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2024 MotoGP Round 8: Motul TT Assen - TT Circuit Assen

Uneventful sprint. Marc crash got 4-5 replays with some slow mo. Not much to miss. The top 3 rode well, Pecco particularly, and Enea did well to recover from a poor qualifying position.

Not sure if Aleix will race tomorrow. He was holding his wrist the entire way back to the paddock. We’ll see what the X-rays say.
 
Keshav said:
That move by Marquez in Q2 seemed so uncharacteristic of him. Really dumb-.... And what with Vinales looking so good today, I can't help but wonder if he won't go to bed tonight regretting his jumping ship. Lastly, been speculating that the Yamaha/Pramac join-up was much more of a done deal than anyone realized, and that, more than anything, was why MM wasn't interested in a Pramac contract.
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The Yamaha-Pramac deal could have contributed to riders turning away from the team. IIRC, Ducati announced early in the silly season that they would no longer use factory money to subsidize satellite rider contracts. Pay cuts have a way of putting riders off.
 
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synn said:
Bagnaia on another level
Martin is the only one on the same galaxy
Viñales did live up to the wildcard status

Not the best of days for brothers Márquez, but not for the lack of trying
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Surely you meant "in" the same galaxy. Don't want to confuse Gui22a's quest for good grammar.

Man, what a ..... way to start a race. Seeing Schmarkels crash two laps in was even more upsetting than if he'd done it on the last lap. Two seeming brain farts in one weekend. WTF? (Insert barf emoji)

Good to see Martin being sensible, not trying anything too dramatic. Gut feeling (shared by many) is this just ain't MM's year, so I'm rooting for Martin, who is (at least within the parameters of the Ducati Squad) the perceived underdog.

Just for the hell of it, want to acknowledge that the addition of some of the newest members here have really elevated the conversation here, with insights with what feels like an unprecedented amount of "insider-like' info.
 
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The sprint was a snooze fest. Hoping the main event tomorrow is a bit better.

Jorge Martin has nothing in the bag to fight back against Pecco right now. I don't expect tomorrow to change at all.

Didn't really understand MM's crash though I will say I thought about him crashing in that spot for some reason before it happened. Maybe I shouldn't have these thoughts at all. LOL

Aleix's crash on the last lap looked like he simply came in too hot for the corner desperate to make up a place on the last lap that wasn't going to happen. Bad place to have a crash at those speeds.

Digi rode really well today in spite of not getting the best of starts off the line. Same with Enea.

I do wonder if the new thing now is to just ignore the long lap penalties. I wish they had shown where exactly riders were exceeding the track limits since warnings were being given out like Halloween candy.

Please let tomorrow's race at least be better than this one was.
 
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Keshav said:
Man, what a ..... way to start a race. Seeing Schmarkels crash two laps in was even more upsetting than if he'd done it on the last lap. Two seeming brain farts in one weekend. WTF? (Insert barf emoji)
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I do think he’s riding this week with an extra shot of adrenaline after all that happened, but he will ground himself in a week (Back to the track where he has reigned supreme), and it will be business as usual.

My personal feeling is that Bagnaia is one of the mentally strongest riders out there currently, so I’m looking forward to peak Bagnaia vs (Almost) peak Márquez on equal machinery.
 
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JPSLotus said:
The sprint was a snooze fest. Hoping the main event tomorrow is a bit better.

Jorge Martin has nothing in the bag to fight back against Pecco right now. I don't expect tomorrow to change at all.

Didn't really understand MM's crash though I will say I thought about him crashing in that spot for some reason before it happened. Maybe I shouldn't have these thoughts at all. LOL

Aleix's crash on the last lap looked like he simply came in too hot for the corner desperate to make up a place on the last lap that wasn't going to happen. Bad place to have a crash at those speeds.

Digi rode really well today in spite of not getting the best of starts off the line. Same with Enea.

I do wonder if the new thing now is to just ignore the long lap penalties. I wish they had shown where exactly riders were exceeding the track limits since warnings were being given out like Halloween candy.

Please let tomorrow's race at least be better than this one was.
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It may have been a snooze fest in terms of the frequent crashing that seems to have been the hallmark of a lot of sprint races this year. Pecco on a very high level today in dominant fashion, leaving no doubt with the margin he had. Some people who don't like him may find that snooze worthy. I personally enjoyed it .

I think all the riders are coming to terms with the sprint format and that even with half the laps and points compared to the Sunday race, you can't ignore the consequences in terms of points by making serious mistakes.
 
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JPSLotus said:
Aleix's crash on the last lap looked like he simply came in too hot for the corner desperate to make up a place on the last lap that wasn't going to happen. Bad place to have a crash at those speeds.
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Tilting at windmills, imo. I think he had visions of another last corner dive bomb on the final lap, but physics bit him in the backside.

He wouldn’t be a racer if he stopped going for it, but risking that much for a point is a bit silly.

