MotoGP 2021

[jato]

total agreement on all points autech.
sadly i think Jack hasn't got the last little bit of smarts needed to swing a motogp championship ... pity

[Ntoxcated]

sadly i think Jack hasn't got the last little bit of smarts needed to swing a motogp championship ... pity

So you're saying he's got got the full six-pack but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together?

[James Deuce]

I agree with your list Autech except for the bit about Suzuki. It took them seven years, then another 20 to win 2 championships. Next one will be about 2074. It's only a matter of time before we see Rins kicking the shit out of an on fire Suzuki parked against an air fence, before marching off into retirement on the back of being fired for a PR faux pas.

[iYRe]

So you're saying he's got got the full six-pack but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together?

He's got the sandwich, but he hasn't got the picnic blanket..

[steveyb]

Following the totally regrettable loss of Hugo in Spain (and sadly he was not the first, there have been at least three or four others in the past few years) there has been a lot of discussion in racing circles about the ages of young riders in road racing. Jason Dupasquier cannot be put in the basket of young riders, but he was only 19. So, in relation to his accident, more in the latter part of this missive.

Oxley wrote that piece to the effect of asking if riders are too young.
My own opinion is that yes, riders are too young to be racing 200+ km/h GP bikes on fast GP circuits.

They are teenagers, their brains are developing and y'all will know, if you have one, most of the time their brains are in the dirty clothes lying all over the bedroom floor, somewhere.
How we expect them to make good decisions around safety of all concerned, think forward far enough and preserve self, at 12-15 years old, is beyond me. Yet, that is what we are asking.

Perhaps the much debated starting age for senior road racing at 15 yrs of age in New Zealand has been the right position after all.

In the Asia Talent Cup selection invitation list this year, there is at least one 11 year old. That means he (probably a he) will only just be 12 when he starts racing 200+ km/h NSF250's in the biggest cannon fodder series around.
I think that is simply not kosher (a poor pun, I know, considering many of the ATC riders are Muslim).

There are longer term aspects to starting so young. It means that for most riders their careers as top level riders may be over by the time they are 21 and completely done by the time they are 30. The days of a Vale Rossi having a 25+ year career are, but the current logic, completely over. If riders were started later, say 15, then only allowed to enter Moto3 world champs at 18 then Moto2 at 20, then MotoGP at 21, then not only would the riders be more mature and have greater understanding of action/consequence, but their careers would be longer lived too. The entry level for national GP champs (Rookies, CEV, CIV, BTC, OJC, etc) should be lifted to 15 minimum. WSBK the same 300SS @ 18, 600SS @ 20, SBK @ 21.

But that last point raises another relevant point that has not been touched upon in the media or discussions.

The very existence now of these training series all funneling young riders towards the world champs has created another problem, which has no real solution I can see.
10-15 + years ago in the 125 and 250 classes, there were 4-5 factory bikes that only the best and most well supported riders got to race. Riders joined world champs in an ad hoc fashion, they found they were good at home, found the money and got into world champs. So, there were not that many of the best of the best riders.

The factory bikes were invariably out front and in two or three groups. The rest of the field was usually strung out with groups of 2, 3, 5 or so riders together. If you fell on the track, the odds were in your favour of being able to get out of the way safely. Shit still happened, but it was rare.

It remains rare, but the number of near misses is mounting.
Now the situation we have, is due to the number, sizes and popularity of the training feeder series, they are all producing riders who are all as good as one another. In addition, the MotoGP rules have produced bikes that are basically all the same. So, we now have the situation where 12-16 or more riders are chasing 1st place and often all arriving at the same point around the same time. So, the odds now, if the shit hits the fan, are increasingly against the poor rider who ends up stranded in the middle of the track.

On the one hand these two circumstances have created the close, exciting and thrilling racing at which we now marvel, but on the other hand they have created an obviously unsafe condition. Given that DORNA and FIM themselves have created these series and the technical rules, is it possible they have been negligent in creating and maintaining an unsafe work place?

As indicated above, for the second point, I have no solutions.

Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest.

