerica/MotoGP support round a few years ago as we were pitted right next to Danny Walker when one of our local CO racers did the race that weekend and oddly enough he remembered us and mentioned it when I took a picture with him outside his hospitality tent. Bumped across some MRA members while walking around the vendor areas and what not, can't wait for next year!.
That's awesome and sounds like a great weekend there in COTA. Miller is a good guy, he's got a personality and seems down to earth. I didn't agree with him coming from Moto3 to MotoGP, but have certainly grown to like the guy and see his potential. He may have not belonged when he first arrived but, he belongs now and has certainly earned his spot for sure.
Now to the racing aspect:
MotoGP- Rins just doesn't cease to amaze and squeezed a hell of a result on a crap bike, I am honestly thinking that HRC is probably wondering why they didn't go with him instead of Mir for the factory seat. I foresee Rins getting some more great results although hard fought this season with that pig of a bike. Mir and Nakagami are nowhere to be seen or found, I am honestly surprised that they didn't give one of the Moto2 asian riders a crack at Nakagami's seat, which I am sure this upcoming season, it may be happening.
Rins is a very good rider and equal to if not a little faster than Mir. Mir is fast and consistent on his day but he just lacks a little bit lately. I think Rins will do well on his Honda. If he continues to do well maybe even earn some more podiums or a race win. I can see him replacing Marquez, should Marc decide to leave for another manufacture. If Marc stays, and Mir can't live up to his potential, then you might see a switch of the two, and Rins move up.
As for factory Ducati, incredible that Pecco lost that race over just going slightly left on the race line at T2, which cost other riders all weekend there as well across the classes. Yet another great result for the VR46 Mooney team after a sort of complicated start to the weekend but they managed to stay upright and make the push to keep the championship fight going.
Pecco is having some issues with the bike. Not sure if it's him or the bike. Seems more bike related from his recent comments of how it's almost too perfect to ride. Then again, it could be his head is playing tricks on him again. He needs to get control of himself soon, or Ducati head brass will start looking at him more closely.
Although a complicated weekend for Yamaha but decent result for Fabio considering the situation, he of course wasn't shy of projecting his frustrations. Morbidelli is still sort of on the mental ropes honestly even after the great results in Argentina. We were sitting at the hero walk area waiting for autographs and such and you could tell he didn't give two fucks about being there and is just checked out, more so now with the rumors of either Jorge Martin or Toprak taking his seat and even some media members said the same thing, that he was very vague and brief during his interviews, that knee injury and jump to the factory seat really did him in unfortunately and doesn't seem like he will bounce back from it, who knows if he will end up without a seat altogether as things in WSBK don't seem to much better as Ducati is literally obliterating everyone right now there on both classes.
Fabio is Fabio and will get the results. He needs some time, that M1 is all over the place in terms of what it can and can't do. One week it's a dream for him, the next he can't figure it out. It's kind of a mirror example of what the W14 is for Mercedes in F1 at the moment. If they get it in a sweet spot it does perform well(not enough or anywhere able to compete with Red Bull) but it does seem to show performance. Then the next race the wheels come off and it's no where. Yamaha have the same problem. Their bike I think has reached its limit and they need a revolution and not an evolution.
Morbidelli is gone and I think you're right he checked out. I, honestly think Frankie would do well in WSBK. He's big and seems WSBK does well with riders of all sizes. Who knows, he may end up with Ducati, or if Toprak comes to MotoGP, they may swap seats. I don't think Toprak will do anything in MotoGP on a M1 though. He's going to trade one Yamaha getting beat by a Ducati for another Yamaha getting it's teeth kicked in by a Ducati. Dude's in a lose/lose situation.
Aprilia showed some fight but losing Aleix early cost them dearly although MV managed a very decent result as well with Oliveira which I was happy as hell to see back and he managed a hell of a ride for the weekend, we will definitely see him win soon enough and I foresee him taking Aleix seat at this rate.
KTM started out great during the race, hell of a push from both Binder and Miller but apparently a front tire pressure blunder did them in and cost them both to loose the front end in very weird ways. Would have been cool as hell to see Miller podium without a doubt but well the fight continues at Jerez. Do have to note the great result by Augusto Fernandez for the GASGAS team, he pushed and delivered on a very complicated track.
Now onto Pramac, this team honestly has me flabbergasted. Martin literally crashed in front of us at T3 about 4 times during the whole weekend and during the race he took out A.M during the opening lap. Martin, while a great talent but man he just can't find consistency and wonders why he wasn't chosen for the factory seat. He is now being rumored to exit Pramac for Yamaha next year but honestly don't see how that could be a good move. Both him and Zarco show such great pace and potential but when it comes time to deliver, they just don't seem to deliver when it matters.
Rest of the teams are doing the see-saw thing. One week or race they are good, the next they can't figure it out. I think we will see this from Aprilia and KTM for most of the season. Though, KTM seem to have it together a bit better. Miller seems to love the bike and Binder is fast and can win races, he just needs it to all come together.
