Latest / Pit Talk / The final roar of the island with Matt Birt | MotoGP Pit Talk

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The final roar of the island with Matt Birt | MotoGP Pit Talk · Pit Talk

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Pittsburgh podcast and we're back.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: On the road edition Matt.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: We are.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It seems like the last time we did it we
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: were driving to Mategi every day and now we're here
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: at the beautiful Phillip Island for our last Phillip Island
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix which is so sad but for those watching
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you're going to notice we're not in our usual Matt's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: not in his office I'm not somewhere random because we've
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: got this guy with us so let's do the proper intro.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Shannon's Insurance, for sponsoring this episode
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of the Pit Talk podcast.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Renita Vermeulen. This is our MotoGP guru,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the stat man, Matt Clayton.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: And this man, you're going to know his voice because
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: he is the lead commentator for MotoGP in all the classes.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Matt Bert. Bertie, how are you?
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I'm good.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, how could I turn down invites to come
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: to a pub on Phillip Island and chat to you
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: guys about all things MotoGP? I could not say no,
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: could I?
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, we did kind of force him to come here,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: but we bribed him with a few beers after. Should
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I say Wild Turkey because they're sponsoring us this weekend
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: at MotoGP.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So we'll do that. But, Matt, we were talking before.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I'm going to have to do this, Matt.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: We were talking before how bittersweet it is, right? And
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: just the memories that are coming up.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is weird. Like, driving down here, I think
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: there's something that when you cross the bridge at San Remo,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: that's like, I've arrived. You know, the weekend has officially started.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: And that's a weird experience this year because you're thinking, well,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: it's always like there's going to be a next year,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: there's going to be a next year, there's not going
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: to be a next year. And so you immediately just
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: start getting nostalgic. You think of, oh, what about the
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: year when this happened and what about the year when
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: that happened? Something I did see today, someone had a
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: collection of every single event program for this event since
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: it's been here, all of the front covers. It was
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: massively impressive. the first scary thought was I found the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: first one that I've worked on and immediately felt very,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: very old. But you start looking at these things and
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: you just think, oh, that was the year this happened
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: and this was the race, it was on the Saturday
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: and this was the first time that Casey won here.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And you have all these memories and you realise that
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: this is the closing of a circle. So it's great
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: to remember all the good times, but there is that
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: tinge of sadness at the same time.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: What's it like for you, Bertie, coming here for the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: last time?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: A little bit like Matt.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, kind of a super strange feeling when I
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: drove onto the island yesterday because... like Matt said there's
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: always that thought of well this next year this will
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: not be the last one whereas this one felt totally
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: different because it is like it does hit you when
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: you see the bridge and you're like crikey this will
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: be the last time for me in particular you know
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: in my advancing years that I'll get to drive onto
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Phillip Island and like Matt said straight away as soon
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: as you step onto that bridge so many memories come
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: flooding back you know I've been coming here since 1996
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I was here for World Superbikes in 96 came straight
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: down after the last Grand Prix, Eastern Creek. So 30 years,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: that's a long time and a lot of great, great memories.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Some hazy memories from places like this pub right behind me,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: but you know, so many awesome times on the island
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: and hopefully there's still one more to come.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, exactly.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I brought a friend, a colleague from Fox Sports with
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: me and I said to James, you know, I don't
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: know if you know this, but you have to hold
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: your breath as you drive over the bridge.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Like it's good luck. It's what you have to do.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And like you said, there's so many things.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: And I can remember being here when I was a
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: little kid and my brother doing ASBK and all that stuff.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: And it's so ingrained in Australian motorsport heritage. It feels
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: weird that it's going, it's sad that.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: It's going, but it's so exciting.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: That, you know, we've got Adelaide in the first street
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: circuit and that's a whole other episode in itself.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: But, We were talking just before you got here. We
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: want to talk about our good memories, or the ones
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: that we remember.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: I do remember a couple.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: There's a few I've forgotten.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: But let's take it back. You said you've been here
