24' MotoGP/WSBK/MotoAmerica discussion thread **SPOILER ALERT**

[The Black Knight]

Unfortunately Honda and Yamaha won't be relevant again until the rule changes for 2027, just grid fillers till then.

I agree, Honda and Yamaha may come back but they are going to struggle. Yamaha may do better now that Pramac has chosen them and will run as their second squad. Honda, is just out to sea at the moment. Nothing they seem to try works and/or they just don't have the team/riders around them to develop the bike. I don't even think Marquez could develop the bike at this point, he never really was that great at development. I think that came from Dani Pedrosa, look what he's done over at KTM. You need a fast rider, but always a rider that can relay good and useful information back to the factory.

Man, Marc's highside during Sachsenring practice--the front was already down and sliding in a lowside, then the back tire caught.

I'm not a Marquez fan, my wife who is didn't appreciate it the other year when I said "he's not saving it on his elbow anymore."

I was wondering what's with the teams singing the 90's eurodance song "freed from desire" in the pits after winning, like Jack Miller and Ducati did a few years ago, found out it's a huge song at soccer games in Europe now.

Yeah Marc is getting long in the tooth. He can't save slides like he used too, he's lost that step in reflexes. He also is slower to get up after huge offs. Time is catching up with him as it did with Rossi. They are and will always be fast, it's just other factors start coming into play.

[madvlad]

MM has never been a developer or has that instinct, just like Lorenzo, they reaped the rewards of other's hard and back breaking work. If Pedrosa had not done what he did at HRC, MM would be lucky to have a couple of championships. Reason why I can't take MM seriously even now and why he will never have the GOAT title over Rossi. Rossi made Yamaha what it is and that race in south Africa will forever be a banger. MM used his contacts at Audi to push Martin out of the seat, which makes me like that douchebag even less. Martin deserved that seat over him 110% but Ducati bit at the money grabbing deal that the publicity of this calamity will bring. Everyone saying that MM was going to obliterate the field in the Gresini and blah blah blah but funny he's still crashing and if it wasn't for others crashing in front of him, he's only really had a couple of decent results. Just like you mentioned, yeah sure he will always be "fast" but age is catching up. Now I REALLY hope that Aprilia and Martin are able to shove it up Ducati's ass next year, they did him insanely dirty.

So in the crunched down latest news:

Moto GP -

Pramac signs with Yamaha for 2025 onwards, Oliveira seems to be their rider in 2025 but that's TBC.

Martin and Bezzecchi sign with Factory Aprilia team, Trackhouse Aprilia sign Raul Fernandez to another 2 year contract. It was speculated that Joe Roberts may have been taking that second seat with the stellar season he's having in Moto2, HOWEVER as of late Ai Ogura has been heavily linked with that seat instead but of course all rumors at this point.

Bastianini and Maverick to TECH 3 factory redbull team

Joan Mir signs another 2 year contract with HRC which I find absolutely astonishing as that bike is going to end his career at the rate he keeps crashing on that thing.

Gresini retains Alex Marquez for 2 more seasons.

Simon Crafar takes over Freddy Spencer's position in the stewards panel, change which I think it is very needed.

WSBK -

Garrett Gerloff is linked with Puccetti Kawasaki (or to be BIMOTA in 2025) that supposedly will host a factory type supported ride BUT I personally think they will do him dirty just like Yamaha and BMW did. So called "Factory" teams and there is nothing factory about them other than the plastics. IMO he should have came back state side, would have done much better and probably earned way more. Going to Puccetti is just kicking himself in the dick at this point.

Bonovo BMW will be pulling off the WSBK paddock in 2025, looks like they may field a single Ducati bike which will be led by Phillip Oettl next season.

Factory Kawasaki is no more and will be BIMOTA Factory team fielding Bassani and Lowes for the next 2 seasons


All I can think of right now, haven't followed much in MotoAmerica this year unfortunately. They want too much for their pass and the coverage is absolutely horrid. Back to racing at Silverstone for MotoGP this weekend and Remy Gardner will be replacing Cal as he is still pretty banged up from his hand injury. Yamaha also need a proper test rider already, Cal really haven't been giving them any proper test time or information, they need someone who can grit this shit to bring them back again.

[The Black Knight]

MM has never been a developer or has that instinct, just like Lorenzo, they reaped the rewards of other's hard and back breaking work. If Pedrosa had not done what he did at HRC, MM would be lucky to have a couple of championships. Reason why I can't take MM seriously even now and why he will never have the GOAT title over Rossi. Rossi made Yamaha what it is and that race in south Africa will forever be a banger. MM used his contacts at Audi to push Martin out of the seat, which makes me like that douchebag even less. Martin deserved that seat over him 110% but Ducati bit at the money grabbing deal that the publicity of this calamity will bring. Everyone saying that MM was going to obliterate the field in the Gresini and blah blah blah but funny he's still crashing and if it wasn't for others crashing in front of him, he's only really had a couple of decent results. Just like you mentioned, yeah sure he will always be "fast" but age is catching up. Now I REALLY hope that Aprilia and Martin are able to shove it up Ducati's ass next year, they did him insanely dirty.

