Enea Bastianini (Ducati) won his third MotoGP race of the year yesterday at Le Mans after pressuring early race leader Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), who ultimately crashed out (unhurt). Also finishing on the podium were Jack Miller (Ducati) in second and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) in third.
French riders Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Ducati) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with Quartararo on the tail of Aleix Espargaro throughout the race, but unable to pass.
Quartararo maintains a slim points lead in the championship over Aleix Espargaro. The series continues in two weeks at Mugello.
For full results of today’s race, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
I wonder if Ton Cruise seel his film.
Tom Hancks did it at Interenet
He is cloub
Is it me or is Motogp just boring now?
There’s no superstars, no personalities, no intense rivalries and the bikes are so electrified it’s making the rider less and less relevant every year.
Maybe I’m just getting old.
Yup. It’s twenty year mission to finally destroy road racing world wide is a complete success.
But it’s still obviously more important than Ducati releasing the Desert Sled, Gas Gas releasing a brace of 700s, Aprilia launching the 660 Tuareg or the 693 Benelli.
How about KTM ditching TPI in favor of TBI and going back to mixed gas on the two strokes?
At least it’s not all Márquez all the time. Never liked that guy. Without him though, there is no single navel to gaze at. It’s all belly hair now. Maybe there’s that Bam Bam guy in Dieselcross. At least they penalize him for being a jerk once in a while.
We now return you to the regularly scheduled four stroke follies. Tune in next qualifying when some guy in the Ducati hoard gets pole position. Vee Dub! Filling out the grid y’all.
Ah yeah the 2 stroke days. Like when Doohan would win by 15-20 seconds and lap half the field and the championship was over with 6 races to go. Good times…
They should have increased displacement. Once you pushing the engines over 400hp per liter it became a race to spend money and use exotic materials.
That and Doohan really is an alien.
I do find it interesting that the main complaint about two strokes is the quality of the TV show. How about what the four strokes have done to the quality of the AMA and WSB series? Doesn’t seem to matter eh? Remember when GP had racers from all over the world? Gone forever.
But…it’s a better TV show. You’ll never sell me on the idea.
Two strokes good, four strokes bad, uhg. World according to Mick 🙂
Doohan was The Man for sure. I think he had an equipment advantage but maybe a few seconds at the end of a race not 15. Bastid could ride a motorcycle for sure.
“I do find it interesting that the main complaint about two strokes is the quality of the TV show.”
Why? When it comes to professional racing that is the one and only thing that matters. If the competition isn’t close then it isn’t competition and it isn’t interesting to watch.
“How about what the four strokes have done to the quality of the AMA and WSB series?”
Given that neither of those series were ever contested by 2-stroke bikes I think that sentence is irrelevant. At times WSBK has been much better than MotoGP. This past weekend’s races were great.
All back to the question I’ve asked before – If you stopped watching racing after 2 strokes stopped being used, what would you know about any of this, anyway?
You don’t understand. There was a successful system in the past that made it more possible to be a professional road racer in more places that just Europe. And that system sold bikes. The most popular motorcycle for most manufacturers was the 600cc sport bike.
Now you have a TV show. It doesn’t sell many bikes at all. Maybe it makes a little buzz for some brand or another. But the TV show on Sunday is no longer selling any bikes on Monday. The once successful system is not just broken. It’s gone. The R6 used to sell like condoms. Now it’s gone. Suzuki used to make the small block Chevy, and later the big block Chevy of motorcycle engines. The system is so broken that they are now throwing ithe towel.
GP used to be this really cool side show that enhanced the road race scene. Now it’s the black whole from which no funding for the rest of the scene can escape. The results are undeniable. What was once entire culture has become a TV show. And as Silver pointed out. It’s a TV show that is looking for a shark to jump.
Enjoy! I guess. I’m not in to watching things die, nor the thing that killed it.
So you blame the crash in sport bike sales totally on racing Mick? I think you forget that young kids don’t give a rats ass and would rather Twitter their phones. Unlike when we were kids and couldn’t wait to ride.
I do understand. The bikes they promoted stopped being popular and nothing has really taken their place. People didn’t stop buying them because of anything that was happening in racing. Most buyers of these bikes were blissfully unaware of professional racing anyway. Some things just don’t stay cool. They got too fast and too expensive.