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: for 30 years. Matt, you've been doing this 100 years.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Pretty much.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Talk us, what's been the favorite memory from Phillip Island
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: There's a couple of standout races. I think we always
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: had that question, how fast is Valentino Rossi really? And
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: so that 2003 win here where he had the penalty
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: and basically had to win by more than 10 seconds
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and just decided, I'm just going to win by more
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: than 10 seconds then. And then we went, oh, okay,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: this is what the pace you've been holding in reserve.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: That was pretty awesome to watch. One I really remember
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: was the first Stoner win here in 07 because I
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: wrote this during the week. It wasn't so much a race,
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: it was a coronation. He'd won the championship the previous
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: round at Motegi. He'd come back. His next race, his
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: first race as world champion, was his home Grand Prix.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: He's this young guy, won a world championship way ahead
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: of anyone's schedule, and there was only one thing he
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: had to do that weekend. Not an easy thing, but
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: still managed to do it. And we didn't realise then
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that that was just step one of this six-year step
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: of domination that he had over everybody else. But that
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: was a really important day for just Australia and Australian motorcycling,
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: because he's this 22-year-old kid or whatever he was. He's
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: the world champion, and now he's got his home race
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: to form. That was a really special one. But you
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: also remember just the randomness of things. And, I mean,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Matt will probably talk about this as well. I wrote
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: this earlier in the week that the 2015 race here,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: which when you watch it back is more bonkers in
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: retrospect than you even remember. And the fact that, you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: there was the seagull strike, RIP Gavin, you know, all
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: of that sort of stuff going on. But... It's more
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: the fact that all the Rossi-Marquez stuff that kicked off
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: at Sepang the next round and continues to this day.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: There's a reason Mark still gets booed on podiums in Italy.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: It was all because of a race that happened here
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: 11 years ago. Without that happening, none of the rest
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: of it happens. So you have these really quite seismic
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: moments in MotoGP history. But I could do 30 more
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: minutes on this. You probably should throw it at Max.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: He's probably got 30 more different examples of.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: The ones that I've got.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Can i just say i'm happy that was this map
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: that bought at 2015 that's fine i mean they say
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: don't you you can write a book on the story
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: of mana gp at philip island you could write a
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: book on the story of a race at philip and
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: there's been so many awesome battles classic races and I
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: think two of the three closest MotoGP races in history.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: In terms of podiums, I've been right here. Always ultra
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: close battles. I mean, Matt's sort of stolen the show, really,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: hasn't he, with the Rossi 2000s re-race. For me, there
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: is one just clear standout moment, and it was actually
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: at the end of a race, and it was a
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: special one for you, the Vermeulen family as well, because
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: your brother was.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: On the podium.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Don't, because I was going to say this one.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: And it is the Marco Melandri celebration, which was just...
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: outrageous I mean I can still vividly hear myself almost
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: like still screaming at the minds in the press room
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: you know he's power sliding through that final corner smoke
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: off the rear tyre the victory salute I mean it
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: was just for me that typifies MotoGP crazy riders crazy
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: talent and it was just a moment that will live
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: with me forever it was just awesome And, of course,
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: it was a very good day for the Veiling clan
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Could have been better if we'd not pulled it off
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: at the last quarter and messed it up.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I know. But you're talking about that. It's so funny.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: I would have been... I was a teenager.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: And when that happened, I remember standing under the podium
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and all I could hear was.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: The fans because... Valentino was on the podium too, wasn't he?
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: I think, yeah, because it was the first ever flag-to-flag
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: MotoGP race.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I just remember the Australian fans going, Vermeulen kicked Rossi's ass.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: That's all I could hear them chanting over and over,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: and that's just stuck in my memory bank, which is
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: so funny.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: But it's really hard to not look at Phillip Island
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and think about the good times, but also just this track.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: It's so.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it's a quintessential motorcycle racing track, right? Like you ask
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: any of the MotoGP riders, they love it.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: I don't think I've heard a single rider in 30
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: years across world super bikes, across MotoGP that has had
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: a single negative thing to say about this track. I mean,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: don't they say on the eighth day, God created Phillip Island.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, it is just.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Awesome. I mean, it's phenomenal. It is incredible. It has everything.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: It has got super fast parts, You know, real ballsy parts.
