Latest / B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast / Fresh MotoGP rumors on the table… and a bold look at what this season could bring in S6 Ep 05

Transcript

Fresh MotoGP rumors on the table… and a bold look at what this season could bring in S6 Ep 05 · B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast

0:26
enough? You're listening to the Be
0:36
Forever Cool podcast. My name is Rex 45.
0:40
We're in end of January. We got about 30 days for Moto
0:46
GP, less than 30 days for for World Super Bike, and then we
0:54
got Motor America starting in March.
0:58
So racing is definitely at the pro level coming back, at least
1:03
the ones I mentioned. I'm sure there's some countries
1:06
where they may be racing right at the moment.
1:09
I was fortunate to go racing this past weekend, so I'll dive
1:13
in that a little bit. It's fortunate, I think Lewis as
1:17
well, because he was able to jump on his R6 finally and run
1:21
some lap. So we're going to talk about
1:23
that. We're going to talk about some
1:24
rumors that are coming up and we're going to talk about a lot
1:27
tonight. So we're going to have some fun
1:29
in the process. But with no further ado, let's
1:31
bring the guys in. TJ, man, welcome to the show.
1:34
How you doing, man? I just jacked you up.
1:39
My bad. Go ahead, man.
1:43
Yeah. You did.
1:45
I'm doing good. How's it going, Ricci?
1:47
I'm doing, I'm doing pretty good as well, man.
1:50
Can't complain, Can't complain. As you know, my Patriots made it
1:54
to the Super Bowl. I know we mentioned in the intro
1:59
pretty often lately. So we made it.
2:02
Hopefully we got one more game to go.
2:04
I was trying to tell people, you know, just, you know, lock in
2:08
can be a fan now. So I'm happy we're here.
2:13
Yeah, I think so, man. I'm excited that the Patriots
2:16
are back in the Super Bowl. It's kind of one of those things
2:18
that I'm not going to lie, it's kind of hard to believe.
2:21
You know, it's like, you know, we're kind of like, oh, what,
2:25
five in a row, six in a row, eleven in a row, man.
2:28
And, you know, we're going to the Super Bowl now.
2:31
I mean, I think it's good for the fans like yourself and
2:34
myself. I'm more of a around the edges
2:38
kind of fan kind of thing because I don't really watch
2:41
football, but I keep I keep, I keep I keep close to some of the
2:44
stats and I know what's going on and stuff like that.
2:47
But you know, after Tom Brady left, you know, we've seen this
2:51
with other, you know, stars that have left after they've won
2:55
chips and stuff like that. And the team usually struggle
2:59
for a little bit. So let's have the Patriots come
3:02
back and and go to the go to the IT doesn't.
3:04
I think it's a win even if they don't win the Super Bowl for
3:07
them, in all honesty. But you know, so I'm excited
3:10
about that. So, yeah, so you, you're
3:12
shoveling out and you're and you're gonna make your way to
3:15
San Francisco. Man, this phone we just had is
3:19
crazy. We had like 20 something inches.
3:23
Yeah, definitely had to shovel a few times and still out there.
3:27
But yeah, waiting for this, this, this winter to be over
3:31
with. Yeah, hopefully my flight don't
3:33
get canceled. I'll be up that way tomorrow,
3:35
so. Should you?
3:37
Should be good by now. Oh, OK.
3:40
Oh, I can't speak. I didn't check the weather, but
3:42
for me, I don't think we're getting 20 inches tomorrow.
3:47
That's what's up no doubt, man. We'll keep it moving.
3:51
What's going on, Lewis, man, welcome to the show.
3:53
How you doing tonight? Good, good.
3:55
How's everything going? You know man, just, you know,
3:59
putting out fires and watching the next one start.
4:03
Sounds better, right? It's kind of par for the course
4:07
for this time of year in the motorcycle industry as well.
4:10
You know, it's constantly shuffling around, coming up with
4:13
new ideas, adjusting to changes that you didn't expect,
4:18
adjusting to riders moving to other products, riders coming
4:22
from other products, riders that were supposed to have bikes.
4:26
You know, all of a sudden saying, hey, I, I don't have a
4:29
bike. So now, you know, we got to move
4:31
the money from this guy who's going to be sitting at home this
4:33
year and see what we can salvage and try to get something to
4:37
somebody else or, you know, so it's, it's, it's a, it's a
4:41
hectic part of the season, but I kind of like it because it, it
4:44
keeps you on your toes and constantly keeps you, you know,
4:47
very alert to what's going on. So.
4:49
I enjoy it. I you, I, you have no choice but
4:52
to enjoy. I mean I, I think we, you, we
4:54
are and myself, I mean you got you got to enjoy it.
4:57
But it, it is, man, I think the more, well, obviously you've
5:01
been in it a lot longer than I have.
5:03
You kind of get used to it, right?
5:04
So you, you, you kind of move with the waves and and and and
5:08
just see what's happening. You do, I mean, but there's
5:11
always a, you know, there's always a little hint of
5:14
disappointment if somebody that you thought was going to be in
5:17
your gear at the last moment pulls out or and and it happens
5:22
for the riders too. Sometimes they think they're
5:23
going to be in gear that, you know, at the last moment.
5:26
The company tells them, Hey, you know what, we're going into
5:28
different direction because whether whether it's a team
5:31
you're with or something just doesn't align with what we need
5:34
this year. So we kind of have to move on to
5:36
somebody else. And, you know, it's, it's, I
5:38
hate to say it, it's just really is part of the game.
5:41
Just like they switch bikes and switch teams and switch
5:44
manufacturers, You know, you switch gear, you switch helmets,
5:47
you switch this, you switch that.
5:49
So this year there's been a lot of movement all over the place.
5:52
And The funny thing is everybody online who knows Jack shit about
5:56
it is an expert about it. So you get all the, you know, I
5:59
get to read all these expert opinions by people that are, you
6:03
know, dusting the crumbs off their chest while they're
6:06
sleeping on the couch because they know everything.
6:07
And it's like, come on, bro. Come on, Lord, we we need these
6:11
people. I as before he continues to put
6:14
his foot in his mouth. I want to thank everyone that's
6:18
been commenting on the platform, really appreciate it.
6:22
And you know, he, he is right a little bit some of the folks
6:27
because you know, you know, but we appreciate the comment
6:31
because you took the time out to check out what we've done and
6:34
you you took the time out to, you know, write a comment.
6:38
And I think Lewis will probably say maybe you should take a
6:40
little bit more time to think. About it, No, I, I, you know, I
6:44
have some pretty good back and forth with, with fans online.
6:48
You know, people reach out to me directly.
6:50
They DM me or whatever and I have some, you know, we have
6:53
some good exchanges. It's always like a little bit of
6:58
tongue in cheek, like, you know, I don't take anything they say
7:01
seriously. And they really seem to take a
7:02
ton of what I say seriously. Because sometimes, you know, it
7:05
just like when you're with your friends, the number one pass on
7:08
with your friends is busting your friends balls.
7:10
And sometimes they'll reach out to me to, you know, to, to bust
7:13
on me on something that I said. And you know, I'll take it like
7:16
a champ and I'll give it back, but I'll give it back and
7:18
respectful in a funny way, because we do, we appreciate all
7:23
the growth that we've had over the past year.
7:25
I mean, it's amazing how many people are tuning in and, and
7:29
seeing the pod and listening to the pod and looking at the
7:31
videos. I mean, we've had incredible
7:34
growth. And then, you know, now I when I
7:36
look around and I see other podcasts and what they do and
7:39
it's like, Hey, I think we do it a little better, man.
7:46
A little better, a little better, but you know, we'll,
7:49
we'll, we'll let them, you know, as you know, tote their own
7:52
horn. We'll, we'll leave it for the
7:53
fans to, to do that for us. And we appreciate that because
7:56
they've been some solid guys and solid folks that have been that
7:59
have been listening from day one.
8:00
And, and, you know, then like you said, you did take the time
8:03
out to DMU and, and, and send nice messages and, and, you
8:07
know, we appreciate that because they took the time out to do
8:10
that. And, you know, they could have
8:12
just hit send after they said, you know, 6 characters.
8:18
So so yeah. But you know, let's let's bring
8:21
Jordan in and, and chop it up. Jordan, man, welcome to the
8:24
show. What's good, man?
8:27
What's going on? Sorry for the lateness.
8:30
How to take care of a couple little personal things before,
8:32
you know, before we start talking stuff.
8:34
So yeah, how to make sure I got right?
8:36
Don't get to right now, you know what I'm saying?
8:40
You know, I want to be like Lynn Bias now.
8:43
We ain't doing that. We ain't doing that now.
8:44
We ain't doing that. How to take care of some other
8:48
side stuff, you know, take care of our stuff.
8:49
I have perfect, you know, perfect vision and, and, and
8:53
good clarity. That's what's up, man.
8:56
That's what's up, man. No doubt we're going to have fun
8:58
tonight, but we're going to talk a little bit about some club
9:00
stuff and some track day stuff before we dive into the room is
9:04
because, you know, Lewis was he did do.
9:07
Yeah, I'll let you tell it Lewis, rather than me.
9:10
Jack it up. Which one?
9:12
What you been up to as far as being on the track and and being
9:15
down in the Homestead? I, I actually got to go down to
9:19
Homestead to kick off the season with the Champ School and with
9:23
N2 track days. Those are two people that two
9:26
groups that we've worked with for many years now, a lot of
9:31
their coaches are in our gear. You know, the Champ School,
9:34
every, all of the coaches are in our gear from neck to toe.
