'23 Portimao GP

ratdeal · Mar 25, 2023

Bern1 said:
That was wild. Great weather, great start to the season.

Mir wasting no time proving yet again that he is a world class ZERO.

That's a little harsh

. First flying lap in quali was as a pace slave for Marc.

The fact the favour wasn't returned must have been hugely demoralising, not least because Mir didn't progress to Q2. Brutal from Honda/Marc.

To then put it on pole, and get the podium after must have done a number on Mir's mentality I'm sure.

Emasculating your new rider on his debut? I'd say that's poor rider management personally.

MdubSTYLIE · Mar 25, 2023

These sprint races are absolutely trash. The only thing they are good for is ruining riders seasons and lining dorna's pocket. Are the races going to be good? Of course we love motorcycle racing, but some stupid extra race every weekend is not good for motogp. It is sad that they are just following suit with other race leagues. How about acting like the premier race league, instead of following trends in search for more cash. Dorna is so lucky motogp is the greatest sport on earth and doesn't need their help to be popular because they are absolute trash when it comes to everything. Will I watch these dumb ....... races? Of course I will, but every time a rider goes down I will piss in the direction of dorna for being the worst governing body in motorsport. Hopefully Enea's broken scapula isn't that bad but it has absolutely ruined his chances at a championship for what? Some extra lame ... points. .... you Rossi's .... brother. Ya .........

evo9 · Mar 25, 2023

MdubSTYLIE said:
These sprint races are absolutely trash. The only thing they are good for is ruining riders seasons and lining dorna's pocket. Are the races going to be good? Of course we love motorcycle racing, but some stupid extra race every weekend is not good for motogp. It is sad that they are just following suit with other race leagues. How about acting like the premier race league, instead of following trends in search for more cash. Dorna is so lucky motogp is the greatest sport on earth and doesn't need their help to be popular because they are absolute trash when it comes to everything. Will I watch these dumb ....... races? Of course I will, but every time a rider goes down I will piss in the direction of dorna for being the worst governing body in motorsport. Hopefully Enea's broken scapula isn't that bad but it has absolutely ruined his chances at a championship for what? Some extra lame ... points. .... you Rossi's .... brother. Ya .........

Good points! I prefer to read this year than watch. As I've said before, I'm not paying to watch motoducati.

Bern1 · Mar 25, 2023

ratdeal said:
That's a little harsh . First flying lap in quali was as a pace slave for Marc.

The fact the favour wasn't returned must have been hugely demoralising, not least because Mir didn't progress to Q2. Brutal from Honda/Marc.

To then put it on pole, and get the podium after must have done a number on Mir's mentality I'm sure.

Emasculating your new rider on his debut? I'd say that's poor rider management personally.

Actually, it is not harsh. If this was a rare occurrence, fine. But this guy has made a habit of using other riders for berms in his short and unillustrious career.

What makes you think that Honda or Marc would do him any favors? He was hired to do favors for Honda and Marc. If this demoralized him, he’s whipped. Can’t think of a better rider for that to happen to. Emasculating your teammate is the first order of business for Marc Marquez.

Honda? They don’t care about Mir, they just need a body to ride the other bike. They have had this attitude for years, so why would it change now?

This is exactly why Zarco didn’t sign with Honda. Unfortunately for him, he seems to have lost mojo along the line, but he definitely would not have fared better at Honda.

No point in riding for any team that has MM in it, unless he is on the verge of losing his own mojo. However, I would venture to say that he will walk away before that time.

I would say the only rider on the grid who would be happy to be second banana at Honda is Morbidelli.

Harsh? Who cares?

MichaelBolton · Mar 25, 2023

Bern1 said:
This is exactly why Zarco didn’t sign with Honda

Zarco didn't sign for Honda because his manager hid the Honda offer from him as he had already penned a deal with KTM, and you can easily fact check this with a simple internet search.

Rest of the post is deranged, already making up a great conspiracy after one quali session. We get it, Marc bad.