So in the crunched down latest news:

Moto GP -

Pramac signs with Yamaha for 2025 onwards, Oliveira seems to be their rider in 2025 but that's TBC.

Martin and Bezzecchi sign with Factory Aprilia team, Trackhouse Aprilia sign Raul Fernandez to another 2 year contract. It was speculated that Joe Roberts may have been taking that second seat with the stellar season he's having in Moto2, HOWEVER as of late Ai Ogura has been heavily linked with that seat instead but of course all rumors at this point.

Bastianini and Maverick to TECH 3 factory redbull team

Joan Mir signs another 2 year contract with HRC which I find absolutely astonishing as that bike is going to end his career at the rate he keeps crashing on that thing.

Gresini retains Alex Marquez for 2 more seasons.

Simon Crafar takes over Freddy Spencer's position in the stewards panel, change which I think it is very needed.

WSBK -

Garrett Gerloff is linked with Puccetti Kawasaki (or to be BIMOTA in 2025) that supposedly will host a factory type supported ride BUT I personally think they will do him dirty just like Yamaha and BMW did. So called "Factory" teams and there is nothing factory about them other than the plastics. IMO he should have came back state side, would have done much better and probably earned way more. Going to Puccetti is just kicking himself in the dick at this point.

Bonovo BMW will be pulling off the WSBK paddock in 2025, looks like they may field a single Ducati bike which will be led by Phillip Oettl next season.

Factory Kawasaki is no more and will be BIMOTA Factory team fielding Bassani and Lowes for the next 2 seasons


All I can think of right now, haven't followed much in MotoAmerica this year unfortunately. They want too much for their pass and the coverage is absolutely horrid. Back to racing at Silverstone for MotoGP this weekend and Remy Gardner will be replacing Cal as he is still pretty banged up from his hand injury. Yamaha also need a proper test rider already, Cal really haven't been giving them any proper test time or information, they need someone who can grit this shit to bring them back again.

I honestly think the move to sign Marquez has backfired in Ducati's face severely. Sure they gained an 8 time champion but look what it cost them. They lose Martin, Bastianini, Bez and Pramac. I'm not sure that was such a great deal in the long run. They lost a lot of speed and one very good and competitive privateer team. I think it was a bad deal and I think Ducati if not already, will start to second guess their decision.

I also think Ducati are going to railroad Martin for the rest of the season. Especially, since they do not want him taking the #1 plate to Aprilia. I've read in a few places on-line that the word is to not support Pramac. It's all fine and good in public, but behind the scenes Martin and Pramac are on their own. Which if Martin is able to pull this off, will be the biggest "F You!!" to Ducati.

The great thing is, you know they aren't going to follow team orders. Which means either Martin or Bastianini are all within striking distance of the title. There is a high possibility that even Enea could take the #1 plate to a privateer team at Tech 3. What a slap that would be to Ducati.

I just hope Pramac can give Yamaha some much needed help. Was surprised to see Rins resigned with them. Yamaha and Honda are just out to sea in terms of development. Maybe, just maybe Ducati signing Marquez was the best thing for the sport. It finally forced them to lose a team, someone else get some help and it helped to diversify an already stacked line up that Ducati had. I think Marini moving to Honda was the first piece of that puzzle and the rest are finally following. It really needed to happen, Ducati was becoming too big and had a lock on all the talent.

Let's hope for a good end to a weird season.

[madvlad]

I honestly think the move to sign Marquez has backfired in Ducati's face severely. Sure they gained an 8 time champion but look what it cost them. They lose Martin, Bastianini, Bez and Pramac. I'm not sure that was such a great deal in the long run. They lost a lot of speed and one very good and competitive privateer team. I think it was a bad deal and I think Ducati if not already, will start to second guess their decision.

I also think Ducati are going to railroad Martin for the rest of the season. Especially, since they do not want him taking the #1 plate to Aprilia. I've read in a few places on-line that the word is to not support Pramac. It's all fine and good in public, but behind the scenes Martin and Pramac are on their own. Which if Martin is able to pull this off, will be the biggest "F You!!" to Ducati.

The great thing is, you know they aren't going to follow team orders. Which means either Martin or Bastianini are all within striking distance of the title. There is a high possibility that even Enea could take the #1 plate to a privateer team at Tech 3. What a slap that would be to Ducati.

