Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) took the lead in the MotoGP World championship with his second consecutive race win earlier today at Portimão. Quartararo set a blistering pace, matched only by Alex Rins (Suzuki) until Rins crashed out with several laps remaining. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) also rode brilliantly to finish second after starting 11th on the grid. Joan Mir (Suzuki) finished third.
In his debut race following his arm injury, Marc Marquez (Honda) came home in 7th position, first among the Honda finishers.
The series takes a break next weekend before resuming at Jerez. For full results of today’s race, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
I do hope Dirck gives us some bikes to think about and discuss soon, because all this pontification about MotoGP is getting very very boring!
BLASPHEMER! /sarc off
Look at the long line of posts! MotoGP boring?
Provo,
No, MotoGP is definitely not boring. What is are the armchair experts who just love to see their overblown opinions in print. They should probably get a life or, better still, a bike!
So three races in, and Factory Yamaha has won all three. Fabio says he has his front-end feel back and is jazzed with the bike. He’s going to be dangerous. Viñales… Well, who the hell ever knows with that guy.
I should be most impressed with Fabio at this stage. And I am impressed with him, but I have to admit I’ve really got my eye on Bagnaia. Both he and Zarco are putting in some really fierce rides. Had Bagnaia not had his pole position lap canceled, I’ve no doubt he would have been fighting Fabio for the win. Miller is losing his ride to Zarco this year unless he starts bagging some wins before midseason.
Rins is fast. Faster than Mir, at least while he’s on the bike or not burning up tires. But unlike his teammate, Rins doesn’t ever take the signals to back off when he needs to. Maybe that will develop him into a #93-style rider who learns to ride the ragged edge better than most. Or maybe we’ll remember him as a fast rider who crashed much too often. I don’t think Mir is quite where he needs to be in terms of speed, but he is coming. Unfortunately, so are lots of other guys.
Honda has a unique bike. Some say that is their problem. With as many championships as Marc has claimed on the bike, I’d say the opposite. Honda has four bikes on the grid that elite riders can pilot to the bleeding edge, yet Honda employ three average riders. (I suppose Pol deserves the chance to prove otherwise.)
I feel bad for Morbidelli. As well as he did last year, Yamaha stuck him on two-year old spec. I guarantee his manager is looking for a new flag to fly. And I bet Ducati is answering calls.
Lots of talent currently assigned to second and third tier seats in GP, and lots of upcoming talent in Moto2 and Moto3. Several riders on good equipment failing to deliver. I’m looking forward to a great GP season and an interesting game of musical chairs over the next couple of years.
Honda does have a problem. Elite riders can’t ride that thing, only Marquez can. Lorenzo went from winning on the Ducati (province he could win on something other than a Yamaha) to way off the back and in truth, there’s no such thing as a bad rider in MotoGP. It’s bad. If I were them the alarm bells would’ve been ringing when Dani Pedrosa stopped running up front.
A good package is competitive under a capable rider that has been Yamaha for the past several years though I’m not sure where their consistency has gone.
With satellite Yamahas and Ducati’s running up front recently, the value of the factory ride is diminishing a bit. Morbid Ellis is struggling but after last year’s debacle at Yamaha factory, I think he was probably happy to keep his old rig. I don’t think we’re seeing the bike’s level. Again, they have some issues in their camp.
I disagree with you. Granted you are correct to say all of those guys in GP are elite. Lorenzo was an interesting experiment for Honda. He eventually got fast on the Ducati. He may have done the same on the Honda as well, but it didn’t look promising.
However, I think there are guys out there besides Marc Marquez that can ride the bike fast. Crutchlow had once said something to the effect that what made Marc special is how he could operate lap after lap within the thinnest margins of error. The thinner the margin of error, the more severe you could make the bike. More severe the bike became, the faster it became under people who can do what Marc can do. I think a championship winning combination is worth the lack of compromise. So did Cal, though he personally wanted something less severe.