[steveyb]

Cormac Racing competed in Rd 4 of British Talent Cup at Thruxton.
The riders at the fastest circuit in the UK were greeted once more by changeable conditions, sun, wind, rain.
Cormac got to grips pretty quickly with the track and qualified the Microlise Cresswell Racing bike on the front row.
In race 1 he managed, after doing some extra practice and thinking, to get a flyer start and was in the front group from the get go.
He managed to fly past the leaders into the first braking point and into the lead. The lead swapped a few times with Cormac leading many laps of the race.
This track is really hard on tyres, especially the RHS, so while having a good gap in the lead, in the last lap the rear tyre let go in the fast corner making in slow a touch so that the other riders caught
and passed him. But he fought back and ended R1 in 3rd place, just 0.2s from 1st. So, it was a great race and a well deserved podium.

In race 2, the riders were all lined up ready to go, in fact about to take the warm up lap, when the great British summer opened up on them. Sadly, the track became so wet and inundated in parts they postponed the BTC race
and eventually cancelled it. A bit sad really as Cormac was deffo on for a win in that race. Sadly also for him, they have decided to reschedule the race for this weekend when he is in Austria for Rookies Cup, so an extra 25 points he cannot earn. C'est la vie. That puts Cormac into 5th equal on points, only 10 points off 4th. But with the three races at Donnington this weekend, those differences will stretch. But we knew this, so no great loss.

Rookies Cup, Styria, Austria I.
A new country and new circuit, but 4 races, so hopes were really high for a good showing.
Unfortunately, while doing well in practice, the front end decided to let go and Cormac crashed heavily at high speed. His first real crash of the entire season.
The upshot was a good whack on the right hand, bruising and a small fracture of a bone in the wrist. This was treated but in R1, from the rear of the field, he managed most of the race but the pain and lack of strength just became too much and he pulled out of the race with 5 laps remaining. A real shame, as his first goal was to see the check flag in all races. Still, he is not the only rider in the field to have at least one DNF. Indeed, I am not sure there are many who have seen all chequered flags.

Race 2 however, was a new day and a new story. Again, starting at the rear of the field, he got a great start and had picked off a few through T1 and T2. But of course, some of these kids have their brains still in the shed and in T3 someone forced him out wide, losing the good work done.
However, he carried on with his head down and caught up to the rear group of 5 or 6 riders, including all those with whom he should be racing, and was racing them for the whole race.
Finishing the race and coming home in 20th, more $$ from Rex (chur!) and taking 1.4 sec of his PB lap time, only 26s off the leaders.
Can't say fairer than that.

So hopefully the weather this weekend for Austria II will be more settled and warmer, his wrist will have settled a bit and be less troublesome and he can take another 1.4s off his PB and get into the points and have done enough to impress sufficiently to be invited back for 2022.

Let's go!!

[onearmedbandit]

Wow.......MV suspended for this weekends race.....


https://the-race.com/motogp/yamaha-s...ike-operation/

https://the-race.com/motogp/will-vin...ason-together/

[steveyb]

Ahrgh, was just about to announce it.... heh. He's gone!! (in best 12th man voice).

[Autech]

Maverick...
Maaaaaaate...

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

[iYRe]

freaky.. here is another version of the events:
MotoGP Team Accuses Its Rider Of Trying To Blow Up His Own Bike (jalopnik.com)

[Reckless]

Not the first time this is happened will aprilia even want him?? I'm not sure Id take it on. He just took a million wages off his next years contract, that's if anyone will touch him from here on in.
Has proven he can't communicate well enough or is not skilled enough to set the bike up and when there's an issue he can't ride round it. Then it completely stuffs his head.

https://the-race.com/motogp/vinales-...self-sabotage/

I wonder if Morbidelli is fit enough to have a go on the Factory bike. A few test races before next season would be a good start for him ( if he is the chosen one for for that factory bike).

[F5 Dave]

Can anyone say Kohinski, Kockinksky, Kohhhickinski. . . Heck can anyone just Spell it?

[James Deuce]

Can anyone say Kohinski, Kockinksky, Kohhhickinski. . . Heck can anyone just Spell it?

Kocinski. You dribbling, Alzheimic fool.

[onearmedbandit]

This isn't great news for the sport either, apparently the Pandemic hit their margins hard.

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/ne...rship/6646399/

[F5 Dave]

Kocinski. You dribbling, Alzheimic fool.

Yes, I had a super computer in my hand at the time, and I did check in case I accidentally spellleded it corectlie.
Either way his time on a 250 Suzuki had similar allegations. Just technology has made it more obvious