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Silverstone Secrets & Silly Season Surprise: MotoGP Pit Talk · Pit Talk

0:01
Speaker 1: Moto GP heads to Great Britain under the summer sunshine
0:07
Speaker 1: here and I can say that because Matt, I'm actually
0:10
Speaker 1: here in the UK ahead of this weekend's Silverstone Moto
0:14
Speaker 1: Grand Prix and it is sunny. It surprisingly landed in
0:17
Speaker 1: London it was rainy and now we are up near
0:20
Speaker 1: Buckingham Shea for Silverstony and it is sunny.
0:24
Speaker 2: But Matt, welcome back to Pitt Talk.
0:26
Speaker 1: I know you've been busy over on the F one
0:29
Speaker 1: side of things, so welcome back to my favorite subject,
0:32
Speaker 1: Moto GP.
0:33
Speaker 3: T talk about subject too. Let's be honest.
0:37
Speaker 2: We love that, we love that.
0:39
Speaker 1: Let's go into silly season because I'm sure you guys
0:42
Speaker 1: have been reading on Fox sports dot com do au
0:45
Speaker 1: for Slash Motors for all of Matt's articles, and you
0:48
Speaker 1: released one on Joorge Martin.
0:50
Speaker 2: There's something on Jack Miller. But the rumors at.
0:53
Speaker 1: The moment are going crazy. I've heard stuff about Pekobanyaya.
0:58
Speaker 1: Fill us in what's the latest with me GP Silly season.
1:01
Speaker 3: I'm so looking forward for you and I to do
1:04
Speaker 3: a podcast that'll have an audience of two, which will
1:06
Speaker 3: be you and I after you've spent Thursday crashing around
1:08
Speaker 3: the paddock trying to work out what's going on here.
1:10
Speaker 3: But yeah, look, it felt like it was going to
1:13
Speaker 3: be a pretty relaxedly season compared to last year. I
1:16
Speaker 3: remember this time last year Migello came and then the
1:19
Speaker 3: whole world got turned upside down and tipped upside down
1:21
Speaker 3: in the space of about a week. But you know,
1:23
Speaker 3: there are only four riders out of contract this year,
1:25
Speaker 3: so he thought, okay, it's going to be pretty quiet.
1:28
Speaker 3: A lot of these guys will probably sign on for
1:30
Speaker 3: new teams. And then after the French Grand Prix, this
1:34
Speaker 3: bombshell emerges that Jorge Martin's trying to get himself out
1:38
Speaker 3: of the Aprillier contract that he signed at Migello last year. Crazily,
1:43
Speaker 3: he's not completed a race at a Prillier yet, of course,
1:45
Speaker 3: because he's only been present for one round this year,
1:48
Speaker 3: and we know what happened in Katari had that horrendous
1:50
Speaker 3: accident and got hit by Fabio to jan Antonio, so
1:52
Speaker 3: he's still sidelined. But a couple of very prominent and
1:55
Speaker 3: well connected Spanish journalists reported that Martin was in Lemon,
1:59
Speaker 3: not at the tree, but at the town in the
2:02
Speaker 3: lead up to the French GP to have a couple
2:04
Speaker 3: of meetings with a prilliant management saying I don't want
2:06
Speaker 3: to stay, I don't want to do this. And what
2:10
Speaker 3: they're doing here is there's a clause and no one
2:14
Speaker 3: quite knows what the clause says except for the people
2:16
Speaker 3: that signed the contract. But the clause intimates something along
2:19
Speaker 3: the lines of if he's not in amongst the top riders,
2:24
Speaker 3: and I use that in air quotes because you don't
2:25
Speaker 3: know where the top means, two, three, five, whatever, that is,
2:28
Speaker 3: if he's not among the top riders at a particular
2:30
Speaker 3: point of the season, he is then free to go elsewhere.
2:33
Speaker 3: And if you're looking at this from a previous point
2:35
Speaker 3: of view, it's like, well, how can you possibly be
2:37
Speaker 3: one of the top riders in the World Championship this
2:39
Speaker 3: season because you haven't been on the bike except for
2:42
Speaker 3: one round and you didn't even finish that. So it
2:46
Speaker 3: is calling a contract out to the letter of the law.
2:49
Speaker 3: Is it is there a karmera at the Carmick element
2:53
Speaker 3: to this look? Probably not, And I'm sure there will
2:56
Speaker 3: be lawyers talking to other lawyers to try and resolve
2:58
Speaker 3: this buttering thing for me, Roneda and a lot of
3:01
Speaker 3: people don't know this. This is the second time Jorge
3:05
Speaker 3: Martinez used some sort of fine print in a contract
3:08
Speaker 3: to get what he wants when he wants it. And
3:12
Speaker 3: I go back to the twenty twenty Motor GP season.
3:15
Speaker 3: He was in Moto two still at that point, there
3:18
Speaker 3: was a clause in the contract that he had that
3:20
Speaker 3: he had a link to come up to Motor GP
3:23
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one with KTM, and there was some
3:26
Speaker 3: fine print in that contract that there had to be
3:29
Speaker 3: a KTM rider inside the top ten of the twenty
3:33
Speaker 3: twenty World Championship by June for that contract to be binding. Now,
3:37
Speaker 3: of course what happened in twenty twenty COVID there were
3:40
Speaker 3: no races in twenty twenty until July. So the fact
3:43
Speaker 3: that there were no KTM riders in the top ten
3:45
Speaker 3: of the championship in June. Frankly, there were no riders
3:47
Speaker 3: in anywhere in the top ten of the championship in June.
3:49
Speaker 3: We hadn't had a race. They used that loophole to
3:52
Speaker 3: extract him from KTM, which is what got him on
3:55
Speaker 3: the grid with Pramak to Caddy back in twenty twenty one.
