A dramatic race was held at the Aragon circuit earlier today. Early in the first lap, Marc Marquez (Honda), returning after a lengthy recovery after arm surgery, collided with two riders, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Taka Nakagami (Honda). Both Quartararo and Nakami crashed hard. Both riders were injured, but, apparently at this point, not seriously enough to prevent their participation in the next round in Japan. Marquez, who was forced to retire due to the damage to his Honda, discusses the first lap incidents here.
With Quartararo out on the first lap, Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) were handed a great opportunity to cut into the championship points lead held by the French rider. Both title contenders ended up on the podium with Bagnaia finishing second and Espargaro third.
The final laps featured another battle between future Ducati teammates Enea Bastianini and Bagnaia. This time, Bastianini made a clean pass on Bagnaia on the final lap and took the win. There appeared to be tension in these two Ducati riders in the post-race press conference, so it will be interesting to watch their battles over the remaining five races.
Both riders indicate there are no “team orders” requiring Bastianini to let Bagnaia place higher, but it is undoubtedly a delicate situation going forward. Bastianini took five championship points away from Bagnaia today on the final lap, leaving Bagnaia ten points behind Quartararo overall.
For full results of today’s race, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
MM reminds me of “Wreck-It Ralph”. Who can cause so much damage before the first lap has even been completed?
Fabio is done with racing. he can not compete with the ducs and is done trying.
making weight is too hard on him and he’s got plenty enough money to live off of.
he crashed into MM because he figured he’d get away with it…the ol’ mad dash start of race shenanigans, cold tires, etc., etc…
MM was the (only) rider to hit the gas too soon and too hard in a field of riders. No one else did, no one else spun their rear tire causing a collision. Not the riders ahead or behind him. Dangerous? Hell yes! First lap idiot? Hell yes!
so according to your expert wisdom…losing traction in a corner by default causes a collision. nobody ever is allowed to lose traction in a corner.
how is it that all the other riders behind MM did not also ram into him?
could it be that they observed MM having issues with traction and went around and/or took other precautions?
is that not what you would do or recommend.
or do you recommend/advise that when a rider notices the rider immediately ahead of him/her having traction issues…well..that’s too bad (great) for him/her…just go ahead and drive through him/her and let the haters go absolutely nuts on the forums.
spinning a tire does not cause a collision by default.
ramming into someone, whom has lost traction, from behind normally causes a collision.
Um, yeah. Welcome back Marc. When did you say you were leaving?
Fish and entitled has beens.
No one should doubt the MM is a dangerous rider. Nearly killed 2 people in a 1/3 of a lap. Maybe next week he’ll try for 3.
You do realize, don’t you, that neither of those incidents were caused by Marc riding aggressively or dangerously?
I’m no fan of #93, but what happened to him yesterday could have happened to anyone. He did nothing intentionally or recklessly to make those things happen. He simply lost the rear end in an unfortunate spot on the track, and Fabio had nowhere to go. Too much traffic, and it happened too fast. The second incident was the result of his bike incurring damage from the first incident.
You do realize, don’t you, that MM has NO STAKE WHATEVER, other than his own ego, in the outcome of the race. Through his recklessness, he lost traction, causing the points leader to collide with him. A more rational rider would have used this opportunity to get his racing legs back, and to shake the rust off after a long layoff. Not this twit. He knows no style other than buckaroo banzai, and damn the consequences. It’s a miracle no one was seriously injured thanks to this punk a$$ #@$%.
He was turning, same as everyone else, and his rear tire stepped out. Happens all the time, to everyone.
Go ahead, explain his reckless riding there. Point to something specifically reckless he did in that corner that only he was doing.
he tried to win a 40 minute race in the first minute. nobody else was out of the seat in that corner.
yep!
how strange. trying hard at the race start.
nobody’s ever tried to get an early lead in racing nor made efforts to keep up with, or be part of, the lead group.
oh man?!?!
A lot of those 40-minute races are typically won in the first minute. Bastianini seems to be the only rider that can routinely make things happen in the last laps this season.
Many other riders think Marquez is a dangerous rider. Examples:
Rossi- Rossi went further still. “He doesn’t play clean. He plays dirty,” he railed. “They [Race Direction] have to do something; I’m scared on the track when I’m with Marquez.“I was scared today when I saw his name on the board. I’m not Race Direction – they will decide – but like this he is destroying our sport, because when you do 300 km an hour on the track, you have to have respect for your rivals.”