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's probably the ultimate test of rider machine
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: on the entire calendar. And it's not just about the
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: riders and the bikes. Of course, these guys are battling
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: the elements as well, as we know. Whenever you come
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: to Phillip Island, the weather always plays a huge role
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: as well. But it's an old school racetrack. It wasn't
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: designed on a computer like so many modern day tracks are.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: And you have to say, they nailed it from the
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: absolute get-go. I mean, it's barely been touched anywhere. layout-wise
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: since it was created, a little bit like Mugello. Mugello
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: has not been touched. It's almost the same millimeter tarmac
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: as it was back in the 70s. I think that
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: just shows, that's for me the testament of how good
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: a racetrack is because you have not had to tamper
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: with it, you've not had to tweak it at all.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: And it's gutting, it's a real shame that we're not
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: coming back.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: There's that aspect of it as well and the fact
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you mentioned before that you can't design a track like
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: this on a computer This is just natural topography. It
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: just flows with the terrain. There's not a lot of elevation,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: but they've made the most of the elevation they have.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: And that run down, unless you've walked the track or
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: run it, the run down to turn one where you
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: can't see it, it is so steep. And all you
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: can see in the distance is the ocean or white
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: caps or you've got a wind blowing in your face
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: or whatever it is. But the fact you can't see
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Turn 1 as you're 3.40 heading down towards Turn 1 there,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: and that's just the natural way this circuit flows, it's
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: just perfect.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I think the cool thing as well is you always know,
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: you always know coming to Phillip Island, you're going to
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: get a spectacle. You're going to get a great race.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Because just the way that the track lends itself to
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: super close battles. So I can't, you know, every year
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: you come here, you just know that something's going to happen.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: Something big is going to happen here.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I think because the way that it's designed, it allows
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: for the overtaking, allows for the passes, but the riders,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: they love it so much that they want to race here,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and I think it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Adds to it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: It's just this this perfect recipe for a good race.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, riders want to test themselves on the best circuits,
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: the fastest circuits.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: They want to be challenged.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: You know, they want to showcase their skill sets and,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: and Phillip Ireland test it to the absolute maximum. I
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: can't think of a, a sort of a sterner exam
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: on the calendar right now, maybe into the future. than
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: what Phillip Island throws. Your brother will know, your brother
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: will tell you. I'm sure he's told you a million
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: times that there's nothing, you speak to any rider, there
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: is nothing quite like Phillip Island. It is truly unique.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: It's so unique.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: It's only, was it Wednesday? I've got a lump in
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: my throat already.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, there come the tears again. Jack's last Phillip Island.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I know. I mean, it's kind of funny the way
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: that's worked out too, that the fact that it is
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: his last world championship season and it ends with Phillip
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Island's last world championship Grand Prix. It's kind of fitting
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: in the end. I'd written something earlier in the week.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: His first full season. It was one of the most
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: famous days for Australia, the 2012 AGP, because Casey Stoner
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: won MotoGP, Ant West was on the podium for Moto2,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: beat this young Spanish guy called Marc Marquez, don't know
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: what happened to him, and Arthur Cissas was on the
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: podium in Moto3. And Jack was on the grid that weekend,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: and he had an absolute shocker. He qualified 20-something, jumped
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: the start, got a penalty. He was just Mr. Anonymous.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: And it's funny, you think of the moments he's had since,
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: that Moto3 win, and then, I mean, the celebrations were,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: as good as the win and they lasted for several
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: days afterwards. He definitely made the most of that. One
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: of his funniest ones here is, and you remember this Matt,
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: when he was on that Mark VDS Honda and he
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: just charged off at the front of the race with
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: no real idea of what he was doing in terms
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: of tyre preservation or anything else. And he led laps
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: of his home Grand Prix. And you could hear the
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: crowd over the bikes as they were coming down the
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: start-finish straights. Like, what is this guy doing? Turns out
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: he didn't know what he was doing either. But it
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: was just, like, Jack's lived the rollercoaster here. But the
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: irony of all ironies, and you would have called this race,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I'm sure, 2022, they name turn four after him. And then,
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: of course, what happens in the Grand Prix? He gets
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: taken out at a corner that the paint's still wet
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: on the sign, calling it Miller Corner three days later.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: But of all people, Alex Marquez, who he's had issues
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: with through Moto3... And I remember that's one of those ones,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: like Alex definitely read the room that day. He realised
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: where he'd crashed. Most of Miller's family's at turn four
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: and he's just got up and he's gone, oh my God,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I am so sorry. Are you okay? And that was
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: an excellent business decision on Alex's part, I would have thought.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: I've never seen anybody get back to Melbourne airport as
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: quick as Alex did that day.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: He was falling off the island pretty rapidly that day.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: But i mean it's the thing is.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: That this place brings those memories i mean you just
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: talked about a celebration um what about senna's first ever
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: podium in moto 2 when he tried to do a
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: burnout or something in the grass and crashed.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: It on the floor something always always happens doesn't it
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: exactly i mean surely at some point this weekend we're
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: going to get the geese on the circuit there's going
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: to be a wallaby surely making an entrance i mean
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: that that's that's That's what makes this event so unique.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: You've got your animal bingo card going. Exactly, yeah. We'll
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: be ticking them off, I'm sure.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Talking ahead to this weekend, you mentioned weather. Now, I
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: don't want to jinx it, but it's not looking great,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: is it, for Sunday?
