Well Hub, Motegi is on and the news is Takagami will not ride the last 3 races of the season due to shoulder surgery.
Who will ride his Honda?
Mr Zarco!
He gave up the Yamaha test rider gig to race again.
Lucky boy to have the opportunity after the KTM debacle...

Free practice 1 and the usual suspects are at the pointy end with the usual suspects struggling again.
Sorry Hub but your man is no where again...

Free practice 2 and all the main contenders are in the top 10.
Good to see.

What ideal conditions. What a shame Zarco couldn't test in the wet. The bikes are too upright to spook him any degree more. Next race he has to push it or open the drawer, where's the fork? Tell me you're not glued to that story in itself. Oh, the drama of gp.

Found this on fb:
Joe Broussard "On Saturday I sat down with a highly respected MotoGP technician – who’s worked with Wayne Rainey, Valentino Rossi and everyone else in between – to ask him what makes the reigning world champion so special.
I almost fell off my chair when he answered.
“It was all high fives from the boys. Then I looked at the screens and I saw I was two seconds off [Márquez]"
“The main thing is that Marc wants it more than anyone else,” he said. “Marc needs it, he craves it. He’s so focused, the other guys are like spoiled little brats…” unquote. its not quite the same in the Yamaha pits.

Agreed...

FR3 in the rain set the men apart from the boys...
How do they ride so fast in the wet???

And here's the results of Qualifying 2 and grid positions for tomorrows race.
Got your fork ready Hub?

* Last updated by: yannih on 10/19/2019 @ 12:55 AM *

It looks like Rins' bike likes a dry track. He unwinds late in the race so I expect to see some smooth moves. MM is a given so he's gone and better not fuckup the paycheck playing in their backyard. Q and Franco can duke it out for 3rd. Top 6 for our favorite buddy.

****SPOILER ALERT FOR THE MOTEGI MOTOGP***
If you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know the results then read no further...

It looks like Rins' bike likes a dry track. He unwinds late in the race so I expect to see some smooth moves.

Correct but poor qualifying stopped a possible top 3 result.

MM is a given so he's gone and better not fuckup the paycheck playing in their backyard.

He didn't!
And if its possible he's now raised his value yet again when Honda negotiate a future contract.

Top 6 for our favorite buddy.

Sorry Hub, this is the only one you got completely wrong!

1. Marquez
2. Qman
3. Dovi

Marquez dominant yet again!
Congrats to Qman for Rookie of the year. He should be an incredible challenger next season!
Great race yet again for Dovi!
And Lorenzo is embarrassingly absolutely no where!

* Last updated by: yannih on 10/20/2019 @ 12:20 PM *

Just watched it and the takeaway is the big3 better find some HP next year. Dovi is old style, meaning, no leg dangling for this guy. Plus he's so smooth or the bike is. No abrupt shakes, wiggles, just a bike and rider on a rail. And Q may have gotten a free lesson. Looks like he was taking a few of MM's lines. Our favorite buddy makes a rare drop. He sure does not crash often, nor is he known as one.

Miller seems to fizzle out no matter the jet lag. Lorenzo is sitting on the rolling couch you mean?

The entertainment is about to begin FP1... in the rain! Perfect conditions for Zarco. Or it's WSB fork this guy.

Mav, Miller, MM go 1-2-3. Rossi 4th. Zarco 13th. Qman highsides with left foot assessment to be determined. No medical updates yet.

MM, Vin, @man... If Zarco is top eight, I guess he needs the right bike under him.

Oops, Rossi 8th. Zarco was 4th to last and over 26 seconds off the pace. Say the top 8 were 15 seconds off
MM and Mav. The gaps fell from there. Rossi leads for awhile on his 400th gp. Yep, another footnote will be brought up when they speak about your buddy, yanni. You're beginning to sound like a broken record giving the guy props every season or so.

Crazy how fast seasons come and go, you'd think Zarco would bring his A-game on another bike, but it shows me the head has "rider's block". To blame it on honda now for his performance? The tire combo? I'm not buying any excuse. At the checkered flag, down in last place with over a minute off the pace, Lorenzo strategically potato couching his rolling contract, had honda well covered by dominating both ends.