Lorenzo- Lorenzo said he was made more “upset” by the replay, which he feels made it look like an unforced error on his part.“And it’s not like that,” he continued. “And Marc knows. He didn’t leave me space, he make me another block pass, like in the past in some races. And I didn’t have any options than crash – crash or go outside the track.“He didn’t want me to enter the corner and he didn’t care about me, no? Just make the corner, brake very late, and just don’t think about the exit of the corner, just enter. And forget about my line.”
Kevin Schwantz- The rivalry is a natural feeling and the seasoning of the races, but Marc is dangerous: for example, with Aleix [Espargaró] in Argentina he had no reason to look for contact, it was so much faster that one more curve would be enough to easily overcome him. He had no right to enter so badly.
Plenty of other examples. I suspect the entire paddock, at one time, thought calling Marquez “agressive” was a diplomatic reference to his selfish, dangerous approach on track.
Can’t agree more…
Perfectly stated. MM93 is a talented rider, but he is foolish. Clearly, he has learned nothing from his years of experience. His ego led to Sunday’s events. The paddock is far better off without him.
MM is the first and only athlete with an ego all right!
the paddock is far better off without him…indeed.
that way we can all stop saying that, as with the 20, 21, and 22 championships, the best rider was not competing or the results would certainly be different.
Dirck, no doubt, Marc has often been a dirty rider. No arguments there. Like I said, I have never been a fan of #93.
That being said, his past indiscretions have nothing to do with what happened yesterday. Yesterday’s incidents were not examples of dirty, overly aggressive, or dangerous riding. The first one was simply his tire losing grip at the worst possible moment, while the second incident was nothing more than his damaged bike slowing at another worst possible moment. Neither incident was the result of Marc riding overly aggressively for the situation. Unfortunately, being that it was only the third corner of the first lap, he was in the middle of a very tightly bunched group. Had his tire slipped when there was more spacing between the riders, it would’ve have been a nonissue.
Point being, it wasn’t reckless or dirty, or anything of the sort. It could have happened to anybody.
Disagree. Marquez was, what we referred to in my motocross days, “swapping”. His rear end step out was followed by a swap to the other side. This took the rear of his bike into Fabio’s path, and outside his (Marc’s) own line. Collision 1 was his fault. Not intentional, but his fault nonetheless. This set up collision 2 with Nakagami. Worse yet, Marquez indicated he felt something wrong with his bike immediately after the impact with Fabio, but he kept riding. Collision 2 was his fault. “Overly aggressive or dangerous” is a matter of opinion here. You are entitled to yours. BTW, Fabio has graciously, and smartly avoided any controversy. He says he doesn’t remember exactly what happened. He was likely concussed twice, including as a result of the impact with Marquez, followed by a bizarre crash on the Marshall’s scooter.
wow!!!
Fabio, from behind, rammed his bike into MM’s bike. Period.
MM lost traction (it does happen often in two wheeled racing especially coming out of a corner) and a lot of people immediately noticed, and commented on it. The rider immediately behind MM (Fabio) most certainly should have noticed it also and taken proper precaution/actions but that rider (Fabio) simply did not. Fabio hit his throttle hard wrongly “assuming/hoping” MM was also going to be accelerating as hard.
the problem was, which Fabio should have been keenly aware of… MM could not accelerate as hard for another fraction of a second until he was sure he had regained traction…PERIOD!!!
try to tell me that does not make sense!
MM’s other choice was to drive recklessly into a high side…then we could all say MM and his bike laying across the track caused all the accidents.
Fabio’s ignorance, wrong assumptions, and consequential wrong reactions solely caused that accident.
Fabio knows full well that he is solely to blame for this accident and that is why he and his team haven’t been playing the storm around the paddocks like angry children and play blame game. Period.
how many of you racing experts will hit your gas while positioned directly behind an opponent whom is sliding his rear tire(s) suffering with lost traction?
or are you going to have to make a choice of waiting it out or going around?
MM was the gracious person in stating how sorry he feels for the championship point leader Fabio. MM has no stake in this championship so how does he care whom wins.
NaK rammed into MM two or three times before falling off his bike.
I wonder how it was none of the other riders rammed into MM at that point in the race?
