'23 Portimao GP

Barbedwirebikerr said:

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

Click to expand...

Yes, quite indefensible. Back to Murder Marc days. If the bike isn't good enough it doesn't give him the right to take such risks in traffic.

Marc will go down as my favorite rider, but he needs to retire. If you watched his documentary on Amazon he said he isn't out there to fight mid pack. His desire to win outweighs his thoughts on finishing midpack. The honda is an absolute pile of .... bike. It cannot compete with the Ducatis without being an absolute risk. Its not worth it. Vamos Alex Marquez! Maybe they can switch gear for the rest of the season.

Marquez should get a wake up call, a once race suspension at least, and a good talking to, before someone is seriously injured or killed !

The most dangerous man in GP racing. He nearly killed 2 riders in Aragon last year and did so again today. Time for a long suspension to this ......

Barbedwirebikerr said:

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

Click to expand...

Sigh.... sad to see him reverting to that ..... Unlike Fabio, who rode intelligently and with maturity with a .... bike, Schmarcquez feeling pressure to A. Justify his immense salary, and B. Live up to his legend, tried to win the race in the first few laps.
Vinales looking good. But expectations are, as in the past, he will tend to seem revived and competitive at the first race of the season and then gradually fall apart as the season continues.
Zarco - about what we've come to expect every year. Which ain't bad really. Not everybody can be #1.
Ducati's Hp advantage is just plain depressing. And they do go from strength-to-strength these days.
Sprint races - as predicted, a ..... idea.

Marquez and Quartarrarro should have had a No Progress clause in their contracts - so that if the bike remains a turd for two consecutive seasons - the rider can opt out for another team. Might light a fire under the R&D people.

Don't know if it's just I woke up grumpy, but the announcers seem extra annoying today. They need to take a freaking breath once in a while and not fill up every second with repetitive commentary. Soft front, medium rear, Ducati Hp, another PB, pointless stats from 10 years ago, Crowd going wild for (fill in blank), Binder's sore neck, Will his shoulder last till the end of the race. Blah Blah Blah. They could learn a lot listening to Jimi Hendrix who understood the value of a dramatic silent interval.

Marc fractured his hand so he'll probably miss Argentina. Oh well, serves him as a learning lesson for his ....... Thankfully Oliveira is alright.

Pecco is gonna win the championship easily and he's gonna remain the only consistent Ducati rider throughout the season. People say he wins because of the bike but he's always spearheading the Ducati avalanche so it's time to give him props.

Marc generated a huge amount of goodwill overcoming his struggles over the last few years. That and the recent documentary made people see a different side to Marc and I think many were hoping we would see a more measured rider given all his suffering.

He undid all of that in the course of his 1st weekend back at full fitness.

It was clear he was having to ride at and beyond his machine's operational limits just to stay with the front group, while everyone else was riding within themselves and looking quite comfortable.

What was he thinking he would do? There's no way he can maintain riding at the razors edge for a whole race, so what's the point? That was Jerez 2020 Marc Marquez we saw today. He clearly has learnt nothing despite all his suffering these last 3 years.

So let me get this straight...

If a rider jumps the start, they endanger no one else, they get a double long lap penalty.

If a rider completely loses control of their bike as a result of their own aggression, and injures 2 other riders in the process, they get a double long lap penalty.

Can someone here help me understand the logic please???

ratdeal said:

Marc generated a huge amount of goodwill overcoming his struggles over the last few years. That and the recent documentary made people see a different side to Marc and I think many were hoping we would see a more measured rider given all his suffering.

He undid all of that in the course of his 1st weekend back at full fitness.

It was clear he was having to ride at and beyond his machine's operational limits just to stay with the front group, while everyone else was riding within themselves and looking quite comfortable.

What was he thinking he would do? There's no way he can maintain riding at the razors edge for a whole race, so what's the point? That was Jerez 2020 Marc Marquez we saw today. He clearly has learnt nothing despite all his suffering these last 3 years.

Click to expand...

We’ve talked about it before, over and over. He is never going to change his approach.

Win or bin.

Bern1 said:

We’ve talked about it before, over and over. He is never going to change his approach.

Win or bin.

Click to expand...

I agree.

It's just unfathomable to me that he can still ride like this, with all the experience and all the suffering he has been through.

Many ways to skin a cat. You use the tools you have, and adapt strategies when the optimal outcome relies on a different approach.

This is basic stuff.

