MotoGP | 2023 | Race 20 | Valencia | Spain | Nov 24-26

i would have called it quits with so many operations on my arms/shoulders. another recovery for this guy...amazing.

takes less $$, just wants to win, albeit he did send Honda down the wrong road for the bike, but still much respect

 

You can’t make that a blanket statement. Plenty of riders over the years have complained that Honda doesn’t listen to their feedback, and Honda has said too many times to count that it’s their bike that’s successful and not the rider.

 

Mostly agree except about the part where Marc only over rode the Honda out of necessity. Yes it's a POS that made it necessary but he's also always done that anyways, even before the bike was that bad. The difference recently has been more crashes because it's so bad even he can't save it. But he's always been over the limit, too aggressive, bouncing off other riders, etc. He was just good enough to get away with it as long as his bike wasn't literally the worst pile of shit on the grid in the last 20 years. And on the Duc, he'll be back to the way he was before, laying waste to the field, berming off other riders in his way (which won't actually be much since he'll be out front most of the time), crashing in practice, and making saves in races that seem to defy physics.

Also not a fan of his but I don't think GP has seem such a formidable rider/bike combo since Ago.

 

Pretty sure Marc openly said recently that Honda was developing the bike to his preferences and when Pedrosa was his teammate, he intentionally steered them away from any change that Pedrosa liked, even if it was a positive change.

And well, I think Pedrosa's work on the KTM speaks for itself... I'd guess Dani & Aleix are the 2 best development riders on the grid. Zarco & Jack in a close race for third.

 

2024, MM clinches the title with 2 rounds to spare. Or, he takes out half the field on his way to career ending injuries. Or Aaron Yates drop kicks him into retirement for holding up Rossi during his comeback season.

 

What. Do we have amnesia on how Dani and HRC developed that shitbox that pushed Hayden out of Honda. KTM started poaching Ducati engineers the year before Dani started test riding for them. Dani's riding at his age is what it is but let's not crown him developmental rider of anything when history has proven the opposite. You could argue Pirro has done more for KTM than Dani being half his engineers now work in Austria.

 

Admittedly the Nicky era into early 2010s were my late teens/early 20s so I didn’t follow the behind the scenes stuff as much but I don’t recall Dani developing the Honda into a pile? As far as I can remember he and Honda remained competitive through those years and when Casey jumped on it, he spanked the entire field right away.

 

No, the original bike they built for Dani in 07' after the rules change was an abomination. They spent the next 3 years redesigning it with Dovi and Stoner.

 

Two things you got wrong there.
The first was Marc was riding it when it wasn’t the best bike on the grid. My argument is that it hasn’t been the best bike in a LONG while. It hasn’t been competitive since the Pedrosa era as after that the only successful riders who have tamed it were stoner and Marquez who also happen to be the two best to ever ride.

you other incorrect is the Ago reference. Yes he gelled with the bike but in that era his bike would be like Pecco out there and the rest of the field is on Moto3 bikes except they were built by guys who also race clapped out Sv’s.

 

Dovi got off the Honda and went on to win on the Yamaha and really showed his talent on the earliest “good” Ducati.

 

I think you misinterpreted my post lol. Or I’m just shit at communicating, which is also probably true. I agree with both things you said. Never meant to imply Marc ever had the best bike, simply that it was at least mediocre once upon a time in his career and mediocre was good enough for his talent to take care of the rest.

And well aware of the Ago era situation, hence my statement of most formidable SINCE Ago.

 

Development only works if the factory listens to the development rider.

 

Dani was 2nd in '07 and 3rd in '08 on the "shitbox" Nicky couldn't win on.
Dani hurt himself during the '08 and '09 pre-seasons and someone else developed the "shitbox" while he recovered. In 2010, he was able to test, won 4 races and finished 2nd.

 

Friendly reminder to deactivate auto renewal.

Even though they combined the subs screen you still have to manually deactivate both GP and WSBK

 

If only Martin had led for a couple more laps. Specifically PI.....

 

I’d missed them starting using carbon brakes in the rain… wonder what changed… obviously they hold the heat better now but how?

 

A tad more than 1/2 a lap for PI would have done wonders...

 

Yep. Was a hell of a gamble, that didn't quite payout.

I love that type of stuff though. Dovi and team were the best at race pace predictions, and tire management strategies.

 

I'm sure they rotor covers are helping.