IT'S RACE WEEK!!!! Round 1 - PT Thai Grand Prix

For sure it will help Ducati with sales. Hell im gonna buy a MM93 Champion Edition Limited Panigale

Keshav said:

LOL - Back when he came into the premiere class, most here were calling him Murder Marc and when after his first season, I said there were signs of Marquez evolving, people laughed at the suggestion. Sure it took a decade and s..t-ton of horrendous injuries before he seriously started to dial back the show-boating, but here it is.

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He has been capable of winning a title by riding circumspectly previously, the year he had the shoulder injury which required postseason surgery. He took the wins when available, and mostly finished on the podium otherwise with his worst result iirc 4th or 5th.

It was certainly the old Marc though the day he crashed and broke his humerus in a literally pointless pursuit of FQ.. He presumably has realised since then that no matter how much faster he is than the field he is only one crash away from ending his chances. I thought he was fairly restrained last season anyway.

Millers fairing came loose causing aero problems making his result of first Yamaha even more difficult to achieve

There were some good results from the satellite riders, best per manufacturer;
2nd - A Marquez (2nd Ducati rider)
5th - Ogura (1st non-Ducati rider, 1st Aprilia)
7th - Zarco (1st Honda rider)
9th - Bastianini (2nd KTM rider)
11th - Miller (despite the fairing problem, 1st Yamaha)

Just a thought I had about Ogura. Didn't he turn down a step up to MGP twice (definitely once) because he felt he wasn't ready? Something to be said about that tbh. I can never understand the urgency with which some of these riders are pushed up the levels.
Although, it could have been been because he didn't want to break himself on the Honda

michaelm said:

So crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women ?.

I too wouldn't mind seeing MM dominate, particularly to spite Valentino. I have warmed to Bagnaia somewhat though, and wouldn't be so happy about him being totally crushed, I believe him to be at least his own man, and if he is beaten it will be because of how good MM is, he has been the master of riding these aero bikes, although I don't really understand why he threw his bike down the road so often last season.

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I too have warmed up to Pecco somehow and want to see him do well. Although I do want Marquez to conquer and crush all records. Yellow tears are awesome.

ApriliaRS250 said:

For sure it will help Ducati with sales. Hell im gonna buy a MM93 Champion Edition Limited Panigale

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Whilst Repsol liveried Hondas will be going out the door at bargain basement prices.

michaelm said:

He has been capable of winning a title by riding circumspectly previously, the year he had the shoulder injury which required postseason surgery. He took the wins when available, and mostly finished on the podium otherwise with his worst result iirc 4th or 5th.

It was certainly the old Marc though the day he crashed and broke his humerus in a literally pointless pursuit of FQ.. He presumably has realised since then that no matter how much faster he is than the field he is only one crash away from ending his chances. I thought he was fairly restrained last season anyway.

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Sure, evolution is a process. We didn’t go from Neanderthal to contemporary Homo Sapien overnight.

mikesbytes said:

Millers fairing came loose causing aero problems making his result of first Yamaha even more difficult to achieve

There were some good results from the satellite riders, best per manufacturer;
2nd - A Marquez (2nd Ducati rider)
5th - Ogura (1st non-Ducati rider, 1st Aprilia)
7th - Zarco (1st Honda rider)
9th - Bastianini (2nd KTM rider)
11th - Miller (despite the fairing problem, 1st Yamaha)

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I just heard about the Miller issue on a podcast. I thought it was just the usual Miller drop, but they said he actually had to ride while keeping the fairing in place with his arm. So yea, pretty impressive ride then!

Oggi visto la gara lunga e domani la corta su vedeva nettamente che aveva di più Marquez .......l unica mostra speranza e che. Si faccia molto male .......altrimenti sono del parere che lo vinca lui

warthog1 said:

True with respect to the bike but the aero and ride height have made it harder to push the front as hard as he used to.
Hopefully you are right, he is my favourite rider too. I would love to see him dominate.
Just not counting my chickens before they hatch. I still think Pecco will improve too.