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: Sadly not. I mean, it's so typical Phillip Island. I
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: arrived yesterday morning, drove down straight away from Melbourne to
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: a beautiful, sun-kissed, sun-drenched cows, sun-drenched Phillip Island, and it
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: was just like There's no better place on Earth when
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: the sun is shining than Phillip Island. But as we know,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: things can change very, very quickly in this part of
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: the world. I mean, there's only, what, Tasmania between us
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: now and the Antarctica?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, correct.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: So, you know, we're in a part of the world
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: where the weather can change pretty quickly. And, yes, being
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: a Brit, you know, we're used to quite a lot
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: of rain, precipitation. So Saturday, Sunday looks like it's going
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: to be a challenge yet. cool and very, very wet,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: which I'm sure you've got the likes of a certain Mr.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Joel Kelso and a certain Mr. Jack Miller, who are
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: probably at the moment, the pair of them wearing out shoes,
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: rain dancing right now. Because being brutally honest, I mean,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: certainly when you look at Jack, you know, Jack's a realist.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: He will know that the Yamaha in its current state,
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: he hasn't got a hope in hell of winning in
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: the dry. But if it's wet on Sunday, a wet
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: and wild Aussie Grand Prix, it almost feels like it's,
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: written in the stars that the final Phillip Island Grand Prix,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: the final Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, there's going
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: to be an Aussie winner in one class. Maybe it'll
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: be an Aussie winner in one of the GP and
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: Jack's going to get the job done.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, do you need to touch something? What do
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: we need to do here?
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: If it happens, how smug am I going to be
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: on Sunday night?
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: I'm just off the end of TAB while you've said
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: that now. Let's see what the odds are.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Are you going to buy a lottery ticket from that?
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: It's tempting.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: It's very tempting. I mean, I'm serious though.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: If it is chucking it down on Sunday, you just
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: know Jack is going to be all in. Last chance
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: for him probably to win. What a story it would be.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: What a story for the Australian fans. What a story
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: for Jack.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: What a mic drop that would be. Unbelievable. He might
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: not make the last few rounds. He might still be
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: in the pub after. Exactly.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Right, well, I mean, we've reminisced about Phillip Island.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: We've kind of looked a little bit about our favourite
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: memories and what it means.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But let's look ahead to this weekend.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And one thing that I always ask Matt for is
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: his predictions, because you are the stat.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Man, you're going to give us.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: All the goss.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: So what have you got for us?