9:38
Anybody that comes to the Champ School and lead needs loaner
9:40
gear. All the loaner gear from neck to
9:42
toe is Dianese and they've been a great partner because
9:46
education is a big part of this industry.
9:49
You know you need to be a well educated, well trained rider to
9:52
be a safe rider and to really enjoy the potential of your
9:56
motorcycle. If you don't fully understand
9:58
everything you can get out of your motorcycle because you
10:00
don't have the skill set to do it, you're missing out on a big
10:03
chunk of how much fun it is to get on a sport bike or even get
10:07
on a competent street bike and get the most out of it.
10:10
And, and so we partnered with them.
10:12
I went down there, we kicked off the season.
10:14
They had a full sell out the first two days.
10:16
They had a full sell out the next two days.
10:18
So it's great to see all these people willing to make that
10:20
investment in themselves. Because when you go to a champ
10:23
school day, it's not a track day.
10:25
You're you're investing in your own education because you want
10:28
to move and progress yourself as a rider.
10:31
And I had, you know, we had a couple of stunt guys that I know
10:34
that are big in the Dallas area. We had S1K MEZ and Rafa, ZX10
10:43
MEZ and an S1 KRR RAF. And you know, they came down
10:47
because I seen them doing track days.
10:49
They're you know, they're Dynase guys and I always tell them like
10:53
I critique their videos. I'm like, your throttle's too
10:55
late, your break's too early. This you're turning in too late,
10:58
you're turning in too early. You're missing the apex.
11:00
You're hitting the throttle way too late after the apex.
11:03
You're hitting the throttle too early before the apex.
11:05
That's why you're running ride. That's why so I said, look, you
11:07
know, come to do this, this champ school day because you're
11:11
going to track days, but going to track days, nobody really
11:14
sits with you and reviews like your video and reviews.
11:17
Hey, this is the way you do this and this is the way trail
11:20
breaking works. And this is how you change the
11:21
geometry of your bike. But you so they went to the
11:24
school and they were blown away, man.
11:25
And the two days they were there, nothing but you know,
11:28
smiling faces and unreal like, you know, these guys are in
11:33
super bikes and they're getting smoked by guys on MTO nines,
11:37
naked bikes. And yeah, that guys on naked
11:41
bikes are high level guys, but it just goes to show you, you
11:44
have a much better bike, but you still, if you have the skill set
11:48
to get the Max out of that bike, that's great.
11:50
And then our partnership is because safety adds to
11:53
protection. And then there's physical
11:55
protection and there's psychological protection.
11:58
Psychological, the mental aspect, you learn how to ride
12:01
the physical layer. You have to protect yourself
12:03
with the right gear, helmet, boots, gloves, suits, blah,
12:05
blah, blah, blah, blah. And so it's a great marriage of
12:07
the two. And then for N2 track days, you
12:11
know, I think they're one of the premier track day companies in
12:13
the USI mean, up and down the East Coast, they do a ton of
12:17
days. All their days are very well
12:19
run. They've been around for a long
12:20
time. They're kind of the remnants of
12:22
NESBA, which was like one of their OG track day companies
12:26
from the East Coast. And same thing.
12:28
They, you know, they give you the opportunity to get to the
12:31
track and take what you've learned somewhere else and apply
12:35
it in a Safeway. So it's just a great marriage
12:38
between our products education and then the opportunity to take
12:42
that education and put it into application.
12:44
So and then I got to ride, dude. I got to actually get on an on
12:49
my R6 and figure out you, you're not supposed to manually blip if
12:53
you have an auto blipper, because then you're double
12:55
blipping and all you're doing is making the bike go.
13:01
I'm I'm analog, dude. I've never had that electronics.
13:04
I've always blip, chip, blip chip, blip.
13:08
All right, man, but you know, welcome to the 21st century.
13:12
I know. So it was like getting out on
13:16
the track for the first time in a long time because that
13:18
happened to me this past weekend as well.
13:21
So what was it like to be on the track doing track days?
13:23
And you know, did you? How quickly did it take for your
13:26
brain to catch up to how fast you wanted to go?
13:30
The hardest part was getting used to the bike.
13:32
Yeah, it's this is only the second time I've even ridden
13:35
this bike and it's the first time I've ridden it with the
13:38
quick shifter, auto blipper. I've had quick shifters in the
13:41
past, but auto blippers I've never had.
13:43
So it's like a whole new like, wow, this will make me like
13:46
110th faster after I figure it out.
13:50
But I won't have to blip myself. So but you know, I mean, if you
13:55
know the technique of riding, you know, you can go to any
13:57
track and you can put corners together.
14:00
And once you understand, I put corners together and how to be
14:02
in the right gear, because that's the other thing, an R6
14:05
and a GS XR600, the RPM range and the power range are so
14:09
different. Where normally I would go into
14:11
this corner in second gear on a Gixxer, I have to go into this
14:15
corner in the first gear on an R6 because I need to get that
14:17
RPM way high up. But now as soon as I get on the
14:20
throttle, you know, I got to be ready to shift because this bike
14:23
is going to wheelie out of the corner.
14:25
And so again, different dynamics, but within, I'm going
14:29
to say 2 sessions, three sessions, I was, you know, right
14:32
up to speed. And I didn't go into the
14:34
advanced group because there was nothing but sharks out there.
14:37
I mean, there was a who's who of like 17 year old, 18 year old,
14:41
19 year old Motor America kids that bounce a lot better than I
14:45
do. So I wasn't trying to, I wasn't
14:48
trying to go full throttle. I just like, you know what?
14:51
I'll stay right here for this weekend.
14:53
Yeah, you got to get in when you fit in, man, for sure.
14:57
What's the question for you? What year was that?
14:59
That or 6. To 20/14/2014 so you already had
15:04
auto. Blip on there or you added on.
15:05
There. No I had it added.
15:07
The guy is not Thank you. KWSKWWS tuning in Charleston.
15:13
Yep, MM took the bike in for me. Gave it a once over, really did
15:17
a great job. You know if anybody ever wants a
15:20
quality tuner in the area, Mike is the guy.
15:24
Mike took the bike apart, I mean just did everything I I would
15:29
normally do the bike, but he did it much better than I would ever
15:32
do it to the bike. Yeah, I've been yelling at Mike
15:35
a couple times. God bless you, Mike Golden.
15:38
You know, he's a great crew chief.
15:39
Well, he got yelled or I got yelled by him a couple times
15:42
because I had my bike serviced by another unqualified mechanic
15:49
that that was not up to his par and told me he was like, if
15:52
anybody touches your bike ever again, I'm not doing your bike.
15:56
And I'm like he. He you know, I've known this for
16:00
a long time, but just because a a a place has a Dino doesn't
16:04
mean they know how to map a bike, correct?
16:06
And doesn't mean they know how to tune a bike.
16:08
It just means they had enough money to go to Dynojet and buy a
16:11
dyno, correct? Correct.
16:14
Yeah, Mike has has schooled me a couple times and quick, Long
16:19
story short, I was getting some stuff done with my R6, my 2007,
16:25
and I had my bike sitting right next to Jake Zemke's Formula
16:31
Extreme. His bike was sitting right next
16:34
to it because I didn't know that Mike worked on Jake's bike also
16:40
Jake all the Jakes. So I'm like, is that?
16:44
And he was like, yeah, it's like, but is that it?
16:46
He's like, who else's would it be?
16:49
And I'm like, oh, OK. Yeah, there's a we'll, we'll
16:54
probably do a podcast about like the different tuners up and down
16:57
the East Coast and around the country that are like the top
17:00
well known tuners. But if you're going to spend 2
17:03
or 3000 bucks to get your bike done, there are realistically
17:07
maybe 22 dozen places around the US that are probably the places
17:13
you want to go to for specific jobs, whether it's suspension
17:17
jobs or tuning or race prep or so forth.
17:20
You know, and you know, save yourself, it might cost a little
17:24
bit more upfront, but you'll save yourself a lot of money in
17:27
the long run going to somebody that's.
17:30
Absolutely. I agree with you.
17:31
Top tier. I've only deal with a handful of
17:34
those guys. I don't know if T JS dealt with
17:36
a couple of them, but Mike was one of them.
17:40
I'm not going to go down the list.
17:41
Like I said, that's another podcast.
17:42
Yeah, yeah, there's a couple people there.
17:45
Yeah, yeah. No doubt.
17:47
So yeah, we're going to. We're going to keep it moving.
17:50
You got one more thing to add? No.
17:52
No, we're going to do rumors. Yeah, I'm going to talk about my
17:56
racing 1st and then we get to, I mean, you know, I, you know.
17:59
How'd you do? You didn't.
18:01
You didn't actually go into that.
18:02
How? How'd you actually first?
18:04
Did you enjoy it? Doesn't matter how you did.
18:05
Did you enjoy it? Like this face?
18:09
I, I think I, I did enjoy it like I, I, you know, any
18:12
experience that you have at the track, as long as you're not,
18:16
you know, rolled away or wheeled away on a ambulance, I think
18:18
it's a, it's a good one. So I, I did enjoy it.
18:23
I think, you know, last year was a lot easier.
18:25
We had fewer issues last year on the team I was on and we were
18:29
able to come away with a trophy last year.
18:32
This year we had, I was on a different team on a Ducati
18:38
Monster, which, you know, first time racing a Monster, which is
18:41
great. So I was excited about that.
