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2025 Silly Season
- Thread starter mikesbytes
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Back to the break dancing. One Australian satirical site suggested reverse parking be made an Olympic medal sport, with extra points awarded according to degree of difficulty, such as number of children in the car, having one’s partner in the car, number of cars banked up behind on their horns etc.
Even apart from the athletic ability/skill etc obviously required for BMX racing, when you hear what the girl who won the gold medal went through with knee reconstructions etc, and even more so her brother, BMX pretty much qualifies as a real sport by the Hemingway definition which he applied to motor racing and bull fighting.
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Always enjoy the Olympics and there were indeed feel good stories, although the jingoism of the TV commentators, several of whom seemed rather ignorant about the actual sports, was excessive imo. Mainly the studio hosts rather than the commentators on the actual events who were mostly good imo.
I did notice talk of Australia’s performance on a per capita basis dying down once the Kiwis got going, and all credit to them, they are an amazing sporting nation.
Lindsay Fox made his money in trucking, and is worth about 3 billion USD, not to be sneered at obviously, but not quite in the stratosphere of the guys who own NFL teams, NBA teams, major soccer teams etc. I do like to think he is a fellow petrol head.
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Largely why I didn't watch it. Just couldn't put up with the commentary and the amount of ads.
Watched a bit of youtube highlights is about all.
I realize mountains need to be made wherever there is even a hint of a mole hill but how the hell can picking a rider of MM's accomplishments even be questioned? I get he's on the wrong side of 30 but he still has the fire and the skills to bring home a championship, at least IMO. He certainly has 2 years in the tank and that is the standard MotoGP contract. Martin should have kept his mouth shut and not crashed out of races whilst leading, and Enea...as much as I like him....should have gotten better results.
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Because it's Marc Marquez, sadly. The amount of hate he has endured for simply beating Rossi is insane. Just as Stoner and Lorenzo did before hand.
These same critics of his age fail to acknowledge that Rossi was re-signed by Yamaha when he was 33, and he subsequently went on to be a legitimate championship challenger for at least 2 seasons after that.
Your statements about Martin and the Beast are 100% correct. I am a big fan of the latter and honestly expected him to blow Bagnaia away in the factory team.
These same critics of his age fail to acknowledge that Rossi was re-signed by Yamaha when he was 33, and he subsequently went on to be a legitimate championship challenger for at least 2 seasons after that.
Your statements about Martin and the Beast are 100% correct. I am a big fan of the latter and honestly expected him to blow Bagnaia away in the factory team.
His shoulder injury was more serious than most realized and really took away some of the best weapons he had. Also, he had difficulties coming to terms with the engine braking of the GP23 from what I recall.
Bagnaia for better or worse rides each years motorcycle exactly as Gigi prescribes. But he too did have troubles in the first couple of years, from what I recall.
It is a truism that the retrospectoscope is the most powerful diagnostic instrument known to medical science, and this applies more generally as well.
I am a big Bastianini fan as well, and thought he might get the better of Bagnaia when Ducati signed him, and he has looked fabulous recently. He had bad luck with injuries and not gelling with the GP23, but the choice needed to be made at a particular point in time which couldn’t have been much later than when it occurred, none of the parties involved were going to wait to make a decision at the conclusion of the season. And Gigi knows better than anyone the capability of the GP24 vs the GP23, has actually said the GP 24 has a significant advantage, and is hardly short of data to assess the riders.
It was a multi factorial decision, I am sure having a legendary rider on the bike was attractive, particularly it would appear to Audi who pay the bills, and what the article said that fear of what MM might do on a competitor’s bike was I am sure a leading concern. The sponsors were apparently not keen on the prospect of him winning a title on a GP 25 riding for a satellite team, so Gresini were out.
Ducati may have a youth policy in general, but Gigi is not averse to recruiting truly exceptional riders cf Jorge Lorenzo, and I believe wouldn’t have minded Stoner returning as a race rider when he was a test rider for Ducati early in his retirement. I get the impression that he is of the view that journeymen riders are flattered by his bike rather the bike being flattered by them , hence looking for young talent who can be developed to be better than journeymen, cf Bagnaia for one. I did find what Petrucci said telling, that Gigi would be strongly tempted to see what a rider like MM could do on his bike, and while Danilo claimed no inside knowledge he must know Gigi better than many.