So Honda in trouble? Nonsense. Over the last 10 years, seven titles were won by guys riding a Repsol Honda. They made a bike that the cream of the crop can take to the bank. They just need more cream. If something happens to Marquez and nobody steps up with the talent, well they can regroup and over a couple of seasons build a Yamaha if that’s what they want to do. But they won’t. They are going to keep the best bike warm for the best rider, whoever that may be.
The next Marc Marquez is out there, and Honda will either discover him or buy him. Why settle for a bike that lots of riders can ride well when you can build a bike that the best of the best can dominate on?
OK, I’m gonna play bad cop here so flame away…. Lin Jarvis should just ask Vale what it would take monetarily to walk away from SRT/Yamaha. And do it now. As much as the world loves Vale, these teams aren’t paying riders to ride around because they still want to. MotoGP is gonna have to suck it up eventually so rip the band-aid off now. While he is at it switch Morbidelli and Vinalez. Top Gun has shown no consistency and maybe a little time on the junior varsity would motivate him. IMMEDIATELY go talk to Acosta’s manager and get him on at least SRT next year. That kid is gonna be something.
On to Ducati….switch Zarco and Miller NOW. Jack talks a good game but never backs it up. Heck, I would take Bastianini over Miller for the future.
Next, KTM….Lose Petrucci, surely you can find a young talent in Moto2 to replace him…Fernandez perhaps? Leucona needs to be on a short leash also.
Now Honda…..hmmmmm….You have Marc back and his return as a competitive if not dominant rider seems a foregone conclusion. What to do with Pol???? Acosta is Spanish and so is Repsol. See if you can beat Yamaha to the punch. I honestly don’t see Alex as a future World Champion and possibly never more than a mid-pack rider. Maybe too soon to tell there. I love Taki for his grit and determination but he simply falls off too much. No results and a lot of broken bike parts.
Aprilia need to lose Savadori NOW. It just ain’t working. Give Andrea what he asks for and move ahead.
My 2 cents. YMMV. Flame away….
P.S. For anyone that thinks Lorenzo wasn’t developing the Yamaha before he left, look what has happened since he left. Just sayin’.
Very good and insightful. I’d like to see VR sell his t-shirts out of a vender stand and not from a M1 saddle. I’d prefer to see Toprak Raz… off the superbike team take his place.
Eh.. I think that’s jumping the shark. Quatararo threw the title down the toilet last year (Vaiales finished ahead of him..) and nobody has managed real consistency in a while. Jack was 6 places ahead of Zarco last year. Weird stuff is happening, hard to know what’s causing it all.
I’m sure you know the field better than me, but from my view all your points seem to be spot on.
One good thing that came from MMs absence is that I have gotten to know the field of competition a lot better. I have a lot of enthusiasm for the group as a whole; lots of interesting and sympathetic characters.
Hard to admit it but yes, it definitely seems time for Vale to take the next step in the rest of his hopefully long, happy and fulfilled life.
Meh, Rossi goes and the is no two stroke rider left. The entire series becomes totally irrelevant.
so you don’t watch supercross either?
And all the guys beating Rossi suck. Must be why nobody is watching.
There’s no such thing as a “two stroke rider”. They’re motorcycle acres. They race whatever the classes dictate.
Poor Mir, the reigning world champion. Quart set a “blistering pace”, Bagnaia (Ducati) also rode brilliantly to finish second – and Mir was also somewhere – can’t remember – oh yeah – the podium after a great race. No respect. He will be there at the end of the season – not sure about the others.
Mir rode well but would not have been on the podium if not for the misfortune that befell Rins and Zarco. He would most likely have been 5th or 6th. He did not have the pace of those ahead of him.
I liked Mir better last year when he was an underdog. This year he is complaining about other riders aggressive tactics but in the next breath after making contact with Miller one week and then Marquez last race when questioned about it says that he has to be aggressive because he is a poor qualifier and if he is not aggressive he cant fight to defend his championship. Stones and glass houses Joan.
I’m not sure whether or not Mir isn’t fast enough yet. Consistently on or near the podium worked in 2020 when no one else was consistent. I don’t think it will take Mir to the end this year.