18:42
Looking forward to that. One of the one of the not a
18:46
problem for the other three riders, but those guys had me by
18:50
100 lbs. Just imagine what that
18:54
suspension was like for me. So you know, yeah.
19:01
So you know, it's like, you know, it's like running wide at
19:04
turn 1, running right at this turn because as soon as I hit
19:06
the brake, the bike would just stand up and and just want to go
19:10
straight. And.
19:11
And then we had mechanicals and. And anyone knows what endurance
19:16
racing you got the bike has to survive, you know, and, and so,
19:22
you know, the, the second race we finished first race we did in
19:26
because we have bike issues. We're able to rally, get the
19:29
bike together to go race the second race.
19:32
And you know, it's running out to get parts and coming back
19:34
and, and, and all that fun stuff and, and being able to get out.
19:37
So, you know, that part of it is cool because it's, it's, it's
19:40
different, like spreading Sprint racing where, you know, 8 laps,
19:43
you're done, 5 laps, you're done or whatever the case may be.
19:46
This is 3 hours, this is fatigue.
19:48
This is, you know, mental toughness, talking yourself on
19:54
the ledge when you're ready to pit and you're like, come on
19:56
man, you got a couple of laps in you and you're debating out
19:59
there kind of thing the elements because it was a little bit
20:03
chilly out there as well. It rained and stuff.
20:06
And then so the bike finally died in the main 5 hour race and
20:10
you know, we tried our best to get it going and you know.
20:14
We, we got it, you know, it broke several times and you
20:17
know, every time we got it back out there except for the last
20:19
time. And, and so it's, you know, look
20:21
until next year, it's, you know, I'll probably be on a different
20:25
team with lighter guys on these guys decide they want to shave
20:29
about 75 lbs and maybe I'll gain 25.
20:33
But you know, it, it's nice to be back at the racetrack.
20:37
It's nice to see the racing family and connect with people
20:39
that you haven't seen in a long time and stuff like that.
20:42
And I'm looking forward to more race.
20:44
And you know, for me it's the beginning of the season.
20:47
Hopefully I'll, you know, the plan is to go racing in in March
20:50
to attract a next month, continue racing, but this is
20:54
less enduring stuff for this year.
20:56
But next year, you know, we we we need to we need to be forever
21:00
cool team guys. And you know, TJ, you might have
21:03
to come on down. I don't know, Jordan, if you
21:04
want to, you know, chop some weight in lieu, but you guys can
21:08
be. And I'm. 170 I may look fluffy,
21:12
but I'm 170 and I still hurt people's feelings.
21:17
I got an R1 now, but I still hurt people's feelings.
21:19
I'm like they're, they're dying in there and I'm like, dude,
21:21
come on, let's go, let's go. Oh no, I'm tired, blah, blah,
21:24
blah. And I'm still going through
21:26
laps. So dude, I'm I'm ready for it.
21:28
Yeah, you know, so I'm definitely excited then doing
21:30
stuff is cool because it's it's a it's a different, it's a
21:33
different animal. And, and you know, when you,
21:35
when you're racing for a while and you know, you've
21:38
accomplished some things, you, you look at different
21:41
opportunities and, and places to challenge yourself.
21:43
And you know, I, it's going to be a long time before I can do,
21:47
you know, hour and a half stint on a bike straight.
21:50
So I think that challenge is going to be out there for a
21:52
little while. So it's, it's exciting, so.
21:55
This is your first time, I'll tell you what it's doing.
21:57
Before right, you'll be off. Work.
21:59
No, this is on a this was on a Ducati Monster that one of the
22:02
other guys that he was his team and he built so yeah.
22:06
So it was, you know, lightweight.
22:08
So this is a Sapirano race. It's the biggest bike you can
22:12
have is like a lightweight bike like AR 7 or you know,
22:16
SV650R660, the Zuccotti Monster. Or you could run the lower
22:21
classes like a 400 or the 300 class.
22:24
So you let Duke be. Qualified for that too, right?
22:27
Say again. So wouldn't the Duke be
22:29
qualified for that for the 6:50? Which Duke?
22:31
The one I have. No, it's the 6:50.
22:35
Oh, the yeah, the 650 duckwood clock qualify too, but the 8 the
22:39
1100 is going is going to give you more power than the yeah,
22:44
no, yeah, yeah, yeah, the the so yeah, not the the the twin 1100
22:47
like the monsters, not like the not like the 1190 nines or
22:52
anything like that. Give me a call I got.
22:58
My suit ready. Alright, listen man.
23:00
Alright, alright, listen. As long as you make the make,
23:02
make the weight. That's it.
23:08
I ain't got to worry about that. Yeah.
23:10
Yeah, yeah, whatever you rice and beans.
23:15
You know what I'm saying, it doesn't matter how fast you go,
23:17
as long as you can make the weight, the suspension's going
23:19
to work for you and you know, we'll have two bikes.
23:22
So that way if one break, you know, we'll you know, we'll have
23:25
another one. Hopefully we don't break both
23:27
and, you know, have some fun. I'm.
23:30
Down. I'm down, no doubt.
23:33
No doubt. It's not a room of people, but
23:35
it's time to move into the room, you know.
23:40
So what's the, what's the latest rumor from I'll start it off.
23:45
And I, I, I, I feel a way about this as I was thinking about it
23:50
earlier today. Is it, is it, I, I, I know you
23:54
guys have seen the comments from Vinales talking about how much
23:58
he's improved as a writer from Lorenzo.
24:02
Is Lorenzo the writer whisperer? Like what?
24:06
What's happening? Is it a bit too soon to be
24:07
giving him credit where a race hasn't started yet?
24:10
It hasn't been happened. I don't know if everybody saw
24:13
the videos. I've just seen the videos from
24:15
Vinyalis where he's got his his like his Honda 600 and he's
24:19
doing some really tight turns and he's going like really slow
24:22
motion on on these little mini tracks.
24:26
So impressive in that way, the way he's able to show how how
24:33
how the bike can move and how fluid the bike can actually be
24:37
in slow speeds, dragging knees and taking really, really tight
24:41
turns like that. So the average person who sees a
24:44
motorcycle do that, they be like, how does he do it?
24:46
Oh my goodness, I, I don't think you could do that.
24:50
But to the, to the riders like me, you, TJ, everybody else, but
24:53
kind of be like, you know, if you know how to set the bike up
24:56
and you know how to do certain little tricks and stuff, it's
24:59
not that hard. Now I know he's been working,
25:03
Vinyalis has been working with him.
25:05
He was supposed to be working with another Spaniard and
25:08
somebody else. So to say that he's the the
25:11
whisperer, I don't think so. I think he's just got down to, I
25:15
think he's really doing the fundamentals again because he's
25:19
been doing such good, decent work.
25:22
Sorry, didn't want to use good, decent work for the past couple
25:26
years, even stemming from Yamaha and Suzuki.
25:29
You know, now he's kind of like, you know, he hasn't got the,
25:32
he's kind of just slacks a little bit on the basics.
25:37
And I think that's what he's trying to teach him is get back
25:40
to the basics, learn the bike, how to maneuver it without doing
25:47
extra stuff or relying on just the motor.
25:51
If everybody knows I'm talking about relying on just the motor
25:54
to do what you need to do on the bike, and then you get a whole
25:58
lot more results. So what backwards for him?
26:00
No, but I think my veniology is definitely just getting back to
26:03
the basics. Got you.
26:05
OK, so East. OK, TJ, what are your thoughts?
26:08
I mean, you know, I, I heard what Jordan said and you know,
26:13
I, I don't think he quite answered the question, but you
26:16
know, he did it. He did it.
26:17
He did say no. But like Vinny Allison's giving
26:20
Lorenzo a lot of credit right now on social media and we
26:24
haven't seen anything yet. And outside of his crash last
26:27
year, he was one of the strongest KTM writers.
26:31
So you know, when we say improve on, he was already, for a guy on
26:36
the first year on a bike he was already riding, he's a top KTM
26:40
guy. So what are your thoughts TJ?
26:44
Yeah, I mean, I don't think like the The Whisperer, but I think
26:48
he's just given the motivation a little bit because, yeah,
26:54
Maverick was a good rider last year.
26:55
He didn't have a strong year. It was hurt.
26:58
But I think, you know, he's probably just very motivated
27:01
about going into the season. I have seen his like workouts
27:06
besides riding, he's been in the gym doing like arm pumps and
27:10
like and chest twist and all these exercises that we really
27:14
don't do. But he's been, he's been showing
27:19
video that he's been working hard.
27:20
I know all the other riders are doing the same.
27:22
They're probably just not putting out the footage, but
27:26
definitely Mavericks ready for this season.
27:28
I'm sure that he's going to be one of the top KTM riders.
27:31
As you know, that's that's another thing too.
27:35
Got you, got you. What do you think about Lorenzo?
27:38
You know, and his sweaters and and sipping on the cappuccino
27:41
while he's teaching. I mean, Lorenzo is a good rider,
27:47
but he he's probably just feeling like, yeah, like, you
27:50
know, people can listen to me and and, you know, first of all,
27:54
Mavericks going to have to perform in and, and, and show
27:58
that he can win. And then then he can probably
28:00
sip his cappuccino though, if he starts winning.
28:02
But I think he's been a little too early all.
28:06
Right, Lewis, you're going to balance the scale here, A.
28:08
Little I think Lorenzo's got a little Mr. Miyagi going right
28:15
now with his cappuccino and his sweaters and just watching
28:18
everybody else do the work. And he's like wax the car.
