MotoGP | 2025 | Race 4 | Qatar | Lusail | Apr 11- Apr 13

That is absolutely hilarious if you attribute his speed and ability to race with the factory Ducatis solely as a result of his slightly lower average front tire pressure.

 

Deflategate 2.0

 

Substitute the word rider for one of the bikes. It will make more sense, then.

 

No it got mentioned. I think for a few of us it’s not terribly surprising as mavericks always been fast when his heads right. His head just ain’t right 80% of the time. Definitely a great ride though.

the reason for speaking about the season like it’s already over is because as a fan, it feels like it kind of is and the most exciting discussion point now is about the future. If Marc’s performance the first 3 rounds wasn’t enough, this past weekend kind of sealed it I think in a lot of our minds. He’s curbstomping the field, even at his worst track, and did it with plenty left in reserve. Probably gonna be a boring season outside of watching some records fall. We will all still watch, because like you said, they still gotta line up and go. But doesn’t mean we’ll be very excited about it lol.

 

I am. I want to tag @motion with every single new record because I love him so .

 

You're right, it's still early.

Regarding Maverick, he had not finished higher than 12th this season prior to the Qatar GP (he was 10th in the sprint that weekend). Same thing happened last year at COTA. It's Maverick doing Maverick things. Given that, I'd say that result is an outlier. Especially as Binder, who got 2nd last year in Qatar, finished 13th. Moreover, Acosta got 8th, but that's kinda where he always is and Enea got 9th. Had all the KTMs made a step forward toward being able to challenge for the podium, we could start prognosticating that there's something technically substantiative behind Mav's finish. Since they didn't, I'd say Mav slept at a Holiday Inn the night before.

 

You know he could be racing for 18th place next week, right? Mav's performance volatility curve looks like a lie detector print out. KTM's curve looks like an ECG. On the rare occasion that both hit a high point on the same weekend, you get last week. But 15 out of 20 times, the safe bet might be outside the top 10.

 

It ain't over until it's over and the pleasingly voluptuous lady has sung.

 

Shit happens in racing. I've learned this the hard way over my many years myself.

Wayne Rainey, David Bailey, Mick Doohan and Marc M. know this better than most of us on here do.

 

It's gonna take a lot of paralyzed people for Maverick to win this year's championship.

 

That's a kinda messed up way of saying it, but yeah.

I think part of the problem is that the chatter problems aren't consistent. For whatever reason, they weren't there on Sunday and Mav had the mindset to take full advantage, while Pedro was still gun-shy and just wanted to finish a race. If Pedro had been pushing on and trusted the bike to stay underneath him, I think we could have seen a podium finish from him as well.

 

Huh?

 

He listed past dominant racers who were maimed or paralyzed as examples that we shouldn't take a Marquez championship for granted. And that was his next post after telling us that we're not taking Maverick seriously enough as a threat.

I'm saying it's great to take a lot more than just one career-ending injury.

 

Also, since no one mentioned, and they should have, my boy Luca. P10. Solid result again!

Looking at the time gap to 1st place. It has been a steady "up & to the right" kinda deal. Same for Zarco, but the slope of his curve is more pronounced.

Thai Argentina COTA Qatar
Johan 15 7 +2 laps 7
Luca 24 16 15 15
Joan DNF 16 DNF DNF

It looks like Johan was able to halve his deficit early on. Luca has improved, but is still behind Johan. If Luca can find the next 50% that Johan found he and the Honda are now in the top 5 hunt pace wise.

It'll be interesting to see if we'll see Mir on a factory Honda after this season. Without a significant improvement, I don't think Honda buying him out of his contract is out of the realm of possibility. I know Marini's contract is up this year, but between the two he's the one I'd keep.

 

I was at the race that took him out. Actually, if I am remembering correctly, it happened during practice. Huron, CA. Part of the CMC Golden State Series that every factory team used back then to tune-up for AMA. Huron was a track that was kinda built as a pseudo-supercross track way back before SX became anything like it is now. David came up short on a triple jump and the rest is history.

 

@CRA_Fizzer I have simply been saying that this year's season is still early, with many races yet to be run. All sorts of unexpected things can and will happen yet this year. It's motorcycle racing after all.

@HPPT is ready to present this season's championship trophy to Marc and is already discussing what should happen in the off-season.

 

Aren't we being a wee bit overdramatic here? This is the closest thing I've said to what you just wrote...

I think you stretched that a little bit.

The stuff I said about his being an alien is just an assessment of his skills, which he possessed the last five times he did not win the championship.

 

Is Martin going to even race this year