2024 Round 19 - PT Grand Prix of Thailand - Chang International Circuit

Don't imagine we'll see Binder on the podium again this year. Prolly Marquez, Martin and The Princess (not necessarily in that order).

I could imagine it,,,,,,,,,,,,it could be wet.

I know it's not the right thread, but pleeeeease pleeeeease can we not have Pecco win the championship!!! I think Martin has earned it and his tussles with Mark showed it at Philip Island. Pecco can never do that.

Keshav said:

Don't imagine we'll see Binder on the podium again this year. Prolly Marquez, Martin and The Princess (not necessarily in that order).

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I always have hope in my man BB33. Tragic I know
It's always the same thought, maybe THIS time the KTM will work. But it never does

The disrespect to him (not accusing you per se), after all this time, is still mind boggling to me. But each to their own I suppose

I'll be watching the race with my BB33 cap on!!!

I know that this wet race will be his!

Furiosa said:

I know it's not the right thread, but pleeeeease pleeeeease can we not have Pecco win the championship!!! I think Martin has earned it and his tussles with Mark showed it at Philip Island. Pecco can never do that.

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Agreed....................BUT.........I couldn't have been the only one on the edge of my seat waiting for Martin to toss it into the gravel at PI. Marc too for that matter. I thought going into the weekend it was going to be sketchy with the new surface and Michelin not having any data.

If Pecco wins the championship, I won't say it will be entirely undeserved, but Jorge has won me over with his hard-working and no-nonsense attitude this year, as well as his ability to rebound mentally from bad setbacks. Plus it might be his last chance to win a championship if the move to Aprilia doesn't pan out. I'm rooting for him.

MichaelBolton said:

If Pecco wins the championship, I won't say it will be entirely undeserved, but Jorge has won me over with his hard-working and no-nonsense attitude this year, as well as his ability to rebound mentally from bad setbacks. Plus it might be his last chance to win a championship if the move to Aprilia doesn't pan out. I'm rooting for him.

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Same. But if I am being totally honest, I'd root for Armageddon before Pecco.

At this point, I'm practically rooting for Martin just so Ducati's strategic blunder is laid bare, and people begin to question why Ducati dismantled its rider empire when Marc was not a threat. Too many people day dreaming about Marc winning 7 & 8 with Ducati. Remember when Ago won his final premier class title with Yamaha? Neither does anyone else, even when he's in the Yamaha pit as an ambassador. He's an MV man.

mylexicon said:

At this point, I'm practically rooting for Martin just so Ducati's strategic blunder is laid bare, and people begin to question why Ducati dismantled its rider empire when Marc was not a threat. Too many people day dreaming about Marc winning 7 & 8 with Ducati. Remember when Ago won his final premier class title with Yamaha? Neither does anyone else, even when he's in the Yamaha pit as an ambassador. He's an MV man.

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Unusually I disagree with you to some extent. Agostini did run the Yamaha factory team for several years, and the 8th title for Yamaha with the Japanese manufacturers back was a crowning achievement, probably why Valentino wanted to emulate it. I am old but not old enough to have followed Agostini when he was at MV Augusta in any sophisticated way, I was a school kid and in Australia back then you could only follow gp bike racing from newspaper reports or in the bike press weeks later. Even in Australia everyone knew the name Agostini, but what I didn’t know at the time was that the MV Augusta had an advantage akin to the Honda 990 in its first year for a substantial part of his career.

The Marquez thing seems to have been Gigi’s decision, and it is his bike I guess. For all his evil genius as an engineer of aero motogp bikes he still seems to have been scared of what Marquez might do on an Aprilia, and/or desirous of seeing what his bike could do in the hands of a Marc Marquez; Danilo Petrucci actually said the latter. As a latter day fan it didn’t sit well to see him riding a Honda with no chance, and it would be ironic to see him win on a bike designed to thwart him. If Martin wins this year he will be the one who got away, Bagnaia, sure somewhat sadly, has had every chance.

mylexicon said:

At this point, I'm practically rooting for Martin just so Ducati's strategic blunder is laid bare, and people begin to question why Ducati dismantled its rider empire when Marc was not a threat. Too many people day dreaming about Marc winning 7 & 8 with Ducati. Remember when Ago won his final premier class title with Yamaha? Neither does anyone else, even when he's in the Yamaha pit as an ambassador. He's an MV man.

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...., is it really a strategic blunder to sign Marc?

I disagree there bud. Phillip Island was him at his absolute finest. It vindicates everything.

I would argue though that Pecco is going to be under the microscope next season, and if he gets demolished, I don't know how well that's going to help his Ducati future. I think he has more riding on next season than Marc does honestly. Should they have let Martin get away? I don't know, it depends on what he does on the Aprilia. I think they are making a bet the GP25 will be faster than the RS-GP. I don't see it happening outside of select circuits maybe.