3:58
Speaker 3: So you look at the paddock. I mean, you know this,
4:01
Speaker 3: it's a small place, there's only five manufacturers, and you're thinking, well,
4:04
Speaker 3: where could he go? He rage quit Ducati last year
4:08
Speaker 3: after it was made very clear that Mark Marquez wasn't
4:10
Speaker 3: going to accept going to Pramac and force his way
4:13
Speaker 3: into the factory team, so he rage quit them to
4:15
Speaker 3: sign with a Prillia on the post Mugillo test in
4:19
Speaker 3: one day. That whole deal went down. Rewind a few
4:22
Speaker 3: years and he's used some loophole to get out of katm.
4:26
Speaker 3: There's only so many places you could annoy in this
4:28
Speaker 3: paddock because there's only so many people you could actually
4:30
Speaker 3: ride for. So to think that there could be some
4:33
Speaker 3: situation here where they're using some sort of legal ease
4:35
Speaker 3: and something buried deep in a clause in a contract
4:38
Speaker 3: to get him out of a Prillier, it's one we
4:41
Speaker 3: certainly didn't see coming because this relationship hasn't even had
4:44
Speaker 3: a chance to be good or bad. It's just been
4:46
Speaker 3: nothing because he hasn't ridden the bike. But then you
4:49
Speaker 3: start to think to yourself, this is just me being cynical,
4:52
Speaker 3: and you know, possibly a little sensible occasionally, but what
4:55
Speaker 3: I'm thinking is okay, so where else would he go.
4:59
Speaker 3: We're running out manufacturers here. The obvious one for me
5:03
Speaker 3: is Honda, as in I nearly said repsol holder, at
5:05
Speaker 3: which point you would have been forced to take it
5:07
Speaker 3: a shot. But the factory Honda team Luca Marine's out
5:11
Speaker 3: of contract at the end of this season. And it
5:13
Speaker 3: was really interesting that after and you would have noticed
5:16
Speaker 3: this after Lamon, when Joe and Zycho won that race,
5:19
Speaker 3: he made it very clear that he would love to
5:21
Speaker 3: step up to that main factory team. And yes, we
5:24
Speaker 3: know he's getting a factory bike at else are, but
5:25
Speaker 3: there's nothing like writing for the factory hon the team,
5:28
Speaker 3: both now and then maybe in the future as we
5:31
Speaker 3: look to twenty twenty seven rule reset, Honda has as
5:34
Speaker 3: good of a chance as of anybody is getting this right.
5:37
Speaker 3: I don't think it's much of a coincidence that one
5:39
Speaker 3: day after Zako said, oh look, I'd really like to
5:41
Speaker 3: get my backside on that factory Honda in the future.
5:45
Speaker 3: This story breaks from some well connected Spanish journalists on
5:48
Speaker 3: the Martin camp, because if Martin's going anywhere, it's pretty
5:51
Speaker 3: clear that he will want to go to the factory
5:54
Speaker 3: on the team. Maybe Hedgy's bets for twenty twenty seven
5:58
Speaker 3: and so on. But I don't think that those two
6:00
Speaker 3: stories were in isolation. I think they were very connected.
6:03
Speaker 3: And to me, that's go on, keep going.
6:06
Speaker 1: No, No, I wanted to just say what I'm finding
6:08
Speaker 1: really interesting, and you're talking about Honda here and Martin
6:12
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to connect with Dodds and something that
6:14
Speaker 1: I don't know if listeners know that you've pointed out, Matt,
6:16
Speaker 1: is the fact that Pedro Costa and Jugem Martin are
6:19
Speaker 1: managed by the same person. Those rumors, all those rumors
6:23
Speaker 1: coming about with Pedro Costa potentially going to HRC Honda.
6:27
Speaker 2: And then Tom Crack got thrown in there.
6:29
Speaker 1: So that's what I just thought. It was funny that
6:31
Speaker 1: you were saying, Johem Martin could potentially go to Honda,
6:33
Speaker 1: because what about Pedro a Costa.
6:36
Speaker 3: Then it sounds very much like a Costa has his
6:40
Speaker 3: heart set on trying to get on to do Catty
6:42
Speaker 3: and the only one of those that's available at the
6:44
Speaker 3: end of this season is at VR forty six with
6:46
Speaker 3: Franco Morbidelli because he's out of contract at the end
6:48
Speaker 3: of this season. Now, the Morbid Deli one's interesting for
6:51
Speaker 3: me in that I think his stock was pretty low
6:54
Speaker 3: last year after the Parmak experience. Obviously, is hugely injured
6:57
Speaker 3: at the beginning of last year, didn't really get a
6:59
Speaker 3: great run at and then even when he got back
7:01
Speaker 3: wasn't particularly good. Of course, you have to remember his
7:03
Speaker 3: teammate won the World Championship last year and Morbidelli had
7:06
Speaker 3: one podium, so there's a huge gap between those two. Now,
7:10
Speaker 3: theoretically there's a VR forty sixty catty available for twenty
7:13
Speaker 3: twenty six. That would mean that Valentino Rossi would have
7:17
Speaker 3: to wave goodbye to a writer who is a protege,
7:21
Speaker 3: a member of the academy who he's brought through, assuming
7:25
Speaker 3: that Costa can worm his way out of a contract
7:28
Speaker 3: with KTM, because he's contracted with KTM for twenty twenty six,
7:31
Speaker 3: just as Martinez contracted for Prilier in twenty twenty six.
7:35
Speaker 3: So I wrote earlier this week that these contracts seem
7:38
Speaker 3: to be you know, they're basically a marriage of convenience
7:40
Speaker 3: until they're not, and you know there'll be one party
7:43
Speaker 3: or another that wants to get themselves out of it.
