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The Motorsport Brief - Australian Grand Prix Preview with Beattie and Birty · Rusty's Garage

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A listener production.
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Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, an Australian Grand Prix view with some of the best two-wheel racers in the world, now down under and ready to take on the island.
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G'day everyone, Rusty here.
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Hope you enjoyed the great race at Bathurst last week.
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For this edition, we switch to MotoGP.
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And for the preview, we'll be joined by two of the best in the business.
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Former 500cc GP winner and a good friend in Daryl Beattie who's standing by.
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And so is the voice of the sport in Matt Byrd.
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We'll spend 10 minutes or so with each of them and I'll launch into that in a moment.
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Quick plug for a recent couple of feature episodes too.
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I keep getting messages, especially from rally fans and constituents on Ed Ordinsky.
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Thank you.
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A fantastic three parts to that one with the former Australian champion.
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Some very cool Mitsubishi memories after his stellar career with them.
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And the legends...
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on a course that he did in his early days that helped shape him to the great driver he became.
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And a two-part chat with Fox Sports host Jess Yates that dropped in the lead-up to the Bathurst 1000 from her early days around Supercross to working at Speed Vision and ultimately driving the coverage of supercars, MotoGP and F1 for Fox Sports.
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And make sure you check out the Bathurst episode
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of Drivers Only, featuring the winners of the 1000, from Erebus, Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazlewood, along with the 2010 Supercars Champion, James Courtney.
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Some very cool conversation there.
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Let's get to our first guest.
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No matter where you catch the MotoGP coverage this weekend, it's very likely you'll hear this man.
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He writes about it, talks about it and posts about it too, at BertieMotoGP on Instagram and X or Twitter is where you can find him.
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Matt Burt, welcome to Rusty's Garage.
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Welcome to Rusty's Garage.
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Thanks very much for having me, Greg.
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Beautiful morning down here on Phillip Island.
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Just got a great view out of our country box window.
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Clear blue skies, clear blue ocean.
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Fingers crossed it's going to stay like that for the rest of the weekend.
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Absolutely.
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Busy back end of the season for you, Matt, and for the sport.
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All rounds are obviously important in this game, but how pivotal do you see Phillip Island being to the ultimate title outcome this year?
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Yeah, Phillip Island always has that sense of being pretty significant in the final wrecking of the championship, Greg.
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I mean, this weekend, big kerb ball, big unknown resurface of the track, which is going to really throw up a challenge for the riders.
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And of course, we always get amazing, intense, close battles here.
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So it's not just...
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each other that Pekka Baguio and Huy Marti have to focus on.
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There are so many other names that get thrown into the hat here this weekend, but as always, hopefully we're going to get another Philippine thriller because they tend to be classic races, but as you say, counting down towards the back end of the season, every point prices out for these guys.
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Can we just focus, maybe get some observations from you on the, let's call them the two key title fighters.
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I know it's probably a little broader than that.
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Let's go Jorge Martin first, right?
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Leading by 10 points.
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What have you seen of him this season, Matt, that is perhaps different to, say, last year?
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It feels perhaps tamer or, as one colleague reflected, maybe more consistent.
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Is that how you see things?
3:16
Yeah, I think Jorge has definitely added consistency to his game.
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We've always known right from his start in Madrid, he's had lightning, blistering, raw speed, one of the fastest guys in the world.
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But I think this year it's a different beast, a different animal that Jorge Martin is bringing to the party.
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He's seemed a lot more relaxed, a lot more mature.
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He's used the experience of last year, the hurt from last year when he just came up short.
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in the championship battle.
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And I think, I buy his admission at this stretch last season.
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He was not enjoying it.
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He was not able to handle the pressure.
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It was a new scenario for him.
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He wasn't sleeping.
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He was having nightmares about it.
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This time around, Greg, you get this thing.
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He's a lot more relaxed, a lot more serene.
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He knows almost what to expect.
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And he's in his hands.
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I mean, it could be a case of now or never for Hawaii.
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We know that he's moving to Aprilia next year.
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The Aprilia is certainly not at the level of Ducati right now.
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So this could be the best chance that Hawaii is going to have to be a GP world champion.
