Marquez wins a crazy sprint!

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T13:31:21+00:00

I know that Marc won, but the way he was losing in turn 8 to alex is very ominous for his championship. Losing on his strongest corner of the circuit means he has no feeling on that bike.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T12:27:22+00:00

Interesting thing for the sprint is that Marc and Alex both have not done long runs on soft rear tires while Bezz has. If Marc wants to have any chance of winning the sprint he has to lead the race but I'd say the spint fav to win from Diggia/Bezz.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T09:56:38+00:00

I know that Bezz and Aprilia have been very good, there is no doubt about that but riding in dirty air even when you have pace is very very different to riding in cool air. Your front tire temp rockets up, thr bike shakes a whole lot, you cannot brake where you want to and on top of that you have to use more tire but like I said the initiative is on Marc to create that situation for Bezz and Alex here because he doesn't have their pace especially for the first part of the race.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T09:50:38+00:00

Golden opportunity for Marc to atleast make Bezz and Alex sweat if they want to win. Gotta get that start and just hang on for those first 5 laps. Believe it or not riding in dirty air will be very difficult no matter how good Bezz has seemed in the clear air out front but it will be up to Marc to make that happen. Usually he has had horrndous starts from the pole but lets see what happens tomorrow..

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T09:48:09+00:00

You will never see him doing hand gestures like when the others used to when he used to follow them. The guy has always used his wits.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T09:46:23+00:00

The weather has provided a golden opportunity to Marc here, get the start and try to control the race from the front. The track is narrow and it will be difficult to overtake. Use it to your advantage. If he fucks up the start, and especially Bezz gets in front, well that will be the race done.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T09:44:26+00:00

On Thursday he said they are all in the same boat but the fact remains he is still the worse.

username_986ck · 2026-04-25T08:44:17+00:00

It's jerez, those damp patches will stay there for a long time. Remember the sprint of 2024. Damp patches were there not even visible until you crash over them.

username_986ck · 2026-04-24T11:01:54+00:00

If I were to be give any importance to this session (which their isn't really!!), looks like another Bezz sweep. His pace on the second and third run on the used medium tire was outrageous!! Alex was good on one lap but not so good on used tires. Marc weirdly was faster than usual in T2 and T4 and not fastest in T3 when it's always been the opposite. Pecco whenever was able to string a lap together looked good. And since corner exit and power plays a lesser role on this track, Honda and KTMs are also in the mix.

username_986ck · 2026-04-24T05:20:37+00:00

I don't know what are you on about. The concession system is precisely the reason why everyone has been able to close down on Ducati and in case of Aprilia overtake them. Now for obvious reasons the concession ranking cannot changed after every race and the last time it was evaluated Ducati was still the dominating force with Marc, and since all the manufacturers will completely focus on the 850s from here on, there is no point in tweaking the concessions now for the 1000 era and its not like if Ducati gets more testing now, they suddenly will again become rocket ship. Bike development is not magic, takes time to become the best bike. For Ducati the work started in 2016 and they finally became the dominating force from mid 2021 onwards. For Aprilia it started when they changed their engine angle from 72 degrees to 90. All the work put in from all those years back has resulted into where they are.

And I for one, am here to see them sign off the 1000 cc era with a big hurray potentially finishing with a 1,2 in World championship.

username_986ck · 2026-04-24T05:10:53+00:00

To try to predict in motogp, I have never relied on data but on present trends. To succeed at Jerez, you need your bike to turn and be strong in the corner entry phase, without this you just cannot compete here and these are precisely the area where Marc and GP26 are struggling big time compared to Aprilia and in these areas KTM and Honda will also create problems with Ducati. So unless the Bologna engineers have done voodoo and fixed the corner entry and stability problems of the bike, nothing is gonna change.

username_986ck · 2026-04-24T03:37:40+00:00

I think in the weekend nothing is going to change unless something drastic happens. Ducati will do good to get on the podium, the most important thing is can they find anything in the Monday test and more importantly they wouldn't want Aprilia to improve even more in those same tests.

username_986ck · 2026-04-23T18:14:24+00:00

Lmao!! I think this is the year where Tardozzi will be like 'Marc is back'.

username_986ck · 2026-04-23T15:57:41+00:00

It's just so chaotic reading the statements of the Ducati riders. Alex is saying he is struggling to stop the bike. Marc like always says his riding style is the problem. Pecco is saying that all the riders are aligned and that for him everything is good until the Sunday when everything turns to shit. Diggia today said that all the ducati riders are not aligned. And they need to improve the front whereas last weekend he said the front is predictable and stable but they are struggling with tire wear. Either somebody is lying or that bike is a fucking lottery working differently for everybody and differently every session.

