2022 Motul Grand Prix of Japan

You're slacking, Keshav

So, with the Asian/Pacific rounds it comes a familiar sensation of climax, championships that are decided in these rounds and mythical moments that are passionately debated by fans. It's time to state your predictions.

Yamaha should do well here. Aprilia and Ducati have very different bikes from the last time they raced here. So does Honda, but it's the home turf so expect either a better effort or mass seppuku. And Suzuki's last home race for the foreseeable future in MGP.

Would like Suzuki to get a win at home. Just to say a big F U to corporate.

look what biaggi says

and marquez answer too

Binder wins in the wet, big fu to the Japanese at their home race.

what amazing pole of marc marquez

I see the weather forecast for tomorrow at Motegi is for dry conditions, the qualifying is not a good indicator of tomorrow's outcome in my opinion.

marcopetrucci said:

what amazing pole of marc marquez

Marc Marquez in pole, Bagnaia una fila dietro a Quartararo

Domenica, a Motegi, il Gran premio del Giappone delle MotoGp.

www.sportal.it

Click to expand...

Please don't post spoilers so early. For those of us in USA, Canada, Mexico races in Asia happen in the middle of the night. We'd like to watch quali on replay at a not-ungodly hour.
Thanks In Advance
K

marcopetrucci said:

what amazing pole of marc marquez

Marc Marquez in pole, Bagnaia una fila dietro a Quartararo

Domenica, a Motegi, il Gran premio del Giappone delle MotoGp.

www.sportal.it

Click to expand...

For future you can mark as spoiler and we have to click to uncover.

Keshav said:

Please don't post spoilers so early. For those of us in USA, Canada, Mexico races in Asia happen in the middle of the night. We'd like to watch quali on replay at a not-ungodly hour.

Click to expand...

Barbedwirebikerr said:

For future you can mark as spoiler and we have to click to uncover.

Click to expand...

He's shilling his site in every post.

MichaelBolton said:

He's shilling his site in every post.

Click to expand...

Ahhh.... thanks. Couldn't see the forest for the trees. ....... .......

Now that was a race. Happy to see Miller have his moment in the sun. Binder and KTM living up to their potential: very exciting. Martin one of my favorite "dark horse" guys keeping it interesting. Gutted for Espargaro. ..... return to the homeland for Suzuki. Fabs keeping his head down and "doing the business". Bags too tightly wound and paying the price for his hubris. Crutchlow doing decent work for a retired guy. Happy to see him riding.
Motegi - always one of my top three fave tracks, really great to see them racing there again. I love the flow of that track. Today more than any
other race in recent memory, a great reminder of how much luck informs results.

Well, as has been said previously on other occasions in the now fully confirmed “processional” era, that was “a race.”

Sure, I’m happy to see Jack win in the dry. Happy that Fabio didn’t get punted off two races in a row, that was close.

But…….this now passes for racing? Very little passing and most of the passing is due to the passee having made a mistake, not the passer’s superior pace, daring or racecraft. The basic order of things is pretty much decided during the first lap.

I don’t know what the answer is but spending time listening to these inane announcers and watching a train on TV for 45 minutes is not going to be satisfactory long term for me personally. The more they use more cameras and more angles to catch non existent action, the more tiring it gets.

Bern1 said:

Well, as has been said previously on other occasions in the now fully confirmed “processional” era, that was “a race.”

Sure, I’m happy to see Jack win in the dry. Happy that Fabio didn’t get punted off two races in a row, that was close.

But…….this now passes for racing? Very little passing and most of the passing is due to the passee having made a mistake, not the passer’s superior pace, daring or racecraft. The basic order of things is pretty much decided during the first lap.

I don’t know what the answer is but spending time listening to these inane announcers and watching a train on TV for 45 minutes is not going to be satisfactory long term for me personally. The more they use more cameras and more angles to catch non existent action, the more tiring it gets.

Click to expand...

Well, World Superbikes this weekend hasn't been too different despite the lack of appendages. People love blaming aero too much nowadays when it just might be riders adapting to the new meta — Why push all race long with overtakes, adding risks and wear to the tire, when you can simply stay close for the entire race and do a last lap overtake?

Oxley and the others who are pushing for banning of aero might be missing the forest for the trees, and perhaps what's needed is a good tire that doesn't self-destruct when subjected to aggressive and proactive racing.

From elsewhere and not mine - a full gallery of shots -

MichaelBolton said:

perhaps what's needed is a good tire that doesn't self-destruct

Click to expand...

WTF? R u living in 2019? Please enlighten us on the last time a tyre "self destructed"?

The race was a bit dry, a lot of drama...but good to see MM showing the fire.

Mick D said:

WTF? R u living in 2019? Please enlighten us on the last time a tyre "self destructed"?

Click to expand...

I didn't mean it in the literal sense. But you can see today that unless the track is cold, almost nobody ever risks it with choosing a soft because they're unsure if they can last the race. Quartararo this exact race is a great example, he felt better with the softs in FP but he was unsure if they could go the entire race distance, forcing him to go with a tire he didn't like. In the Bridgestone era it was common for the majority of the field to go with the softs, only with few choosing hards when it complimented their riding styles. The variety of choice to compliment the riders' different driving styles is getting erased because the .... Michelins (whether of their own volition or because Dorna asks them to) can't go the entire race distance in the softer compounds without heavy degradation most of the time. When you get the majority of the field on hards/mediums and even then they're still worrying about degradation mid-race, you get the duller racing of these days (fyi, I actually enjoyed this race). It's another element that the series has aped from Formula 1, although at least pit-stops make sure every compound gets to shine. No such thing in MotoGP.

We'll see with Michelin's newer front for the next year but I expect more of the same.

And for this particular race, they had to worry about fuel.