As for GP, it’s always been a prototype series. With only a couple of exceptions we have never been able to purchase bikes similar to what they race.
Things change. You seem hurt that they didn’t stay the way you believe they should be. It’s too bad you won’t look with an open mind. Motorcycle racing has really never been better.
That Americans can’t do it isn’t any fault of MotoGP. We’re failing at lots of things lately and developing motorcycle racers is among the very least important of them.
Excellent post Dave.
“How about what the four strokes have done to the quality of the AMA and WSB series?”
You mean, that they created both series? AMA Superbike and WSB have always raced four strokes. Back in their best days, back when you were still following those series, back when you loved American and World Superbike roadracing (Pridmore, Cooley, Spencer, Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz, Shobert, Chandler, DuHamel, Fogarty, Slight, Russell, Polen, Kocisnki, Corser, Bayliss, Edwards, etc.) they were only racing four strokes, and you loved it.
You continue to push this false narrative, and I don’t know why. You have your facts completely wrong. Re-stating falsehoods every chance you get doesn’t make them any less false. We all were there. We all know better.
There are a million reasons why those series have lost popularity, but their use of four strokes is literally not even one of those reasons.
The same is true of MotoGP racing, which reached its zenith of worldwide popularity during the recent and continuing four-stroke era.
Bottom line, in terms of roadracing, you simply don’t know what you’re talking about. If you ever did know, you forgot it a long time ago.
MotoGP is the best it’s ever been in its history. Closest racing, most win-candidate riders on the grid that there’s ever been. You must be getting old.
I have found most of the races to be a little lacking in excitement this year. Rossi was the only big personality I remember, but I guess that isn’t a component of the sport I ever appreciated as I really forgot he wasn’t there anymore. I think there are some superstars on the grid. It just happens that there are several instead of just one. There are no blood feud rivalries that take place on and off the track, but the championship has been pretty tight which makes for some pretty tense performances.
But yes, we’ve been pretty spoiled by the previous seasons. We need more passing.
I absolutely love the variety of riders making podiums and winning races. I believe they said having 9 different riders earn podium positions in the first three races of the season is unprecedented. But… truth be told, there’s not been much back and forth position changes up front in the battle for P1 and P2. Yes, further on down the field there have been some great fights… but that’s not anywhere near as entertaining as watching a battle to win the race. Hopefully we’ll see some duels that can rival Rossi/Lorenzo, or Marquez/Rossi, and many others as we’ve seen in years’ past. Plenty of races left in the season.
Enea Bastianini last year as a rookie and riding a 2019 Ducati showed great promise and had two third place finishes , this year he already has 3 wins out of 7 races so to me this indicates Enea enjoys riding the 2021 Ducati and is very talented & is a championship contender & am sure if he was on a 2022 spec bike would be doing the same if not better.Also glad to see he is not afraid to take on the factory riders which shows he is in to win it .Being a Marquez fan I think the massive hi-side at Mandalika spooked him and don’t think he will be riding on the limit untill he feels 100 % comfortable on the bike ,at the beginning of the season all Honda riders were singing praises for the changes made to the 2022 RC213V , but seems they sang praises to soon & now apparently they are back to square one .Anyhow season still young and sure Marquez will find a way to be wearing the golden helmet at the end of the year.
You’re “sure” Marquez will win the championship this year? Really? Have you checked the points standings? Done the math? Listened to his tone of voice, paid attention to his words, and noted his body language of late?
Marc didn’t come close to winning at COTA. He finished sixth, nearly seven seconds behind Bastianini. Dominating victories on U.S. soil have always been a death-and-taxes certainty for him, and it didn’t happen this year. Since then, over the last three races, he’s finished sixteen seconds, twelve seconds, and fifteen seconds behind the leader. He only has one more “guaranteed” victory left on the schedule, in Germany. If he doesn’t win at the Sachsenring, all bets are off.
Marc may win this title, but it’s going to take a helluva lotta misfortune by the top guys in order for Marc to climb back into championship contention. Moreover, it will require a sudden, massive increase in consistent speed that his current attitude, overall lack of fitness, and the bike itself do not yet seem capable of delivering.