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But that is my point. Marc pushed the front because he HAD to. The Honda was designed to be a front end beast around the Bridgestones and struggled ever since they went to Michelins imo. I rewatched most of the sessions over the weekend, and Marc looked on the Ducati more like Jorge Lorenzo did on the Yamaha, sikly smooth. Maybe it's coming out that he was all over the place on the Honda because he absolutely had to ride it that way.

Again, I reiterate. I don't think we are going to see that level of dominance at every race. But it certainly is a wake up call. Especially with the developments that even when he was gapping the field by 0.5s per lap, he was not pushing the front tyre enough to heat it up to the expected operating window.

An interesting article here states that, like most people have considered on here, Marc has matured tremendously since his 2020 accident, and arguably is now a better, more complete version of his previous self.

But he has emerged from that period as a different person, transformed into a version that some of those closest to him consider even more dangerous for his rivals than the previous one.

“This Marc is another Marc. It is an improved version. Until the injury he didn't mind overdoing it and pushing too hard, even though he had a big advantage over the rest.

"That sometimes led him to make mistakes that now, coming from the stage he's coming from, he's not willing to make,” one of the people closest to the championship leader, someone who has been with him practically since he stepped into the paddock, told us.

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https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/most-extraordinary-version-marc-marquez-motogp/10700081/

Keshav said:

How long before the Rossi Cult on Crash start calling Alex Marc's bitch?

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Valeban calling a rider someone's bitch you say?

Saffa said:

Just a thought I had about Ogura. Didn't he turn down a step up to MGP twice (definitely once) because he felt he wasn't ready? Something to be said about that tbh. I can never understand the urgency with which some of these riders are pushed up the levels.
Although, it could have been been because he didn't want to break himself on the Honda

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He turned down the LCR ride twice. I can't blame him not wanting to be on the Honda!

Keshav said:

Sure, evolution is a process. We didn’t go from Neanderthal to contemporary Homo Sapien overnight.

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I'd argue some people are still Neanderthal...

I crunched some numbers btw, and had he continued at the pace he did prior to letting Alex past, he could have won the race by 12 seconds..

Mdub's favourite rider was right all along.

PRS717 said:

Most everything has been said but I'll just add I thought it was great, especially after the sprint, how Marc met and embraced the Gresini team. It's also great to see he is genuinely happy for Alex's success.

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#22 said:

But that is my point. Marc pushed the front because he HAD to. The Honda was designed to be a front end beast around the Bridgestones and struggled ever since they went to Michelins imo. I rewatched most of the sessions over the weekend, and Marc looked on the Ducati more like Jorge Lorenzo did on the Yamaha, sikly smooth. Maybe it's coming out that he was all over the place on the Honda because he absolutely had to ride it that way.

Again, I reiterate. I don't think we are going to see that level of dominance at every race. But it certainly is a wake up call. Especially with the developments that even when he was gapping the field by 0.5s per lap, he was not pushing the front tyre enough to heat it up to the expected operating window.

An interesting article here states that, like most people have considered on here, Marc has matured tremendously since his 2020 accident, and arguably is now a better, more complete version of his previous self.



https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/most-extraordinary-version-marc-marquez-motogp/10700081/



Valeban calling a rider someone's bitch you say?

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He turned down the LCR ride twice. I can't blame him not wanting to be on the Honda!

I'd argue some people are still Neanderthal...

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The Rossi cult seem to have already raised the white (or yellow) flag which is no fun.

What has been demonstrated by Bezzecchi as well as the Marquez brothers is that rumours of the Ducati GP23, or the 2024 customer version at least, being a good bike were exaggerated. I myself had also tended to write the younger Marquez off, forgetting his world championships prior to landing straight on the unrideable Honda in the premier class. It would also appear to not be a very wild surmise that MM’s letter day Honda titles weren’t won on the best bike on the grid.

Kudos to Ogura, smart as well as good. One of the things I had against KTM/Pit Beirer even when solvent was their habit of gathering talent from the other classes, more or less forcing them to the premier class, then discarding them.