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Pecco Bagnaia, let's go there.
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Won eight Grands Prix, I think, from memory.
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But he hasn't necessarily been top of the points as often as you would expect for the victories that he's chalked up this year.
4:27
Is being the title chaser, and given the experience, the value of the experience you've just talked about, is that the kind of key asset in his arsenal going into these final few races?
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Yes.
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Yeah, I think so.
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And I think you just get that impression from Petko that he seems to be the more sort of calmer, the more relaxed of the two because he's been here, he's done it, he's got the t-shirt and he's also got the silhouette as well.
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Yeah, he knows exactly how to deal with these situations.
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He went all the way down to the last round
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in 2022, all the way down to the last round in 2023.
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It looks like that's the way it's going this year as well.
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So he's ready.
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He's prepared.
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And he seems to really thrive on the pressure, Peko.
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He seems to embrace what's about to come.
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Yeah, amazing stat, isn't it?
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Eight Grand Prix victories this year.
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And he's still not leading the championship.
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Crazy.
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Yeah, it's crazy.
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I think he's the first Italian since 2008 to have this amount of victories, going back to his great mentor, Valentino Rossi.
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But, you know, Pecco just seems to have that slight edge in terms of the experience.
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He said himself, this has been the championship of mistakes.
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He's made seven key mistakes this year.
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I think now we're at that stage of season break where it might not necessarily be about who's the fastest, but it's who's going to make the least amount of mistakes at this crucial stage.
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That's a great thing to keep in the back of our minds.
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Quickly, Anaia Bastionini, Mark Marquez, out of contention in your mind, or do you not discount them at a place like the island?
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I don't discount them this weekend, especially Mark.
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I mean, Mark's got a phenomenal record here in Australia.
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It's an anti-clockwise circuit, which is just Mark's territory.
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That's his forte.
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You know, he's got an amazing record on anti-clockwise tracks, a proven race-winning track record here in Australia.
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I don't think he's in the championship contention.
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I think Mark knew that that disappeared.
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a couple of rounds ago, but he's still going to have a huge part to play in the outcome of this championship because there are some great tracks coming up for him and for Ducati.
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And he's in that boat now.
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He's got nothing to lose and he's not really got any affinity with the other guys.
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So he's not trying to help away Martin.
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He's not going to try and help Pekka Bagnar.
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He's set every man for himself as far as Mark's concerned.
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Bastidi as well, I think, out of the championship battle, but he's one to keep a close eye on here as well.
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And also, we have to figure in
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Pedro Acosta.
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Pedro Acosta is going to have to be somebody that Martin Bagnaio are going to be looking at.
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Somebody that could be potentially taking big points off him.
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Acosta has got his mojo back.
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We saw last time out in Japan, third youngest rider in history to take pole position.
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He should have won the sprint.
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He probably should have won the Grand Prix.
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So he's coming here smarting.
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That really hurt Acosta last time out.
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Again, it looks like him and the KTM are really gelling.
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So, yeah, keep an eye.
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Acosta could be the big dark horse this weekend.
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He's a guy with immense talent, and we saw that at Phillip Island in recent years.
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Ducati's dominated, right?
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Can you see any other manufacturer kind of stealing some of the limelight here at Phillip Island based on what we've seen so far this year?
7:27
Unlikely, unlikely Greg.
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I mean, you know, this is very much we're living in the Ducati era, MotoGP.
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I mean, the run that they're on right now, 13 successive Grand Prix victories, 21 successive victories.
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I think the last time a Ducati was beaten was at the sprint in Catalonia where Alexis Barguero won.
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And the only one that big is Pekka Bagnini.
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Cracks on the last lap.
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It is a phenomenal period of domination.
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They've got an amazing motorcycle where they've got some amazingly talented riders on board.
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So I think the only hope, really, for a non-Ducati victory this weekend is going to rest with Pedro Acosta.
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He's clearly shown lately...
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Indonesia, 1.4 seconds behind Horty Martín was just an outstanding effort.
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Paul positioned it in Japan, leading the sprint, a close second when he crashed it to Pekka Banyai.
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So he is the only one that's come out of that chasing pack that's shown of Leigh that he can actually take the fight to the catty.
