Unless Martin breaks himself, mentally or physically, I don't see Bez being able to come out from behind his shadow. Bez is a good kid with moments of talent, but he's already on the most consistent bike and dips in and out of contention every week...
The GP23 hasn't responded well to the new Michelin rear, and Bez' style makes it even worse. I am more concerned about how his style isn't going to mesh with the Ape. He wants the rear to be sliding to help him stop and turn the bike. That's so anti-Aprilia and I'm not sure the kid is versatile enough to change his style that much.
I'll add that the reason Diggia thinks he's doing better than Bez this year is because his style relies more on carrying corner speed. Which is an Aprilia thing.... They picked the wrong guy if you asked me.
I don't currently own an Aprilia, but I did about 10 years ago. I don't have any plans to buy an Aprilia either. That said, if they don't put Joe on, I'll super extra double not plan to buy an Aprilia.
That will sure teach them! I have an idea. How about you start your own team. Then you can put who you want on it.
This is JR's 8th season in Moto2. If he was motoGP material he'd have shown it by now. I'm a total fan of his but him on the TrackHouse bike doesn't give that team a huge opportunity to win races. It'd be a great story and I love to see it and see it be successful, but storylines don't win sponsors. Winnings wins sponsors.
Yep. It wa sa few years ago and the Ape wasn't competitive yet. Hadn't won any races, etc. Joe also said he didn't feel he was ready for the top class then; whereas he is confident he is now.
My oddball opinion is that I'd rather see Roberts take the Japanese rider spot at Honda and the Japanese rider take the spot at the "American team" on the Aprilia. I have serious doubts that trackhouse is in MotoGP any longer than Roberts would be. And there is far more likelihood of Honda coming back with a vengeance with competitive bikes than the B team of Aprilias, even with "factory" bikes.
If that seat at LCR was open I could see a long list of riders for it before Roberts. Roberts does come with a big sponsor, may not be enough to replace the Japanese oil sponsorship though.
How many riders in Moto3/2/GP have success after eight years of trying? So far, JR has averaged one podium PER YEAR of racing. If my $$$ was making the decision on a rider to choose, he wouldn't be at the top of the list. In regard to needing an American rider in the series, do you think having Logan Sargent in F1 made a tremendous impact on Liberty Media's earnings? They probably would have been better off with another Brit.
I believe he also has zero seasons in Moto 3, so let's keep that in mind when counting GP years. Anyway, what does he need to do that to show that he is MotoGP material? I believe Aleix Espargaro never won a world championship race of any kind before he got to MotoGP. He turned out to do OK. Evidently, he was MotoGP material then, before he got bad at bikes.
The top 10 guys in Moto2 are all within .3 seconds of each other in qualifying, more or less. Joe has proved that he can be consistent and that he can be aggressive, and he's not hard on the equipment. Not sure how much more you need than that. Besides, as Papa says, we really don't know how Moto2 translates into MotoGP. It can be hit or miss. Not all of the pack in MotoGP wins on Sunday. There's plenty of guys there who are mid pack who serve a good purpose on their team. When you compare JR16 to a lot of them, I think he is far, far more marketable. Let's not forget that most of the planet is fascinated with the USA.
How would you know? Its not like you have traveled around the world getting any impressions from the common people in the streets.
And Frenchies love snails and stinky cheese. Don't use them as a barometer for the rest of the world.
This might be the one time that someone doing "their own research" on here doesn't consist of reading the opinions of people who agree with their theory on the topic.