Bern1 · Mar 25, 2023

Hadn’t heard about the management issue. I just remember something about Zarco not wanting to be #2.

Marc just singlemindedly doing his job, as he always has. Nothing wrong with that.

Mir still a jerk imo.

mylexicon · Mar 25, 2023

The sprint was entertaining, but not particularly meaningful. It was fun to watch them race without worrying about fuel and tires, but I'm not sure that type of entertainment requires a separate sideshow race. I mean, shouldn't that be the main course, if it's so good at attracting fans? Maybe this is the groundswell Dorna is hoping to build. Short format. High intensity. Maybe Marini's prediction or recommendation of two short races will prove to be prophetic.

As was predicted by riders, pundits and punters alike, the sprints would not help someone win the championship in the first few rounds, but it would probably end some title hopes. Sad to see that Bastianini is the first casualty of sprint racing. If Ducati does prove to be too much for the field, at least Bagnaia and Bastianini could put on a show......Miller was awesome with the soft front, and the strategy of using the soft front in practice and the sprint race would bring KTM a huge amount of much needed publicity. Entertaining, but also reinforces the notion that sprint racing is just a sideshow. It's only one sprint, but Yamaha looks a bit lost, and Honda look more dependent than ever on Marquez. It's only one race, but if you're trying to change the narrative at Yamaha or Honda, this race was your nightmare.

It will be interesting to see how the sprint races change from here. The first race gives the team and rider a chance at history, but taking those kinds of risks for half points is not a good way to mount a championship challenge. Exhibit A: Enea Bastianini. I wonder if the front runners will start to dial things back and find space somewhere, and try to pick off a few riders for a podium or top 5, rather than participating in the melee. Time will tell.

Not a bad first sprint, but I wonder if this format will have true staying power.

PRS717 · Mar 25, 2023

Keshav said:
Didn't get up early to watch quali live. Finding the newest iteration of MGP site even more annoying. Watching quali on the replay and now some clever ...... from Dorna has decided we all need to hear the jabbering of the crew members all through Quali. Just totally distracting. WTF???

I'm not a fan of the "new" video player. It's like it's from 2007. Tomorrow should be interesting. Marc was more or less gifted his podium but that's not his problem. Those other boys need to keep it tight.

ratdeal · Mar 25, 2023

Bern1 said:
Actually, it is not harsh. If this was a rare occurrence, fine. But this guy has made a habit of using other riders for berms in his short and unillustrious career.

What makes you think that Honda or Marc would do him any favors? He was hired to do favors for Honda and Marc. If this demoralized him, he’s whipped. Can’t think of a better rider for that to happen to. Emasculating your teammate is the first order of business for Marc Marquez.

Honda? They don’t care about Mir, they just need a body to ride the other bike. They have had this attitude for years, so why would it change now?

This is exactly why Zarco didn’t sign with Honda. Unfortunately for him, he seems to have lost mojo along the line, but he definitely would not have fared better at Honda.

No point in riding for any team that has MM in it, unless he is on the verge of losing his own mojo. However, I would venture to say that he will walk away before that time.

I would say the only rider on the grid who would be happy to be second banana at Honda is Morbidelli.

Harsh? Who cares?

Haha. Fair enough. Love the Doohanist perspective on things.

What I thought to be quite funny about it all was Mir outperforming MM handily in practice. I was genuinely like "wow, didn't expect that!".

24 hours later Mir has Marc's ball prints across his forehead!

Bern1 · Mar 25, 2023

ratdeal said:
Haha. Fair enough. Love the Doohanist perspective on things.

What I thought to be quite funny about it all was Mir outperforming MM handily in practice. I was genuinely like "wow, didn't expect that!".

24 hours later Mir has Marc's ball prints across his forehead!

