The Official 2020 Silly Season Thread

Too bad there is no way to run a third Suzuki in 2020. His style might be perfect for that bike.

Well, 4 suzukis in 2020, Lorenzo might still become available.

 

Zarco's situation is yet another example of how an overbearing manager/management team can derail a racer's career in the blink of an eye. He could have easily been on that Petronas Yamaha and the world might have never known what Quartararo can do on a friendly MotoGP bike. And that last part could have also been traced all the way back to a previous disastrous management decision, namely leaving his first Moto 3 team.

 

Wonder what he'd have done on the Repsol Honda. From what people have said, not the easiest bike to ride. Knowing now how good that Petronas Yamaha and the team can be it might have been a round peg in a round hole.

 

I for one, am happy with the way the petronas team has shaped up. I'm hoping Fabio stays where he's at until he can take Rossi's seat, whenever that may be.

 

Certainly not worse than on the KTM. And had he had a manager selfless enough to play the long game and not focus on absolutely getting a factory ride this year, he would have done even better than being on the Honda by being on the Yamaha Petronas.

My sample size is miniscule but I have experience with trying to talk someone into going to a satellite team instead of obsessing with factory status. They are not receptive to long-term logic. Part of me understands, it's a high-stakes game and it can be over in the blink of an eye. But I can't help thinking that it's not smart.

 

I think the Marquez phenomenon is a big part of the equation. Everyone saw what happened when he went straight to a MotoGP factory team - fame, glory, money, girls. Since such things are fleeting, the thinking obviously goes, "I need to get my share of that while I can."

 

The one I was alluding to was a few years before Marquez.

And don't forget Pedrosa, Lorenzo…

 

Those guys were pre-"Ben Spies Rule," so I don't really count them in with my supposition.

The whole thing is sad to me. I can see where Zarco is coming from - he won back-to-back Moto2 championships, and in both years he decimated the field (especially in 2015). The only other racer (IIRC) who has dominated Moto2 like that was Marquez, and one could argue that the Moto2 talent pool was shallower when Marquez kicked everyone's butts than when Zarco did.

So, Zarco would see himself as the Next Big Thing coming to MotoGP, and arguably he was right. It must have chapped his ass to only have a satellite team ride available, and he certainly showed potential in 2017 and 2018 on the satellite bike. Spending a third year on a satellite bike must have seemed like it would be another year in Purgatory. So, a bit of bad advice from a manager, some encouragement from a factory team claiming, "We're really going to make it now - this time for sure!", would have been more than enough to tempt him to reach for the fame, glory, money and girls.

You guys are calling him a headcase. I don't think he's any more of a headcase than any of the other riders, except that perhaps his expectations weren't matched up with reality, and were used to maneuver him into bad choices.

 

Gotcha.

I disagree. There was a massive change in his (projected) personality in the off-season before he won his first championship. But before, oh boy!
Your perception might be different because you listen to his interviews in English, and he doesn't talk as much. But he overthink everything. It's less of a hindrance when things are going his way (like this final couple of Moto 2 years and the first MotoGP season) but when they are not, he seems to revert to the mess he was before.

Can I interest you in looking back at the time he waived Nico Terol by at the finish line (then tried to grab his tail section, if I remember correctly) because he "knew" that he was going to be beaten by superior horsepower again? That was the best example of how messy things can get inside his head.

 

Weren't there some rumors about Zarco going to WSBK HRC? The heavens may have just opened up for them. I'd take Zarco over Bautista.

 

Hmm - that is a good point. He's pretty straightforward in his English interviews, but I have read (on German sites) that he is more verbose and weird when interviewed by French media. I kinda thought that it was just the Germans bagging on the French guy but perhaps they are right about the weirdness.

Waved him by and smacked Terol's front fairing with his hand as Terol was going past. I remember that well. That was the end of his championship hopes for that year.

I had chalked it up to youthful stupidity, rather than neurosis, and his later results seemed to prove me correct (beating Rins by 118 points ), but it seems results aren't everything.

Speaking of results, this does set a bad precedent though. "You have 11 races to prove yourself" is a terrible signal to send.

 

That was in 125 was it not? I seem to remember a very odd finish where he screwed up a certain win, methinks it was in Misano....

 

Not sure I understand. Are you saying KTM gave him 11 races to prove himself? By all accounts, he was the one who wanted to leave.

 

That was it.

 

Can't see where they begged him to stay

 

Yeah, but I don't see how they are sending a bad signal. He flat out quit on them.

 

Could KTM toss enough $$$ at Dani to convince him to return to race? Would love to see the little guy back on the grid!

 

I hope he doesn't. I wouldn't mind seeing him on the Yamaha if he absolutely must come back, though.

 

Dani has already said No.

 

why would the germans do that / and it's pretty apparent that the french are weird. no bias here.