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Look, I mean, I think it's a great point of
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: the season to have the reigning world champion against the
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: rider that he deposes world champion, one and two in
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: the standings. You've got this fantastic storyline set up. Jorge
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Martins has been so fast here for so many years.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: Probably should have won this race once or twice. I mean,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: he was eight tenths of a second off the podium
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: to finish seventh in one of those crazy races that
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: you were talking about when they could throw a blanket
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: over them. And he led for 98% of 2023 before
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: he ran out of tyre on the last lap. But
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: he's very good here. Mark here, Mark's got this sort
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: of hero or zero record here in that he either
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: wins it or stuff happens. You know, he got disqualified,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: he's crashed out of race leads. For Mark, this feels not, Critical,
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: but it feels more important than perhaps some of the
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: other rounds because of his record here and the fact
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: that it is an anti-clockwise track. This is sort of
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: one of his superpower tracks for the rest of the way.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: This and Valencia are probably the two strongest tracks. Given
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: that he is fighting against an armada of Aprilias, we've
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: got no real help from the Ducati guys, and this
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: is a strong track for him. I'm not saying it's
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: critical that he wins this weekend if he's going to
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: win the World Championship, but you could take a very,
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: very big step towards it because I feel he's going
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: to be playing defensively a bit at a couple of
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: the other races.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: This feels like Mark territory. He's also a guy who's
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: super aware of the moment. And so you've sort of seen,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and Matt, you would have seen this over the last
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: few rounds, his sort of business-like exterior is really hardened
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: over these last few rounds. I partly think he's a
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: lot more injured than he's letting on, and we'll probably
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: only find out in retrospect. But this will be, I
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: have to get this. Like, this is one I need.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: I don't think Martin needs this as much as Mark
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: might need it. But Mark around here and a chance
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: to do something special. And he's aware of the history too.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Like everyone wants to win the last one, don't they? Yeah.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: And so he'll be very aware of that. But I
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: can see it being a straight head-to-head with those two.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: And if there was anyone else coming in, probably Bez.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Not because he's third in the championship necessarily, but it
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: felt to me like he probably should have won here
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: last year. Won the sprint, had the double long lap
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: in the Grand Prix because of what he'd done with
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Mark in the previous round at Indonesia. So he didn't
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: really quite get to show what the pace that he had,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I guess, in the Grand Prix was. And he's very
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: good here. We've seen that previously. So, you know, and
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: that's in a dry race. Now, if it's a wet race,
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: as Matt said before, then, you know, throw everything up
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: in the air. I mean, if it's changeable, that's real
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: Mark territory too. So if it's that not quite wet,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: not quite dry, that would probably favour him. But the
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: big guns will come to play here, A, because they're
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: good here, but B, because of what's at stake, I think.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to sort of pick a
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: fight with anything that matters on that one. I mean,
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: he's kind of a stolen my thunder, but The theme
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: for most of this season has had a feeling of
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Mark versus Aprilia. I don't think it's going to be
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: any different in these latter stages. Ralph Fernandez was incredibly
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: strong here last year. He was awesome last time out
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: in Mandalika, despite having that broken finger on the right hand.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: We saw that Marco Bessecchi really got his championship charge
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: back on course in Mandalika. As Matt said, Marco should
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: have really cleaned up here last year. I mean, he
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: won the sprint quite comfortably. Had it not been for
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: the fact that he had the two long laps for
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: taking Mark out in Indonesia, he was probably going to
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: win the Grand Prix. No disrespect to Ralph Fernandez, but
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: Bez clearly was the superior rider. And I think every
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: round at the moment for Bezzecchi is must win. You know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: I think one more slip up and let's be honest,
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: he's been prone to quite a few so far this year.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, we all love Bez, but he
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: has been on occasion this year tripping up over his
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: own shoelaces a little bit. So one more. Dropping of
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: the ball from Mark, I think, forget it. So I
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: think while the championship is very much Mark versus Martin,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: there are a lot of other stronger pretty riders that
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: are going to have a massive part to play in
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: the championship. And in particular this weekend, given what we
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: saw from Raul and Bez last year. But like Matt said,
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: Jorge Martin, at this stage of the season, Gigi Deligno
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: knows him very, very well. They won the championship together
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: in 2024. He said in the press conference I hosted
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: in Mandalika that Jorge doesn't make mistakes at this stage
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: of the season. He's so, so good. If he's not winning,
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: he's right there up your backside, picking up 20 points
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: per second, 16 points for 30. He just keeps that
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: championship ticking over. Is it must-win Mark I don't think
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: so but I think Mark is on such a high
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: from Indonesia like he said to go to Indonesia he's
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: arguably his worst track on the whole calendar given his
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: record there recently to come away to go into that
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: round two points behind Marti I think Mark would have
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: been looking at anything between a 10 to 20 point
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: loss that weekend so to come out Still level pegging.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, Mark said himself it was dreamland. So you
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: can never write the 93 off, can you? The guy
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: is so good at this stage of the season of
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: getting over the line, getting that championship done. And I
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: think this year it's a bonus championship for Mark. When
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: he was 102 points behind Bez after Mugello, he wrote
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: himself off. He told us all in the media, I
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: haven't got a chance. So this is a bonus championship
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: for Mark. And he's in that position now.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I can't.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: See him letting it slip there's been this from mazzano
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: aragon time he changed yeah he come you know you've
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: been following the circus in europe this year there was
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: a change in mark's persona in the body language the
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: way he was just carrying himself on and off the
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: bike he there was a click that he just went
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: now i'm locked into world championship mode he's in this
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: laser focus this hyper focus and and that is a
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: a combination that is really really hard to beat So here's.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: A question for you based on that. You mentioned before
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: when you said Mark versus the Aprilia, this is a
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: good way to frame it. There will inevitably be discussions
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: about team orders or manufacturer orders at this point. And,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: you know, Davide Taurasi said in Indonesia, you know, sort
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: of stirring the pot a little bit. Well, if I
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: was in their position, I'd absolutely employ team orders.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: For sure.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: Knowing how formidable Mark is in these situations, he's won
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: seven world championship fights. He's not lost a world championship fight.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: That's the key part in all of this. Do Aprilia
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: have to pool resources to try and beat him here?