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He's kind of fighting a one-man crusade at the moment against the catty.
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You are someone who, as you prep for events like this, considers all kinds of things, right?
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Phillip Island has been the kind of place where surprises do happen.
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And the recent history points to that too.
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I mean, you've only got to look at Johan Zarco last year with that win in the wild weather we had in the lead up, the move of the schedule to compensate for that.
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I think it was his 120th start at that point as a colleague, Matt Clayton, reflected recently.
8:48
And then, of course, Alex Rins won in 2022, seemingly against the odds before...
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Suzuki departed the paddock.
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So what chance of something maybe off script happening this weekend?
9:00
Well, I guess we have to say I'm fully piling, Greg.
9:02
It's expect the unexpected here.
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I mean, you never know, do you?
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What's going to happen?
9:06
That's the beauty of coming to the Australian Grand Prix because you do tend to get the big surprise.
9:12
I mean, coming into the race last year, who would have on earth called that John Zarco was going to finally win his first Manor GP race?
9:20
Of course, we saw Jorge Martin roll the dice.
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He went for the soft rear tyre and he was so, so close to looking like the hero and went to zero.
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I mean, he was eight corners away from that gamble
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paying off big time.
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The race in 2022 was one of the all time classics.
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I mean, every time we seem to come to Philippine, we don't just get a contender for race in season.
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We get a contender for race for a decade.
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I mean, the last two, I mean, you've got to look at the stats, Greg, you know, some of the top ten closest finishes in terms of wins.
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Closest podiums, closest top 10s, closest top 15s.
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Phillip Island always figures very, very prominently.
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And, of course, we have to factor in the weather.
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I mean, as I just mentioned to you now, I'm sort of basking in glorious sunshine, overlooking the Bastray.
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But I'm told by the locals tomorrow, it's going to be absolutely chugging me down the rain.
10:06
It's going to be very, very cold and very, very windy.
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And Sunday could be sunshine.
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So, you know, as you know, in this part of the world, they say four seasons in a day.
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And I think we're probably going to get that here this weekend.
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What did the great Barry Shearn used to say?
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It's a gateway to hypothermia.
10:20
Anyway, Jack Miller, can we just spend a moment on him?
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He's talked about chatter with that KTM recently.
10:26
I think the quote was, you know, I'm not making this shit up or something along those lines.
10:29
That was one of the quotes.
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Can he get on top of that here and maybe have something that would bookend nicely his time with the Austrian manufacturer?
10:38
Yeah, and obviously there's huge hopes, huge expectations on the shoulders of Jack this weekend.
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I mean, when you come across the bridge from the mainland over to Phillip Island, all the flags have got Jack's, actually shops of Jack on there.
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I arrived on Tuesday and the town was already full of fans with the Miller T-shirts, the Miller cap.
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So Jack's still not lacking support here this weekend.
11:00
I think being realistic, Greg, it's a tough ask.
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to see Jack getting himself right in the podium battle.
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I mean, he's only had one top six finish this season, and that was all the way back around two in Portamount.
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So it's been a very, very tricky second season of KTM for Jack, not helped by this new generation mixed in rear tie, which is...
11:20
through everybody even a curveball at the start of the season.
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Most riders seem to find it out, but I don't know if you saw those pictures of Jack in Japan where the rear was like a pogo stick.
11:29
I mean, no idea how he's been able to ride that KTM if he's been doing that week in, week out.
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But never say never.
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You know, Jack will use the motivation of the fans here,
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Good, big support.
11:40
I mean, his turn four was named after him, wasn't he, a couple of years ago?
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What an honour that was.
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But I think it's going to be tough to see Jack in the heat of that podium battle.
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But with the new surface, is that going to throw up maybe a couple of guys' chances to get back into the league?
11:56
Who knows?
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But, yeah, Jack will certainly be having a lot of support here down under.
12:00
There is lots to look forward to even beyond the Premier class this weekend.
12:04
Always a good event.
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Some legends there as well as we celebrate some milestones for the likes of Mick Doohan and so on.
12:10
Matt, as we wrap this up, probably the most awful question in journalism, but who wins, do you reckon, at Phillip Island?