7:45
Speaker 3: To my mind, Renda, there's a huge thing here in
7:48
Speaker 3: that I don't expect that the balance of power to
7:52
Speaker 3: shift too much in motor GP for the rest of
7:54
Speaker 3: this year and next year while we've got this rule set,
7:57
Speaker 3: it's a Ducati Championship and you need to be on
7:59
Speaker 3: a Ducadi twenty twenty seven. Is this really enticing? Hard
8:04
Speaker 3: reset new engines, less arrow, new tire supply. There's so
8:09
Speaker 3: much changing for twenty twenty seven, and so being on
8:14
Speaker 3: the right bike at the right time at the start
8:16
Speaker 3: of a rule set. There's a lot of educated guess
8:19
Speaker 3: work going on here. Everyone's trying to maneuver themselves into
8:22
Speaker 3: the correct position. I thought next year's rider market would
8:25
Speaker 3: be nuts and this years would be quiet. But to
8:27
Speaker 3: have the reigning world champion who has not scored a
8:30
Speaker 3: point decide that he wants out of a Prilier six
8:33
Speaker 3: races into a World Championship, which just shows you that
8:35
Speaker 3: the silly season only ever gets silly. I just will
8:38
Speaker 3: be expected to be a bit more sensible than something
8:40
Speaker 3: like this comes up.
8:42
Speaker 2: Well, let's look about the silly, silly, silly season.
8:44
Speaker 1: Because I went on social media briefly on my journey
8:47
Speaker 1: over and then someone's made a post about heko Bernaya
8:50
Speaker 1: potentially going to factory Yamaha.
8:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's probably people are adding two and
8:57
Speaker 3: two together and coming up with five on that one.
8:59
Speaker 3: That sounds a littill a bit unlikely to me. We
9:01
Speaker 3: know that it's not been the greatest season for Peco.
9:05
Speaker 3: I think I'm not surprised that Mark Marquez has got
9:08
Speaker 3: into that team and done what he has done, but
9:09
Speaker 3: Peco has not been himself this season. We also know
9:13
Speaker 3: the way Peco works in that he's not someone who
9:15
Speaker 3: jumps at shadows. He's pretty methodical in the way that
9:18
Speaker 3: he chips away at these things, and so I can't
9:22
Speaker 3: imagine yet. I mean, you never say never with these things,
9:25
Speaker 3: but I think that's probably a bridge too far yet.
9:28
Speaker 3: I think the interesting part, just slightly backtracking to the
9:30
Speaker 3: Martin thing, is that most people seem to think that
9:34
Speaker 3: he's trying to get himself to Honda as opposed to Yamaha. Now,
9:37
Speaker 3: of course Pramak, who ran his World championship team a
9:40
Speaker 3: Ducati a running that secondary Yamaha team these days. I
9:43
Speaker 3: don't think Yamaha is looking for a juge Martin because
9:46
Speaker 3: they have a guy who, all things being equal, is
9:49
Speaker 3: one of the best spots two or three guys on
9:51
Speaker 3: the grid and Fabio Couaateuro. We've seen that these past
9:54
Speaker 3: couple of Grand Prix at Herreath and at Lamont, that
9:57
Speaker 3: Quauro doesn't have a bike to fight for a World
10:00
Speaker 3: championship yet. But what these last couple of rounds have
10:03
Speaker 3: said to me, and I'm sure you're in agreement here
10:05
Speaker 3: if Yamaha ever come up with a bike that can
10:07
Speaker 3: fight decatty, but now are in twenty twenty seven, they've
10:10
Speaker 3: already got the rider. He is so so good. I
10:13
Speaker 3: don't think his talent has dipped one bit. And we've
10:16
Speaker 3: seen what happens if he has the best bike on
10:18
Speaker 3: the grid or nearly the best bike on the grid.
10:20
Speaker 3: We know what happens. He wonted world championship doing this
10:23
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, and I don't think he's got
10:24
Speaker 3: any worse since sin So Yamaha's got their kingpin, They've
10:28
Speaker 3: got their shining light, and everyone else needs to sit
10:30
Speaker 3: in line behind them. I'm not sure Yamaha would really
10:33
Speaker 3: want a Martine type, but Honda right now are crying
10:37
Speaker 3: out for like that super A list rider, and you know,
10:41
Speaker 3: the Acosta stuff is cooled with them. As you mentioned before,
10:44
Speaker 3: they're to me the one factory that doesn't have that
10:46
Speaker 3: genuine a lister right now that they could do that
10:50
Speaker 3: in the future. So look twenty seven. To me, I
10:53
Speaker 3: think every decision that happens between now and twenty seven
10:55
Speaker 3: needs to be considered with what happens when the rules change.
10:59
Speaker 3: But man, I did not expect to be having a
11:01
Speaker 3: ju Hey Brtsine contract conversation. Part of me is like,
11:04
Speaker 3: could you just finish a race first, please, and then
11:06
Speaker 3: well you can actually discuss this because he hasn't done
11:08
Speaker 3: that yet.
11:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, when like it first got announced, I was totally
11:13
Speaker 1: mind blowing, as everybody else was.
11:14
Speaker 2: When you're hear in these rumors of him.
11:16
Speaker 1: Potentially having tortill of teens and whatnot, and then you
11:20
Speaker 1: look at what happened last year with Pramak, Like you said,
11:23
Speaker 1: his trust also in Elisia Spargrou, I think had helped
11:27
Speaker 1: him meet possibly make that decision. I don't know the
11:29
Speaker 1: ins and outs. I'm just assuming here, but you saw
11:32
Speaker 1: that whole situation go out. Then also Alisia Sparger jumping
11:37
Speaker 1: to Honda as their test writer. Is it like the
11:40
Speaker 1: mouse following the cat once again?