28:21
I'll be back. So this this project with
28:24
Vinales is not like a stand alone thing.
28:26
This is actually part of like Lorenzo's starting his own
28:29
Academy, that JL99 performance Academy, so similar to like the
28:34
Rossi VR46 Academy and kind of what Mark is starting to do with
28:38
a certain Spanish riders. Lorenzo's also trying to keep
28:41
his relevancy in the sport by maybe mentoring, tutoring, and
28:45
I'm probably even managing somebody's up and coming riders
28:49
because this is the best way to stay relevant in the sport and
28:52
also make an income. I mean, not the Lorenzo's
28:55
hurting for money, but more money never hurts.
28:58
I mean, that's capitalism. So he can get some good riders,
29:01
put him under his belt, teach him the way.
29:03
And Jorge Lorenzo is still one of the most, I think, underrated
29:10
champions of all time. You know, I think because he
29:13
happened at the same time of Rossi and Marquez.
29:16
We look at certain races that Jorge Lorenzo had with Rossi.
29:19
And even Marquez. And Stoner and, you know, those
29:25
guys were the aliens. But you know, once he kind of
29:29
left the sport, you know, he didn't carry on as much cachet
29:32
as a Rossi and a Marquez. Kind of the same thing with
29:34
Stoner. They kind of disappeared a
29:36
little bit, but he's been very active in announcing, he's been
29:39
very active in Moto GP on the Spanish announce team as a
29:43
commentator in different broadcasts.
29:45
So he still stayed relevant and I think he picked the right guy
29:48
because if there's one thing Lorenzo was really good at is
29:52
Lorenzo is a very strong minded rider.
29:56
Like he couldn't break his will. And what's the one thing?
30:00
The one knock on Maverick Grignales?
30:02
That dude folds faster than an over caffeinated Chinese
30:05
laundromat like I. I got to say Lorenzo is one of
30:10
the riders probably with #3 top five rider that's riding like
30:15
with broken ankles. And.
30:17
Collarbones and still finish like top five, yeah.
30:21
No, no, no, the dude was. The dude was.
30:23
As much as people used to knock on him off, he's not good in the
30:26
rain. He's not.
30:27
That dude would ride with broken collarbones, ride with broken
30:31
ankles, fractured wrist, ulna bones that have fractures.
30:34
This like the dude would just mentally tough it out.
30:38
And because of the way he rode, you know, I think his style is
30:42
very much like a Vinales style. Like Vinales is a very smooth,
30:46
very accurate rider. He uses a lot of edge grip.
30:49
That's exactly what Lorenzo would do.
30:51
And I think it's good that one Vinales went to look for help
30:55
from a top rider. Because sometimes as good as you
30:57
think you are, turning to somebody that's better than you
31:01
is not a bad thing, Especially if it's somebody that's going to
31:04
make you mentally strong. Because Vignales is is strong on
31:06
the bike. He's always been strong on the
31:08
bike. It's just he's got it.
31:10
He's a little bit of a head case.
31:11
You know, he's going to either be at the very top of his game
31:14
or something throws him off, He gets pissed off and he's trying
31:17
to blow the motor on your bike, or he's trying to do this, or he
31:19
doesn't want to ride. Or, you know, the valve stem is
31:22
3/4 of a turn too loose. So the bike is unrideable.
31:24
Like whatever it is. Like the dude finds ways to get
31:27
in his own head. Excuses.
31:30
Yeah, but these are excuses that, you know, these are the
31:33
kind of excuses that erode your confidence because you actually
31:37
start to convince yourself what I'm saying is right, even if
31:41
it's not right, you convince yourself.
31:42
So I think him teaming up with with Jorge is for all the
31:48
benefit of the world to Vinales because Vinales was the number
31:51
one KTM guy before he got hurt. He was the only guy that was
31:54
consistently doing well and they were starting to take his data
31:57
and apply it to the other guys on KTM because he was the only
32:01
one that was making the 8 KTM go fast.
32:03
And then towards the end of the year, you saw Acosta got faster.
32:06
Acosta didn't get faster because he figured it out.
32:09
They just saw what my Vinales was doing it and hey, bring that
32:13
over to me because I can't fix a bike for shit.
32:15
But obviously Vinales knows something that I don't know.
32:17
So make my bike like his and let's start from that platform
32:20
and go forward. And then towards the end of the
32:22
year, same thing. Finiala started getting better.
32:24
The only two guys that really struggled throughout the whole
32:26
year were Binder and. Fashionini and.
32:31
And even Fashionini. Yeah.
32:35
He was. If he didn't crash, he would be
32:36
up there. But he.
32:37
Yeah, you. Know so I you know, and then the
32:41
other rumor that we're hearing about Mignales particular is
32:44
that he's already signed a contract for 2027 to be the
32:47
factory KTM guy taking Acosta spot, possibly taking Bender
32:52
spot. But for all intents and
32:53
purposes, a lot of people are saying that he's taking Acosta
32:56
spot because Acosta has already signed a deal with Ducati to
33:00
race for the VR46 teams in 2027. Right.
33:05
And and so guys, as as you heard Lewis, I'll put it to you too
33:09
and I'll probably chime in afterwards.
33:12
You think that you think he's already signed Is, is, is this
33:15
just a rumor and or is this a done deal?
33:17
I mean, everything looks good for Vinales if he is signed to
33:21
have a really good 26 season. I don't.
33:26
Think. So OK, why not?
33:32
I think it's too early. I mean right about now.
33:33
I mean people are still, I think all the seats are done.
33:37
Quote me if I'm wrong besides like one for 26.
33:41
So I mean to speak about 27 on the right, about 27.
33:45
This is 26 and this is 2728 you're talking about.
33:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so to to start work, not
33:52
say worrying about, but to write off, you know, the rest of this
33:55
year already be like working on, you know, we're nowhere near,
33:59
you know, 27 silly season, 2728 silly season.
34:02
So it's kind of like, yeah, I think it's more of a rumor.
34:05
Maybe he wants to project something out, but I wouldn't.
34:10
Yeah, I wouldn't. I don't, I don't think so.
34:14
I, I think it's going to happen. I mean where I mean where is
34:23
Maverick going to go? He's not going back to Yamaha.
34:25
I mean, like he's ruined a lot of relationships.
34:28
Also, you know, like he like Louis said, he's a head case
34:31
sometimes so he can develop a nice relationship with KTM
34:35
Odyssey. He's developed a bike, made it
34:38
go faster. I feel like they can count on
34:40
him to, you know, be one of the leaders, obviously, if they're
34:45
going to lose Pedro, because they most likely is relying on
34:49
Pedro to be a good writer and developer leader.
34:52
So I think that, you know, it's it's a good chance that, you
34:57
know, Mavericks just committed early, you know, like some
35:00
writers like even like Fabio, like he's committed with Yamaha
35:04
for so long. So I just don't see where
35:06
Mavericks next move would be if he on into 2027.
35:11
So I think that would be a good idea for him to just mark a
35:13
contract. In my case.
35:16
Yeah, I, I, I do think it's, it's, it looks good.
35:19
I mean, everything lined up for it.
35:20
So I, I think it is a seems to be a done deal.
35:23
He could stay with tech three if he if, if in worst case, he I
35:28
think Honda would still be an option for him.
35:30
And I think going back to Aprilia could be an option for
35:32
him because he's the one that just left based on how they
35:35
handled thing. But when he was with Aprilia, he
35:37
did win with Aprilia. Did they think that one back?
35:40
I don't remember. Was it the KTM one they took
35:42
back from Maverick? I don't remember.
35:44
But you know, I'm saying he, he, he was not that Aprilia riding
35:48
really well. So I don't think that the
35:50
relationship with Aprilia is so much severed as him just saying
35:53
I'm just just not going to sign because of what y'all did.
35:56
So I, I think there's some room for forgiveness there.
35:59
You we saw top rock come to Moto GP with Yamaha and he left
36:03
Yamaha to go to BMW and we're all super bikes.
36:06
So they didn't hold that against them to bring him back in.
36:09
Granted, obviously, you know, top rack one of the title and
36:11
stuff like that. So I, I, I as much as a rumor, I
36:15
think that one makes sense, you know, to go on then you know
36:20
what you guys think about, you know, Acosta being signed and
36:24
you know, if, if he is signed, is it, is it, is it the factory
36:28
seat or just the factory contract with Ducati 'cause it
36:32
sounds like that's the only place he would be going.
36:34
If he's leaving KTM, start with Louis.
36:40
I don't know. I don't know if Pedro Acosta
36:42
will get a factory seat. He'll if anywhere he goes, he is
36:45
going to get a factory bike. But he, you know, he's one of
36:52
the writers that has more opportunities than anyone else
36:55
because Yamaha is probably willing to sign him.
36:58
Ducati is probably willing to sign him, Honda is willing to
37:01
sign him and Aprilia is willing to sign him.
37:03
So really he just needs the right seat for his ass and the
37:08
right number in his pocket. Because, you know, if I'm going
37:11
to go to a factory team, I expect more pay.
37:13
I expect more perks. I expect more of this.
37:16
I think he really wants to be on a factory bike and a factory
37:20
team, not just a factory bike, because there are additional
37:22
perks when you're on a factory bike on a factory team versus a
37:25
factory bike on a satellite team.
37:28
Come on man, I managed to live at home with his mother and
37:30
father. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, he wants
37:32
to move out at some point. He needs that extra cheddar.
37:36
He's being, he's being frugal for now until he, you know, he's
37:39
not just blowing it all on Ferrari's day one because he
37:41
signed a contract. He's being frugal.