12:18
And maybe based on what you're seeing so far, which way are you kind of leaning as far as the ultimate title outcome is concerned?
12:25
That's a toughie I know to ask.
12:26
I knew you were going to put me on this spot, so I kind of came prepped for that one.
12:31
Do you know what, Greg?
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I mean, this is going to sound like a cliche.
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Both Jorge and Beko deserve to win the championship, but I am going to nail my Colustra mask.
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I'm team Bagnia.
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purely because I just think at this stage in the season, when the heat is really on, when the pressure is really on, I just think previous experience and having been in that situation before, that's going to really, really help Pekka Banyai.
12:55
And even though we've mentioned that Loy does seem to be a different beast this year, I just think Pekka will edge it in a season round, a final round finale in Valencia in a couple of weeks' time.
13:07
I love the insights.
13:08
Thank you very much for that.
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Have a fantastic call this weekend.
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It is great to have you back down under.
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And a big thanks to an old colleague in Giovanni Pippia and some of the Dawna team for organising you to come on Rusty's Garage today.
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Cheers, Matt.
13:22
No worries, Greg.
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Happy to be on.
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Thanks for having me.
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A break on this edition of Rusty's Garage.
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Darrell Beattie will join us on the other side of this.
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You're listening to the Motorsport Brief as we preview one of the best weekends of the year in Aussie motorsport.
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Moto GP at Phillip Island.
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You've got to go and see it at some stage.
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And if not, make sure you watch the coverage.
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You'll be glued.
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Joined now by a mate with a very cheeky sense of humour who I've wanted to get on the pod for a long time.
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He says that he will come on for a feature episode when he's 70.
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I already look it.
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He doesn't.
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Hello, Darrell Beattie.
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Welcome.
14:00
Hey, mate, it's good.
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It's always good to see your face.
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It's like when mates have worked so much together and then it feels like we see each other once a year, but it's still nice.
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It's a great time of year to catch up and I miss our catch ups, but this is a timely one.
14:15
You've had an association with Honda that dates back over 30 years.
14:19
It's been tough for them compared to the Ducati dominance we've seen in recent time in MotoGP.
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And we're just talking about that, in fact, with Matt Burt.
14:26
Is there light at the end of the tunnel for the legendary manufacturer in the years ahead, do you think, in this sport?
14:33
To be honest with you, Rusty, I would say yes, because it's Honda.
14:38
Um...
14:39
But they have no choice.
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You know as well as I do how big of a manufacturer they are from Formula 1 through to MotoGP and that success.
14:50
I'm not going to lie.
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I'm very open about it.
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I think their results from World Superbike through to MotoGP have been appalling.
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for such a powerful manufacturer and where they stand.
15:02
And from, you know, I can say someone like Mr. Agurma that I rode under and McDorne rode under and many rode under when he was the president of HRC, the racing division of Honda, he wouldn't cop this and it wouldn't happen.
15:19
I don't know the details.
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I'm only talking now as a punter, not as a rider, but as a former employee.
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It shocks me to see where they've got to.
15:30
There has been a little bit of light in the last few races, but boy, oh boy, they need to step up across the world.
15:37
As you rightly point out, though, they are a manufacturer who, in moments like this, typically do respond.
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It may not happen straight away, but they have lots of great resources and some very clever people.
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So hopefully that does happen, as you say, in the coming years.
15:53
Daz, resurfacing of Phillip Island, how much of a factor will that be in the story this weekend?
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What impact will it have in your mind?
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Again, you know, Rusty, we've been down there and we've seen resurfacing and we've seen super sport bikes with a lot less horsepower, races cut short, all that sort of stuff.
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Michelin is a brand that I've been with my whole life, other than those few years when I defected to Yamaha and was on Dunlop.
16:20
Obviously, I lost toes there, so I don't like Dunlop.
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But...
16:26
Yeah, I think it's going to be a massive talking point.
16:28
Yeah, it produces so much more grip.
16:31
The abrasion is hard on the tyres.
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As we know, Philobolo's majority is left-hand turns.