11:42
Speaker 3: Or the caple in the mouse possibly. I mean it
11:46
Speaker 3: was funny with the espigro thing, like we were talking
11:47
Speaker 3: about that at the time. I remember him because he
11:49
Speaker 3: was like, he was a Prillians captain, he was the
11:51
Speaker 3: leader of the ship, he was the guy. And then
11:53
Speaker 3: he announced that catalog you look, this season will be
11:55
Speaker 3: my last. And I think most people thought, well, he'll
11:57
Speaker 3: probably just be a test writer for a Prillier then,
11:59
Speaker 3: because he's a cat and he's the guy that's been
12:01
Speaker 3: steering this shit for so long. And then a few
12:03
Speaker 3: weeks later, I'll be a test writer for HRC. Now, okay,
12:06
Speaker 3: hsc's probably got a bigger budget for a test rider
12:09
Speaker 3: than a prillierdo. But part of me is like, that's
12:11
Speaker 3: a bit weird because after you've done all you can
12:13
Speaker 3: do to effectively get someone like Jujgey Martine is in
12:17
Speaker 3: as your successor, and for people that don't know, there's
12:20
Speaker 3: almost like a there's like a big brother little brother
12:23
Speaker 3: relationship with Elashan and Jorge and that Elishi's fiercely protective
12:29
Speaker 3: of and has always tried to guide. Hey, they've been
12:31
Speaker 3: very close for a long long while. It's almost like
12:33
Speaker 3: they've related their siblings in that sense, so he you know,
12:37
Speaker 3: obviously what happened at Magello last year, Martine realized he
12:40
Speaker 3: wasn't going to be in the factory Dakati team Espago
12:43
Speaker 3: was hugely influential and getting that a Prillier deal over
12:46
Speaker 3: the line at full stop, but getting it over the
12:48
Speaker 3: line so quickly. You might remember, that deal was announced
12:52
Speaker 3: on the Monday of the test, before Mark Marquez had
12:55
Speaker 3: even been confirmed at the factory da Catti team. They
12:57
Speaker 3: actually stole their thunder. They jumped the gun on that one.
13:00
Speaker 3: And so the fact that Aleish then turned around fairly
13:04
Speaker 3: soon after that and said, oh, by the way, I'm
13:06
Speaker 3: going to be a test writer for HRC next year,
13:08
Speaker 3: that was interesting. That was a little bit of a
13:10
Speaker 3: bread crumb for me in that if he's got jes ear,
13:14
Speaker 3: which I'm sure he does, he's probably saying, hey, look
13:17
Speaker 3: like there's some good stuff happening here. You might want
13:20
Speaker 3: to see if you can get yourself on this. And
13:22
Speaker 3: I mean, we're again, we're sort of stitching unrelated stories
13:26
Speaker 3: together here to come up with a potential outcome. But
13:28
Speaker 3: that would not surprise me in the slightest if he's
13:30
Speaker 3: been given the heads up as to like, look, this
13:32
Speaker 3: Honda thing's really starting to gain momentum, and we've seen
13:35
Speaker 3: it this year. I mean the fact that Honda won
13:37
Speaker 3: that race at Lamon and they're not just cast a
13:40
Speaker 3: drift at the back in this sort of category sad
13:42
Speaker 3: category of one anymore. That's not where they are. They're
13:45
Speaker 3: clearly getting better, probably not to the extent of yamahat yet,
13:49
Speaker 3: but yet it's the keyword, like it really feels a
13:50
Speaker 3: lot Honda's coming and they have such resource and this
13:55
Speaker 3: history of getting things right with big rule changes that
13:59
Speaker 3: if you were going to put your money on someone,
14:01
Speaker 3: all things being equal, for twenty twenty seven of the
14:03
Speaker 3: non docaddy teams to get it right, I'd be putting
14:07
Speaker 3: my money in possibly some of yours, on Honda for
14:10
Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven because they just have the pedigree with
14:13
Speaker 3: this sort of stuff, don't they.
14:15
Speaker 2: Oh for sure?
14:15
Speaker 1: Like you said, Honda, when you think of Moto GP,
14:18
Speaker 1: thinking back into the nineties, we're doing and Career and
14:21
Speaker 1: all those guys is such a staple.
14:24
Speaker 2: In Moto GP history.
14:26
Speaker 1: But also is Yamaha, right, So it sucks to see
14:29
Speaker 1: those Japanese manufacturers down. But this season it's been so
14:33
Speaker 1: much better having Honda winning La morn. We've had Fabio
14:37
Speaker 1: fighting for the podiums, but it's only just like one
14:40
Speaker 1: writer here or one writer there. It's not the whole
14:42
Speaker 1: manufacturers constantly up the front. That's what I think we
14:45
Speaker 1: need to see more of. So what you said about
14:48
Speaker 1: having that alien for HRC Honda, I think is what
14:51
Speaker 1: they need, because obviously that's what Marquez was for them,
14:55
Speaker 1: and that's kind of what they've always had, is that
14:57
Speaker 1: one writer who's taken the whole team them, apart from
15:00
Speaker 1: when it was Danny Pidrosi who was constantly there in
15:03
Speaker 1: the second place. But let's go to Yamaha really quickly,
15:07
Speaker 1: because you wrote an interesting piece on Jack Miller. We
15:10
Speaker 1: know that Jack has only got a one year contract
15:12
Speaker 1: that is up at the end, and it seems like
15:15
Speaker 1: he's kind of been the star of the show for
15:17
Speaker 1: Pramaha because Miguela Lavera once again got caught in an
15:20
Speaker 1: incident that wasn't his fault out with injuries only just
15:23
Speaker 1: starting to come back. But Jack, as we've said so
15:26
Speaker 1: many times, he shows those glimpses, those flashes of brilliance.
15:30
Speaker 1: He gets to the ceiling straight away. He's been constantly
15:33
Speaker 1: there with Fabrio Corderraro. What's the latest with Jack? What's
15:37
Speaker 1: the room is all? Where do you think he's going.
15:39
Speaker 2: To go for the next year.
15:41
Speaker 3: I'm just crossing off Pramaha off my podcast being Go
15:43
Speaker 3: Kard because you've managed to tick that one for me,
15:45
Speaker 3: so thank you. Look the police that I wrote about
15:49
Speaker 3: Jack this week was interesting in that in his so
15:53
Speaker 3: he had that fantastic fifth place in Texas in the
15:55
Speaker 3: Grand Prix. There he's brilliant, Like Pramak were just absolutely
15:59
Speaker 3: joyous about that. Gino Bosaw was saying, like fifth for
16:01
Speaker 3: us in this stage of a really really new projects,
16:05
Speaker 3: like a victory, like it's an amazing result. Jack's not
16:07
Speaker 3: scored a point since then. So two non scores in Qatar,
16:12
Speaker 3: two non scores in Spain, two non scores in France.