37:45
I think Pedro Acosta has, of all the riders out there outside of
37:50
Mark Marquez, Pedro Acosta has the world as his had his feet.
37:53
All the other manufacturers want him.
37:55
There's no manufacturer that doesn't want Pedro Acosta on
37:57
their bike. I think Honda is a big, big it
38:03
is. Some people might think it's a,
38:04
it's a Black Horse. I think Honda is probably the
38:07
leading place for him to go. Honda's always been very
38:10
Spaniard friendly. Honda's always been a company
38:14
that wants to get Spaniards on their bikes.
38:16
You know, their team is kind of set up around the Spanish
38:19
system. I think Yamaha maybe has an
38:22
opportunity. But you know, we've seen the
38:25
struggles of Yamaha and Honda's improving much faster than
38:28
Yamaha. You know, Honda is moving
38:30
further up in the ranks faster than anybody else.
38:33
Aprilia is there now. But is Aprilia going to keep
38:36
both both Martin and Bizecki? They'd be crazy to get rid of
38:40
Bizecki after the season he just had with them.
38:43
So, you know, if I was Aprilia, I'd be trying to sign him
38:46
immediately to make sure he stays on Aprilia for multiple
38:49
years for multiple reasons. One, he's an Italian on an
38:52
Italian bike. You know, that's branding.
38:54
You need that. Martin has already kind of shown
38:57
his cards and if, you know, if I had to choose between the two of
39:00
them, Martine would automatically get cut just for
39:02
being a twat. You know, he, he, he acted like
39:05
an asshole. I would cut him just for that.
39:08
So if I can get an Acosta to come take the place of a Martine
39:13
Acosta that's going to come in super hot, want to be the best,
39:16
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I would cut Martine in a
39:18
heartbeat and bring in Acosta and probably save myself, you
39:21
know, a couple 1,000,000 bucks by doing that.
39:24
All right. So again, I'm just looking at
39:26
things. I look at things as quantity,
39:29
quality, dollars and overall value.
39:34
And that's how you know, I draft.
39:36
And and that, you know, you're right, Acosta can't go anywhere.
39:39
So it really is going to be I, I and I assume he wants a world
39:43
title. So it's going to be anyone
39:45
that's going to be able to give him that title or, you know,
39:48
give him what he needs to get that title.
39:50
You know, I've seen Zarko says, you know, hey, and I've been
39:54
saying this all last year and I said Marquez should have stayed
39:56
on the Honda. But Zarko says, yes, the Honda
39:59
can win. If if Marquez was on the bike he
40:01
he had, he would have a good shot of fighting for the
40:03
championship. And I, I felt the same way.
40:05
And so that he's like us, we got to believe the same thing that
40:08
this bike is a champion bike. So it's possible that a
40:12
championship bike. So it's possible that Acosta
40:14
could jump on a Honda and and take that bike to on a
40:18
championship, because the Honda's running pretty good.
40:20
What do you thought? So that's Jordan on that, on
40:22
Acosta, where he's going to land.
40:24
Does he is it is the the the world is his oyster and he can
40:28
just do whatever he wants. I was kind of agreeing with with
40:32
Louis when he first started saying it's like Acosta can
40:36
almost pretty much go wherever he wants to.
40:38
Another person that I was thinking of that has kind of
40:43
like the world that his oyster was Alex.
40:46
You know, he's done really good in the past couple years and
40:49
mostly runner up this last year. So I mean, he could him, Acosta
40:55
and Alex can pretty much almost chew pick and choose where they
40:59
want to go to what team they want to ride.
41:02
And I don't think if they do get a factory seat, yeah, there's a
41:08
big difference between a factory seat and a factory ride.
41:12
They can pretty much pick and choose and be like, hey, I can
41:15
pretty much get you to the to the stepping stone or to this
41:18
milestone. Given the quantity of ride I
41:22
have and the dollars in my pocket, I can pretty much, you
41:27
know, write a check and say, yeah, I can get you from point A
41:31
to point B. So I mean, it's really depending
41:34
on what he's really needing. If you need a particular bike or
41:40
a particular ride or maybe something that he's looking for
41:43
specifically developmental wise, not say chat wise, but
41:48
developmental wise and direction wise.
41:50
And then be like, hey, you know, I need you to meet me at this
41:54
place. And if, if they all say yes,
41:56
then it's pretty much going to be a choice between who he wants
42:00
to ride with, who he wants to go with.
42:03
But yeah, I would definitely say the, the, the, the world is, is
42:06
oyster. All right, all right, all right,
42:09
I'm, I'm liking the Saints down of that.
42:12
Do any more rumors that we want to want to bring up before we
42:15
kind of talk about, you know, the next 4 weeks and what that's
42:17
going to look like between practice and the world Super
42:21
bike and Moto GP starting? And you know, as far as, you
42:26
know, if Acosta is, you know, the guy that's going to be
42:29
probably the first to move and then all, you know, the rest of
42:33
the players will move around for 2016.
42:36
I mean 20162027 And you know, as, but let's go back to what
42:42
Jordan said. Is it, is it too soon to, to, to
42:45
sign those riders at, at at this point versus wait until the
42:50
summer break and and see what's what, you know, any rumors we
42:55
missed you guys? Nothing.
42:59
There's any rumors we missed? No, I mean, those are the two
43:03
biggest rumors that are out there right now.
43:05
I mean, you're going to see a lot of crazy rumors coming up
43:07
over the next little bit. I know that the on the world
43:11
super bike side, everything is pretty subtle except Andrei
43:14
Yonone. It looks like he's having a
43:15
financial. Crisis.
43:18
Financial crisis similar to our to our boy from last year that
43:22
got went back to BSB. Not reading.
43:26
Yeah. And it looks like now Yonone is
43:30
the next one there. And there's some rumors that if
43:33
he can't get a ride, he might end up in the Bagger GP Cup
43:37
Championship series. So he is going to, he might get
43:42
back to Moto GP. It'll just be on a 800 par on
43:44
Harley-Davidson. So I don't think it's exactly
43:46
the way he thought he was going to get back to GP, but he might
43:49
be in the paddock on that bike. Other than that, you know
43:52
everything else right now is just speculations.
43:55
Yeah, I, I, I, you know, I don't know how that happened with the
43:58
baggers, but it seems like, you know, if they have that series
44:02
and it's not like four Americans on baggers, that is a problem.
44:06
Right now there's only one American that I know of on a
44:08
bagger in the GP series. You know, would you rather?
44:12
Go to more America then. Now I talked to, so I talked to
44:17
Kyle Wyman and you know factory, you know factory initiative is
44:26
win the championship in Motor America on a bagger.
44:30
That's. The that's the number one rule
44:33
of what he's got to do, so he's 100% committed to winning the
44:38
championship on the Harley here in Motor America to keep the
44:41
Harley flag at the top of the list.
44:43
Indian is having some financial issues because of the change in
44:47
ownership. They're actually going to be
44:50
closing their plants in, I think it's Michigan or Wisconsin.
44:54
So about 200 people are going to lose their job because they're
44:56
closing the the plant here in the US for Indian.
45:00
And they make other parts for other Polaris products, but you
45:02
know, mainly Indian and I think Harley is, you know, trying to
45:06
reassert their staple as like the premier performance twin
45:12
bike in the US. You know, they've had some
45:13
struggles over the past few years.
45:15
A lot of dealerships have closed over the past 3-4 years for
45:19
Harley-Davidson, but they've got some new management and some new
45:22
people at the top, some new leadership that has a very
45:25
different view of how to do things moving forward.
45:27
So I think Harley is really, really focused on the US market,
45:30
on winning that championship. And I'm growing this year
45:34
because the entire GP Bagger series is all Harleys, There's
45:38
no Indians. It's literally the Harley Cup.
45:42
So they're investing huge in this because they also see the
45:44
global market for Harley-Davidson as a massive
45:47
market. So they're all in on racing and
45:50
getting their name out there so. I said that a couple episodes I
45:53
mentioned. That Cal Wyman should have an
45:56
automatic bid because like since since since the bag has started
46:02
in Moto America, like he's been there since day one.
46:05
I mean, I feel like he's helped improve, help build the series.
46:09
And a lot of people have, they're doing devils now.
46:12
You know, it's just like, I feel like, you know, obviously you
46:16
got to win a championship, but I just feel like it, where are
46:19
they getting these other riders? Like he should be another
46:21
American if he's not already on the list to participate.
46:25
The way I look at that is the way when the Olympics come
46:30
around, do you want to send your very best basketball players to
46:34
win an Olympic gold medal and maybe blow out their knee and
46:36
fuck up the entire this year and next year?
46:39
Yes. I'll keep I'll send all the the
46:45
the the the B league, J league college guys.
46:48
But then you don't you don't have the dream team and you
46:51
don't have if you don't do that, yes, you should because that
46:56
that's you know, you only, you only know now anyway.
46:59
So there's no guarantee if you sit out, you're going to make it
47:02
through the season. We see that with the NBA and and
47:04
they're trying to manage people's time and they still
47:07
tapping out early. Yeah, that's because they soft
47:09
as hell now. You know, I, I, it should, but
47:14
we'll see. You know what I mean.
47:15
I think, you know, as we're trying to as, as the sport is
47:18
growing, growing back and, and, and trying to in America, I'm
47:22
trying to be more trying to get to the same status as world
47:26
super bike and Moto GP. Because you know what, just from
47:30
talking about the previous races back in O six O 7 and stuff like
47:35
that and Americans and and the way people talked about AMA, you
47:40
know, it's it's a different tone than than the commentators now
47:44
when they talk about Motor America and and BSB and some of
47:48
these other leagues, for lack of a better word.
