In Indonesia this weekend, Jorge Martin (Ducati) proved to be the fastest MotoGP rider after taking pole position with a new lap record and winning Sunday’s full GP race in convincing style. On Saturday, Martin crashed out of the lead of the Sprint race before remounting his bike to finish in 10th position. His lack of points in the Sprint race allowed Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) to claw back a few points in the championship series.
Bagnaia won Saturday’s Sprint ahead of second place Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and third place Marc Márquez (Ducati).
Finishing behind Martin Sunday were Pedro Acosta (GAS GAS) in second position and Bagnaia in third.
Both Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini failed to finish Sunday’s GP (Bastianini crashed and Marquez had a mechanical failure).
The championship this year now looks like a contest between two riders, Martin and Bagnaia. Martin currently has a 21 point lead heading into the next weekend’s Japan round. For full results and points for Saturday’s Sprint race, visit the MotoGP site here. For full results and points for Sunday’s MotoGP race, visit the MotoGP site here.
So what’s up with the fire extinguisher thing? Somehow a fire extinguisher destroyed just about all but the frame of Marquez’ bike.
What?!
Are these bikes made from gossamer and marzipan? Or did some company finally developed the Super Corrode Master 3000 fire extinguisher? Puts the fire out by converting the motorcycle to a pile of inflamable minerals. Genius!
Obviously, you have no clue.
So what’s up with the… = looking for clue.
Are you ESL?
So, yeah, really. How does a fire extinguisher that is on a racetrack on a motorcycle day destroy a perfectly good but lightly on fire motorcycle in mere seconds? And why is it so crazy to ask why? Do tell BarfJoeBag. I am clueless. Duh! Throw me a bone here.
Yes, I did not get a clue. Basic thing is engine. You can not destroy it because it is made of steel or titanium. Engine is a heart of every machine. Maybe, carbon-fiber is more expensive?. I think it was a joke.
The article said that they thought that the only salvageable part was the frame. I’m sure most of the engine internals are OK. But aren’t the engine’s sealed so the teams can’t play with them?
I just don’t understand why such an item would exist outside of a sciance fiction book. What good is a fire extinguisher that destroys equipment to anyone anywhere? Especially at a race track. One would think such a thing would be banned from the property. I would ban them from planet earth. They make no sense at all.
Why questioning such a thing gets derision from the MotoGP fans is odd. Must be that the horrible racket those ridiculous four strokes make rattles the sense right out of the poor guys. There’s still time to ban four strokes when they go to 850cc and race proper race bikes again. That would be something. I’d go to those races.
Gotta agree with you on this Mick.
They did get awesome slow motion footage of the fire though from multiple angles.
It appears that Pedro’s issue was a leak in the actual wheel. Pressure was fine at start, but dropped off during the race.
No fault, no foul
that’s an interesting take.
many teams/riders, and well versed commentators, have, on numerous occasions, explained that the tire pressure ‘game’ is an extremely tight one.
it is said that the pressures are, for known reasons, as low as possible to meet min psi regulations and at that a lot of ‘things’ such as hitting the curbs a little too hard, or, running off the track, or, a minor contact with another machine on the track can result in the tire pressure dipping below the min regulation pressure.
it’s indeed a game played to win more traction over your competitor as the prize.
pedro raced with a tire pressure below the required level.
maybe it was an ‘honest’ (i doubt it) mistake…but it’s still a foul and a foul is is a foul. Pedro was on a bike with an unfair advantage.
if teams were allowed to get away with their tire’s having a (fortunate) leak and still be able to compete for podium positions with such a leak…i’d wager heavily that numerous teams would suddenly find themselves afflicted with such ‘no fault, no foul’ honest mistake tire pressure leaks.
woopsie…someone accidently put in a 13% higher octane fuel than is allowed in Martin’s gas tank. ah well…it was an honest mistake. no harm no foul.
This is reminiscent of the “tainted supplement” excuse when athletes test positive for trace amounts of banned substances. Sometimes they can even demonstrate a level of innocence by proving that a store-bought nutritional supplement was in fact tainted with something that wasn’t on the label but often that doesn’t result in a total dismissal of the penalty because at the end of the day, it’s their responsibility what goes in their bodies. Interestingly, I’ve never heard of a sports nutrition company being sued for this.
Thanks for the clarification dt 175.
I should have stated that in my first post and then mentioned that they flirt with the low pressure penalty in search of the best traction which is not the primary reason for the rule.
It’s a minimum tire pressure rule. No maximum pressure limit.
In general less pressure means more traction. Therefore, penalty.
under inflated tires also have a tendancy, under hard use, to blow off of the rim. this is the basis of the rule. loris baz/preseason/sepang.
So what became of the tire inflation issue with Pedro Acosta and the likelihood it would demote him from second place? Don’t see it mentioned on the MotoGP.com website.
I don’t understand the tire inflation rules. Pedro did nothing wrong other than running in second place behind Martin, blocking cooling air to his tires resulting in his tire pressure then rising beyond the allowed level. What a crock; maybe that’s why he wasn’t penalized, race officials finally realized how dumb this new rule is.