I know it’s been discussed here in the past not sure if it was this thread or not or if anyone has mentioned Sling TV as an option. I have the basic Sling TV orange and blue package and I get MotoGP (Live), Formula 1 (Live) and MotoAmerica. No extra cost for any of it. My bill is $55 a month with the free DVR space they include . With Sling I can watch it on any device and the interface is really easy to use. Just throwing it out as an option. The MotoAmerica events I don’t think I can watch “Live”but I haven’t tried. In my opinion MotoAmerica is best watched as a recap or really anything other than “Live” because they screw up the steaming and stuff so often. Lol
I personally thought Joe ought to have taken it because if you take a random rider who made it to Moto2 but isn’t Marquez/Acosta/insert genius here, they’re much more likely to get deported to WSBK or a national series than get a MotoGP shot. Joe has acquitted himself well and is very talented, but circumstances have also turned his way in that he hasn’t been seriously injured, ended up on a team that collapsed and with him assed out, adapted miserably to a rule or new bike, or one of the other 500 ways it can randomly go wrong. His results and passport make it seem like he’s going to get his shot, but if you look at numbers historically this path is probably 15% likely vs washing out of GP. Something turning out well doesn’t necessarily mean your previous decision was correct, just like it going bad doesn’t mean you made a poor decision.
You usually need to seize your chance when it comes. There is a great example of this on the grid today: Miller. He was regarded as brilliant in Moto3 and skipped Moto2 to ride on a shitty poor man’s RCV. Dude has rode for 2 factories, got multiple race wins, has been a dark horse title contender for several seasons, and stuck around for 10 (?ish) seasons. Not to mention made enough money to never work a real job in his life if he doesn’t want to. If he’d gone to Moto2 he could’ve languished for 6 years like Baby Marquez and then either never made it to MotoGP or been sent to WSBK after a season. I’ve loved Jack since his first comments about whether he was apprehensive about the Moto3 > MotoGP move… “Well, it’s also got 2 rubber tires and a throttle I’ll be okay.” Joe being a geriatric-by-GP-standards rookie is going to hurt his chances substantially, but the American passport will probably make up for it much more than an American run team being on the grid. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Dorna kick in some $$$ to get him in, and a company like Ducati that makes 80% or whatever if its revenue in the US will probably be keen on him as well. Even if he only sticks around for 4 years and only does well enough to not embarrass himself it’ll probably be worth it commercially for multiple parties.
I think it is going to be a target rich environment for you where you will have to decide which group to beat up very soon. There has been alot of delusional shit said around here lately...
Hey, maybe you thought he was Spanish when he turned down the ride. I knew he was American. If you're not going to account for all parameters (or at least as many as you can plainly see) when you get into a discussion, you might find yourself with your ass out at some point. Remember when you thought Zarco would never ride and other factory bike after he bailed on KTM? You think I was lucky on that too? If he gets another shot at MotoGP, it's not going to be some kind of Powerball-odds event. It was reasonably foreseeable if he started posting decent results. Even if that team did not exist back then. He doesn't need to be champion. Nobody will blame him for losing to Aldeguer, Lopez or Garcia. If he keeps putting the bike on the box at every other race, Olivera and Fernandez need to be concerned. His situation is not all that dissimilar from Ogura's in that his passport affords him the chance to leapfrog a bunch of guys on his way to a MotoGP offer. Meanwhile, Darrin Binder...
In nine out of 10 cases, it would rule him out. But what younger American is ready for a MotoGP bike right now? Look, everybody knows he's not winning that championship. They're not stupid. But I'm sure that an American who can run mid-pack for 2-4 years would be pretty attractive to them until more come through the pipeline.
Yeah being American definitely improved his chances hugely, but the other recent Americans in Moto2 never survived long enough to break through and leverage the passport. Chances were he’d just be another member of that group, glad to see I was wrong. I’ll take the L with Zarco, he did manage to hang on by the skin of his teeth. As long as he doesn’t melt down between now and contract signing time he’s likely to get a shot for 2025. Counterpoint: Quartararo. He was brilliant during his CEV years, and he proceeded to do not much in Moto3 and Moto2 for his entire tenure there. Then as soon as he got to MotoGP he went fucking gangbusters again. Someone can be amazing and then flounder in a new circumstance quite easily.
Their results are not comparable. At his worst, Roberts had a better year than SDK's best. We knew from the CEV that he was alien material. And people paying attention knew why he struggled in the support classes (still, he was a Moto 2 race winner). It wasn't lack of alien skills. It was easily fixable by putting him in the right environment.
Its not often the Moto2 and GP races are so much more exciting than the Moto3 race, but here we are!! An American leading Moto2 championship?? WTF LETS GOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Great weekend of racing. Man I love GP!
GP race was awesome. Marc has to see Rossi in front of him when he's racing Pecco. I don't think he races anyone as hard as he does Bagnaia.
Well I for one have a newfound respect for JR16 after watching todays race and then looking at his season overall. I was for sure a doubter and will admit I didn't think he had the killer in him to run at the front of this insanely deep field but so far this year, he's proving me very wrong and I'm super happy about that! His bike looked uncrashable today - it was squirming but he looked supremely confident - kudos. The GP race was almost perfect - I didn't want Martin leaving with a massive points lead and I was hoping for a close race with Marc, Bezz, Morbidelli, Pedro, and even Pecco in the mix so I got pretty much everything except Frankie shitting the bed again dammit. What a weekend the home fans were treated to, heck, even us overseas watching at home.
Yep. Threat to every other rider trying to finish the race on 2 wheels that is. With his speed on the Duc, they thought they would be safe towards the back of the pack, but no, crash and remount MM93 was on the hunt for more riders to punt out of the way in the sprint race. That said, he ran a great GP on Sunday and came up just short of the reigning world champ.
Yeah, the difference between the gp23 and 24 on corner exit was dramatic. Ducati have publicly acknowledged that the difference between the bikes is greater than previous years. Folks seem to forget, when watching them go head to head, that one of them is on a slower bike. Bagnaia rode impressively, especially overcoming challenges early, but it’s not exactly a heads-up fight. And Marc seems to be finding his rhythm on the Ducati.