47:54
I I think depending on how the series does this year, because
47:57
again, this is the first season that they're having this series,
48:00
depending on how the feedback is around the world to the bagger
48:04
cups and to the bagger racing, you might see a Kyle Wyman and
48:09
Raspoli and some of these other Americans that are doing really
48:13
well here in the US and kind of built the sport.
48:15
I mean, Kyle Wyman is was the test crash dummy for the
48:18
Harley-Davidson. You know, they developed the
48:20
swing arm, they developed this, they developed that.
48:22
You know, they took what was a bagger and made it into a race
48:25
bike. And now they've been able to
48:26
build a race league around what their team built here in the
48:29
USI. Depending on how this goes this
48:32
next year, then you might see him participating in 2027 and
48:40
you might see more Americans participating in 2027.
48:42
But I think also Liberty Media wants, obviously they want more
48:46
Americans to race, but they don't want just Americans in the
48:49
Bagger Cup. They really do want Americans in
48:51
Moto 2, Moto 3, Moto GPI mean they put out a bounty.
48:55
Any team that's willing to sign an American will get like
48:58
$200,000, you know that. That's their commitment to try
49:04
to get. Dude.
49:05
I mean I I'll come into that last lap my ass.
49:07
I'll definitely decide whatever you give me.
49:12
You're the numbers guy. Come on.
49:13
Shouldn't it be like 5? Five I ain't worth 5 bro 200 to
49:19
race is way more than I'm worth. I'm not talking about you
49:23
specifically, I'm just talking about an American, no.
49:26
But it if you think about it, if you put an American on a Moto 2
49:29
bike right on a Moto 2 bike to to feel the Moto 2 bike for a
49:33
season, you're probably looking at like 1. 160 That's what Josh
49:39
was telling me, 160. No, I'm, I'm talking for the
49:42
entire season, travel and everything else, you're looking
49:44
at close to 1,000,000 bucks to have a Moto 2 bike, go to every
49:47
single round, have the gear, have this, have blah, blah,
49:50
blah, blah, blah. So if I can say, hey, you bring,
49:53
you bring this American guy in, you automatically have $200,000
49:56
against your $1,000,000 budget. Now you only have to come up
49:59
with another 800,000. You can bring that up with
50:02
sponsorship and so forth and so on.
50:03
Or maybe the American rider also brings another sponsor that
50:06
brings another. So anything that brings down the
50:09
total cost of getting somebody out on the track is always an
50:12
incentive to like a Moto 3, Moto Two team, a Moto G team.
50:15
On the other hand, 200 grand, that's not even the tire bill
50:18
for the first like half of the season.
50:21
For bike. No doubt.
50:27
So OK, let's talk about, you know, you pick your pick of the
50:32
top five writers for the for the season.
50:36
Who you guys looking to see I think is going to be, you know,
50:39
I'll give you 5. I don't want to say 1 because
50:41
it's hard to pick. So I'll give you at least five,
50:44
you know, to say, alright, this is my guy for the year.
50:46
I think he's going to do this and why, whether it's contract
50:49
related or just it, it's this time because they're, they're
50:53
seasoned and, and or they just, you know, you know, maybe the
50:56
juju is gone because Oliveira is out and maybe Mobideli is, is
51:00
the guy. So what are your five writers
51:03
that you think is going to be in the top five for 2026?
51:06
We who needs who, who who wants to go first?
51:08
I'll make it easy. Oh yeah, I want to go first,
51:14
huh? Well, I'll give you guys all the
51:16
time to think. I'll I'll do the be a public
51:19
service. Well, can we just all agree #1
51:22
is going to be Mark Marquez? Because I don't think there's
51:25
any doubt it's going to. Be up there.
51:28
So I think both of them is going to fight for it.
51:31
Sorry, say again, I think. It's going to be Alex or Mark or
51:34
#1. Well, I mean, let's think about
51:37
it and just give me a reason and why and not, you know, I don't,
51:41
I, I, I don't think Rossi's going to, I mean that Rossi, I
51:44
don't think Marquez is going to be in my, in my top.
51:49
You. Crazy TJ, go ahead, blow it up.
51:54
I mean, top five, yeah, you know, that's that's pretty hard.
51:57
But I definitely, I won't I won't start with Mark.
52:01
I got to say Bazecki. I definitely want to see Marco
52:05
Bazecki get off to a good start. He had a really good season.
52:09
I don't know if it was expected, but he definitely had a really
52:13
good season and I'm sure he can carry that on.
52:16
So I'll definitely say Marco Bazecki.
52:19
Obviously Alex Marquez is definitely going to be firm,
52:24
right? And so I expect him to be top
52:26
five along with his brother Mark.
52:30
Then I would got to say Fabio. I know they're developing the
52:33
B2, the Yamaha. I just want to see the
52:37
improvement. The B4, sorry, I just want to
52:40
see the improvement, especially in his commitment.
52:45
And I think he just deserved it, especially all the polls that he
52:48
pulled out last year. I mean, obviously it's a
52:50
different bike, but I want to see him up there.
52:53
And last but not least, I've got to say, I mean, I mean Petco, I
53:02
guess, you know, I didn't want to throw him in there.
53:04
I mean, Petco is definitely a good rider, champion.
53:07
I want to see him up there. It was between him and I'll say
53:11
my team, but obviously he's hurt again so.
53:15
Let me sorry, let me get your list.
53:16
Let me get your list one more time.
53:18
You said the. Suckies.
53:20
Alex Marks and Pekko. Fabio.
53:25
Fabio. Quadraro nod the.
53:28
Champ. Yeah, yeah.
53:33
He's Rex is going to say this at the end of the year, he's going
53:35
to come back. Well, no, so actually what I'm
53:38
going to do and I'll I'll before you guys chime in and give me
53:40
some more time to think about it.
53:42
So we we're going to have be forever cool award and and so
53:47
we're all going to pick our races and we're going to be
53:50
scored based on the position. So like, I guess I don't know
53:53
how fantasy motorcycle racing work, but you know, if your
53:56
rider finishes second, you'll get 20 points.
53:59
If he finishes third, you'll get, you know, the points like
54:02
how they will get on the an actual scoring and we'll cut it
54:05
all up at the end of the year and somebody will get a beat
54:08
forever. Cool trophy.
54:12
Nice. So so this is the test run.
54:13
But so we we got so all right, That's that's so did you say OK,
54:18
Fabio, Gin, Antonio or Quadrara? Quadrara.
54:21
And. And then you said Petco is the
54:24
last one, Number five. Yeah.
54:26
All right. All right.
54:29
Who's up next, Jordan or Lewis? What was the numbers?
54:34
Guy, so I got AI got AI got to go mark right at the top of the
54:42
list. I mean you know he's got a lot
54:45
going for him. He was by far the most effective
54:50
rider all of last year. You know, he, he killed on Omar
54:54
Vezzi every Sprint. If he can keep the same
54:57
momentum, he's going to be very hard to beat.
55:00
And he's got that little extra incentive that now he's finally
55:03
got a shot to surpass Valentino Rossi in the all time win or
55:09
championship championships and and tie, you know, get to get to
55:16
10 championships. So I think Mark's got a lot of
55:18
going for him #2 is Bizecki. I think that he just came on
55:24
super strong last year. He finally melded with the
55:26
Aprilia and after he melded with the Aprilia, there was
55:30
definitely benefits because you saw Fernandez start to get
55:34
faster in the Aprilia and and everybody benefited from what he
55:37
did. Then I have Vinales.
55:41
I think Vinales is, is going to be, if he continues on form that
55:47
he had last year when he really started to get the ATM working
55:50
the way he wanted it. And if Acosta was able to kind
55:54
of you get the KTM a little bit further.
55:57
I think the Alex can go a lot further on the KTM this year.
56:01
I think he's got a lot to prove. And then with the he's coming in
56:05
really hot. Then I have Alex Marquez.
56:09
He didn't finish the season strong.
56:11
Like he kind of fell apart the last like 5-6 rounds of the
56:13
year. However, you know, he was stride
56:17
for stride with Alex with Mark and Alex were stride for stride
56:20
for almost 3/4 of the season. And there's no reason for me to
56:24
think that he's not going to come in this year as prepared as
56:28
he came in last year. And then my, my out-of-the-box
56:35
kind of long, long shot or dark horse is going to be, I'm going
56:46
to go Fermin, Fermin Aldeguer, I'm going to put a young guy up
56:50
there. I think Furman showed some real
56:53
flashes of brilliance this year. And considering, you know,
57:01
coming into the season, a lot of people weren't expecting a lot
57:04
for him because he kind of his Moto two career kind of just
57:08
ended because he, once he got the contract for Ducati, it
57:10
didn't seem as committed to Moto 2.
57:14
But I think he showed that, you know what, the kid is fast, man,
57:17
and the kids not scared of anybody on the track.
57:21
I mean, he'll bang bars with anybody, you know, I think those
57:25
five guys are going to be the five guys.
57:30
OK, OK. I like that.
57:32
It's it's a little Ducati heavy, but you know, I don't see Yamaha
57:35
doing Jack shit this year. Quadraro is going to try to ride
57:39
the wheels off the bike, but you know, they're still saying that
57:42
the bikes not as good as it could be.
