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Sachsenring - 2022

Nice ride by Fabio as usual. He’s got the M1 dialed in. Pecco was never really in the championship picture this season, but whatever media attention he received after Jerez, he’s blown by now.

Big stories, imo, are Zarco and Vinales. Who would have guessed that Zarco would be the top scoring Ducati at this point? He’s got the factory riders covered by 30 points and he’s ahead of Bastianini, who has 3 race wins. Vinales was in the hunt this weekend, which is a story in itself, but his race was wasted when his automatic ride height device failed, another interesting story. Aleix said he would ban ride height after hearing of Vinales demise.

Not necessarily a Fabio fan, but I’m rooting for him to repeat so maybe we have a passing of the torch. Several riders fighting hard and swapping championships and wins would resemble the 2-stroke Golden Era, and create a nice legacy for this generation of riders.
 
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Nice ride by Fabio as usual. He’s got the M1 dialed in. Pecco was never really in the championship picture this season, but whatever media attention he received after Jerez, he’s blown by now.

Big stories, imo, are Zarco and Vinales. Who would have guessed that Zarco would be the top scoring Ducati at this point? He’s got the factory riders covered by 30 points and he’s ahead of Bastianini, who has 3 race wins. Vinales was in the hunt this weekend, which is a story in itself, but his race was wasted when his automatic ride height device failed, another interesting story. Aleix said he would ban ride height after hearing of Vinales demise.

Not necessarily a Fabio fan, but I’m rooting for him to repeat so maybe we have a passing of the torch. Several riders fighting hard and swapping championships and wins would resemble the 2-stroke Golden Era, and create a nice legacy for this generation of riders.

Yes, Zarco has developed a mature consistency towards the front, if not at it. A manufacturer has to like it when a rider is not consistently throwing the bike down the road.

I am a Fabio fan and it’s been great seeing him develop. He is much more media savvy now and it’s great to see the enthusiasm. For the moment he’ll have to pick and choose his moments when the Yamaha is capable of letting him do his thing. Otherwise he generally doesn’t lose his head and brings the bike home in the points.
 
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I don't think Gigi is the one making hirings and dismissals. He wanted Lorenzo to remain but it didn't matter. Ducati as a whole functions in an inefficient way and by the looks of it, there are many headbuttings in the form of having too many managers and bosses, just like there are too many Duc bikes in the paddock right now. The whole enterprise seems disjointed.

Anyways, changing the subject, it looks like Fabio's rival is not found within the current paddock; it will either be a rebirthed Marc (on a rebirthed Honda) or one of the future talents in the lower categories. He can do some serious feasting in the short term, unless Yamaha messes up the development of the bike.

Marc may return in good shape. Good enough to beat Fabio? We’ll see. I don’t think anybody has forgotten that Marc got himself in this predicament by trying to show Fabio who the boss was.
 
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Is Dorna panicking from the loss of VR fans?

The race was dry as dust. Yamaha has the only settled bike on the grid, and the one rider who melts into it. Even the Duke still only good here and there (tires?), everyone else out to sea.

I dont see MM returning anywhere near his previous level, never mind his age.
 
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Honda needs to get Stoner on the development team like tomorrow morning.

I dunno man, I doubt Stoner is interested or even really truly capable at this point. I think the machines, tires, etc. have changed a lot in the last few years.

If Honda is going to stay invested in Marc Marquez, they have to find somebody young who rides somewhat like him and can pick up where he leaves off after developing the bike. Not sure it is Mir.

Marquez may have proven that the way he was riding the front so hard is not necessarily now the fastest way around.

Though I must say that knowing how screwed up his arm was, his victories last year seem even more impressive now.
 
Pecco looked at the bike after he crashed it. Appeared to me he noticed it was unrideable.
Looked like the right handlebar it was laying on didn't look too good [emoji2369]
They do end up damaged when crashed ;)
Yeah he's made a few mistakes but is also capable of real speed.
I still rate him.
(Still don't understand what is going on with the lowsiding rear halfway through the corner though, it never used to happen like it seems to now)

Fabio used to be a bit flaky too but has sorted his mentality and is going from strength to strength. [emoji41]
 
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Is Dorna panicking from the loss of VR fans?

From the looks of the Yellow Hordes in the stands, I’d say, not yet. I see them by the thousands long years after he stopped being competitive and somehow…. I find myself thinking of cockroaches.
 
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Vinales was in the hunt this weekend, which is a story in itself, but his race was wasted when his automatic ride height device failed, another interesting story. Aleix said he would ban ride height after hearing of Vinales demise.

.

Yeah when I heard that, I thought the rules says automatic devices not allow????
 
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I don't know if I heard wrong or if Matt Birt misspoke but I think he said Bastianini raced with a medium front? WTF! I thought every rider would be on the hard.
 
I don't know if I heard wrong or if Matt Birt misspoke but I think he said Bastianini raced with a medium front? WTF! I thought every rider would be on the hard.

Fabio went medium. He’s great at tire management, and the M1 is better on tires in general.
 
Marc may return in good shape. Good enough to beat Fabio? We’ll see. I don’t think anybody has forgotten that Marc got himself in this predicament by trying to show Fabio who the boss was.

I'm not worried about Marc. I AM worried about the Honda.

Fabio went medium. He’s great at tire management, and the M1 is better on tires in general.

I thought he went hard front and medium rear.

He did, Hard F med R
 
I forget who it was on the BT Sport feed, but they were trashing Honda in the middle of the race. Can't say it's unwarranted as they have built a bike that not a single one of their riders can get anything out of it. Bradl was lapping 2 seconds a lap slower than FQ. I don't see any alternative for Honda but to do another major redesign of the RCV. Though I'm not sure what could be done to improve the bike at this point since they've got no real apparent development direction they seem to be headed in.

FQ rode a great race and did everything needed to translate the P2 start to a win. Pecco can't get out of his own way right now. I think these are just growing pains as he continues to learn. His speed is not in question, but rather his ability to keep the bike upright for the duration of a grand prix. I look at that as a fixable problem since he isn't slow. If he was slow, that'd be a far bigger hurdle to overcome.
 
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