16:14
Speaker 3: Now some of these look the France Grand Prix. He
16:17
Speaker 3: will absolutely be kicking himself even now when we get
16:21
Speaker 3: to Silveston this week, because he was eleven seconds up
16:24
Speaker 3: the road on the right tires, on the right strategy
16:26
Speaker 3: from the guy who won the race at the time
16:28
Speaker 3: when he went down, and that's one that's absolutely slipped
16:31
Speaker 3: through his fingers probably should have won that race and
16:33
Speaker 3: podium at a minimum. There's also been some seriously weird
16:36
Speaker 3: things that have happened to Jack and this run of
16:38
Speaker 3: six straight now zeros for him. Had that really weird
16:42
Speaker 3: tire vibration thing in Qatar that every time we went
16:44
Speaker 3: into a left hand corner it basically tried to throw
16:46
Speaker 3: him off and eventually did it turn two like a
16:48
Speaker 3: sort of pathetic slow speed crash at turned two. And
16:51
Speaker 3: then the one that got me was remember what happened
16:54
Speaker 3: to him at Harrath where a piece of the bike's
16:55
Speaker 3: fairing came loose and actually sliced one of the wiring
16:58
Speaker 3: cables on the bike, and all of a sudden and
17:00
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, this thing's running on three cylinders and
17:02
Speaker 3: going nowhere fast. So he's had some Only Jack Miller
17:06
Speaker 3: could have these sorts of DNF retirements. But the thing
17:09
Speaker 3: that I thought this week is that you know, this
17:12
Speaker 3: time last year, we were going, oh, this Katim thing's
17:15
Speaker 3: not going well. A cost as a star in the making.
17:17
Speaker 3: He kind of felt like he was a dead man
17:19
Speaker 3: walking last year, and he was in the end. But
17:21
Speaker 3: it made me dig back through Jack's career this is
17:26
Speaker 3: the So he's got nineteen points after the first six
17:29
Speaker 3: rounds of a season. It's the worst six rounds of
17:32
Speaker 3: a season he's had since twenty sixteen. That's how far
17:36
Speaker 3: back it's been since Jack scored so few points in
17:38
Speaker 3: the first six rounds of a season, because it crossed
17:41
Speaker 3: the sprint in the Grand Prix. In these last three rounds,
17:42
Speaker 3: he hasn't scored a point now. This time last year
17:45
Speaker 3: he was scoring more than this, not a lot more,
17:46
Speaker 3: but he was scoring some more. But we always felt that, look,
17:49
Speaker 3: the kat V's thing's done, and it got to the
17:51
Speaker 3: point where, I mean, he was on this podcast saying that,
17:54
Speaker 3: you know, I thought it was over until the whole
17:57
Speaker 3: Pramak Yamaha thing gave him a lifeline. He was the
18:00
Speaker 3: twenty second and final guy signed for this year really
18:04
Speaker 3: late in the day, and so it looked pretty tenuous
18:07
Speaker 3: there for a while. I would actually suggest that despite
18:10
Speaker 3: this run of form that he's been on, I actually
18:12
Speaker 3: feel he's in a pretty good position to retain his
18:16
Speaker 3: seat for next year, not necessarily for what he's doing
18:19
Speaker 3: on the scoreboard. I think you mentioned that before about
18:21
Speaker 3: him getting to the ceiling of a bike really fast,
18:23
Speaker 3: we know he's done that. Yamaha have been nothing but
18:27
Speaker 3: positive about the impact he's having behind the scenes with
18:30
Speaker 3: the testing of new parts and really driving the project forward.
18:34
Speaker 3: Because we forget with Jack because he acts like he's
18:36
Speaker 3: eighteen a lot of the time he's thirty years old.
18:39
Speaker 3: He's so experienced now because he's had time with Honda
18:41
Speaker 3: and Ducati and KTM. He's always the perfect guy to
18:45
Speaker 3: have when you've got a new project and you want
18:48
Speaker 3: to know, as Yamaha, what the rest of them are
18:50
Speaker 3: doing and what they're doing, Well, jack'st well, I've ridden
18:53
Speaker 3: this bike, and I've ridden this bike, and I've ridden
18:55
Speaker 3: this bike, and I've been in Motor GP for ten years.
18:58
Speaker 3: He's a team player. He's a really good in that regard.
19:01
Speaker 3: So there's that aspect to it. And then my thought
19:05
Speaker 3: process on this is, if it's not Jack, then who
19:08
Speaker 3: are you going to get that's going to do a
19:10
Speaker 3: better job with that job description than what Jack is doing.
19:14
Speaker 3: We know Pramac's got that Moto two team with Tony
19:17
Speaker 3: Abellino and Nissan Guivara. They're not ready for Moto GP
19:20
Speaker 3: yet possibly at all. Why on earth would you bring
19:23
Speaker 3: them in for the final year of a rule set
19:25
Speaker 3: that's going in the bin at the end of twenty six. Anyway,
19:27
Speaker 3: there's absolutely no point doing that. We know Yabaha is
19:30
Speaker 3: developing the V four behind the scenes. Jack's britten V
19:34
Speaker 3: four's and his previous addresses. He's the perfect guy at
19:37
Speaker 3: this time to try and bring that project forward. And yeah,
19:41
Speaker 3: look the points Tally's not looking great at the moment,
19:43
Speaker 3: and he said it himself after all the once. I
19:45
Speaker 3: just need to start getting some points here because he's
19:48
Speaker 3: not been slow. He's made some mistakes like France, he
19:52
Speaker 3: was unlucky like he was in Spain. He does need
19:55
Speaker 3: to score some points and Silverston's been a good track
19:57
Speaker 3: for him in the past. But I think he's under
19:58
Speaker 3: less threat this year year than he was last year.
20:02
Speaker 3: I'd be super surprised if Premak Yamaha didn't sign him
20:05
Speaker 3: for next year.
20:07
Speaker 1: Well, we'll just have to keep our eyes in is
20:09
Speaker 1: peeled because the silly season rumors are going.
20:11
Speaker 2: To continue NonStop.
20:13
Speaker 1: If anything like last year was to go off, I
20:15
Speaker 1: think this year it's going to be like who's.