16:37
I don't want to bore the punters with all the technical stuff, but you spend a lot of time on the left-hand side of the tyre, which generates an enormous amount of heat, and when that abrasion's there...
16:46
It's going to be a massive talking pipe.
16:48
That and the weather.
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We all know that.
16:49
Sheedy used to tell us that, didn't he?
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He sure did.
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Now, just sort of to tap into that just a fraction more if we can.
16:55
I mean, from a rider's perspective, you're talking speeds of 340 k's plus on the Gardner straight.
17:01
Those long radius corners that you detail, that can be enormously hard on one side of the tyre.
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Because we're going anti-clockwise, it means the other side of the tyre doesn't always get work.
17:10
There's not that many right-hand corners.
17:13
What are you trying to achieve now?
17:15
on a Friday and a Saturday to have something good underneath you for the GP?
17:20
Are they kind of key things that you focus on?
17:22
And is getting that tyre temp either on the right side or minimising it on the left a big focal point?
17:30
They do arrive with tyres a little bit different to what they've had their previous years.
17:36
But I think just to make a snapshot of it –
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They arrive, obviously, from the start of the year or last time we were here.
17:46
Development has jumped ahead a lot.
17:50
So the engineer, for example, in the garage would go through and go, what's our base setting been so far this year?
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What is it for a circuit?
17:59
like this with a high average speed.
18:03
They look at disc rotors because the braking temperature here are a lot less, so they'll be running covers probably initially.
18:09
I think I read a stat the other day, they use the brakes for 20 seconds a lap, which is just phenomenal, you know.
18:16
So there's all those things that are bolted into the package before the rider gets on it.
18:20
those meetings would take place today.
18:22
The riders would then probably say to the engineer, what's the weather doing at Phillip Island?
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So if, for example, Friday's a reasonable day, even though it's important, there's more emphasis on what do we need to get through?
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How do we get comfortable straight away?
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What are we going to work on?
18:41
What's the weather doing Saturday for quality and the sprint?
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What's it for Sunday?
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Yeah.
18:46
Friday starts out what's going to happen Saturday and Sunday.
18:49
And I know it's not 100%, but especially somewhere like the island, you can't be messing around on a Friday if you get good weather on a Friday.
18:57
And then Saturday, part dry, part wet, you need that package.
19:01
So it's not stressful, but it's a big workload.
19:05
And as you know, modern-day motorcycle from electronics and right through the whole package is quite a masterpiece to set up.
19:13
That weather that you talk about robbed us of a sprint last year.
19:16
Are you looking forward to that at the Isle of this weekend?
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And do you enjoy that generally?
19:20
I do.
19:20
I love to sprint.
19:21
And I, you know, again, was reading somewhere about Pico winning eight races already this year.
19:26
You know, in the past, if that would happen, he'd guarantee to be world champion.
19:31
And I think that when someone says guarantee, I think, well, that's great because it's not guaranteed, is it?
19:36
And I think the sprint race has created that.
19:39
You remember when we rode, I think we only had like 12 rounds for a championship, double headers, which...
19:45
I call it doubleheader, but a sprint in a main race, super bikes do anyway, but I've enjoyed them.
19:51
I've enjoyed the Saturday sprint races.
19:53
It's been fun.
19:54
It's a different...
19:56
If someone does well on a sprint, their package mightn't be good.
19:59
For example, if it's 15 laps and the main race is 30 laps, they're good in a sprint, but their package is not good for a main race.
20:06
It's mixed it up a bit this year.
20:07
Obviously, at the end of the day, the cream rises to the top, as we know, but...
20:11
I've enjoyed the two-race format.
20:14
I still love the Quali 1 and 2 format.
20:18
It's been good.
20:19
I get so many questions.
20:21
What are the way?
20:22
What do you think?
20:22
What about the races?
20:23
And I say, MotoGP's never been better.
20:27
And I think it's been like that the last handful of these seasons.
20:31
And we've got young talent coming through like Acosta and others, and they're extraordinary.
20:36
Like you, I'm excited about this new era, if you want to call it that.
20:40
Huge week coming up for Jack Miller, right nearing the end of his time with KTM.
20:45
You've spent time with him away from the track as well for some stories up home there around Townsville and stuff like that.