That said, the season is still young, and I don’t think these two tracks best highlight the Suzuki’s strength. Mir could easily show more form in the coming races and shut everyone up. Or maybe his results will continue to be good but not great. Fabio, Zarco, and Bagnaia look to be serious threats.
Super impressed with Raul Fernandez and Pedro Acosta. Dovizioso better grab that Aprilia ride while he can.
VR67 is not doing much to burnish his reputation. Time to pooosh into retirement and arrive with good sensations at the next corner of life Vale
I’ll be surprised if he finishes the season. I wager he’s looking at exit options if he’s not top 5 in Jerez.
Why? I don’t get it. He’s still earning a paycheck. He’s still out there mixing it up and doing well enough to earn that paycheck.
Maybe he just likes to race. That’s a fair bet given his life story. He get’s to ride an expensive motorcycle that he doesn’t have to pay for or maintain. He rides with a bunch of guys that he is more or less competitive with, even though as the gay beard he’s not as competitive as he once was.
He’s 42. He could retire. I did at 40. But a lot of people don’t want to retire that early. Maybe he wants to race until he’s fifty. Wouldn’t it be great for him if he could still get a bike until that time?
Quitting because he may not win another championship or because some people think that he should be embarrassed because he’s not the racer he once was is silly. That’s pride. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason. It’ll kill you, or at least degrade the quality of your life. Why let pride take away something that you have loved for your whole life?
It’s an interesting angle for sure – racing for the pure competitiveness of it.
The way I think of it. Why do racers race? To win. Why don’t racers race? The danger. What happens as we age? Reaction times increase.
You age, the risk rises, the reward moves out of reach. You can’t prove you’re the best in the world anymore.
To me, pride is THE main reasons racers race.
To prove they’re the best in the world at one very dangerous thing.
I agree, pride will kill you, but I think reaching for that pride when it’s literally out of reach is what will do it.
He’s proven it. Some would say he’s not the GOAT. Some say he is. Regardless, someone else will come along and bump him down the order. But he’s made his mark, he’d left his dent.
Think part of that equation is adoration. His fans love him. But they want him to win. He can’t give them what they want anymore.
To me, these are pretty valid reasons to walk away.
But maybe he really does just love the sport.
It would make me sad if he just moves further and further back down the order, making a factory ride difficult to land, and then eventually not finding a ride at all. It’s not how I want to remember him.
His Fan base is massive. He sells tickets. He sells Yamahas. Not sure how this plays into his decision to stick around as a rider.
In an interview Carmelo Expeleta said Valentino was “vital to MotoGP” and they have never discussed his retirement (hinting he never would and that Val could ride as long as he wanted to)
Since VR was a little kid, his entire existence has revolved around being a motorcycle racer, arguably one of the best and the most famous motorcycle racer in the world. The adulation he gets from that must be all encompassing. In the world he is a very big deal. I dont think he can bring himself to walk away from that.
I didn’t race until I was 30. But I raced Enduro, motocross, observed trials, supermoto, dirt track, ice… Whatever.
Do you know why? Access to the venue. Racing provides access to a venue that you wouldn’t have access to by other means.
What makes Rossi any different? Without racing MotoGP, how would Rossi be able to ride those tracks with those guys? The pay check might just be icing on the cake.
He’s 42. He’s not really that old for a guy who’s in good shape. Even if he’s a mid pack guy at this point, he’s still a total ringer at just about any other road racing event. So he rides MotoGP or he signs up someplace else just to mop the floor with everybody there.
So maybe you can bet that he isn’t going to win. Who among you would bet that he’ll come in dead last? For that matter, he still qualifies at every race that he shows up to doesn’t he?
I think these guys operate at an entirely different level than any of us do. Unless there are former GP stars lurking here, which I doubt.
They have different motivations, different outlooks, different driving factors than most. They are elite, the best of the best – they’re just plain different.
My hypothesis is based on this. Like others have mentioned, time will tell. I do enjoy anticipating outcomes, and I don’t think Rossi will be around much longer. As a fan, I hope he hangs it up, but I hope he remains super involved in the sport. He’d be a terrific active team owner of the VR46 org he’s built.