20:17
Speaker 2: Going where with this person? This person says this.
20:19
Speaker 1: So once we had the official announcement of everything, we
20:22
Speaker 1: will let you guys know asap. But you mentioned Silverstone.
20:26
Speaker 1: Obviously that is the British Rumprix this weekend. Let's move
20:29
Speaker 1: on to that because before we hit record, we were
20:31
Speaker 1: talking about last year and how cool it was being
20:34
Speaker 1: the seventy fifth anniversary of Moto GP retro round. Those
20:39
Speaker 1: are the cool flashback of throwback memories. I'm trying to think.
20:43
Speaker 1: The Yamaha one for me was just incredible color schemes.
20:48
Speaker 1: But last year's winner, we were talking about this as well.
20:51
Speaker 1: A name of Ashanini came out of nowhere. He won
20:54
Speaker 1: the Sprint and the Grand Prix, right, yes he did.
20:57
Speaker 3: He's one of those I reckon he has. Certainly when
20:59
Speaker 3: he was at Tocatti, you have three weekends a year
21:02
Speaker 3: where you look at him and go, how's this guy
21:03
Speaker 3: not won three World Championships like he looks like the
21:05
Speaker 3: best writer in it by a mile. And there was
21:08
Speaker 3: nothing about either of those wins that he had at
21:10
Speaker 3: Silverston last year that was about luck or you know,
21:13
Speaker 3: taking advantage of someone else's misfortune. He was just so
21:16
Speaker 3: quick the entire weekend, and then and a being and
21:19
Speaker 3: a who disappeared for a bit, and then he won
21:20
Speaker 3: at me Massado and he disappeared for a bit, and
21:23
Speaker 3: that's just the way that he tends to roll. But
21:25
Speaker 3: the weirdest thing about that is that, so you dig
21:28
Speaker 3: back through the history books with Silverston, this event makes
21:32
Speaker 3: absolutely no sense simply because the last ten times we've
21:36
Speaker 3: had a Grand Prix at Silveston, we've had ten different
21:40
Speaker 3: winners in the past ten years, so no repeat winners
21:43
Speaker 3: and ten guys have won one race each in the
21:46
Speaker 3: past ten times that we've been to Silverston. So you'll
21:49
Speaker 3: be doing well to remember some of these. But you
21:50
Speaker 3: think back and go, my goodness, like, how have we
21:52
Speaker 3: got to a point where this has become literally the
21:55
Speaker 3: least predictable Grand Prix of the year, And you go
21:58
Speaker 3: back and look at some of these. Elasiauspo won there
22:00
Speaker 3: in twenty three, is one of the second win he
22:04
Speaker 3: had for a Prilier quatro in his twenty twenty one
22:07
Speaker 3: championship year. Alex Rinz being Mark Marques and that awesome
22:11
Speaker 3: last lap by about half a wheel twenty nineteen, Mark
22:14
Speaker 3: comes very close to winning here but doesn't. Maverick Vignalez's
22:18
Speaker 3: first Motor GP win was here. Suzuki back in twenty
22:21
Speaker 3: was at fifteen, I remembory. One of Rossi's last wins
22:25
Speaker 3: was here. It's bizarre. So I'm just looking at this now.
22:27
Speaker 3: The last time we had repeat winners at Silverston twenty
22:30
Speaker 3: twelve twenty thirteen Jorge Lorenzo. Nobody's won consecutive races since,
22:34
Speaker 3: and we've had ten different guys win Grand Prix, so
22:37
Speaker 3: it's become this really unpredictable race. But I'm so glad
22:42
Speaker 3: you started this podcast with the weather because I was
22:44
Speaker 3: going to ask you for a weather update, which makes
22:46
Speaker 3: terrible podcasting, but it's interesting for me now. It's not
22:50
Speaker 3: summer yet in the UK. I know the English. The
22:53
Speaker 3: English summer is one of those things that you need
22:54
Speaker 3: to stick air quotes around, obviously, but this is the
22:58
Speaker 3: earliest this race has ever been held. I actually duck
23:01
Speaker 3: back through this because this is normally August or September, right,
23:03
Speaker 3: so you've got half a chance of the weather actually
23:05
Speaker 3: being halfway decent. So I looked at the forecast of
23:08
Speaker 3: the weekend. I hope you've packed most of your wardrobe
23:11
Speaker 3: because it seems like you're going to need it. It's
23:13
Speaker 3: going to be all over the place.
23:15
Speaker 1: It's currently close to mid day here, and I reckon
23:19
Speaker 1: it's about twelve degrees. And you know, a weeks ago
23:22
Speaker 1: they were saying England had this heat wave go through
23:24
Speaker 1: and it was like thirty degrees and whatnot, and now
23:27
Speaker 1: it's twelve and freezing. But I also had a look
23:29
Speaker 1: at the weather and I think we were in for
23:31
Speaker 1: some wet weather track action, which I think is going
23:34
Speaker 1: to be good because it'll even up the playing field
23:36
Speaker 1: because Silverstone, as we know, vast circuit, the long straights
23:40
Speaker 1: that it has, it's fast flowing, so automatically you think
23:43
Speaker 1: Mark Marquez, right, But if we do have that wet weather,
23:46
Speaker 1: we might be in for a bit more interesting qualifying
23:48
Speaker 1: where hopefully we'll see a Fabio or a Jack or
23:52
Speaker 1: a different manufacturer at the front and not just Mark
23:54
Speaker 1: Marquez who could possibly break his whole street.
23:58
Speaker 2: Shall we say?
24:00
Speaker 3: It's also super interesting is that it's pretty grim for
24:03
Speaker 3: us back here in Australia because we've got a one
24:05
Speaker 3: am Sunday boarding sprint. It's a four pm local time
24:09
Speaker 3: sprint start at Silverstone. Now, given we're not in summer,
24:12
Speaker 3: like I know, it's dark at five o'clock. But you
24:14
Speaker 3: mentioned like twelve degrees, what's the track temp going to
24:17
Speaker 3: be like, particularly if it's wet, that sprint could be absolute,
24:21
Speaker 3: you know, survival of the fittest rather than the fastest.