I didn't expect it either but I give Marc Marquez a lot of credit when it comes to playing the long game. I'm sure that in practice he is just figuring out how he is going to go about qualifying and racing. I'm sure he didn't care about Mir being "faster." Like he really didn't care about Pol doing the same. On the rare occasions that that might have happened.

michaelm · Mar 25, 2023

MdubSTYLIE said:
These sprint races are absolutely trash. The only thing they are good for is ruining riders seasons and lining dorna's pocket. Are the races going to be good? Of course we love motorcycle racing, but some stupid extra race every weekend is not good for motogp. It is sad that they are just following suit with other race leagues. How about acting like the premier race league, instead of following trends in search for more cash. Dorna is so lucky motogp is the greatest sport on earth and doesn't need their help to be popular because they are absolute trash when it comes to everything. Will I watch these dumb ....... races? Of course I will, but every time a rider goes down I will piss in the direction of dorna for being the worst governing body in motorsport. Hopefully Enea's broken scapula isn't that bad but it has absolutely ruined his chances at a championship for what? Some extra lame ... points. .... you Rossi's .... brother. Ya .........

I am with you, the first sprint race has likely greatly affected Bastianini's chances which is counterproductive even for Dorna, and for what ?. At least if the Ducatis continue to be as dominant as they looked in testing they would have had a battle between the 2 factory Ducati riders for the title. As you imply the whole thing is just copying F1 which seems to be Dorna's/Carmelo's main modus operandi, but the risk of pilot injury from a sprint race in F1 is much lower. If anything a sprint race in motogp is more likely to result in injury than a normal length race imo, no room for strategy other than flat out the whole way, including on cold tires on the first lap.

warthog1 · Mar 26, 2023

Pecco looked very good.
Smooth, fast and controlled.
Will be interesting to see todays longer race and if that same form results in a bigger gap.
I hope not, but won't be surprised if it does.

michaelm · Mar 26, 2023

michaelm said:
I am with you, the first sprint race has likely greatly affected Bastianini's chances which is counterproductive even for Dorna, and for what ?. At least if the Ducatis continue to be as dominant as they looked in testing they would have had a battle between the 2 factory Ducati riders for the title. As you imply the whole thing is just copying F1 which seems to be Dorna's/Carmelo's main modus operandi, but the risk of pilot injury from a sprint race in F1 is much lower. If anything a sprint race in motogp is more likely to result in injury than a normal length race imo, no room for strategy other than flat out the whole way, including on cold tires on the first lap.

michaelm said:
(EDIT) Fabio Quartararo seems to agree with me about the risk of injury. Lex of course already made the point about there at least being a prospect of a battle for the title between the 2 factory Ducati riders prior to Enea’s injury in the initial sprint race.

Barbedwirebikerr · Mar 26, 2023

warthog1 said:
Pecco looked very good.
Smooth, fast and controlled.
Will be interesting to see todays longer race and if that same form results in a bigger gap.
I hope not, but won't be surprised if it does.

Yeah, longer race means Ducati lead by 5 seconds. In theory.

Never never know, that's why we watch.

Barbedwirebikerr · Mar 26, 2023

Lets go ladies and gentlemen, we wait in anticipation for months. Supercross doesn't do it for me anymore, wsbk hardly fills the hole. MOTOGP is where it is at. We had a sprint race, was exciting, I've yet to make my mind up yet where I stand on the topic. And Sunday, here we are. Had two very good races to whet the appetite. ( Is sprint suited to moto2?) That's be bollocks.

Welcome powersliders new and old. Lets sit back and enjoy.

Prediction: Pecco by 3 seconds.

But, plenty of stories are developing as teams get a handle on the bikes. Go Jack.

Barbedwirebikerr · Mar 26, 2023

Add. Alex and mav top 5.

Either way will be a great race.

warthog1 · Mar 26, 2023

Fked up there Marc

Hope Oliveira is ok.

nick666 · Mar 26, 2023

Why do they still give him a bike ? Its obvious that for whatever reasons he cant ride anymore.

Barbedwirebikerr · Mar 26, 2023

....... Marc reminiscing of days gone he he could release the brake and mug a rider. ......... What a .... move

Bern1 · Mar 26, 2023

Looking pretty boring at this point. Bags in control and stretching it out. Vinales can’t hang.
See y’all at the next race!

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