2022 MotoGP

[SoCal250]

Crazy.

Fabio is still looking food for the championship but that Yamaha is starting to show its age. The Ducati's are damn strong. I haven't spent too much time looking at the upcoming schedule but I'd want to be on the Duc at this point. Then again, I said that like 4 months ago and Fabio is still leading.

The next 2 tracks are Duc-favorable tracks

[Seizer]

I think FQ20 has an advantage in the next few rounds due to the fact that Pecco, Bastianini, Martin etc haven't ridden the flyaway tracks on a MotoGP bike. Fabio had some really good battles with MM93 in 2019 at those tracks. Now, is that familiarity enough to overcome Pecco's championship momentum and the huge Ducati advantage? Fuck, I hope so. I can't stand Bagnaia. I'm hoping for a FQ20 win but realistically Motegi is probably the worst of the remaining tracks for him.
On another note, how good is Pedro Acosta? A future superstar for sure imo.

[SoCal250]

True, I had forgotten that a few of the other guys haven't ridden there yet on the big bike. Although FQ20 has only been once and it was 3 years ago, same with Bagnaia when he and Fabio were rookies. Not sure how much of an advantage that is.

They're running a different schedule this weekend with FP1 on Fri and then FP2, FP3 and Qual on Sat. No FP4, so a little less track time for everyone.
Wonder if the weather will throw a wrench in things? Supposed to rain on Fri & Sat but looks like it will be cleared up by Sun.

Trivia: It's the 25th anniversary of the Motegi track (opened Aug 1997)

It seems that picking the podium is getting harder with each race. With that said, I'm throwing this out...
1. Bastianini
2. Miller
3. Quartararo
I had a few iterations of the podium before I finally had to settle on something. It's such a toss up! I'm sure Bagnaia, Aleix, and Marquez will also play a role in this one.

[SoCal250]

They're running a different schedule this weekend with FP1 on Fri and then FP2, FP3 and Qual on Sat. No FP4, so a little less track time for everyone.
Wonder if the weather will throw a wrench in things? Supposed to rain on Fri & Sat but looks like it will be cleared up by Sun.

MotoGP FP3 cancelled due to weather conditions. Not much track time for the top class. Only FP1, a wet FP2, Qualifying and WUP before the race.

[Hawaii-Mike]

Hope the weather clears up for tomorrow's race.

[RdsOnly]

WTF Call Cruchlow doing well Yamaha....

JT

[sav0r]

Jack was on another planet. Impressive ride from him.

[SoCal250]

(Pecco shits the bed at the corkscrew before the back straight...)

you were only off by one race on that guess  

[Hawaii-Mike]

Miller was on top today!

Pecco crashed near the end of the race.  That helped Quartararo maintain his points lead.

[SoCal250]

[sav0r]

The best is the boot soaked it up so they had to add more. I don't know if I'd want the clean boot or the champagne soaked boot, but it was cool he tossed them into the crowd.

Aussies love a good shoey.

[RdsOnly]

Jack was On....

Aprila did OK- not Alexis

Binder was a hoot to watch.


  JT

[SoCal250]

Surprising news for the upcoming Thai round. Danilo Petrucci is going to ride the Suzuki in place of Mir who's still out with an injured ankle. Apparently Ducati gave approval for Danilo to fill in.
If this actually pans out it will mean that in one year Petrucci will have ridden a KTM GP bike, a KTM Dakar bike, a Ducati Superbike, and a Suzuki GP bike.

[Seizer]

I literally shouted out when Pecco lost the front end! FQ20 was really lucky there in that he didn't get taken out by Pecco's bike. A big moment for the title hunt imo. Poor Aleix... but that's racing. Miller was on a mission. Very impressive.
Binder and Miller as teammates are kinda giving me those early 90's "Evil Empire"- Team Roberts vibes. Well...without the competitive bikes anyway lol. Definitely 2 of the top 10 riders.

[sav0r]

It was almost a Schumacher-Villeneuve moment there. Or maybe a Prost-Senna is an even better comparison? Well only one is a champion, so I guess back to Schumacher-Villeneuve, but in this analogy Villeneuve would be the crasher. I digress.

Anyways, Pecco red misted. He should have waited it out a bit more. That lunge was ridiculous. That he would throw away those points on a ridiculous move like that points out to me that Fabio is the better of the two as far as patience and long term understanding of what it takes to win a championship.

I've always felt Miller was a great rider that never quite hit the mark. When you get these little flashes of brilliance it makes me wonder what could have been. Stoner comes to mind.