24:24
Speaker 3: Because that's pretty late in the day obviously, you know
24:27
Speaker 3: why it's at that time of the day to keep
24:29
Speaker 3: the crowd there and so on and so forth. But
24:30
Speaker 3: a four pm sprint, I remember when we talked about
24:33
Speaker 3: this at Philip Island last year. You remember when the
24:35
Speaker 3: race at Philip Island was always quite late in the afternoon,
24:38
Speaker 3: the actual Grand Prix. You'd get deep into the race
24:41
Speaker 3: and any of the right hand corners at Philip Island
24:43
Speaker 3: and be like trying to turn on ice, like turn
24:45
Speaker 3: four and turn ten because it's coursed to five in
24:48
Speaker 3: the afternoon. The temperatures ten degrees cold are at the
24:51
Speaker 3: end of the race, and it was at the start.
24:52
Speaker 3: So that sprint being at four pm on whether that
24:56
Speaker 3: we can't really trust. That's super sketchy for me. But
25:00
Speaker 3: you mentioned Marquez high speed. Look, I totally agree with you.
25:03
Speaker 3: I can't believe he's only ever won this race once.
25:06
Speaker 3: But then we're saying that about katar Were a few
25:09
Speaker 3: weeks ago, and well look what happened there. But one
25:12
Speaker 3: to watch for me, and simply because of what they've
25:14
Speaker 3: done the past couple of races. Yamaha tested that new
25:17
Speaker 3: engine and a lot of new parts after her wrath,
25:20
Speaker 3: and the engine is supposed to have some more straight
25:22
Speaker 3: line grunt and this is a track that the Yamaha
25:25
Speaker 3: has eaten up in the past. I quite watched Corotturero
25:29
Speaker 3: fly this weekend if the weather is. If the weather is,
25:32
Speaker 3: it's of dry and a bit more benign I suppose.
25:35
Speaker 3: But we mentioned Jack Miller before, would not surprise me
25:38
Speaker 3: in the slightest with that upgraded Yamaha with a bit
25:41
Speaker 3: more top end, and particularly if the weather's sketchy. I
25:45
Speaker 3: don't think he's going to let a second opportunity in
25:49
Speaker 3: those sketchy conditions slip if we get one of them.
25:52
Speaker 3: So it might be that he hasn't scored a bunch
25:54
Speaker 3: of points for a while and then maybe on for
25:55
Speaker 3: a big one at some point over the course of
25:57
Speaker 3: the weekend. Because you look at that forecast and it's
25:59
Speaker 3: not it's not Queensland weather. Shall we say it's.
26:03
Speaker 2: Not Queensland weather? Says the Melbourne who says it's not Queensland.
26:06
Speaker 3: Well, well, yeah, exactly.
26:09
Speaker 2: So yeah, Jack Miller. I agree.
26:10
Speaker 1: I think if the weather's hit and miss like it
26:13
Speaker 1: is planned to be, then I definitely think we'll see
26:16
Speaker 1: Jack Miller out for redemption from the French Grand Prix.
26:19
Speaker 2: But another Aussie in the lower category who I know.
26:22
Speaker 1: Is going to be very strong at this week and
26:24
Speaker 1: that silverstone no matter the weather is Joel Kelso I
26:27
Speaker 1: really believe that this circuit is going to suit him
26:30
Speaker 1: to a tee And we know that Joel he's looking
26:32
Speaker 1: to move up from Moto three to Moto two, make
26:35
Speaker 1: that progression. What do you think for Joel going into
26:37
Speaker 1: this weekend?
26:39
Speaker 3: You know we've talked about this in the past. It's like, ah,
26:41
Speaker 3: if you could just get himself to the front of
26:43
Speaker 3: a Grand Prix. He's always in the league group, but
26:44
Speaker 3: he's always off the back of the league group, Like
26:46
Speaker 3: it never really feels like he's going to be in
26:49
Speaker 3: contention for a Grand Prix win. And then you look
26:51
Speaker 3: at what he did in La mom for ninety eight
26:53
Speaker 3: percent of that race was absolutely perfect. It feels to
26:57
Speaker 3: me like there is a first win that's coming and
26:59
Speaker 3: coming real soon, which is obviously going to help his
27:01
Speaker 3: chances of being able to step up. But The thing
27:04
Speaker 3: that I like about his season is that in the
27:07
Speaker 3: past you'd say, Okay, this is great that he's up there,
27:10
Speaker 3: but does he belog up there? I think we've got
27:11
Speaker 3: that question answered now. Absolutely does Third in the championship
27:15
Speaker 3: wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this is a
27:17
Speaker 3: good race for him. It's a track that certainly suits
27:19
Speaker 3: his style. But of course, the thing for me this
27:22
Speaker 3: weekend is that with the way that the Sunday timetable is,
27:26
Speaker 3: they've brought Motor GPS the middle race of the three
27:29
Speaker 3: this weekend because they're trying to avoid a direct clash
27:31
Speaker 3: with the Monaco F one GP, so Moto three is
27:34
Speaker 3: basically in the bright lights headline spot to cap the
27:38
Speaker 3: day's action at Silveston on Sunday. So if we got
27:41
Speaker 3: to hear the Australian national anthem as the last anthem
27:44
Speaker 3: that we hear on a Sunday, you'll be there for that.
27:45
Speaker 3: You'll enjoy that.
27:47
Speaker 2: I would love to see that.
27:48
Speaker 1: Imagine if we can have a Ossie National anthem across
27:51
Speaker 1: all three with hopefully for the ages also in motors through.
27:54
Speaker 1: But we've got another Aussie, Jacob Rulstone, coming back from
27:57
Speaker 1: his injury.
27:59
Speaker 2: We spoke about it the last one.
28:00
Speaker 1: You know, Jacob, technically this is like what he's third
28:04
Speaker 1: race for the season, so he's sunning his whole season
28:07
Speaker 1: fresh this circuit, this track. Do you think this is
28:11
Speaker 1: something where Jacob is going to feel a bit more
28:14
Speaker 1: confident as he's progressing through or do you think because
28:16
Speaker 1: it's that fast flowing nature, he might struggle a bit.