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Or is there negligence to them not doing it? Because
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: if you don't win the World Championship when you've got
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: the chance to move more pieces around the board, they
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: have to do this, don't they?
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Aprilia admitted in Mandalika that there will come a point
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: where team orders will have to be in play. They'll
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: have to be a factor because they are not here spending...
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: 80 to 100 million euros to be beaten.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: By Mark and Ducati again.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: They are going to win it by hook or by crook,
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: by any means possible.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: Do we like team orders?
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: No.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: But do we understand them?
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: It's as much of a sport as business. So I
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: think this weekend, probably, given what Aprilia management was saying
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: last time out in Mandalika, this weekend might be a
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: little bit too early. I think while Betseki still mathematically
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: got a great chance at the championship, They're going to
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: let him have free reign. They're not going to get
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: him involved in team orders. I can't see them this
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: weekend having any instructions for Fernandes or Agoura. I think
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: at the moment it's like, OK, every man for himself.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: You guys have a crack at it. But I think
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: they're going to see how the land lies after this weekend.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: If Mark really does have a strong weekend, as you said,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: an anti-clockwise track, it's almost a given that Mark gets
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: the job done in those kind of situations. I think
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: they'll take stock, evaluate after what happens this weekend. If
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Betsecki's further adrift in the championship, are they going to
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: then sort of go, yeah, well, now's the time to
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: really help Jorge Martin. So I think probably in Sepang
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: is where we might start to see team orders factor in.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Watch this face. Right, before we wrap this one up, guys,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I have to do the predictions.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Who's going to win, Matt? Come on.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Mark and Jack Miller on the podium if it's wet. Okay, ready?
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: If it's dry, I can't see past Betseki because he
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: was so, so good here last year.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: The problem is it doesn't feel like it's.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: Going to be dry, unfortunately. So, do you know what?
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to try and curry favour with some
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: Aussie fans here, but if it is wet, I just
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: think it's all just set up for one fairytale farewell
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: to the Australian Grand Prix at the island. And I
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: don't know why, I've just got this inkling that that
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Jack's going to do it I don't know why maybe
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: there was something in the beers here last night but
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: I just think it would be the ultimate fitting finale
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: to this amazing circuit for an Australian to win the
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: last Aussie MotoGP race here Come on.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Are you not feeling this? Are you not feeling this?
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: Who writes these scripts? Who writes these scripts? I'm up
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: for it, absolutely.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking, oh, Jolie, like you said, Senno, Moto2.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: We could be on for a fairytale here.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: You're going the Australian hat trick. Is that your prediction?
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: I'm going to go the Australian hat trick. Oh, no.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Anyway, let's wrap this up now.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Big thank you, as always, to Shannon's Insurance for sponsoring
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: this episode of Pit Talk.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give you guys all the rundown.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: You know, if you want to follow Matt's articles, you
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: can do so on our website at foxsports.com.au forward slash motorsport.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: And stay up to date with us on our socials.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: We are at foxsports.com. Fox Motorsports, Fox Sports Oz and
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: at KO Sports.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to take you guys behind the scenes as
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: much as we can this weekend. That's why we brought
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Bertie along. And if you want to listen to him,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: you can do so because we have every practice, qualifying
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: sprint and Grand Prix live and ad break free on
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Fox Sports and KO, the only place in Australia that
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you can watch all the sessions.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: But Bertie, thank you so much for joining us here
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: on Pit Talk.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Pleasure, guys.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Keep up the good work and have a great final
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Phillip Island Aussie Grand Prix.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.