I don't like typing essays on my phone which is why I don't post much over the weekends. But here goes.
Ducati cup - It says something when most, if not all of the even year old Ducati's are better than many factory bikes. Of course it isn't completely their fault but just as Carmelo made changes in the early 2010's to keep the number of teams up and improve the competitiveness of lower down teams, it may be that a similar case is needed soon (not CRT for sure though!). When Pecco is moaning about customer Ducati bikes more than rival manufacturers, then you know something needs to change.
Talking of pecco, I still don;t like him. He strikes me as a whiner. Glad to see the beast back. He held on well ion the race considering he dropped back in the sprint. Here's hoping he's back to full fitness soon, though because he's out of the championship I fear team orders may be involved if he gets to the front.
Aprilia - Wasted bike. Sure, Aleix hurt his ankle and rode well int he mean time but even before that he seems out of it. He has already confirmed he won;t be renewing his contract (i.e. retire) at the end of next yr, and Pol's crash seems to have affected him (understandably so) to the point where he seems somewhat mentally checked out.
Vinales doing what Vinales always does and always will. Oliveria is injured and was running ahead of him until he crashed. I really fail to see what people see in him. Same goes for Raul Fernandez, people rave about him and he's done .... all in GP except moan.
KTM: Arguably best of the rest. As others have said, Miller does his usual thing of qualifying high then dropping back. Binder the opposite. I personally feel Binders LLP on Saturday was ......... It is up to the rider rejoining the racing line to merge safely and we go back to the inconsistency when Binder is penalised but Millers pass on Marquez wasn't (I'm not saying Miler should have got a LLP, quite the opposite)
Yamaha - I think Fabio has given up, he also likely fired his manager for fixing him with Yamaha for the next 18 months. Morbidelli sounded pissed when someone interviewed him asking if beating his team mate increases his chances of staying next yr. His response was a curt 'Ask Lin!'. All everyone keeps talking about is V4. The suzuki was an inline 4 and won 2 of the last 3 races in 2022. I dont think it's an I4 vs V4 issue, it's a 'Yamaha aren't taking it seriously enough' effort. They have no satellite teams to get data from and seem to have finally realised they cannot live off the VR46 branding forever. The problem is now, who is going to want to pay for their bikes?
Honda - Ugh. Mir seems mentally broken, he was something like a second off Folger in practice before he crashed. Rins has broken his tibia and fibia and Marc (again) crashed out over riding the bike. It sucks that he (and Rins/Mir for that matter) are stuck on a POS. Just like Carmelo saying it was bad for the series to have Rossi not on a competitive bike ("I am Calm'), it's detrimental to have Marc on arguably the shittest bike out there. At least the Yamaha is just slow and not trying to kill its riders. I think his pose in the gravel trap was very, very telling. His patience is close to out. I wouldn't be surprised if he is seeing how the bike goes at Sachsenring. If he struggles there, I think his mind is made up to leave Honda. They haven't made an strides with that bike since early 2022 and in fact seem to have gone backwards. New frame, new swingarm. The thing is, I don't think the frame is the issue, I think it is power delivery. If you watch their respective qualifying laps, the #1 Ducati was on rails, Honda was squirming like a bucking bronco.
There are 3 top riders, 2 of with are GP world champions, who are nowhere because of that bike, and sadly I don't see that changing any time soon.
Finally, Don't bother entering the lottery any time soon Alex M, you used all your luck with that .... your pants moment into T1!