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IMHO Ducati is free to sign whoever they choose, for any reason they choose. Others (Rossi & Co) are of course free to complain about it, I'm happier when I ignore that.
I think a lot of the Ducati rider drama is actually about a different problem, which is a lack of competitive seats. It was great when Ducati, Honda and Yamaha all had a decent chance of winning the title. Thanks to what I view as some pretty biased regulations, we now essentially have a Ducati cup, where odds are pretty steep for anyone not on the Ducati factory team next year. I'd be happy to have to eat my words later, but don't think the stakes around the Ducati seat would seem as high if many expected KTM and Aprilia to have a decent shot at the '25 title.
I think a lot of the Ducati rider drama is actually about a different problem, which is a lack of competitive seats. It was great when Ducati, Honda and Yamaha all had a decent chance of winning the title. Thanks to what I view as some pretty biased regulations, we now essentially have a Ducati cup, where odds are pretty steep for anyone not on the Ducati factory team next year. I'd be happy to have to eat my words later, but don't think the stakes around the Ducati seat would seem as high if many expected KTM and Aprilia to have a decent shot at the '25 title.
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Of course, it was sadly a perfect storm of the 1 year Ducati made a bike that didn't suit his style, and the shoulder injury. Neither of which were his doing.
It was in early 2022 when he was in charge of development and was trying too much in terms of new parts and settings each weekend.
Dallignia has long been an open admirer of Marquez, and I think he couldn't turn down what would likely be the only chance to work with him.
For Rossi harping on about bringing talent in, he looked outside his academy when replacing Marini at his own team.
Ala WSBK in the early 2000's. I for one am looking forward to more manufacturers being competitive.
I'm thinking fans the world over are salivating over what Marc could do on Gigi's bike. The ones who are not are the folks who never want another rider to win 9 titles...or more.
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BMX racing is by a large margin has the highest injury rate of any olympic sport. They purposely tamed the track down this year to help that a little. Honestly a tamed down track actually makes for better racing.
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If VR is indeed playing a longer game, it is also a very risky game and one not always prone to come out with a result in you (his) favour.
Things can easily and heavily backfire as businesses have been known to choose not to deal with other businesses who they may deem to be difficult, and public criticism can be seen by some as criticism.
I am comfortable that pending 2025 impressions, Ducati will go chasing Acosta again within a few short years to jump on their kit.
What I find interesting in the questioning of the choice of Marquez and the criticism from some areas is the 'how quickly they forget' aspects of VR's departure from Yamaha who had looked after him, to Ducati and the tail between the legs return with fully puppy dog eye and whimpers of forgiveness.
At that time, despite some commentators believing that VR's best years were long gone (subsequently prioven somewhat accurate), those making statements were shouted down in fits of anger, just as they were when people started to push that VR be dropped.
The two factors for the questioning are because it is Marquez and because of the VR Academy production line of talent as that production line needs rider positions, particularly when you look at the past productions.
Ditto on the Beast from me as well but I do wonder if Ducati have a full 'beer and skittles' comfortable team environment as well, and perhaps the Beast just does not find the comfort he needs to produce his best in that garage.
As for Martin. To me, and I say this not having watched heaps across the last few years but he does have an X-factor in talent terms, but I think he needs specific managing of the personality/mind side and for me, the current factory Ducati team is not that place
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Dall’Igna's comment about rider selection is spot on - "Unfortunately, we had to choose a rider from three options, but all of them would have deserved to ride for the factory team"
Hopefully we will see Aprilia and/or KTM battle for the world championship in 2025, probably with Acosta and Martin
Hopefully we will see Aprilia and/or KTM battle for the world championship in 2025, probably with Acosta and Martin
I don’t care about the rossi Marquez controversy. I think the less said about it the better the sport will become as rossi fades into irrelevance. Who cares what he thinks or says. Nobody likes rossi, really. Nobody who counts.
Love Martin. He is coming into his own. I am really looking forward to seeing what he can do on the Aprilia. A good match I think.
Bastianini is awesome. Also looking forward to see the results on the KTM.
Aprilia and KTM better get crackin’.