Zarco was directly behind Marc and Fabio. Zarco is one of the most aggresive riders, and this is a summary of what he observed/concluded, according to an interview of him on gpone (https://www.gpone.com/en/2022/09/19/motogp/zarco-it-was-a-crazy-first-lap-marquez-exaggerated.html): “Zarco has no doubt. His privileged view of the accident between Marquez and Quartararo makes him affirm that Marc had a decidedly over-the-top attitude. According to him, the cause of the accident was the Spanish rider’s reckless behavior.”
we are taking Zarco’s word for something? OK.
you are racing and notice the rider directly in front of you is having an issue causing him/her to be slower than you…do you;
A- wait it out
B- go around
C- hammer axe the guy with your bike
Fabio is done. he has always folded when faced with real pressure (from the likes of MM and pecco). he took his frustrations out on MM at the first opportunity because in his own ignorance and arrogance he thought he could get away with it. if fabio axed Pecco in the same way…well even fabio knows he wouldn’t get away with that. Mir, fabio, and whomever wins this year all owe MM an eternal debt of gratitude for MM not being in the competition for those years. difference between Mir, Fabio, and pecco is that Pecco is most likely to win, fairly and cleanly, against a now 3 year older MM and would have wanted to compete against MM in his prime. also fabio can’t catch pecco in order to axe him out…that’s also why he is quitting.
Wow, are you Alberto Puig in “John” disguise ??
no. are you?
you are racing and notice the rider directly in front of you is having an issue causing him/her to be slower than you…do you;
A- wait it out
B- go around
C- hammer axe the guy with your bike
I hope you’re not insinuating that Fabio rode into the back of another rider on purpose. A person so reckless and dumb could never find themselves in the lead of the premier motorcycling championship in the world.
Fabio did run into him. Only he did because he was the only one too close to react. They ride close together on purpose, especially when concerned that they’re deficient on power. He didn’t expect it. It happens.
I’m still trying to figure out how Marquez lost traction because the bikes are loaded with electronic nannies and the riders don’t really need skill to ride them anyway. [this last bit is sarcasm, in case it isn’t obvious]. I suppose it is possible that his TC malfunctioned.
oh good…the insinuating police have arrived. better late than never…you have a lot of work to do here as you surely will have noticed.
many have, on this very post, insinuated that a ‘multiple’ premier motorcycling championship of the world acted so reckless and dumb in attempt to, as much as, “kill” other riders and chance putting himself back into a hospital for more surgeries.
fabio had both time and room to go around or wait on mm. fabio accelerated into MM driving out of the corner. this was not a case of carrying maximum corner speed in a tight corner and not being able to easily move off that line in order to avoid a collision from someone unexpectedly coming into that same tight line. if fabio did not notice mm suffered a loss of traction then fabio wasn’t paying enough attention to his surroundings/situational awareness. this collision all on fabio.
what’s that saying about the pot and the kettle?
When you have surgery to rotate that bone in your right arm 30 degrees, does that make you lose feeling and have issue with throttle control and lose rear traction when everyone else around you is doing fine? I think he was riding WAY over his head for where he is right now and got lucky he didn’t kill anyone. I am a fan with his autograph on my 2015 Indy pit pass. But DANG Dude! Crazy passing at the start and losing traction when no one else is and then taking people out is such a rookie mistake. It was all him. Can a vet become a rookie after a layoff? I think we saw the answer.
you are stopped, and waiting at a red light, directly behind another vehicle also awaiting the green light.’
light turns green and you then run into the person in front of you whom did not proceed as quickly as you.
whom is at fault?
did you not see that vehicle in front of you?
should you have not waited for that vehicle in front of you to proceed before you proceeded?
are you going to blame the person in front of you for the damages suffered because they did not go when you wanted/expected them to go?
how’s that going to work for you?
You don’t know how racing works, do you?
You don’t know how racing works, do you?
pardon me?
pardon you.
i know it’s not always a great idea to plow one’s vehicle into another…on a track nor off.
paying attention to other drivers around you…is that not a ‘major’ aspect of racing?
these MotoGp pilots are getting paid princely sums to pay attention, no?
Marquez is not waiting to leave his mark with his return to racing MotoGP.
Well, there wasn’t anything boring about that race, IMO. Pecco is going to have his hands full with his new teammate next year.
mm#93 knocked down two guys in two separate incidents, on the first lap of his first race in four months. i don’t think even HE has done that before. i wonder what the guys at the mayo clinic thought.
When Fabio was talking about wanting and needing Marc Marquez to return to the grid, I don’t think this was what he had in mind.
😂
Win or bin at it again!