I just hope Pramac can give Yamaha some much needed help. Was surprised to see Rins resigned with them. Yamaha and Honda are just out to sea in terms of development. Maybe, just maybe Ducati signing Marquez was the best thing for the sport. It finally forced them to lose a team, someone else get some help and it helped to diversify an already stacked line up that Ducati had. I think Marini moving to Honda was the first piece of that puzzle and the rest are finally following. It really needed to happen, Ducati was becoming too big and had a lock on all the talent.

Let's hope for a good end to a weird season.

Ducati is going to have their hands full next season, it is going to be Lorenzo and Rossi garage days over there next year. MM is used to getting his way and I'm sure he will resort to shady shit to stay relevant. I don't blame Pramac for leaving honestly, come 2027 Yamaha already have an outstanding 800cc platform and they'll be hitting the ground running, the Italian manufacturers will be playing catch up then. That MM move truly was about as close to spitting in someone's face as anything out there so again don't blame the owner for saying fuck you to Ducati and walking out, I honestly would have too. The F1 like politics and internal string pulling bs is rather scary here, hope these new owners don't fuck it up man. Oh, we know Pramac and Martin are on their own, hell they've been on their own really since the start of the year and you can see it but Ducati can't even be mad at either Pramac or JM for making moves, honestly they weren't in the plans anyways as it was from the get-go as the MM rumors started to climb and the knew the jiggy was up. Sucks to suck and again hope either JM or Enea shove it up their ass and take the plate over there next season. Ducati became like MB in F1 a few years back, where they dominated 100% and nobody even came near them, that's the problem when you start letting money rule and not allow talent and brains to let it do the race talking. Initially I wasn't looking forward to the 2027 changes but honestly, I am for it now. More rider control than money and development control, we'll see who is who then as electronics and launch/squat devices are helping a lot of these guys be better than they think they are, we will see who truly has the rider know how and on the go adjustment to ride around shit when electronics and bs rider aids won't help you and you'll have to think outside the box and dig deep to stay at the front. I think Yamaha and HRC are cutting their losses for the next two years and just paid the piper sticking with those that have stuck around and will just play hookie until 2027 when they'll be back with a vengeance.

This morning's practice session was a freaking yard sale dude, crash after crash after crash not sure if teams have enough parts for the rest of the weekend, shit was brutal! Fabio DiGanantonio is actually out for the weekend, he ate shit hard at T13 I think it was and ruled unfit so he must have fucked himself up pretty good. They also announced the signing of Morbidelli to VR46 which is no surprise of course. They also announced Ai Ogura to Trackhouse racing for 2025/2026. So much for American teams supporting American talent, guess Roberts fighting for a championship right now isn't enough nothing against Ogura of course, he's an outstanding talent but this bozo owner is already proving himself wrong and not supporting American talent. This is a huge fuck you to American riders working their asses off and putting insane financial strain to make it if not even an American team wants to support them, how are they supposed to make it? It's nonsensical. We won't see another American rider come anywhere even near a GP seat for another decade at the least and that's IF any even manage to make it past the local leagues and get out to Europe somehow. American Racing/Trackhouse need to work in an in-house development sort of like KTM does and bring riders up from within the ranks, sucks they're too stupid to see it and their American retarded ass egos get the best of them...

[madvlad]

The Spanish mafia strikes again, MM struggled all year and out of nowhere he's winning races by 5 secs... and now Pecco got reprimanded by Ducati and Dorna over what Alex Marquez did which is absolute dog shit if you ask me, just Marquez doing Marquez shit just like in 2015 and getting away with it... What a crock of shit that whole situation was, who knows what's going to happen this weekend so they can keep benefitting that douchebag since Ducati put all their eggs on the Marquez basket and have pretty much taken support away for Pecco and Martin who are the actual title contenders and you can see it as Pecco has been struggling the last few rounds and same with Martin, gotta be a special type of stupid to spit on your double champions face and double runner up to try and save the career of some douche that's on his way out already... The demise of Ducati commences now.

Toprak ate shit at FP2 pretty hard this afternoon in Magny Cours, while he's stable in the hospital but his participation this weekend is doubtful. Good thing he has a good points cushion but it was only a matter of time before that BMW bit him in the ass since he has to ride it way out of control to make it work, just hope the injuries won't be long lasting. Good start for Gerloff over there as well, he has some good pace as he also showed last year. Hope he can get some good results or even a podium here but weather could be a factor as well, we'll see how the rest of the weekend goes.

[The Black Knight]

The Spanish mafia strikes again, MM struggled all year and out of nowhere he's winning races by 5 secs... and now Pecco got reprimanded by Ducati and Dorna over what Alex Marquez did which is absolute dog shit if you ask me, just Marquez doing Marquez shit just like in 2015 and getting away with it... What a crock of shit that whole situation was, who knows what's going to happen this weekend so they can keep benefitting that douchebag since Ducati put all their eggs on the Marquez basket and have pretty much taken support away for Pecco and Martin who are the actual title contenders and you can see it as Pecco has been struggling the last few rounds and same with Martin, gotta be a special type of stupid to spit on your double champions face and double runner up to try and save the career of some douche that's on his way out already... The demise of Ducati commences now.