A very young Marcos Ramirez in moto3 has a promising future. One last championship to go before the season is done.

Miller Miller Miller!!!
Podium at his home GP. Brilliant.
Marquez out thought Vinales (with a touch of talent as well).
Rossi's start was blistering but the true colours came back before the first 5 laps were finished.
The Crutchlow second place was special after last years injury.
Bagnaia and Mir were rookie gold.
Lorenzo won't ride for Honda next year. What an embarrassment...

Sorry Hub but I thought Zarco did okay for his first run on a Honda with little or no preperation?

Yamaha ought to be embarrassed at how slow their bike is. Marquez was sitting up on the finish straight to avoid passing Vinales. When he did pass he went by like he was shot out of a catapult. It's got to be frustrating for the Yamaha riders to bust their ass and have that happen. I think Marquez is even more of a threat for more race wins now since he wrapped up the championship. Rossi, Rossi, Rossi....nice to see him out front. For a moment I had visions of him pulling away like the old days. What a dreamer I am....
Good to hear Quatararo and Petrucci are ok. Danilo looked like Simone Biles flipping through the air right onto
Qman's head. So, the first part and the last part were pretty good. The middle - meh.
I bet Miller and his team hoisted a few Fosters in the evening!!!

G'Day mates

Mad

MMQB says: Did you see how aggressive Mav passed on the outside? It looked like it to me that if you are flying off that ridge, he should have arched more to the outside. That in motion and all that straight line, he pulled the bars too soon, crossed it up trying to get back in line with MM. Anyway, that's how I saw it. Like saying he L'd when he shoulda C'd.

I'm a fan but I haven't watched it live. Ever.

Motogp on youtube loads them up within hours if not days of trickling in. That or go to the site and click what is free to read or watch. Bein has it live if you have that package.

Don't get me wrong but I want Zarco to do well. They had the camera panning Zarco for a few sectors and looked very fast. But you can't see two tenths off the pace placing one down many positions away from the front. Cough, cough, and the guy you never want to count out or look stupid, yeah that guy is outperforming most of the field and just think, even the geriatric training, vitamins, dietary, and other senior moment supplements, can you say king of the aliens?

Hey, JMO! If pops beats Zarco...

Poor MM. Was that step from that high a point about too ugly to watch? Then the knee, then the head trauma no matter the helmet bang. Didn't update myself, but he's done for this round. Unless they shoot him up and he can step on the pegs, I wanna say it's an all yammie sweep, but there's some duc soup to spoil the broth on a long race.

* Last updated by: Hub on 11/2/2019 @ 1:46 PM *

Yeah, live motogp, bring ear plugs.
Marc's brother just won the moto2 championship. MM was jumping up and down like he never hit the ground. If he has this burning will to win, it's going to be something to watch is MM come up from the back. Brad Binder comes to motogp next year. Someone in moto3 was dead last and came in 3rd. Didn't catch the name but he'll be someone to watch next year in moto3.

On fb, someone was bashing MM for shadowing Qman; a 'serves you right' associated with the crash was said. They repeated the moto2 race highlights and saw Lowes take someone out for the second time. The guy crashes way too much, or is that his brother, I can't keep up?

This should be one wild race coming up.

****SPOILER ALERT FOR THE SEPANG MOTOGP***
If you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know the results then read no further...

More Marquez magic!
11th to a 2nd place finish.
And what a start on the first lap to get from 11th on the grid to 2nd.
But not the speed of Vinales who definitely deserves his win to restore some Yamaha pride.
Dovi a battling 3rd with the higher horse power Ducati to hold off Rossi.
There is no doubt that in this situation it was the lack of the Yamaha's top speed that cost 46 a long awaited 3rd place podium.
Mind you Vinales did just fine on the same factory machinery.

What happened to the Yamaha's???
A podium lockout was expected from the manufacturer but could only manage one bike in the top 3.
And still no podium for Rossi after how long?
Sepang was a massive opportunity for him but again no go.
Qman was no where to be seen after being a favourite to challenge for the win.
Morbidelli also under performed.