57:45
Mir and Marini, I don't think they're going to do much on the
57:48
Honda as good as the Honda's getting Zarko.
57:52
Zarko he'll do OK. The new guy in the Honda, he's
57:56
going to find the Kitty litter a lot on that bike this year.
57:59
So he's going to get used to that.
58:01
And then on the KTM squad, you know, I don't, you know, outside
58:05
of Vinyalla is that, you know, I think Acosta is going to be just
58:08
looking for the door more than anything else.
58:12
OK. All right, yeah, I guess I got
58:16
to do my list now. OK, I see.
58:19
Well, I'll start with Bez. I think we all got Bez on as as
58:22
a as a good a good shot. So Bez is a good, Bez is solid.
58:27
I have nothing but nice things to say about Bez Happy for him.
58:31
I think the second I got Acosta, I think Acosta what he finished
58:34
third in the championship last year, fourth in the
58:38
championship, 4th in the championship.
58:40
And I think if he didn't crash out as much, I think he's up
58:43
there. I'll put Vinyalas as well,
58:46
because Vinyalas, I think he's going to come back healthy and
58:48
strong. And I got Mayor, although, you
58:53
know, I, I, I think he's, he's found his winning ways, even
58:58
though he didn't really win but got on the podium, But he, he,
59:01
he, he was a lot happier at the end of the season versus the
59:05
prior years with Honda and stuff like that.
59:07
And I think that's enough motivation.
59:09
And here was Zaco's comment. I think those guys believe that
59:12
the Honda on the maybe not every, every track, but the
59:16
Honda has a shot to at least come away with some more wins
59:21
this year than last year. And then I'll put Frankie on on
59:25
on on the podium. Podium, Frankie up there.
59:28
And the reason I put Frankie up there because he's on the 24.
59:32
These guys are going to be on the 26th.
59:34
We don't know what the 26th looks like yet and until we
59:36
actually see it in action, we thought the 25 was going to be
59:40
an awesome bike and only Mark could ride that bike really
59:44
where Mobideli is going to be year 3 on this 24 year three, I
59:49
think it's year 3 on a 24 bike. And, and I think if he can get
59:54
out his own way and he needs, he needs a seat.
59:57
So he has no choice but to be a good, good Mobideli and and not
1:00:02
get in trouble and not get in trouble by the, you know, by
1:00:05
race direction or anything like that.
1:00:08
And, you know, so it's so, you know, with that said, guys, I
1:00:11
mean, you know, I, I, you know, go ahead.
1:00:17
Wait, wait, wait, you you didn't mention.
1:00:19
Petco No. No Anyone.
1:00:23
Hold, hold on. I I wish.
1:00:25
I wish Reese was up here. I wish.
1:00:29
Oh, man. Smitty was up here.
1:00:31
Oh, my goodness. It's a miracle.
1:00:35
Oh, yeah. I don't know.
1:00:37
This is. You know, and I, I would have
1:00:40
picked Ferminaldiguere as well because he has a shot.
1:00:44
But the 26th Ducatis, we don't know what that looks like yet,
1:00:47
so I'm not. He's don't trust Paco in 2026, I
1:00:50
see. Mark, Dijon, Antonio and Alex.
1:00:55
I mean, it's not like how I don't pick the guy.
1:00:58
You still give the guys Flack. Yeah.
1:01:06
I've moved on and and I'm still getting and he and listen, man,
1:01:10
look, I, I don't know what's going to happen with Ducati yet.
1:01:13
You know, test is, is one thing. We'll see it in action.
1:01:17
Obviously, you guys are all right.
1:01:18
Marc Marquez is is, is the favorite to win because he's
1:01:23
Marc Marquez. And you know, there's no
1:01:26
Valentino Rossi, there's no Lorenzo, there's no Casey Stoner
1:01:32
in the, in the, in, in the paddock, in the paddock.
1:01:34
And, and that's, you know, those are the guys that are built.
1:01:38
They were built to stop him. And these guys, they, I know
1:01:41
they're going to try, you know, for sure.
1:01:44
The ones that we listed off, we know, we know they're going to
1:01:46
try for sure. And all of them are going to
1:01:50
try. But you know, we'll see what
1:01:51
happens, man. It's going to be a fun year.
1:01:53
So I think it's a good list. You know KTM got a shot well,
1:01:57
Venialis and Acosta and and as a shot.
1:02:01
I'll give. You my list.
1:02:02
What's yours, Jordan? I'll give you my list real
1:02:04
quick. I think Alex is going to, I'll
1:02:08
be Mark. I've got something like I said,
1:02:11
Alex, Mark, Zacky. I'm thinking about Petco, but I
1:02:17
I'm really going with Acosta. I think he's going to have that
1:02:24
rookie season out of the system and really be able to put some
1:02:29
things together. So that's my top four and my
1:02:34
fifth one I'm, I'm kind of on the fence with, but I'm thinking
1:02:39
Zarko, OK. I.
1:02:42
Just, I just have a feeling Zarko has surprised me a couple
1:02:46
of times and I'm not mad about it.
1:02:48
So I'm, I'm, I'm liking the French and the other Frenchman.
1:02:53
So yeah, Zarko is going to be my #5.
1:02:56
You know, and I would like like, I'm a fan of Zarko, as you guys
1:03:00
know, and I, I think that's a good option too.
1:03:02
Zarko, I think Zarko has a shot. I also think Luca has a shot
1:03:05
too. I do think Honda has a shot.
1:03:07
I mean, I think when we finished last year, you know, obviously
1:03:11
we we're just talking so it's not like what we say is etched
1:03:14
in stone. So but you know, from looking at
1:03:18
last year, you know, you know, we've seen that you don't have
1:03:22
to win every race to win a championship.
1:03:24
So you know, it's it's it's going to be who have the the the
1:03:29
best setups and who have the best luck that weekend as far as
1:03:33
the things lining up the right way for them to get through
1:03:36
that. And and you know, I think if
1:03:38
when everything lines up, it's it's fun to watch.
1:03:43
Moto Jpi agree. I definitely agree, I can't wait
1:03:48
for the season to start. They're still around the corner.
1:03:52
Yeah, yeah, literally. And I know they're still doing
1:03:54
shakedowns and stuff and they're still doing testing.
1:03:57
So more videos and more pictures going to be coming out almost
1:04:00
daily. And then as as the more they
1:04:04
practice and the more they hopefully don't get injured, I
1:04:08
don't want to see anybody get injured.
1:04:09
I want all my riders to be healthy.
1:04:11
So when the first flag drops, then we'll be able to see some
1:04:16
real competitive racing from start to finish.
1:04:20
You know, it's good to see some racing where, you know, some
1:04:23
riders kind of break away a little bit, but then, you know,
1:04:27
I I'd rather see it kind of bar to bar a little bit more than
1:04:31
what they have been when KC and Valentino was checked out either
1:04:36
Mark, not mark, Mark Marquez and and Jorge Lorenzo was just
1:04:41
checking out. It's kind of like, OK, we know
1:04:43
who's going to win. You know, grab the chips, grab
1:04:46
the, you know, see who's watching football now because we
1:04:50
already know the race is over. So can't wait.
1:04:53
Can't wait. World Super Bike does start
1:04:56
before Moto GP, just essentially 11 weekend before for weekend
1:05:02
before Phillip Island. You know, we got a lot of young
1:05:07
motor former Moto GP riders in in World Super Bike.
1:05:12
The grid looks I, I mean, I think there's at least 10
1:05:14
riders. I know Bulaga is the runaway
1:05:16
favorite. I don't know what it's like when
1:05:19
you kind of, you know, have one foot in Moto GP and, you know,
1:05:23
and, and, and showing up in high school.
1:05:25
I remember when I was young and I was hanging out with grown
1:05:27
folks. And then when I go back to high
1:05:29
school, I was kind of like, what am I doing here?
1:05:31
You know, there's no fun here anymore.
1:05:35
So that could be a little distracting.
1:05:37
And how much energy, you know, you put in the classroom
1:05:39
because, you know, you're dreaming of somewhere else.
1:05:42
So well, you guys thought, son, you know, you know the you know,
1:05:46
I know some cat is hurt. I think there's another rider
1:05:50
that's hurt as well. But for the most part you got
1:05:53
Gardner, you got it's Stefano Manzi that's moved up from super
1:06:01
sports and and won the title. So that's a very stacked team.
1:06:04
Both those guys are killers on that Yamaha squad, Petrucci and
1:06:09
Oliveira. Oliveira has a lot to prove.
1:06:12
I think Petrucci does as well because I think Petrucci
1:06:14
probably felt he probably should have gotten a factory Ducati
1:06:17
seat and that wasn't offered to him.
1:06:19
And he's been a loyal Ducati guy forever.
1:06:22
But those guys are on the BMWs, you know, and and you got Ika,
1:06:28
Luka Ono and Chabi Chabi Chabi on ABI Yamaha and Ika on the
1:06:34
back three feet. So, I mean, and that we're not
1:06:36
even talking about Jake Dixon. We're not talking about the
1:06:39
Lowells brothers, you know, and and and some of these other
1:06:42
faces that that are in Moto G World super bike.
1:06:45
What are your thoughts on, you know, how you see world super
1:06:47
World super bike shaping up for the season?
1:06:51
We'll start with TJI. Mean, I can't wait.
1:06:55
It's going to be it's going to be a good season.
1:06:56
I just want to see who's going to be.
1:07:00
Obviously we we see Pula good going to be the top guy.