The thing about Marc is that he rides insanely harder than everyone else. It is the only way to get the Honda HIV anywhere near the front. This is no excuse for his actions today, but the lap he rode to take pole on the shittiest bike on the grid is unfathomable. No other rider now or in history could do such a thing. He knew in order to stay with the lead group he needed to have way more corner speed. His problem was he was following in slip when this happened. He should know better than to follow while trying to ride like that. He is going to have to ride like this all year to have any chance at competing. Marc knows no other way than to ride to win, anything less than he would rather be on the couch. Its a thin line between being murder marc and miracle marc. Unfortunately it is impossible to not cross that line sometimes and contain such mentality that he does. I am critical of what he did today but it won't change my opinion of him either.

Hello fellas!

My say. I liked the sprint race a lot, although the risks involved for the riders are gigantic. Any of the sprint races can decides now who is out of title race by crashing like Enea and getting injured, specially now that point differences tends to be more elastic with two scorable events in the weekend. This is exciting at the same time it's weird. But I think the riders are gonna adapt to it. First race, first time in that frenesi, let's give time to time. It's a lot fun.

Pecco will be at ease this year without Fabio and Marc, and now with Enea out for some time. I don't think any of the Aprillia riders may have a real chance for the title, Espargaro is too dumb as always, like his brother, and Vinales top notch era is gone. He has been something between an horrible to an average rider at most, with some few flashes of his talent, but who tends to fade throughout the year. Pecco can only lost to himself. If not, he'll be champion again, the title is in the bag.

About Marc, oh man, this guy seems to have not learned a thing from Jerez 2020. He is now too crazy to race in GP. It's sad how emotional he's become, wanting to win races from the first few laps by pure brute force. That's not the way you win races anymore with those tires, specially with a ...... machine.

He started mistaking at signing for 4 years with Honda. That was a big, big mistake. There he thought he could win forever no matter the quality of his machine. He thought he was a superhero that has infinity lucky and bad things would never happen to him no matter the crash count. Marc mind got lost inside his character. Either he finds a way out or he'll completely destroy his brilliant career ending like a sucker who can't afford some defeats.

I can’t say with one race weekend in the bag that the title is sure thing for Pecco.

A lot can and will happen by the end of the season.

One thing is for sure that I can see happening this year: my own personal withdrawal from interest in watching this sport this closely. Since 1989 I have been following 500’s and MotoGP closely, going to races, etc. Every year.

It has now become more and more about the machine and gizmos and less and less about the rider. Dorna’s machinations, the ridiculous commentary and crappy web site don’t help. Neither does Ducati’s domination. And WTF is up with some dude holding MM’s umbrella?

I’ll still watch this year, for a while anyway.

Same thing happened for me in the mid 90’s watching F1. After a lifetime of watching, I just quit. For the same reasons.

I am now more interested in watching local racing and flat track, just like I’d rather watch a local bar band play than go get frisked by goons for drugs and drink at some insanely priced arena show.

Cheers all!

If Marc gets a penalty for his stupid mistake than so should Rossi's halfbro.

MdubSTYLIE said:

If Marc gets a penalty for his stupid mistake than so should Rossi's halfbro.

Click to expand...

The selective application of and the creative interpretation of various rules by Dorna in MotoGP is a joke shared with F1.

I have to agree that murdermarc is an appropriate name for him. I’m not interested in watching him crash into other riders anymore especially in the first lap or two. His apologies mean nothing as long as he continues his ‘style’ of riding. It won’t happen but a black flag for him in at least a couple races would be ok with me. It’s good to see one of Rossi’s bikes doing well. Not a fan of sprint races in GP. NASCAR can have it.

I'm not gonna pile on Marquez. Wasted years of my time doing that when he was a kid. His talent has always been a magic eraser, and Rossi baptized him with a holy roundhouse kick at Sepang, which washed away all of his prior transgressions. Also, this seemed like more of a racing incident than some of his other hijinks. Marquez made a crazy move on Lap 1 in that turn, and he thought he'd try to overtake two riders at once (or something). He's been flinging bikes sideways into traffic since he was a kid. The penalties are 12 years too late.

Regarding the race, I'm shocked by Yamaha. They've showed up for 2023, after months of working on engine performance, with a nonfunctioning launch control? Unbelievable. Fabio loses 5-10 places by the first turn. Vinales is the only guy I can get behind these days so his 2nd place result personally satisfying, particularly since he kept in touch the entire way. Pecco was peerless. Clinical take down of Portimao. Bautista is doing the same thing in WSBK so far. Technical domination without over-exertion. Bezzechi had an amazing race for VR46, and outclassed Marini by a country mile. Not sure what is the beef between Bezzechi and Vinales? Will Alex Marquez be the cruising caretaker this season? Ya know the guy with an amazing bike who just holds up the field until he gets overtaken, then he works just to regain the lost place.