If you really are sure that he’s going to win this thing, and you have a bit of cash to burn, I suggest you go ahead and place a very healthy wager with your favorite online bookmaker. Marc’s current odds are sitting at a nice, fat +1000, so the payoff if you’re correct would be absolutely enormous.
You are witnessing the end of MM’s dominance and I’m not sad. He’s a dangerous racer.
and honda won’t let him ride around as long a yamaha let rossi.
Esp as MM’s series of misfortunes etc seems to have really taken the green rosetta off his muffin.
Really have to hand it to you TimC. You sure do have unique style and often make me laugh. But what the hell are green rosettas and muffins?
There’s a good chance you are right. Very few get to go out at the top on thier own terms. Maybe Eddie Lawson? Agostini? What I am seeing this year is a combination of the effects of all those crashes finally catching up with him, plus the others no longer fear him. Him and Rossi being the outstanding riders in the 4T era for sure, but all things pass. Hey, I could be wrong, but he won’t win the title this year and next year the fast guys this year will be even better.
Car racing became less interesting for me as the faster cars and drivers were no longer able to pass the slower ones. MotoGP is approaching the same. The times are closer, but the racing has become a matter of attrition, rather than speed and skill.
Aero effects on passing have been an issue in F1 for a long time. I’m unsure why MotoGP allowed any wings etc to begin with. It’s the aero that’s preventing a following rider from being able to get close enough to attempt passing….
I haven’t heard anyone say that aero is a bigger issue with riding in close proximity to other riders than it’s been in the past, outside of the front tire heat issue, which I believe is related to the current minimum pressure rule.
Drafting to pass is still a big part of race craft from what I can see.
The tire heat from the aero is the problem with passing. It gets too hot to have the necessary grip to pass in turns. Riders have also mentioned in interviewers about being pulled to the outside when leaned over in turns from the turbulence created by the wings by the riders in front of them.
The other riders should be very worried about Bastianini, especially on the “old” bike. As I mentioned in the other thread, if he can keep it on two wheels at those tracks where he isn’t in a position to win I believe the championship is his for the taking.
Sometimes the old bike is better. I bet Franco Morbidelli wishes he had his old bike. Pecco certainly did for the first few races this year.
I think he could go all the way too. Were it not for his DNF he’d be well in the lead already. Those ahead of him are likely to rack up a DNF or two also.
Definitely agree with you one the old bike Dave. Thus the parenthesis.
Look at how Honda is struggling with their new bike. When the competition is so close a well dialed in bike may perform better than a bike with “improvements”. I do think Ducati got the ’22 bike dialed in at this point though but Bastianini is definitely liking the ’21.
Should be a good fight for the rest of the season barring injury or crashes.
Oh, gotcha.
Yes, should be a great season. I hope KTM gets their rig working again. They were on the right track for a while but seem to have lost the scent.
Love the shoulder cam.
Yeah that camera is awesome. Wonder what they’ll think of next?
Good racing between the two groups of three at the front but so many fallers…
Bastianini makes winning races look effortless. I actually like the complete lack of drama with his personality, although I’d rather see some closer battles between 1st & 2nd, not just 2nd/3rd or 3rd/4th like we’ve mostly seen lately. Assuming Bastianini stays upright and unhurt for the remainder of the season, Quartararo doesn’t stand a chance; Bastianini will be 2022’s champion.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) gets my vote as the most interesting interviewee following a podium. His analysis of the race and his perspective are always interesting and informative.
I was surprised to see the urgency at which Pecco came back at him after the 1st pass and even more surprised to see him put the bike down. Pecco had “iceman” victories last year with a rival breathing down his neck and made no mistakes.
You don’t even have to go back to last year to find an example of a Pecco “iceman” victory. Two weeks ago in Jerez he held off a determined Fabio for the entire race before winning by a scant 0.285 of a second. That was as “iceman” as they come.
Yes, definitely surprised to see him succumb to Enea’s pressure the way he did, twice on one lap.
The urgency did seem pretty odd. He didn’t “Iceman” the situation I think because, unlike the other displays of cool head he’s demonstrated, he didn’t really have an answer for his opponent in this case. He either didn’t realize or couldn’t accept that he wasn’t in the fight with the guy most likely to be sharing the garage with him next year.
Bastiannini is legit, no doubt about it, but I do wonder how he would be doing against Miller and Bagnaia if they were all riding the same bike.