The contrast between Pecco's and Enea's season couldn't be any more pronounced. Pecco highsides and somehow evades major injury, despite having his leg run over by another bike. Enea makes a braking mistake, gets involved in a pile up, and breaks more bones. Crazy that Pecco would make such a big mistake right after appearing somewhat invincible yesterday (finishing 2nd when his bike clearly wasn't best). Aleix is one lucky guy. That was unfolding millimeters behind him. I enjoy watching the Catalan grand prix, but it's uncanny how so much championship drama has happened in Barcelona over the years. The 2006 championship perhaps being the most dramatic with Capirossi being knocked out of contention, and Sete faceplanting when his brake lever was hit going into turn 1. That crash was a major contributor to the brake lever protectors used today.
Sad for Mav. I really thought he had the race, but as others have mentioned, he's not great on the brakes. Some people think he lacks heart, but go back to 2015 or 2016 (can't remember which) and watch him at Catalunya on the Suzuki. He was launching passing attempts, and get repassed when he ran wide, every other turn. The reason I rate Mav highly is because he's Pedrosa with better braking capabilities (Haga maybe). That said, he's not the guy you bet on to make a big lunge on a V4 bike for the win. He needs a gap that he can manage from the front, or he needs to have enough pace to get a run on the rider infront. I don't recall Mav pulling off many successful divebombs, even on the Yamaha (maybe my memory is fading).
Nice of Fabio to make an appearance. Seventh isn't a great finish, but it's probably what a rider of his caliber should be achieving on the Yamaha. I don't think it's as bad as it looks this season. The Honda, on the other hand, after 10 years of Marquez development is at least as bad as it looks. Marquez and ride height don't mix. His late braking just sends him through the apex with the rear scrubbing speed, and by the time he's got it hooked up and changing direction, the rider behind is powering past. Marquez is not my guy, but when you turn a legend into a backmarker, something is going wrong in the GPC meetings. Technology is becoming far too powerful to utilize it so lazily. Anyway.....good luck, Marc. Stay fit.
Great weekend for Aprilia. I hope there is more to come from them because Ducati needs someone to apply a bit of pressure. Regarding the Aprilia vs KTM batte for 2nd best bike, this weekend is a resounding endorsement of the Aprilia. They now have 2 wins, and they trail by only 3 points in the teams championship and 12 pts in the constructors championship. We'll have to see what happens for the remainder of 2023, but the eye test and the numbers are starting to align for Aprilia.