1:07:04
I want to see who's going to challenge him throughout
1:07:07
throughout the season. I'm excited to see Miguel get
1:07:11
out there and yeah, it's just going to, it's just going to be
1:07:15
a good season all together. Everyone, a lot of everybody is
1:07:17
on different teams. Garrett Gerloff, I know he's on
1:07:21
the Kawasaki, not much improvement, but it's just
1:07:23
always decided to see him out there.
1:07:27
So yeah, I I just want to see who's going to be putting the
1:07:30
fight out with Bulgar. If Bulgar can stay healthy
1:07:33
throughout the season, and the worst of It's going to be a good
1:07:36
year all. Right, All right.
1:07:40
You want to jump in Jordan, Jump in Jordan.
1:07:43
Barn burner, that's all I'm going to say.
1:07:47
Barn burner it is going to be and I say a toss up.
1:07:51
I see Louis looking at me Crazy. Yes.
1:07:53
Well, I thought you were talking about the Marnie team.
1:07:55
Yeah, I thought you were talking about somebody named Bonner.
1:08:00
Barn Burner New. York accent, Houston, my New
1:08:07
York got to got to dumb it down. It's going to be crazy.
1:08:14
I would say almost every weekend.
1:08:16
It's not going to be a walk in the park for Bulliger, for
1:08:22
Trucci. What's that little Spaniard guy
1:08:26
#19 gosh, I always forget his name.
1:08:28
Alvaro. Alvaro Bautista, he's going to
1:08:32
be up there. He's trying to get #1 back on
1:08:33
his bike, on his Ducati. So I'm like this, this is not
1:08:36
going to be easy. He's.
1:08:39
Not. He's going to be.
1:08:41
For last time, he's going to be winning.
1:08:43
The He got a better chance of winning gold in women's
1:08:45
gymnastics, bro. Real talk, he's going to lose
1:08:51
weight. He is a little.
1:08:54
Tasmanian. Yeah, he's a little Tasmanian
1:08:57
devil so I think it's going to be really tight and the first
1:09:01
couple of races is not going to be do justice for anybody in the
1:09:06
championship. It's going to be a fight.
1:09:09
Yeah, I, I agree. I I do think it's going to be
1:09:11
it's, it's going to be a fight. I I think Ikalukuona man, I mean
1:09:15
that guy he used to son all. Of.
1:09:20
A Yeah. He's he used to son those guys
1:09:24
in Moto two, bro. He's like, I was going to say he
1:09:29
is Nicola Buliga's biggest competitor is the guy right next
1:09:34
to him in the garage. Look, I think people, you know
1:09:39
Honda, I can't believe Honda let him go or, or I don't know how
1:09:45
much Ducati was willing to pay him to get away from Honda.
1:09:47
But in either way, Honda lost a big opportunity because that
1:09:51
dude is, you know, when I see him ride, I'm like, there's some
1:09:55
guys that just stand up that have that that extra sauce that
1:09:59
nobody else has. And he's that dude that got that
1:10:01
extra sauce, man. I think if anybody's going to,
1:10:04
yeah, if anybody's going to bring the heat to Bulaga is
1:10:08
going to be the dude right next to him in the paddock is going
1:10:10
to be Ikalakawuna, man. The Barini team, you know,
1:10:15
Albert Bautista is still in a Ducati, but you know, for the
1:10:18
last few years he used to complain Ducati is not working
1:10:21
for him and he was on the factory bike.
1:10:23
Now he's not on the factory bike on a on a non factory team, but
1:10:28
on the same bike. You think it's going to get
1:10:29
better? It ain't going to get better,
1:10:31
man. Baldessari is another guy.
1:10:36
This is the ex Moto two guy that nobody should sleep on because
1:10:40
this dude can ride, man, and he's not a Ducati.
1:10:46
This dude can ride. And anybody who thinks he can't
1:10:48
ride they they're, they're in for a treat because if he does
1:10:51
get that bike under him, you're going to see him.
1:10:54
There's a you know, this guy was one of the top prospects at VR46
1:10:57
when he was in Moto 2 for a reason, you know, and I've seen
1:11:00
him racing in the Italian Super Bike series.
1:11:03
This this guy has talent, talent through the roof.
1:11:07
Petrucci is old. People are going to realize the
1:11:11
BMW is not as easy to ride as top rack made it out to look.
1:11:15
It's got a ton of power, but top rack squeeze a lot of that bike
1:11:19
that most people can't squeeze out of the bike.
1:11:21
Anybody that raced the BMW will tell you it is it's a bike that
1:11:25
wants to kill you. If it's not helping you win,
1:11:27
it's trying to kill you the entire time.
1:11:29
You know, this is this is the exact way Cameron Beaubier
1:11:32
described his BMW. He's like, I either go fast or I
1:11:37
survive it trying to kill me. That's how I win.
1:11:39
There's there's no in between with that bike.
1:11:43
But Oliveira, I think is another dude, super talented, got a lot
1:11:48
to prove. And if he can get the best out
1:11:50
of the BMW, he'll be up there. Locatelli, another killer, you
1:11:55
know, can can the Yamaha do it? Can the Yamaha, you know,
1:11:59
squeeze 110th of a horsepower mower out of a old ass bike,
1:12:03
maybe add an extra wing, whatever it's going to take to
1:12:06
like, you know, get it to to work as some of the faster
1:12:10
tracks? Because it you know, that was
1:12:11
the biggest downside to the Yamaha man, is you get a fast
1:12:14
track and I don't think you have you getting stretched by BMW in
1:12:19
a Ducati. If you just put a wing like a
1:12:22
propeller on the back to give you.
1:12:24
They need a they need a propeller, need something to add
1:12:28
instead of downforce, they need forward force.
1:12:32
Put a sail, put a sail or something.
1:12:36
Anything. They can get you a little bit
1:12:37
more age mph, but no, it's a stack.
1:12:41
It's a stack grid, man. There's a lot of talented guys
1:12:44
here. I don't think there's anybody
1:12:45
here that doesn't deserve to be here.
1:12:47
Kawasaki has a new color green that should help them new
1:12:55
Kawasaki bold new graphics. They're they're, you know,
1:12:58
they're using the GSXR model of introducing a new bike, bold new
1:13:02
graphics. Hey, man, listen, listen, I love
1:13:05
the Kawasaki man 'cause watching the old Moto GP races and see
1:13:09
how long Kyrie was in it for and they were starting to find their
1:13:13
way, their footing and they dominated, you know, World Super
1:13:16
Bike with Jonathan Ray for so long.
1:13:18
And, you know, they could, you know, I'm not saying they're not
1:13:21
going to close their doors at some point, but they could have
1:13:23
also left jump ship a long time ago.
1:13:25
And they're in a space where they're still showing up and
1:13:28
they're still trying to, you know, be top.
1:13:31
I don't know 5. Well, I give them props.
1:13:33
I mean, they're not Suzuki, Suzuki's nowhere to be seen on
1:13:36
the starting grid except the parking lot.
1:13:38
So, you know, you know, so Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, 3 of
1:13:46
the top 4 Japanese are still doing it.
1:13:48
BMW is doing it, Ducati is doing it.
1:13:51
I mean, the only team, the only bike that we're missing from
1:13:53
World Super bike is Aprilia. But Aprilia has put all their
1:13:56
eggs in the Moto GP basket. So they just don't have the
1:13:58
bandwidth to make a, a world Super bike or they don't want to
1:14:02
make a world Super bike. You know, they're happy with
1:14:04
what they're doing, but as far as like entertaining, I, you
1:14:09
know, I still believe between the two race series, you see
1:14:14
more competitive racing in Super Bike because for the most part,
1:14:17
the bikes are a little bit closer versus seeing the parade
1:14:21
laps that you see at Moto GP where, you know, a handful of
1:14:24
guys get out front by 2-3 seconds and then they just
1:14:26
maintain it. And then you see a couple of
1:14:28
passes in the last few laps as the tires drop off.
1:14:31
Whereas in World Super Bike you know, you can see some really
1:14:34
good racing from beginning to end, non-stop guys competing to
1:14:37
the last lap. So I I like both.
1:14:40
I mean that Moto GP is like Formula One.
1:14:43
I love it because of that technology.
1:14:45
But if I want to see bar banging and excitement I usually watch
1:14:48
Moto 2 and World Super Bike and we're super sports.
1:14:51
And BSB. And BSB, yeah, those, those guys
1:14:54
are crazy too, man. I couldn't.
1:14:56
Do it. I was going to say those tracks.
1:14:59
Those tracks are small. Well, not small, but like now.
1:15:02
Racing hallways, man. I ain't going to lie, man.
1:15:12
Hi, fellas. Well, we have covered the
1:15:14
rumors, We have covers what's to happen next week.
1:15:17
We're covering the 2015 season of Moto GP and what we know what
1:15:23
we don't know and what really happened.
1:15:27
My name is Rex 45. It's the be forever cool
1:15:30
podcast. I want to thank everyone for
1:15:32
liking subscribing, commenting, showing us love wherever we go
1:15:38
and you got you buck up on us as as us Jamaican like to say it's
1:15:42
all love and and we appreciate all the feedback, the good, the
1:15:45
bad and everything in between. Do not throw anything on stage
1:15:49
is all I ask. We got we got Jordan Long from
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Jordan Long Racing. We got TJ from 2 Wheels and
1:16:00
Coffee. We got the real Luis Ortega the
1:16:02
numbers guy. Peace.
1:16:04
Take care. Come on.
1:16:05
Puppy. Come on, puppy.