MotoGP, Superbikes and Road Racing 2021

Jason Dupasquier RIP

Very sad news.

Demoting someone a place because they went 10 or 15mm off track on the final lap is not fair. The time should fit the crime and common sense should prevail. I get it for qualifying but in a race there should be a clear and obvious advantage gained before such severe penalties are dished out. The rules, as they are, are doing the sport no favours!

legrand wrote: »

On a separate what gives with WSBK coverage? EuroSport has a 30mins highlight next Friday for last weekend Estoril race (Tennis getting preference). Further, official WSBK YouTube channel claiming 'highlights' of the race and goes on to show crews wandering aimlessly around the garages.

What can I say - sh*te representation on what is rarely a riveting race series. Such a shame to see great talent going to waste. Frankly I don't understand how can WSBK survive if this all they can offer. Have no desire and not willing to stump for their video-pass.

Laverty form improved - at least finishing in top half of the field.

It's usually really good coverage from Eurosport. I think it clashed with the tennis and that's why it wasn't shown live on Sunday. There were 2 other hour long shows that showed the highlights, not 30 mins. I got to see all the races.

A few more announcements due over the next few days,
Remy is confirmed at Tech 3 as mentioned above and Pramac have confirmed Zarco and Martin so no change for the 4 factory bikes.
It's now expected that there will be another 4 Ducatis on the grid - two for VR46 : Marini and BastianinI and Gresini : De Guantomi (if Aprilla don't get him to void his contract ) and ??.

Rossi is probably going to retire which opens up a place at SRT , Frankie should get the factory bike assuming he hasn't been enticed by Suzuki.

Dovi will continue to test for Aprilla for the rest of the year while it is possible that Marquez may take more time out to recover following this weekends race.

Bezzachi and Roberts are names that are mentioned with a move up to Moto GP next season . Interesting times !

legrand wrote: »

who's getting dropped from KTM?

Possibly both - Iker was 'lost' and then stunned everyone in LeMans - remember he fell ,remounted and beat Maverick !,
Danilo is too big for the bike, he gets the 'new' chassis this weekend so it depends on how well he performs.

Breaking news - Maverick has split from his (second) crew chief, Vales ex team chief will now work with Vinales, he had been with Cal and the test team.

Lin Jarvis may need to make the hard but obvious decision to swap Vinales and Frankie in 2022...

That's absolute madness having his leathers wide open, he should be punished for that

Missed this thought it was on at 1.

Infoanon wrote: »

Moto 3 - 15 fighting for the win with 4 laps to go - one of the craziest races I have viewed

A few corners in the last few laps looked like some bird flock formation you see over lakes at sunset.

Is there any chance we will see Johnny Rea move elsewhere - even within the WSB paddock?
The time he got an outing on the HRC he done really well (IMO) considering he was under instructions not to bin it so was riding within himself.
I guess that boat might have sailed for him now due to his age, but surely the MGp guys can see he is a different league and was lapping tracks on the ZX10 at a faster rate than some MGp bikes a few years ago - so the guy does have pace.

When Foggy was going strong on the Duke I always thought that doing it on a different bike would show him as truly great, but his stint on the Honda didn't go well. So I suppose going by that logic I would want to see JR make a switch.
He seems to be pretty much untouchable in WSB. A bad weekend for him is a podium finish. He a great ability to minimise impact of any problems over a race weekend on his points haul unlike the other riders.

Frankie is out of this weekends Assen Moto GP, knee injury.

No word on a replacement, Cal is the reserve for Yamaha , but why would he want to ride a 2 year old bike.

Frankie is far from happy at Yamaha though an announcement is expected that SRT will have Yamahas again next season (after VR46 politely turned them down apparently ).

Vinales is also far from happy and made it clear to the Spanish media that he purposely rode at the back to understand how his Yamaha worked in clear air......bizarre, hard to see Maverick at Yamaha in 2023.

Another announcement that is imminent is that VR46 have signed a long term deal with Ducati ,one 2022 bike for Luca and a 21 bike for (its assumed ) Bezzachi.

Gresini already confirmed as having two 21 bikes .

The other battle to watch is KTM vs SRT for Raul Fernández - contracted to KTM it's believed Raul prefers the SRT Yamaha option for 2022 albeit on a 21 bike.

Roll on Assen

h3000 wrote: »

Didn't Maverick have a similar team outburst in his Moto3 days? He seems to take difficult situations very badly. He should really concentrate on getting his mental health straight and I mean that as someone who has anxiety problems.

Where could Franky go? Who is out of contract next year?

Garrett Gerloff in at SRT for this weekend, the move makes a lot of sense - American and showed potential when subbing for Rossi in Quali.

Frankie will probably have a factory bike next season at SRT before moving to the factory team.
There is a question mark around Olivera who has made it clear that he is not currently in contract talks with KTM , rumours that Honda are interested seem a bit far fetched at the moment but you never knew.

Maverick left his Moto 3 team but iirc rejoined a race later ...

Breaking news : Japan cancelled officially, Australia expected to follow.
COTA replaces Japan ,2 rounds in Sepang and a return to Portimao are now seen as likely.

Infoanon wrote: »

It's not a huge surprise given the comments that Maverick has been making in recent days 'disrespected by the team' etc and the tweet 'noticia bomba' that broke the story was from Mavericks CEV/125cc manager and was deemed very reliable.

Mavericks decision - and everything points to this being his decision aka 'he is doing a Zarco ', could bring a new meaning to the silly season with a number of riders apparently having a clause in their contract allowing them to leave for a factory team.

Or......Morbidelli invokes said clause to go to the Yamaha factory team, Raul Fernández grabs the chance to have a factory Yamaha (SRT) with a deal done to buy him out of his KTM contract ($500k apparently ) and Gerloff gets the second seat pleasing Dorna and Yamaha.

Aprilla seem to be willing to give Maverick a ride but is Maverick a better option than Dovi ??

MV can be great, but a great rider is one who is consistently great. MV is not one of those imo so I would expect more of the same from him regardless of team he joins. He seemed bitter about his race yesterday, bottom line is he got mugged at the start (not 1st time) and that's just racing. He did very well to get 2nd in the race.

Scotty # wrote: »

I would consider this a no-brainer. One's 35 years old and is currently out of the game, the other is 26 and is possibly the best one lapper on the grid. Yes, MV has psychological problems he has to work out but given a capable bike, he WILL win you races. I'm not so sure the same can be said for a 35 year old Dovi?

Does MV bring money with him too??

Dovi - race winner , has regularly beaten Marc Marquez in one to one duels ,consistent and great test rider Vs

Maverick - inconsistent , last in one race - second in the next, world champion of testing and practice but can dominate when the mood suits.

It's not a no brained - and it's Aprilla (remember their treatment of Lowes/ Redding ) that he is signing for (tbc).

Vinales doesn't bring money and I fear for his career in joining Aprilla.

Maverick is best friends with Aleix btw.

In other developments - Gerloff was not first choice for the SRT replacement ride if rumours are to be believed, a Turkish rider turned it down !!

A lot will be answered in the next 5 weeks - apparently July 31st is an important date regarding release clauses at KTM. ..

Crutchlow back for 3 rounds as stand in for injured Morbidelli.