2025 Silly Season

gui22a said:

This battle will be insane. MM is much more talented than Pecco. However, I see Pecco having more than 130 IQ, which is the highest IQ in the paddock for a rider, by far. That will rock. I think Pecco will evolve himself a lot to cope with Marc and we gonna see the fiercest title battle ever. That would be so so awesome.

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Would love to know your source for this little gem. Do you really believe that every rider on the grid has received an IQ evaluation by one reputable and objective tester?

Keshav said:

It's already well established that Marquez is willing to work for less money than other top riders, because winning races is all that he cares about anymore. He already has enough $ for 10 lifetimes. ...., I could live off the proceeds of an auction of the wristwatches he's garnered from pole position wins.

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I believe if he is to pass Valentino on the titles list, it will be precisely because winning is all that he cares about.

He has the desire to win still, and I think that answers his questions. People forget that Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz were competitive into their almost mid-30s on the 500cc bikes which were far more damaging. Not to make light of any of Marc's obvious injuries.

One thing seems obvious to me and that is that Ducati has not treated Martin well. Another obvious thing is that I don’t know a damned thing. But it does not reflect well on Ducati from my point of view. They seem like a poison team.

I hope Martin kicks ass on the Aprilia.

Bern1 said:

One thing seems obvious to me and that is that Ducati has not treated Martin well. Another obvious thing is that I don’t know a damned thing. But it does not reflect well on Ducati from my point of view. They seem like a poison team.

I hope Martin kicks ass on the Aprilia.

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Ducati's rider management appears to have changed little from Casey's day.

God I feel old typing that since it doesn't feel that long ago.

In the same vein, I love the idea of Beasty on a KTM. It'll make for much more entertaining racing with top talent spread out across three manufacturers rather than all on essentially the same machine. Also, we may get to see who shines regardless of the machine.

Keshav said:

In the same vein, I love the idea of Beasty on a KTM. It'll make for much more entertaining racing with top talent spread out across three manufacturers rather than all on essentially the same machine. Also, we may get to see who shines regardless of the machine.

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I have to agree. I think Enea is just the rider KTM needs to move forward. As long as they have Dani developing the bike, I think they just need truly fast riders like Pedro and now possibly Enea. Too bad Bastianini waited tilll Mugello to show what he could do.

gui22a said:

Valentino is another .........

Bestia signed for KTM according to Carlo Pernat, and this man knows things.

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Saw the Gpone thing subsequent to my post, and can vaguely read Italian if it concerns something I know about because I can read French.

KTM is the big winner then, imo Bastianini is potentially better than Martin, as well as being much younger than MM. Pernat is likely to be particularly reliable in this instance as I gather he is Bastianini’s manager.

If MM signs with the factory Ducati team I suspect they'll be getting a few of those "special" tires ready for Jorge later this year if he continues to run the table !

If MM ends up on the factory Ducati team next year then I suspect either he or Pecco will win it all this year, one way or the other !

michaelm said:

Saw the Gpone thing subsequent to my post, and can vaguely read Italian if it concerns something I know about because I can read French.

KTM is the big winner then, imo Bastianini is better than Martin, as well as being much younger than MM.

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I obviously agree with the two posts I read subsequently to making this post.

Bern1 said:

One thing seems obvious to me and that is that Ducati has not treated Martin well. Another obvious thing is that I don’t know a damned thing. But it does not reflect well on Ducati from my point of view. They seem like a poison team.

I hope Martin kicks ass on the Aprilia.

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Ducati Corse in MotoGP have always been ........./horrible at man management. It even goes back past Casey Stoner, and before their treatment of Casey sending Marco Melandri to a shrink rather than contemplating that their bike might not be perfect. Troy Bayliss for his one off race winning return in 2006 insisted on bringing his Ducati WSBK crew and wanted nothing to do with the Ducati Corse MotoGP personnel.

michaelm said:

I agree, I don’t think MM had that great a bargaining position, although him at Aprilia or KTM particularly if he brought them more sponsorship might have made either of those manufacturers more formidable in general.

I actually thought there was a significant chance of him being the odd man out, with Valentino cheering on the sideline.

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I had a feeling of that as well.

gui22a said:

Valentino is another .........

Bestia signed for KTM according to Carlo Pernat, and this man knows things.

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That he is. Unfortunately, he doesn't look to be maturing at all either.

Great signing of KTM btw. Another Ducati rider who can compare the two bikes and as the weekend showed can still be very quick.

michaelm said:

The

He can let them go for a year or two, they will come back particularly if he wins an 8th +/- 9th title.

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Or the opposite happens and they outbid some of Ducati's current sponsors.

JPSLotus said:

I believe if he is to pass Valentino on the titles list, it will be precisely because winning is all that he cares about.

He has the desire to win still, and I think that answers his questions. People forget that Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz were competitive into their almost mid-30s on the 500cc bikes which were far more damaging. Not to make light of any of Marc's obvious injuries.