20:50
How do we frame, he's off to New Pastures next year, how do we sort of frame his time so far in Muddo GP in your mind?
20:58
I kind of When I think of Jack I firstly think of You know when you and I Were on commentary And when he was in Moto3 And he battled for a world title With Alex Marcus You know he nearly won That world title Rusty You know The kid's got an enormous Amount of talent I think his first year To jump from Moto3 To MotoGP Was really difficult But
21:15
and he was on a package back then when Honda wasn't competitive with their support package.
21:21
His best year has obviously been at Ducati beside Pecco.
21:24
I think that really lifted him a lot where Pecco's gone to now, and Jack was competitive there at times with him.
21:30
KDM's been a challenge.
21:33
I'm happy to see him go to Yamaha, but there's a lot being thrown up in the air with Yamaha at the moment.
21:39
They're talking about going away from their inline four to a V4,
21:44
That's not an easy step for any manufacturer to do, and it's not about just bolting an engine into a chassis.
21:50
It's building a whole new motorcycle.
21:51
I don't have people on the ground to do that, but...
21:54
Wow, if they did go down that path, even to Jack, I know the Epic's still to be a MotoGP, but there could be an enormous amount of development to go, even if he joined that team, and there's no guarantee it's going to be strong.
22:06
So we know with the inline for that Yamaha, if they got it right, it could still be a competitive package.
22:13
Will Yamaha go V4?
22:14
We don't know.
22:15
That's going to be a great thing to hear as that unravels through Phillip Island these last...
22:19
four rounds, I think it is, is it, to the end of the championship, what Yamaha do go with.
22:25
Because even in two-stroke days, there was a lot of chat about single crank, twin crank, even though they were all running B4s, but the power they produce and the way they're set up.
22:36
So it still goes on in four strokes.
22:38
But, yeah, I just wish him the best.
22:41
He's an Aussie, so Aussie slash Kiwi.
22:44
So, yeah.
22:46
I support him no matter what, and I'm a big fan.
22:48
I love his sense of humour.
22:50
It's good for any motorsport paddock to have someone like that in the paddock.
22:54
But for me, I just want to see him get up there back fighting at the top, but it's going to be hard, especially changing manufacturers.
23:01
Well said.
23:02
And if that does play out in the money you've spoken about for Yamaha, he'll have a lot of impact in helping to shape that motorcycle, but it's more by the time, isn't it, while we wait for it to be a potentially a competitive thing.
23:13
Let's go to the story about Liberty Media, right?
23:15
They announced a significant acquisition of MotoGP back in April.
23:19
They've done some incredible things for Formula One and its popularity, its wider penetration, if you like, beyond hardcore racing fans.
23:27
Is that a good thing for the sport in your mind?
23:30
And do they have to sort
23:30
to be a little bit mindful that a cut and paste from Formula One may not necessarily work for MotoGP.
23:36
You might have to do a few things differently.
23:38
Yeah, to answer that question correctly, I think, you know, someone like Mick Doolin that's got his hands on the pulse, more so in two wheels and four wheels, especially with his son Jack racing as well, Mick would have a better answer to that and a business mind being involved more in Formula One being a hero.
23:53
So I don't think my answer would be accurate, but my feeling as a person...
23:59
I only watch a little bit of Formula One now.
24:03
I know there's strategy involved and a lot involved, but I don't get the excitement out of Formula One that I used to.
24:09
So I watch a lot of motorsport, but moto is what really ticks my box as far as just...
24:17
the goosebumps and the excitement.
24:19
But, you know, Bernie threatened to buy it a long time ago, didn't he?
24:24
Back when we were all commentating with Baz and Billy Woods and everyone and yourself and I and kind of thought, yeah, maybe that's a good thing.
24:31
I think all in all, without dodging your question, Rusty, is...
24:36
You know, Dorner arrived when I was in MotoGP in the early 90s.
24:40
I don't think Dorner have done an amazing job with MotoGP.
24:44
Carlos Valera and his whole team, I think, has been extraordinary.
24:47
Yeah.
24:48
I don't think it's a bad thing that Liberty have bought into it.