I also think we live in a world where we see GP bike racing far more than we ever did in Ago's day. While not as high profile as it could be, it reaches more eyeballs than ever. Marc winning 7 & 8 on the Ducati would be remembered more for the comeback story we could possibly get from all of this. I think there's a good story to be had here for the sport if Marc completes the comeback. That will be remembered the same way Mick Doohan's 5 straight are coming off the leg, although probably even more so now.

When I watch Gigi's face peering out from the throng at Parc Ferme - what I read is, his immense personal gratification in knowing that one of the greatest riders of a generation has turned his back on a contract with HRC - the most vaunted team with its long-... history in MotoGp, at a great financial loss, to ride on Gigi's bike; that combined with the thought that if Marquez dominates Pecco next year, like he did at Phillip Island, Pecco will be at quite a disadvantage when it comes to demanding more money at the next contract negotiation. Fact is Marquez is already a "Nine-time-world-champion" if you include his 125cc championship. Were Marquez to win a 9th (or 10th depending on your point of view) it would only be icing on the cake.

The phrase Nine-time-world-champion has only come in vogue in recent times as a result of horse's ... Nick Harris constantly braying it over and over ad infinitum, but as a result the significance of the title has taken on a life of its own in the minds of millions of fans, and unlike in Ago's time, in the age of social media, its perceived to carry with it a fair amount of marketing value.

I still see that M Marquez would be more of a threat on a KTM or Aprilia than Martin or Bastianini will be, keeping MM is important

JPSLotus said:

...., is it really a strategic blunder to sign Marc?

I disagree there bud. Phillip Island was him at his absolute finest. It vindicates everything.

I would argue though that Pecco is going to be under the microscope next season, and if he gets demolished, I don't know how well that's going to help his Ducati future. I think he has more riding on next season than Marc does honestly. Should they have let Martin get away? I don't know, it depends on what he does on the Aprilia. I think they are making a bet the GP25 will be faster than the RS-GP. I don't see it happening outside of select circuits maybe.

I also think we live in a world where we see GP bike racing far more than we ever did in Ago's day. While not as high profile as it could be, it reaches more eyeballs than ever. Marc winning 7 & 8 on the Ducati would be remembered more for the comeback story we could possibly get from all of this. I think there's a good story to be had here for the sport if Marc completes the comeback. That will be remembered the same way Mick Doohan's 5 straight are coming off the leg, although probably even more so now.

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He has 8, including a single 250 title and a single moto 2 title. He might have 9 already if he hadn’t taken out poor Willairot, at a period in his career I found less admirable, although he was still a teenager and I still to this day have no idea why his team sent him out.

Sure when Nick Harris led the commentary team the broadcasts were better with the sound off, and he did use what became his catch phrase incessantly. The current almost as bad guy occasionally trots out 8 times world champion for MM, but no one bothered much with 6 times for Lorenzo which was equally true.

Valentino is the one who made the magical 8/10 titles a thing, although it was probably the 8th to match Agostini for premier class titles that he really wanted. He of course never needed the 10th title to prove anything, so it is fairly ironic that it mow such an obsession which seemingly blights his whole life 9 years on and outweighs the 9 he did win looking back on his career. I don’t think his attitude towards MM has helped his protégés either, particularly Bezzecchi, but he also has tried to make Bagnaia a proxy against MM imo which hasn’t helped him imo given Martin needed to be his focus this season. One wonders whether his second name is part of Pecco bemoaning the points “lost” to AM, and iirc Valentino claimed credit for instructing him in regard to how to deal with Marc early in the season, after a race he won, but he may have influenced Pecco’s attitude at Portimao where he lost points which have now become crucial.

MM has behaved fairly impeccably this season as it happens, and I still recall Valentino’s rather bizarre victory celebration when he clinched the 9th title, the theme of which seemed to be that he was now an old boiler who could lay no more eggs after the latest one, strangely prophetic as I thought it might be at the time. I still wonder whether he told Yamaha he would retire then changed his mind.

JPSLotus said:

...., is it really a strategic blunder to sign Marc?

I disagree there bud. Phillip Island was him at his absolute finest. It vindicates everything.

I would argue though that Pecco is going to be under the microscope next season, and if he gets demolished, I don't know how well that's going to help his Ducati future. I think he has more riding on next season than Marc does honestly. Should they have let Martin get away? I don't know, it depends on what he does on the Aprilia. I think they are making a bet the GP25 will be faster than the RS-GP. I don't see it happening outside of select circuits maybe.

I also think we live in a world where we see GP bike racing far more than we ever did in Ago's day. While not as high profile as it could be, it reaches more eyeballs than ever. Marc winning 7 & 8 on the Ducati would be remembered more for the comeback story we could possibly get from all of this. I think there's a good story to be had here for the sport if Marc completes the comeback. That will be remembered the same way Mick Doohan's 5 straight are coming off the leg, although probably even more so now.