Lastly, there are many other ways to itch the competitive bug than on 2 wheels, without a safety cage, surrounded by younger guys with something to prove, moving at mind-melting speeds. I could see him pursuing rally, and other forms of 4-wheeled racing much more.
Rossi only has a one-year deal to ride with Petronas. Petronas doesn’t want him, never did. They feel there is too much potential talent coming up in Moto2 and Moto3 to waste a seat on someone who will never be a future champion, even if that person is one of the most revered names in MotoGP. I don’t think they are going to renew. Rossi, I’m sure, will be given the opportunity to hang it up. If he continues racing in the premier class, it would have to be with his own VR46 satellite team if that ever materializes.
That said, I’m not one of those people that believes he should retire if he doesn’t want to. If he wants to race and someone has a bike for him? Go for it.
I just don’t see it that way. These guys are human beings. They are good at road racing. They would all fail miserably at a world observed trials event.
I don’t understand why anyone would want Rossi to quit. He’s doing what he loves to do. Why would he stop unless he can’t get a ride? His results aren’t what they used to be. So what. He’s still having fun. Leave him to it.
it’s not so much if they can still win as much as can they still sell? Marquez was riding around in 8th and still got the buttcam isolation shot on the left side of the screen for over a lap. why? he wasn’t catching fabio. because he still sells, just like vale does. even without winning.
Since when has Vale been VR67? Perhaps we are talking about someone else, or he got pushed down by 21 numbers…
Nick
Hypothetical.
MM93 never wins a race again. All he can muster is 6-12 depending on crashes ahead (like today). Maybe it’s a mind thing. Maybe a nerve thing.
You think he would hang up the boots and helmet or make excuses and fart around?
He’d walk away and become a ghost.
He will be back when he dominates, crushes the field and spits out bones. Until then, he’s calculating, tabulating, scheming. Measuring.
But he’s not back. Not by his measure or mine. Or yours. Or anyone’s. He’s a gladiator, he’s a walking, lethal weapon. If he doesn’t rise to that level again he will never ‘be back’.
Unless you guys are watching a different Marquez? Maybe his brother?
This guy will never be what Rossi has become. He’s not back by a long shot. I’ll be thrilled if he ever is.
I would think Marquez would consider this a very successful return after 9 months and 3 surgeries off. He completed all 4 FPs, Q1, Q2 and 25 grueling laps of a race and only finished 13 secs behind a blistering Quateraro and 8 seconds behind 2nd place Bagnaia. He went fast, didnt crash, and beat a lot of guys that didnt take 9 months off. Did he win? No. I dont think he expected to. I dont think anyone expected him to. He has to be relieved and reassured that his arm will hold up. Remember before this he has only had 2 track days on a street bike based motorcycle. He has got to be stoked. Probably very sore, but stoked. Let’s see if in two weeks he can make some progress at the next race.
Maybe WE were expecting too much. I thought he had a great outing, considering.
Agree with you mickey. He seemed very measured in the race. Mixed it up a little very early then backed off and didn’t take any chances. I think the competition should be worried about his pace during the first couple of laps.
also,
mm dropped off a lot of emotional baggage at the end of the race. i think he arrives even more mentally refreshed and mentally prepared for the next race.
after 9 months off he still finished top of all Hondas even with all of his mental/physical baggage in tow.
rubbing paints/tires with Mir probably didn’t ‘help’ his nerves either 😉
MM qualified in 6th place, that first lap he was dicing around in 3rd and 4th … and then … on the second lap there was that little tire bump. I just can’t help but thinking, somewhere, in a far deep corner of his brain, some mutant cautious brain cell took over and said ” HEY, let’s just finish the race the first time out … mmmkay? “. Actually, if he had finished on the podium his first time out, I would have sworn he had sold his soul to Lord Valdemort.
He’s said in a post race interview that he doesn’t yet have power in his arm and that he’s still restricted from riding during the week, light gym work only. This is telling of the condition of his arm. During the race he was doing what he could manage but he was struggling.