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Add Doohan into that with *arguably* a worse injury.

DavidSim said:

If MM signs with the factory Ducati team I suspect they'll be getting a few of those "special" tires ready for Jorge later this year if he continues to run the table !

If MM ends up on the factory Ducati team next year then I suspect either he or Pecco will win it all this year, one way or the other !

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They may not have to. Jorge will stop receiving updates immediately.
The Ducati factory engineers will be putting their time into Pecco, with Bestia going elsewhere, Marquez may be fortunate this year as well. I am sure that the bikes aren't physically all that different and I don't think Ducati wants to have riders going elsewhere testing or evaluating new parts either.

Keshav said:

In the same vein, I love the idea of Beasty on a KTM. It'll make for much more entertaining racing with top talent spread out across three manufacturers rather than all on essentially the same machine. Also, we may get to see who shines regardless of the machine.

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Enea is like Pedrosa, imo, on the side of the tire. Hiring a facsimile of Dani is never a bad idea, especially if Acosta is on the other side of the garage. KTM have their bases covered.

HRC is the unknown. They have a former world-champ, but I’m not sure he can lead HRC and with Repsol stepping aside, it’s unclear if Honda need him. He’s also been connected to early retirement rumors. Who is going to anchor HRC? Do they throw money at Binder? Does Binder take it? Maybe Jack is crazy enough

Itallics for likely signings in those teams.

Factory Yamaha - I expect a new big name sponsor
Fabio Q
Alex Rins

Yamaha Satellite Team - TBA

Factory Honda
Luca Marini


LCR Honda
Johann Zarco
Ai Ogura

Factory Ducati
Pecco Bagnaia
Marc Marquez

Pramac Ducati
Fermín Aldeguer

Gresini Ducati
Alex Marquez

VR46 Ducati - Could go to Yamaha?
Marco Bezzechi

Factory Aprilia
Jorge Martin
Maverick Vinaeles

Trackhouse Aprilia
Joe Roberts
Raul Fernandez/Miguel Oliveira

Red Bull KTM
Brand Binder/Enea Bastianini - could demote Binder for Bastia at red bull KTM
Pedro Acosta

Red Bull GasGas Tech3
Brad Binder/Enea Bastianini

Likely to step up from Moto2
Joe Roberts - American, likely ends up at trackhouse
Sergio Garcia
Ai Ogura - likely ends up taking Nakagami's seat.

Joan Mir - May retire rather than stay at Honda if he can't get another ride. If he is intent on leaving Honda, tackhouse, yamaha, pramac and gasgas may be options?
Jack Miller - Unlikely to be kept at KTM. Honda might like him as their in season test donkey given his experience on KTM and Ducati. Otherwise I think it is off to WSBK.
Fanco Morbidelli - Who knows, just had his best result of the year. Pramac may keep him, otherwise VR46 could throw him a lifeline?
Digi - outperforming his teammate currently, also outperforming Franco M on a year old bike. Could Pramac throw an offer towards him?

ETA: Martin and Bastia are unlikely to be getting upgrades through the season. Leaving Ducati with only 2 bikes to give upgrades to. It will obviously have a negative impact on Martin, though possibly not enough that he can't win the championship. Gigi is an engineer first and foremost and will be wanting to start the program with his new riders whoever they end up being as quick as possible. I think Ducati will start giving upgrades almost immediately. They want to ensure one of the riders they have next year wins the championship, they achieve this by giving Pecco upgrades and not Martin/Bestia, giving MM who is their likely replacement for Bestia upgrades, making him more competitive and able to put his bike 1st and/or between Pecco and Martin more often. It could be good news for DiGi as well, who you would think is in the boxseat for taking the spare Pramac bike, so he could get upgrades during the season.

Bern1 said:

One thing seems obvious to me and that is that Ducati has not treated Martin well. Another obvious thing is that I don’t know a damned thing. But it does not reflect well on Ducati from my point of view. They seem like a poison team.

I hope Martin kicks ass on the Aprilia.

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I don't always share your point of view, but I have to thank you for not using the word "toxic" in that sentence!

You can say a lot about the man management of Ducati Corse, yet they are a dominating force never seen before.

Something must add up in order for them to be on their current level.

I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd put my money on Ducati managing to win five world championships in a row, and six as a constructor.

One thing I do think it shows is that, without his academy turning out excellent talent, Ducati aren't worried about upsetting Rossi. Before, I think they wanted him onside to some extent because the best young Italian talent was coming through his school. If they do indeed sign MM, as is the likely case, it also means distancing themselves from Rossi who, would more or less be banned from entering the Ducati pits.
This could push Rossi towards a Yamaha satellite team, if he hasn't already been pushed that way.

Fabio Q said that there was some big news coming for Yamaha but he couldn't share it yet. A VR46 satellite squad would be big news. Or a big Repsol sponsorship.