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He has 8, including a single 125 title and a single moto 2 title. He might have 9 already if he hadn’t taken out poor Willairot, at a period in his career I found less admirable, although he was still a teenager and I still to this day have no idea why his team sent him out.

Sure when Nick Harris led the commentary team the broadcasts were better with the sound off, and he did use what became his catch phrase incessantly. The current almost as bad guy occasionally trots out 8 times world champion for MM, but no one bothered much with 6 times for Lorenzo which was equally true.

Valentino is the one who made the magical 8/10 titles a thing imo, although it was probably the 8th to match Agostini for premier class titles that he really wanted. He of course never needed the 10th title to prove anything, so it is fairly ironic that it is now such an obsession which seemingly blights his whole life 9 years on and outweighs the 9 he did win looking back on his career. I don’t think his attitude towards MM has helped his protégés either, particularly Bezzecchi, but he also seems to have tried to make Bagnaia a proxy against MM which hasn’t helped him given Martin needed to be his focus this season. One wonders whether the second name is part of Pecco bemoaning the points “lost” to AM, and iirc Valentino claimed credit for instructing him in regard to how to deal with Marc early in the season, after a race he won, but he may have influenced Pecco’s attitude at Portimao where he lost points which have now also become crucial.

MM has behaved fairly impeccably this season as it happens, and I still recall Valentino’s rather bizarre victory celebration when he clinched the 9th title, the theme of which seemed to be that he was now an old boiler who could lay no more eggs after the latest one, strangely prophetic as I thought it might be at the time. I still wonder whether he told Yamaha he would retire then changed his mind.

michaelm said:

He might have 9 already if he hadn’t taken out poor Willairot,

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Well if we spin that further I think he easily would've won 2020 given how he rallied through the field at Jerez and 2021 considering he won three races while riding one-handed.
And who knows how the development of the 2022 bike would have gone if Marc had been able to influence the development more.

michaelm said:

I​

He has 8, including a single 250 title and a single moto 2 title. He might have 9 already if he hadn’t taken out poor Willairot, at a period in his career I found less admirable, although he was still a teenager and I still to this day have no idea why his team sent him out.

Sure when Nick Harris led the commentary team the broadcasts were better with the sound off, and he did use what became his catch phrase incessantly. The current almost as bad guy occasionally trots out 8 times world champion for MM, but no one bothered much with 6 times for Lorenzo which was equally true.

Valentino is the one who made the magical 8/10 titles a thing, although it was probably the 8th to match Agostini for premier class titles that he really wanted. He of course never needed the 10th title to prove anything, so it is fairly ironic that it mow such an obsession which seemingly blights his whole life 9 years on and outweighs the 9 he did win looking back on his career. I don’t think his attitude towards MM has helped his protégés either, particularly Bezzecchi, but he also has tried to make Bagnaia a proxy against MM imo which hasn’t helped him imo given Martin needed to be his focus this season. One wonders whether his second name is part of Pecco bemoaning the points “lost” to AM, and iirc Valentino claimed credit for instructing him in regard to how to deal with Marc early in the season, after a race he won, but he may have influenced Pecco’s attitude at Portimao where he lost points which have now become crucial.

MM has behaved fairly impeccably this season as it happens, and I still recall Valentino’s rather bizarre victory celebration when he clinched the 9th title, the theme of which seemed to be that he was now an old boiler who could lay no more eggs after the latest one, strangely prophetic as I thought it might be at the time. I still wonder whether he told Yamaha he would retire then changed his mind.

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5 times of course for Lorenzo, such a mistake is inevitable when you correct someone else, although for some reason it didn’t correct when I tried to do so before the deadline. Bloody iPhones.

JFM01 said:

Well if we spin that further I think he easily would've won 2020 given how he rallied through the field at Jerez and 2021 considering he won three races while riding one-handed.
And who knows how the development of the 2022 bike would have gone if Marc had been able to influence the development more.

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Sure, but doing so after the injury and time in the wilderness would add a touch of the Doohan narrative and give extra cachet imo to any further titles he might win.

mylexicon said:

At this point, I'm practically rooting for Martin just so Ducati's strategic blunder is laid bare, and people begin to question why Ducati dismantled its rider empire when Marc was not a threat. Too many people day dreaming about Marc winning 7 & 8 with Ducati. Remember when Ago won his final premier class title with Yamaha? Neither does anyone else, even when he's in the Yamaha pit as an ambassador. He's an MV man.

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Even if Martin wins this year, if we have a Marquez championship in 2025, that to me would justify Ducati's choice.

For Thailand, my focus is going to be on Moto3 and Moto2.

Moto3 to see if Alonso can take the record for the most wins in a season in the lightweight class. I'm invested in seeing this more than perhaps the record justifies. So sue me

For Moto2, I want to see Ogura wrap up the title. It's so close, and I want to see it done.

Clearly I'll still watch the MotoGP race and sessions. But, more interest in the lower classes.