Any word on why Marc's team set his tyre pressure so low? With his performance on Saturday I'd think they would have expected him to be in clean air for the race. Apparently they have software which determines this?

#22 said:

Mdub's favourite rider was right all along.

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Calvin should start his own podcast called, tales from the gravel.

PRS717 said:

Any word on why Marc's team set his tyre pressure so low?

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Marc said the team set the pressures right but didn't account for his switch of riding styles through the race, if the bike was ridden 'Pecco style' it would've worked. Something that the Gresini guys apparently were familiar with but his new crew isn't yet. Although he might be bullshitting to protect the team.

Perfect ride by Marc. Not a wheel wrong. Maybe I mischaracterized this season. Maybe it's more comparable to 2011, when the GPC let Casey out from under their thumb, and the season had a feeling of inevitability.

It's interesting that tire pressure rules required riders to stay in close proximity. If it hadn't been Alex leading, you'd assume Marc would have dive-bombed and harassed the leading rider, same tactic as he-who-shall-not-be-named.

Not every race will be a barn-burner, but I'm struggling not to look ahead to 2027. Hopefully, 2027 will not be a repeat of 2012. Back then, awkward compromises led to head-scratching decisions. 20L of fuel in 2014 (ugh). Open rules never materialized. CRT/Open bikes, like the RSV-1000S never replaced satellite bikes. The 800s were retired, though there were more manufacturers with working 800s than working 1000s. Total mess. Hopefully, the GPC will get the 850cc details right.

PRS717 said:

Any word on why Marc's team set his tyre pressure so low? With his performance on Saturday I'd think they would have expected him to be in clean air for the race. Apparently they have software which determines this?

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They did expect him to lead from the front. I believe the problem was that he had sufficient pace in hand that he was changing his riding style and not loading up the front enough. He alluded to it in his post race interviews where he said something along the lines of 'Ducati are still not used to my riding style and tactics, because sometimes I change in the race'

surendhar said:

Felt like, he was just toying with others. Infact he says that he had not felt like this since Jerez 2020 (and we know how he came back in that race until he crashed)

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Yeah, even if he had finished 3rd, Jerez 2020 would've been one of Marc's best races ever. The way he charged through the field was incredible. Just like the Moto2 days when he won Valencia from 33rd and went from 38th to 15th within one lap at Phillip Island.

JCtx said:

What should worry others is Marc said he doesn't care about winning all the time, or riding over the limit all the time anymore. Also that he has achieved a lot already, and he's just having fun. Apparently he finally matured. Ha ha. And if he's riding that good relaxed, watch out. Guess we'll find out how aggressive he's willing to be when he eventually needs to battle for a win. As a side comment, I'm sure his boss is very happy to have chosen him. Not only because he's the best, but the ton of extra exposure (and hopefully sales) he'll bring to the brand.

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It was really apparent that last year, Marc finally enjoyed riding a motorcycle again.
He's probably more relaxed than ever right now.
I still don't think he ever was an immature rider though. He had to ride over the limit in 22 and 23 but during his title winning years there were a lot of races where he knew he couldn't win and just went for maximum points.
Heck he won his first premier class title through consistency. In his rookie season Marc had only one DNF and one DSQ due to a strategic error.
The few times Marc made immature moves was when he dropped back early and still tried to win the race, like Argentina 2018.

michaelm said:

What has been demonstrated by Bezzecchi as well as the Marquez brothers is that rumours of the Ducati GP23, or the 2024 customer version at least, being a good bike were exaggerated.

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The GP23 was clearly the best bike in 23 but the GP24 was a giant step from the GP23. Aprilia and KTM had caught up to the GP23 last year but catching up to even the customer GP24 this year will be a stretch.
Makes me wonder if the GP25 will debut at all.

michaelm said:

The Rossi cult seem to have already raised the white (or yellow) flag which is no fun.

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Just a few weeks there were headlines about an interview were Vale gave Frantisek tips about how to beat Marc.
I just wondered how tf would he know how to beat him?

#22 said:

I'd argue some people are still Neanderthal...

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Somebody has to pump gas and make cardboard boxes.