It has become a terrible injury that will have a long, carefully managed recovery. He’s “back” in the sense that he is able to ride and complete races but it will be some time before we & he can truly know if he’ll return to 100%.
IMO those that don’t realize it’s almost beyond comprehension that MM93 finished (6th or 7th, sorry forgot), considering his medical history for the last year, are simply wrong.
I don’t agree, but I can’t say that your perspective is any less valid than mine. Time will tell.
I’d be willing to say his perspective is less valid. Marc is not a gladiator, nor is he lethal. He’s just a very talented and determined motorcycle racer. A rusty, recovering. sub-strength Marc Marquez was faster than all but 5 of the best motorcycle racers in the world in his return to competition. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, it is reasonable to expect Marc to put in the effort to regain his strength and skills.
It is unreasonable to think that his strength and skill will deteriorate from here, at least in the next few years.
With Rossi, it is reasonable to think that he is fighting an uphill battle. He is still one of the more talented motorcycle racers in the world, still makes lots of money, and still has lots of fans. However, it is unlikely that he will return to dominance, or even competitiveness at the front of the MotoGP pack. IMHO, he “should” retire, but if he wants to race, and teams want to hire him, so be it.
A little OT, apology…I admire the fact that spending $100k for cosmetic teeth surgery is not a priority for European celebrities like Fabio. A US celebrity would spend a fortune for such cosmetic surgery. Someone I know who visited Europe 3x said London newscasters don’t fix their teeth: bravo!
Did anyone else notice how ridiculous were Matt Damon’s teeth soon after he appears in Saving Private Ryan? Ryan is a nobody from nowheresville in the middle of a WW2 outpost without supplies for weeks; when he smiles his mouth is filled with tiny ruler straight florescent white light bulbs.
My teeth looked way worse than Fabio’s and my off-brand Invisalign treatments were $4000 and took 13 months. I don’t know why I waited until I was 40.
Guess that answered the question as to what # 20 was going to do this weekend lol.
Suzuki’s ran good until Rins went down.
Ducati’s had a crash fest proving handling is as just as important as outright speed. Bagnaia sure walked past Mir though didn’t he?
Figured Marquez would finish 5th or 6th but he got 7th with a little help from crashing Ducati’s. He had a great start but his lack of seat time and stamina showed. Still not bad since not finishing a race in over 500 days.
Mir, on a Suzuki, ran good.
Yes, both Suzuki’s ran well until Rins binned it
Yep, Viñales gonna Viñales.
Otherwise…
Solid weekend for Marc. He wasn’t slow, he showed some of his usual aggression, he suffered no crashes, and, most importantly, he finished a long, grueling race. He accomplished what he needed to do this weekend. He will be better in Jerez, then it’s all systems go.
Shame for Zarco. A gearbox issue-derived crash took him out of the points lead. I don’t know what it is about that guy, but every time he’s close, every time it looks like he’s on top of things, something crappy happens. I hope he pulls it back together and remains a serious title threat. He clearly has the speed, and he’s a true fighter.
Speaking of serious title threats…Bagnaia. He’s the one. If I’m the rest of the paddock, he’s the Ducati rider I fear the most going forward. One of these weeks he’s going to avoid his own mysterious bouts of misfortune and simply vaporize the field. Once he does, look out.
Kinda like Fabio, who, in the immortal words of Kamaro Usman, “…is a PROBLEM.” When Fabio is feeling it, a healthy #93 is the only one who runs with him, especially if it’s not a Ducati track. Imagining Fabio and his Yamaha without the crazy power/top speed deficit is downright scary.
Alex Rins is his own worst enemy. How many times have we seen this exact scenario play out this way for him? He’s clearly faster than Mir, but so much more mistake-prone.
Mir is solid, but not fast enough. He won a title last year in large part due to the absence of #93, and despite having ZERO front-row starts, including only a single victory. One can only count so much on all of one’s rivals falling by the wayside from week to week before it becomes incumbent on one to step up and lead from the front over a decent stretch of races.