This could be the underlying systemic problem with sprints. When riders are in the moment, they don’t really necessarily perceive risk-reward. They are just racing. With the stroke of a pen, Dorna increased the supply of points by 50%, and during the sprint, the traditional points spread doesn’t exist, which alters risk-reward. Time will determine if Dorna’s attwmots to make the sport more entertaining inadvertently reshape the talent on the grid.

Has it already happened? Pecco is sort of the Prost of MotoGP, if comparisons to F1 can be made. He basically splits wins with Martin each season, but Martin tends to win the ones that count for less. Is the new sprint format bringing Martin to the forefront illegitimately? Or is it holding him back because his racer’s mind doesn’t differentiate between winning sprints vs. GP’s? Or a different scenario altogether?

These things are interesting to contemplate. And what impact will the new format have on Marc’s chances to win number 7 as an “old man”?
 
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Bern1 said:
It may have been a snooze fest in terms of the frequent crashing that seems to have been the hallmark of a lot of sprint races this year. Pecco on a very high level today in dominant fashion, leaving no doubt with the margin he had. Some people who don't like him may find that snooze worthy. I personally enjoyed it .

I think all the riders are coming to terms with the sprint format and that even with half the laps and points compared to the Sunday race, you can't ignore the consequences in terms of points by making serious mistakes.
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I don't disagree it was a fantastic ride from Pecco. I completely forgot to mention it. But it was a snooze fest from the perspective of no real battles going on. I don't care about the crashes personally, and they don't make for a good race.

Agreed about the riders realizing the importance of the sprint races. You need those points which is what killed MM today with that unfortunate crash.
 
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Even if the sprint wasn't too eventful in terms of passes at the front, I appreciated seeing the chess game between Bagnaia and Martin. For much of the race, Martin was close to Pecco, but Pecco had it fully under control to my eyes.

Espargaro's crash looked scary, and as said above, I hope he's well for the race.

Disappointing to see MMarquez go down; I feel he would have provided the main excitement in this race, though I still enjoyed it as it was.

I'm hoping Martin will get a good start tomorrow to nullify his grid penalty, and it will be tight at the front. My prediction is that Bagnaia will be similarly 'on it' compared to today, and it's going to be hard to beat him.

Acosta seems to have gone off the boil a bit. This happened in his Moto3 championship year too, but he bounced back in time.
 
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synn said:
Reminiscent of M. Schumacher at his prime.
You have to respect the person (and the team behind him) but not the greatest spectacle in the world.
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Ah Michael...

To this day I have no real idea of what to think of him as a driver. Even though his statistics were better at Ferrari, I think his best season was in 1995 with the Benetton-Renault...a car by all accounts nearly undriveable due to the rear being insanely loose. Michael preferred a stable front to a stable rear.

But anyhow, yes it also should be ironic that once again such a thing is happening in an Italian race team.

If I could ride a motorcycle even half as well as Francesco Bagnaia, I'd be a millionaire.
 
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AnnoyingTwit said:
When I wrote my post, Acosta was still ahead of Vinales in the standings :D
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The other KTM's are nowhere though. Brad especially isn't running as well as last year when he regularly contended for podiums.
AnnoyingTwit said:
I'm hoping Martin will get a good start tomorrow to nullify his grid penalty, and it will be tight at the front. My prediction is that Bagnaia will be similarly 'on it' compared to today, and it's going to be hard to beat him.
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He needs to have the kind of holeshot Frantisek normally has. If Frantisek leads after lap one, I don't see Jörg, Marc, Mav or anyone else catching him.
 
This year is a wash for MM... probably next year also, he's too desperate for wins, Pecco's going to walk away again.

A dry two years coming up...
 
I admit to being surprised by MM’s missteps this weekend. I don’t know why I should be though, it is absolutely true to his normal modus operandi. I can’t see him changing now.
 
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Bagnaia was im-Pecco-ble. Under the circumstances Martin did the best that could be done to limit the rot

With MM’s crash been so early in the sprint he has lost the race simulation data
 
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JFM01 said:
The other KTM's are nowhere though. Brad especially isn't running as well as last year when he regularly contended for podiums.

He needs to have the kind of holeshot Frantisek normally has. If Frantisek leads after lap one, I don't see Jörg, Marc, Mav or anyone else catching him.
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I will take a wild guess that Martin believes himself to be better than rookie Acosta. That may not be true, but I strongly suspect that Martin will believe it. Ego is a thing in top-level racing.

Bern1 said:
I admit to being surprised by MM’s missteps this weekend. I don’t know why I should be though, it is absolutely true to his normal modus operandi. I can’t see him changing now.
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I was thinking that MM had been much better this year. Until today. At least he's not having accidents that are smashing up his body like before. (I hope I'm not tempting fate).
 
I quite enjoyed the race between the riders competing for the fourth spot. The Alex Marquez, Binder, Bastianini, Aleix battles.

Hope the old man recovers for tomorrow's race.

Nice to see Quartararo a bit closer to the Ducatis. They're developing in the right direction.

Any news on Joe Roberts?

I managed to see the first MotoE race. Plenty of action in few rounds and with a small grid. I like that series as well.
 

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