Overall, Portimao was significant for numerous reasons. First sprint in the books. European manufacturers locked out the top 7 places, as Marquez and Fabio suffered. I was also happy for MotoGP to open in Europe again, rather than opening at a fly away round. I miss the old days of opening at Jerez, but Portimao ain't bad. The sanctioning body also needs to do something about the electronics. They seem increasingly intrusive. Onboard telemetry (if it can be trusted) showed considerable number of riders opening the throttle quite widely, but the engine performance seemed to be independent of their input. It's been that way for a while, but it seems worse than in recent seasons. It sucks because you can see it on TV. The riders are just leaning and pulling on the bike, trying to change its attitude so the power will turn on. SBK has the same problem recently.

Its so sad seeing a top talent like Marc looking for a tow in QP...and the first race was 100% predictable, FB running away, and MM having to risk it all to make up places...so sad.

Welcome to the Ducati era, I also fully expect half the riders to be injured mid point due to sprint races.

Great display there by Pecco in both sprint and feature races. Although Ducati is dominant, there are enough riders on them to appreciate where the rider is making the difference. It's tough seeing Fabio/Morbidelli and Yamaha floundering as they are now. I have my eyes on Bezzecchi. Alex Marquez and Marini aren't looking particularly quick and I think this is the way it will be for the rest of the year.
MM.... I have mixed feelings and none positive about his incident with Oliveira. I feel a sense of dread now since I didn't expect this of him coming from such a long and difficult period on the sidelines with his injury.

Bern1 said:

I can’t say with one race weekend in the bag that the title is sure thing for Pecco.

A lot can and will happen by the end of the season.

One thing is for sure that I can see happening this year: my own personal withdrawal from interest in watching this sport this closely. Since 1989 I have been following 500’s and MotoGP closely, going to races, etc. Every year.

It has now become more and more about the machine and gizmos and less and less about the rider. Dorna’s machinations, the ridiculous commentary and crappy web site don’t help. Neither does Ducati’s domination. And WTF is up with some dude holding MM’s umbrella?

I’ll still watch this year, for a while anyway.

Same thing happened for me in the mid 90’s watching F1. After a lifetime of watching, I just quit. For the same reasons.

I am now more interested in watching local racing and flat track, just like I’d rather watch a local bar band play than go get frisked by goons for drugs and drink at some insanely priced arena show.

Cheers all!

Click to expand...

Problem is not the sport itself but us. I can say the same for football (or soccer depending on your location). Have been following football for ages since my childhood but almost suddenly lost the taste for it and since 2016 I don't care anymore for this ..... Just got tired of watching a bunch of tattooed millionaire ....... running around trying to kick a bladder into a net. I still play football myself with friends every now and then but I don't care for watching matches anymore neither for the teams. .... that .....

Sometimes I also lack interest for MotoGP specially when the same rider is dominating, like times when Jorge Lorenzo ran away untouchable or MM93 entire domination era. In the beginning is cool but by the time it keeps repeating the same story, it gets boring. I'm still not geting bored by the Ducati domination cause, hey, it's not a domination yet. Ducati struggled 12 or more years in the back of the field with a crappy bike, only now they finally seem to be in place. Last year there was a good battle with Yamaha. It appears this year it will be their first real domination since Stoner in 2007 so let's calm down a bit. I don't think Ducati will keep this pace up next year, eventually the other manufacturers will close the gap and present themselves in good battles. Aprilia is getting close.

About the machines, it's a cycle. Japanese manufacturers dominated for ages, decades. Did you get bored in that time? We finally reach a point in time where the power levels have changed. Dorna introduced a lot of rules and novelties trying to level the field, like spec ECU, spec tires, holding a lot of developments like aero fins, front height device, and others. It has worked well so. In the end motor racing is not only about riders but about machines too. Personally I watch racing for the machines, not for the riders. I like to see those beasts being developed, I don't care that much for riders skills since there are a lot of them capable of doing amazing things. The fun with racing is all about what a rider can do with his equipment that is different from the others. I don't have fun watching Moto3 or Moto2 cause those are robotic races. I don't find it funny to see riders lining one after the other for more than 20 laps knowing they can't do anything but wait for the rider in front to commit a small mistake to overtake him. How fun is that? There is nothing more they can do with their machine since it never changes a bolt, almost all of them know how to ride that thing to the limit so it reaches a point where you can remove the bikes and make the riders run on their shoes like 100-meter dash.