Toprak ate shit at FP2 pretty hard this afternoon in Magny Cours, while he's stable in the hospital but his participation this weekend is doubtful. Good thing he has a good points cushion but it was only a matter of time before that BMW bit him in the ass since he has to ride it way out of control to make it work, just hope the injuries won't be long lasting. Good start for Gerloff over there as well, he has some good pace as he also showed last year. Hope he can get some good results or even a podium here but weather could be a factor as well, we'll see how the rest of the weekend goes.

For some reason I do find it odd that all of a sudden it clicked together for Marquez at Aragon. I'm thinking because it's his home race they decided to do something more just to get him back in the spotlight.

The whole Alex and Pecco clash I think just from what I saw was more of a racing incident that could have been avoided. Don't think either were out there to crash each other. I know Alex is a Marquez but his not Marc. He seems a little more genuine than his brother, he is a Marquez though and anything can happen. To me it seemed like two racers that wanted the same spot on the race track. Should have been more situational awareness between both of them. I think Pecco would have got him in the next lap or so.

As much as I like Bagnaia, I'd love to see Martin take the title and the #1 over to Aprilia. Even if he can't defend it next year, which I think he will win races as he's just faster than AE and MV. Just to slap Ducati in the face for letting him go and favoring Marquez over Martin. I think Martin is going to play it smart for the rest of year. He's going to bag 2nd's and 3rd's where possible. And get some wins when he can. Which that's all he needs to do and keep a cool head. Races are ticking down and he's almost a race win ahead. That can disappear fast as we've seen.

After seeing Ducati's rise to power and now making the inevitable stupid mistake with Marquez. I'd like to see them fall away some, and others come back into the foray. Be nice to see Yamaha and Honda come back and be at the front again. I'd like to see KTM and Aprilia really make an effort next year. And I'd like to see Ducati regret their Marquez decision.

Best case scenario is that Martin wins the title and takes it to Aprilia, where he successfully defends it next year. That would slap down Ducati hard and serve them some much needed humble pie.

[madvlad]

Great result for Garrett Gerloff at Magny-Cours, hell of a race for him and a much deserved podium position finally. Sucks it came a little late but well better late than ever I guess. Hope he gets a few more good results in there before his switch to that shit Puccetti team next season cause he'll be lucky to finish in the points next season with that shit bike. Cool to see VDM getting one race win back and gaining some confidence out there, must have been a weight off his back during his injuries and shitty phase. Speedy recovery to Rea, Bautista and Toprak who got all kinds of fucked up this weekend unfortunately.

As far as MotoGP, what else can be said... now out of nowhere MM pulling away and everything lining up for this dude, this has too much of F1 marketing bullshit feel to it to me and many out there and I'm not liking it. I can't stand that dude for shit I won't deny but there are more powers at play here and yeah sure he timed the rain thing to perfection and of course the rain lets up right as he's at the front, I mean I wish I could get that kind of luck man, it is truly unbelievable. As far as Martin, he just seems checked out and defeated, just wants to ride the year out and be done. You can also see the frustration from the rest of the Ducati riders with this whole Marquez situation as Ducati has literally shifted ALL attention and support to that prick and has left their back to back champion on the back burner, it is truly unbelievable and disrespectful as all hell what I'm seeing with this shit, things keep going this way, I foresee Pecco walking away as well. Aprilia has been struggling rather hard as of late, got some decent results at the beginning of the season but stumbling hard and same with KTM, nothing really concrete on their end. Honda got dropped by Repsol after 30 years of partnership so that goes to show you the state of where they sit, shit is crazy. Also Yamaha making some strides here and there but nothing super major, I still don't foresee HRC or Yamaha being competitive until the rule change in 2027 again, they're just going to keep putting lipstick on a pig until then as they've been doing, just wasting money on useless research. Some major moves happening as well, Pramac announced Oliveira for one of their bikes for the 25' and 26' seasons and Somkiat Chantra takes over at Idemitsu LCR Honda from Taka Nakagami as he calls it a career and goes into a developmental rider role for HRC as well next to Aleix next season. Only one seat left which is the Pramac seat, most are putting Jack Miller on that seat as Yamaha is trying to gather data but there has also been talk about someone from Moto2 like Alonso Lopez or Sergio Garcia taking that seat but of course all speculation at this time, Pramac said they'll have an official announcement at the next Emilia Romagna round. Couple of week break and we're back at it again, season tightening up and front runners have to be more focused than ever.