Jack Miller needs to do better. That’s all there is to it. He has every opportunity and every reason to put his stamp on this season and secure his future, but in typical Jack Miller fashion he’s Jack Miller-ing it right away.
Look out for Pedro Acosta, the sixteen-year-old supernova rookie in Moto3. That kid is very obviously a star in the making. If he stays healthy, he’s our next Fabio, if not our next Marc.
A 250+hp motor, a frame and two wheels for 40+ minutes almost entirely on the edge except for the straights; and if something fails on the straights you may die so there’s no respite there either.
You flinch for 1ms, lose your concentration and BOOM! you’re down. These guys are real superheroes, the whole field, some just more than others.
Fabio just got into some ethereal groove the last two races; in race form he looks possessed. It seems like he well accepted the challenge of last year’s failures and only improved his game.
I see some scary, hairy encounters in our future between 20 and 93! And it’s coming sooner than later. Unstoppable force meet immovable object! Can’t wait, and hoping the only damage is swapped paint, and no injury to either hero. Damn we got some great racing to see this year. Surprising myself to admit this but I’m glad for MM93’s return.
Pool you pennies with your buds if funds are tight (to subscribe.) This is the best video “game” out there.
Does Portugal look like heaven or am I wrong? Maybe only Valencia, Spain seems more attractive to me.
Sounds like I’m as excited for the rest of the season as you Big Cheese 🧀.
And I totally agree with you on Portugal. Beautiful. I hear it’s a bargain to live there to boot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tossa_de_Mar
That’s the place for me. Portugal is nice too. Heck, most of Europe is beautiful. Don’t forget about eastern Europe. Go to Kiev and Odessa if you get a chance. Get a handler to show you around. The flight is long, the dollar goes very, very far.
“Yep, Viñales gonna Viñales.”
Funny, but true
Good synopsis VLJ
A Vinales quote after yesterday’s race :
“But it’s time to check, it’s time to see and to improve because on the other hand we will be in the same issue as every year.
“We start winning everything and then little by little we slow down. This is not positive.”
Yep, good line!
I think that is a pretty solid analysis.
Miller is in trouble I believe. Zarco has always been fast, and he is paying dividends to Ducati in return for the lifeline they threw him after the KTM debacle. Bagnaia is really starting to light it up, too. Both of those guys were head and shoulders above their Moto2 rivals, and I expected good things from both in the premier class. Zarco took an unfortunate detour, and Bagnaia took his time figuring out the bike. But now it looks like these guys are going to be a legitimate threat for the podium every Sunday.
And I agree with you about Pedro Acosta. That kid seems to have that little extra something special.
I was impressed with Marc. It looked like he was coming out with claws and fangs ready to shred in the beginning. But he had the one close call with Mir (I think it was Mir) and then backed off immediately and just ran the race. I wasn’t sure he had that in him.
Man those are dorky sunglasses.
His win bonus will buy a thousand pair of sunglasses. He’s a happy young man.
Part of the turn off for me on Quatararo is his Lorenzo like celebrations. Never cared for it with Lorenzo either.
Yeah, Lorenzo’s celebrations always seemed like a pale version of Rossi’s, with none of the charm.
If you were getting paid to wear those dorky sunglasses what he is getting paid to wear them, you would wear them everywhere.
This is why I avoided the entertainment industry as a career.
I don’t think they’re dorky. I like them. And the money thing too.
Do you mean Fabio’s? Strange, I did not notice them. Are they really yuge?
I can’t believe it’s not butter.
OK, yeah, the “temple” arms of Fabio’s sunglasses do have a weird dog-leg for an apparent cosmetic flare, and yup, they are homely looking.
My friend/US Marine Aviator had already told me he preferred Maui Jim’s sunglasses. While awaiting a flight home I visited a high end sunglass-only shop @ SFO’s International Wing. There were no other customers in the store. I asked the Asian sales man (wearing a nice suit) which brand had the best lens, he brought me to the MJ rack, and said pick one of these, which I did.
The lens quality is superb. I have absolutely no business interest in sunglasses.