WSBK -
Back at Assen after nearly 2 months off (that's insane, it's like another winter break
). Bautista back at his usual domination, no other manufacturers have any answers for Ducati at this time and it is all his to lose. Rae lost the bike during race two this afternoon since he has to be beyond the limit to try and just stay with Bautista and even Toprak only stayed there for a very short time and then Bautista was off and all on his own to establish his metronomic pace. The rider to note this weekend is Dominique Aegerter with his best race finish this season of 4th position and best independent rider as well in race 2, he finished 6th yesterday. Both him and Bassani had a bit of a 2015 Marquez vs Rossi moment (although not as dramatic) but race direction deemed that Aegerter had position coming into the last corner as Bassani left the door open and layed into Aegerter and ran wide to try and use it as an excuse to keep position. He was deemed to exceed track limits and he had to drop 1 position surrendering 4th to Aegerter. Incredible seeing Baz back at it after that gnarly ass injury at Mandalika, although he crashed during race 2 and thankfully walked away without further injuries, that dude is a trooper! Michael VanDemarc had an insane highside and had to be stretchered off, looks like his leg took another big beating as he was flopping in the air and came down hard, a very unfortunate row of injuries and hard high sides for him lately, I'm sure his wife is about to divorce his ass if that keeps going. Truly sucks seeing Gerloff in such a dark place mentally, that shine that dude has is all gone and to see him fighting for barely any points now is just sad to see. Unfortunately I foresee him making a come back to MotoAmerica next season as his contract is only for one year with Bonovo and you can see his drive in WSBK is just depleted. That incident at Assen last year did him in hard and then also the fact that he passed Toprak at one of the races and the Yamaha boss wasn't a bit happy about that and that's just about what put the nail in his WSBK career coffin. Such a shame cause that dude showed pure brilliance in his first season but well unfortunately only European riders get benefited, American riders don't get true support overseas and bullshit politics claim yet another victim.
The American riders might do more if we had the old AMA back. Not slamming MotoAmerica, but it's not the old AMA. The old AMA is brought us all the great American racers that then went on to the world stage and dominated in the 80's and 90's. We just aren't churning out the talent like we did back in the old days. Even just as recently as when Ben Spies left, pretty much it all took a step back when he left. He went on to lots of success but that was our last really good American rider.
Again, not picking on our current guys but they aren't a Spies, or Hayden, or Roberts(Sr. and Jr.) or Edwards, or a Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz types. Our guys now are awesome and great and fast but they don't have that "it" factor that makes those other guys elite. You can see it, when one of our guys goes over seas they get stomped, they are just not that good. We(USA) are just not producing World Championship material riders.
And I really don't know how to fix it honestly. One of the main reasons(I think) is that they eat, sleep and live moto racing(from very early ages). Their tracks are just different over there, they require a different skill set. They are raised different over there, their schooling is different over there. In Europe you either have Soccer or Auto/Moto Racing. We have a lot of factors that goes into it all. Sure there are some politics involved with nationalities but there's so much more I think as well.
Here in the United States, we can't seem to figure out which bathroom we want to use, or what next fruitcake we want to put on a beer can. Our priorities are just ass backwards compared to everyone else at the moment. Yeah, I know the rest of the world is wrestling with it too, but we seem to be balls deep in it(for lack of a better term).
We(USA) used to produced some of the greatest things, do some of the most amazing things, build, manufacture and create some of the greatest things. Now, all we seem to do is produce sh*t. We stopped trying to achieve or aspire to be the greatest, now we are happy being mediocre. Everyone gets a star and participation trophy. There's no drive, no win mentality. There's no, "I have to be the best" mindset anymore. And it shows, when there is nothing to strive for, no aspiration to attain the unattainable, then everything starts to suck.
MotoAmerica -
Road Atlanta round yesterday underway and Cameron Baubier made a hell of a "I'm back" statement with his new BMW team and taking the win from Jake Gagne, who although didn't lose by much but couldn't pull it back followed by Josh Herrin in 3rd and his first podium on the new V4R. I'm sure the outing in Moto2 made Cameron even a stronger rider and Gagne will have his work cut out for him, it's going to be a hell of a season. We will see what race 2 today holds and if Gagne or any of the other top riders can answer to Cameron's strong statemement.
Well that is all for my rambling news that maybe only 2 people read
have a great rest of your weekend!
Originally Posted by madvlad
Week late to the party haha but well, hell of a round at COTA. Met a lot of riders and independent business owners and among other great two wheel friends at the paddock that hooked us up, it was an amazing weekend honestly. Highlight of the weekend had to be, the owner of 64 degree racing who is an Aussie out of CO, got to meet Jack Miller at his box and gave him a 64 degree racing straw hat, which jack gladly accepted. Jack is just a pure class act and just can't hate that dude, he's just rad as hell, got to also speak a bit with Brad Binder while we were in that area as well, had talked with him, his brother and Cam Petersen during the MotoAmerica/MotoGP support round a few years ago as we were pitted right next to Danny Walker when one of our local CO racers did the race that weekend and oddly enough he remembered us and mentioned it when I took a picture with him outside his hospitality tent. Bumped across some MRA members while walking around the vendor areas and what not, can't wait for next year!.
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