28:19
Speaker 1: I'm kind of on the fence with Jacob at the moment.
28:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm a little bit the same because I thought
28:23
Speaker 3: that there was some really good signs at her Eth
28:25
Speaker 3: and then like Lamon was a bit disappointed, he was
28:27
Speaker 3: disappointed with Lemon, So yeah, I'm not sure. Like it's
28:30
Speaker 3: almost like you mentioned before, like he is so much
28:33
Speaker 3: at the start of the season with the injury, we
28:35
Speaker 3: almost like need more evidence to draw upon at the moment,
28:38
Speaker 3: like either extreme is in play this weekend, But I'm
28:41
Speaker 3: not really sure we've got a form line on where
28:44
Speaker 3: he's at yet. I mean, the high points have been good,
28:47
Speaker 3: but there's an inconsistency with what's going on at the moment,
28:49
Speaker 3: which makes sense because he's kind of almost just come
28:52
Speaker 3: out of a pre season after a pretty serious injury,
28:55
Speaker 3: so it's almost like we need more data and more
28:58
Speaker 3: evidence to base an opinion, you know, but look fingers crossed,
29:02
Speaker 3: he goes, well, there the flowing nature of this track.
29:05
Speaker 3: I find this is a track that the Aussies generally do
29:07
Speaker 3: quite well at. It's like a bit of an old
29:10
Speaker 3: school open track like and particularly for Moto three bikes,
29:14
Speaker 3: Like there's a you know, there's some pretty amazing corners
29:17
Speaker 3: around this track where they're just completely gassed up, So
29:19
Speaker 3: super fun to watch Moto three here. Hopefully he can
29:22
Speaker 3: I think comes down to Saturday, like if he can qualify,
29:24
Speaker 3: get himself into Q two, have a decent starting spot
29:29
Speaker 3: so he doesn't get left behind by the pack, and
29:30
Speaker 3: then we know that there'll be a big pack there
29:32
Speaker 3: because there always is, and hopefully he can be on
29:35
Speaker 3: the back of that.
29:36
Speaker 2: All right, Matt, you know what we do every preview,
29:40
Speaker 2: who's going to win? Who's your call for this weekend.
29:43
Speaker 1: I'm going to go first, and I'm going to go
29:44
Speaker 1: really out of the box here because I think it's
29:47
Speaker 1: just that sort of circuit that I'm going to say
29:49
Speaker 1: mark markers. But I know I've taken a real risk
29:53
Speaker 1: with that one. But what's your call for this weekend
29:55
Speaker 1: Moto GP? Who do you reckon for poll? Who do
29:57
Speaker 1: you reckon for the win?
30:00
Speaker 3: It will be Fabio Couaaterero again because I think he
30:03
Speaker 3: is capable of doing absolutely crazy things over one lap
30:07
Speaker 3: that probably aren't repeatable over twenty as far as the
30:11
Speaker 3: wind goes. I've got to I mentioned that Marquez gitar
30:14
Speaker 3: stat from twenty fourteen, which is the last time. Twenty
30:17
Speaker 3: fourteen was last time he won Silverston, the only time
30:19
Speaker 3: he's won Silverstone. And you look at the points table
30:22
Speaker 3: at the moment, the fact that he's twenty two points ahead,
30:24
Speaker 3: it feels like it should be more, and we know
30:27
Speaker 3: that he's had a couple of sort of self inflicted wounds.
30:30
Speaker 3: What's weird about this season is it feels like a
30:32
Speaker 3: season that Marquez has dominated. But the last four Grand
30:35
Speaker 3: Prix have had four different winners. You think about it,
30:37
Speaker 3: so Zarco and France, Alex Marquez in Spain, Mark won
30:42
Speaker 3: the previous round in Qatar, and Pecovanhi one in Texas.
30:45
Speaker 3: Because Mark has thrown it down the road. So I
30:47
Speaker 3: think this is a weekend where Mark Stampsy's authority reminds
30:51
Speaker 3: everyone who's really the boss of this thing. We know
30:53
Speaker 3: that he's been unbeatable on Saturdays. I think that translates
30:56
Speaker 3: into Sundays. It doesn't seem right to me that someone
30:58
Speaker 3: of his talent can have an a eleven year gap between
31:01
Speaker 3: winning it such a prestigious, notable circuit like Silverstone is.
31:06
Speaker 3: I think he's back on the top step this weekend.
31:08
Speaker 2: I see. I called it as well, Mark Marquez. Of course.
31:13
Speaker 3: We'll both be wrong or we'll both be right, so
31:15
Speaker 3: at least we get out this right.
31:17
Speaker 2: We all know Monday when we come back on the pod.
31:20
Speaker 1: But Matt and all the listeners, I'm going to keep
31:22
Speaker 1: you guys updated on socials because, as I said, I
31:24
Speaker 1: am here on the ground at Silverstone all we can
31:27
Speaker 1: so do keep up to date with me on the
31:29
Speaker 1: socials at Fox Motorsport everywhere, or if you want to
31:33
Speaker 1: read all the latest MotoGP news, you can read MAT's
31:35
Speaker 1: articles on Fox sport dot com, dot au, Forward slash Motorsport. Matt,
31:41
Speaker 1: thanks for putting up with my on the go audio
31:44
Speaker 1: and the background here at my farm, say in the
31:46
Speaker 1: middle of the country, England. But we'll catch up again
31:49
Speaker 1: on Monday to talk about all the action from hopefully
31:53
Speaker 1: a wet and wild Silverstone.
31:55
Speaker 3: Looking forward to it, and very much looking forward to
31:58
Speaker 3: you sneaking in the back of the press cover Surah
32:00
Speaker 3: finding out what massive Messima rival has got to say
32:02
Speaker 3: about Juge Martin. That is going to be interesting.
32:06
Speaker 1: I can't wait for that as well. Alright, guys, we'll
32:08
Speaker 1: see you again soon for more Moto GP pit talk.