Zarco in 8th place on the Honda was unbelievable and was smashing Crutchlow and Lorenzo till Mir knocked him off.
Mir received a long lap penalty for it.
So why didn't Rin's get the same when he performed exactly the same manoeuvre and clattered into Miller?
Does a rider have to fall for a penalty to be given?
I guess so.

On fb, someone was bashing MM for shadowing Qman; a 'serves you right' associated with the crash was said.

Congrats to Alex Marquez as well as the newly crowned Moto2 World Champion.
And also to Mark who's 2nd place has now beaten Lorenzo's 8 year record for most points scored in a MotoGP season with one race still to go.
A happy Marquez family tonight.

Bring on the 2019 final season MotoGP race in Valencia!

Finally, very sad news regarding Afridza Munandar who sadly lost his life in Saturday's Asia Talent Cup race in Sepang.
I'm sure the thoughts of the whole motorcycle community world wide are with the young mans family and friends.
RIP Afridza and enjoy the big race track in the sky where you are lighting fast never fall off...

* Last updated by: yannih on 11/7/2019 @ 1:27 AM *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX6zChewrGU

Been reading a book about Seabiscuit. Without more details, got up off the porcelain throne, went on line to search a name, and came across Pincay. While working at a bike shop I remember this guy who was a professional gambler by day and an apartment manager by night, say. Says this is his only transportation, and he became a regular customer. Always coming in and waiting around for quick services and such. His deal was betting on horses. Laffit was his guy. And I remember when the newspaper came to the house, I'd run thru the names of the jockeys who won. That's all I heard about when he came in. So I was curious now because this was back in the 70/80's range when I first heard this name. While watching it they spoke about the makeup of this racer. I then thought of someone. A decent documentary if you want to compare notes.

I found it funny that the manager for Cal's team was complaining about riders following Cal for lap times... then Cal goes out and hangs around behind Marquez and Quatararo.
Zarco deserved better than to be T-boned into the gravel. He's showing he ain't entirely washed up yet on a bike
that is, admittedly, difficult to ride.
Good to see Marquez was mostly unhurt after his highside right on his face. What was more impressive was the
support and joy he displayed when his brother won the Moto2 title.
As for Yamaha's lack of speed, they've always prided their bike on it's rideablility. I think they are terrified that if they boost the motor they will lose that. But it's painfully obvious that they need to get more power out of the M1. So, they gotta do it. Rumors starting that Vinales will soon leave Yamaha. Soooo...Borenzo returns as Rossi's teammate?

Mad

Those factory motherfuckers. If it were me I'd have the race bike brought into production, and then challenge the engineers to come up with the next 'leap' in performance. Took an engineer to more describe how the 2-stroke delivers power. Light switch my ass... I'll take one. Some other 'cool' info about heat transfer.

Jorge gone!
Retired!
Last race Valencia!

296 GP races
68 wins
152 podiums
5 world championships
No matter what you think of the guy they are very strong numbers.

Who will ride the factory Honda next year?
You busy for the next 12 months Hub?

* Last updated by: yannih on 11/14/2019 @ 11:00 PM *

I thought Lorenzo still had that front running mentality sitting on that duc; but who knew it took a tank extension and you know the rest of the story. Before the final two injuries starting with this one, I'll remember Lorenzo pushing the honda thru traffic and heading for the front. When he bumped into traffic(#4) and crashed out, I think he had one more crash that called it quits. He looked like he had that head game in gear right up to that point. Same head game when he tumbled onto the gravel and came to a stop. He peaked with yammie and it was just hanging in there until that one day comes along.

I'm going to the window for a win-place-show ticket on Miller right now. You can count on MM, and the others are up for grabs for sunday's race. I'll close in on the other one soon. For next year ktm might have found their gp rider. I think Binder will blow away Pol for one. I think the boss at ktm wants to beat honda. This was said a few years ago, but now he might have a chance with Binder. I'll coin him, 'Back in Binder' for his ballet of backing it in on turns. He'll be fun to watch.