24:52
I just hope they let it breathe and do what Moto does compared to Formula One.
24:56
The money's not there in MotoGP like Formula One, but let it breathe.
24:59
Let them be characters.
25:01
Don't restrict it as much.
25:03
I hate seeing racing now.
25:05
It's happening more often than not where on the human factor, we know Simon Crave is going into a different role next year, and I think Simon are really, really good for that role.
25:15
Someone like Craig Baird that's been at V8s,
25:18
Even though Freddie Spencer has got an enormous amount of experience, I think that time's passed.
25:24
But I hate seeing human intervention into any form of racing where it's overdone.
25:30
And let's hope, with Liberty getting involved, they don't do more of that like they do with Formula One.
25:34
So I hope that answers your question.
25:37
It's probably not direct, but...
25:40
Yeah, to let her breathe.
25:41
Gotcha.
25:42
And I think what you're fundamentally saying is keep the essence of what we're loving about MotoGP in this era and what it sort of stands for.
25:50
Righto, Daz, who wins come Sunday in your mind and who wins the world title?
25:56
Come on.
25:56
I don't know who's going to win Sunday, Rusty, because we've cut no lamps.
26:01
And I think when you get to the back end of the championship, you've still got to take every sprint and every race as you can.
26:07
But ultimately, at some point,
26:10
If it's not quite right, you've got to think about the championship.
26:14
I would love to see Martin.
26:16
I'm a big fan of Pecco, and I love his sausage dog because his name's Turbo.
26:20
But I really like Pecco.
26:23
I think his approach to me is a little bit like Eddie Orson back in the day, and he's won championships.
26:29
I would love to see Martin win it.
26:31
And in many ways, Rusty, I just think, I don't know if you've seen some of his stuff recently, and we'll probably talk about that telecast on 10 over the weekend, but how often do you see an elite sports, men or women, be vulnerable and talk about their struggles?
26:46
And he's done that recently with anxiety and all those sorts of things.
26:50
I don't think it's unbelievable for a guy that's fighting for a world championship to just roll that out on the table right now in front of guys that he's competing with.
26:57
I find that amazing.
26:58
I'd love to see that guy win the championship.
27:01
He's the fastest guy out there.
27:04
He's just not strung it together.
27:05
So the championship, I'd love to see my team win it.
27:09
The weekend, yeah.
27:11
Phillip Island's rain.
27:13
Jack would like to see it, but I think in reality, it's going to come down to maybe somewhere like a Colster.
27:19
I'm going to put my money on a Colster for the weekend.
27:21
Great stuff.
27:22
Hey, nice to talk with you.
27:23
We're looking forward to seeing you back on our screens with Network 10 this weekend.
27:27
Enjoy that.
27:28
Our great old, our family there, if you like.
27:30
And most importantly, enjoy one of the best weekends of motorsport in Oz with MotoGP.
27:36
Cheers, Daz.
27:37
Good to see you, mate.
27:38
Thank you.
27:40
He's got a great story, Daz, and he's been showing people some beautiful remote places in the Aussie outback on two wheels for the past decade, like the Canning Stock Route, Simpson Desert and Cape York.
27:52
If you're going to the Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, enjoy all the key classes, Moto3, Moto2 and the Premier Class MotoGP, plus the youngsters.
28:02
In the Blue Crew, Oceania Junior Cup.
28:04
Some of them aren't even in their teens yet.
28:06
They are fearless.
28:07
And there's all sorts of support activity around that world-class venue.
28:11
There is not another track like Phillip Island on the planet.
28:15
Best place to watch two-wheel racing and MotoGP especially.
28:19
Now, you can catch all the action on 10 or Fox.
28:22
10 are live on Saturday from 1.30pm to 4.
28:25
That's Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
28:28
And on Sunday from 1pm to 3.30.
28:31
That's live and free on 10 and 10 Play.
28:34
Our thanks to the team there for...
28:36
getting Daz to come on today.
28:37
That is it for this edition.
28:39
We have some short casts out soon too with the former F1 driver Bruno Senna and Andre Heimgartner from Brad Jones Racing in Supercars.
28:48
So keep an eye out for notifications on those.
28:50
Bye for now, everyone.