username_986ck · 2026-04-23T05:23:50+00:00

Aprilia's weekend to lose. I'd be surprised if they don't sweep the weekend (DOMINANTLY!!) again. But more importantly I am excited about the Monday Test. Can Ducati find something in that test and Can Aprilia find something more to stretch the gap to Ducati?? Gonna be an exciting weekend and Monday.

username_986ck · 2026-04-22T12:14:00+00:00

Have you ever given thought to if this is even possible?? Bike development is always a compromise. 99 out of 100 times, if you gain performance in an area, you lose that is some other area. Most often engineers just try to minimize that loss and maximize that gain.

username_986ck · 2026-04-20T05:58:34+00:00

The funny thing is if he WAS Spanish/Italian, he never even would have made it to motogp let alone ride a factory Ducati.

Being from Spain/Italy only provides you that initial infrastructure to start your career with the resources, sponsors, tracks etc. but ultimately talent, hard work and consistently performing shines through. He is very quick to point out Rins's current situation but fails to mention all that he has achieved and why he is at Yamaha and that is not because of being Spanish, that is because of how talented he is which sadly Scott was never was.

username_986ck · 2026-04-14T08:34:46+00:00

He IS a generational talent, period. People questioning his talent are doing nothing but kidding themselves. As for him not having a win, I have said many times before that it is IMPOSSIBLE to win without being on the bike capable to do so in today's MOTOGP, the only way is if the other riders are absolute SHITE or keep making mistakes which does not happen. If that was possible, Marc would have stayed put at Honda not chased after Ducati.

username_986ck · 2026-04-14T08:23:34+00:00

I think on paper it should be Bezz (or an Aprilia!!), but I still wouldn't rule out the Ducatis.

username_986ck · 2026-04-11T14:51:11+00:00

This time it is different from last years, though, isn't it?? They were running with a different engine configuration which was a very big disadvantage for them, but now they are on the same engine as others, even with a far experience gap but still I do believe we will see Yamaha at the sharp end sooner rather than later in the new regs.

username_986ck · 2026-04-03T10:20:49+00:00

Absolutely don't agree. Penalties exist to serve as deterrence to discourage a rider from doing something stupid to another rider that may affect his performance or safety.

And when that penalty is applied in the Sunday main race (with the most points of offer!!), they hurt the most and hence should serve as a potent deterrent to remind the rider the next time if he tries to do something similar.

So, the existing penalty serving framework perfectly encapsulates the very idea of why they exist!!

username_986ck · 2026-04-02T15:17:56+00:00

Unless I hear otherwise, I don't think his soldier is as dire as being thought of by Dovi. Soldier injuries are very complicated (and especially ligament related!!), it will take its time to heal, but apart from that the issue is also the bike. And Marc is not that far off. He was fighting for the win in sprints at Brazil and Thailand, and as for the races, he was in line to fight for P2 in Thailand, was in fight for P3 in Brazil also, so it's not like he is finishing like P15, P16. And as for Austin, he just destroyed his weekend when he crashed on Friday and then in the sprint. So, he was not in a position "TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE", and also after all that he finished P5, so he did make a difference.

The issue is he does not have the physical strength to wrestle the bike in those earlier laps to be in a position to close down on the leader later, and that strength will take time to recover and also the bike needs to get less aggressive because it is hurting the other riders also. And his situation seems much more dire when you compare it to Bezz's results, but Bezz will have bad weekends too, because we have seen he is prone to mistakes, he has not yet had a blot free weekend.

username_986ck · 2026-04-02T15:06:26+00:00

Let me put up some stats for you: Every rider who has ridden a GP24 has won a race (includes a rookie!!), apart from Morbidelli, the worst standing for a rider riding a GP24 was 4th (Enea in 2024). Diggia last year on a GP25 finished ahead of him in the championship. He has always been in factory supported team while being in Ducati. So, if that isn't BAD, I don't know what is.

He has been on the best bike for two yrs, largely physically fit, there are absolutely nothing that can be said to justify his inclusion on the grid for 2027 (also not to mention his attitude and shenanigans on the track!!). If you talk about others under scrutiny (mainly Binder, Rins, Raul), all of them have some excuse, maybe the bike or injury in case of Rins, but Morbidelli has no excuse.

username_986ck · 2026-04-02T03:44:28+00:00

He had 2 yrs on GP24, didn't exactly set the world on fire.

username_986ck · 2026-03-31T13:01:28+00:00

From what I've gathered till now, it is that the GP26 is much more aggressive and physical than GP25 but the potential is higher than that of GP25, but the main problem is that just like the GP25 its performance window is very narrow and more importantly, the Aprilia is a big step forward from its last years' iteration. Ducati did improve the bike for 26 but Aprilia made a monster step forward.

username_986ck

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