Latest / Pit Talk / MotoGP 2025 Unpacked ft. Neil Morrison

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MotoGP 2025 Unpacked ft. Neil Morrison · Pit Talk

0:02
Speaker 1: Portermout provided us with a Marco masterclass and Ossie on
0:06
Speaker 1: the poll in Moto three and an adios to their
0:09
Speaker 1: home hero Miguel Olivera Pedro closed in on the points,
0:13
Speaker 1: we saw the last ever Motor E race and Peco
0:15
Speaker 1: crashed out of the GP again. Funny how that seems
0:19
Speaker 1: to always happen when Marco wins the Grand Prix.
0:22
Speaker 2: But anyway, that is for another day, and this episode
0:25
Speaker 2: of Pit Talk is brought to you by Shannon's Insurance.
0:27
Speaker 1: Joining me, Rinita VI is our Moto GP guru, mister
0:31
Speaker 1: Matt Clayton and Matt before we introduce our guests, I
0:35
Speaker 1: owe you a congratulations because you actually got it right
0:37
Speaker 1: this weekend.
0:38
Speaker 3: Well, you know, as the old sigying goes, a stop
0:40
Speaker 3: clock is right twice a day, Ronita. So it's one
0:42
Speaker 3: of those things that I'm bound to hit the mind
0:44
Speaker 3: of my predictions eventually. It just has to, you know,
0:46
Speaker 3: go around all the hands of the clock. And I
0:48
Speaker 3: eventually got there. So I picked Marcoperzeki. I will probably
0:51
Speaker 3: never get another thing right again, but thank you for
0:54
Speaker 3: the congratulations. I'm going to own it for the next
0:56
Speaker 3: half an hour.
0:57
Speaker 1: I mean, like we were saying like giving up for
0:59
Speaker 1: the predictions and it's going yeah, but it all depends
1:02
Speaker 1: on Pecko.
1:02
Speaker 2: It just depends on what he's gonna do. So look,
1:05
Speaker 2: you got it right, I bow down to you.
1:07
Speaker 1: Well done. Let's see if you can do it again
1:09
Speaker 1: this week.
1:10
Speaker 2: Pressure there.
1:11
Speaker 1: But we are joined by one of the voices of
1:14
Speaker 1: the Paddick Pass podcast and maybe you've heard his mellow
1:18
Speaker 1: tones through your speakers as one half of the Moto
1:21
Speaker 1: Too commentating team.
1:23
Speaker 2: It's Neil Morrison. Neil, welcome it to Fox Sports Pit Talk.
1:27
Speaker 4: Thanks very much for having me on the show.
1:29
Speaker 2: I love it. It's great. It's straight into it right.
1:32
Speaker 1: So guys, twenty two rounds this year, Neil, you've been
1:36
Speaker 1: at like pretty much all of them for us here
1:39
Speaker 1: in Australia. I've said this on the pod before. Since
1:42
Speaker 1: about June, it's felt like we're about five hundred rounds
1:44
Speaker 1: this year, so it's crazy to think that way.
1:46
Speaker 2: We're almost at the end of it. So this episode,
1:50
Speaker 2: we thought we'd take a look back at.
1:51
Speaker 1: Some of our favorites or maybe not so favorite moments
1:55
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty five. In a little piece that I
1:58
Speaker 1: like to call Moments. We'd replay all ones that we
2:01
Speaker 1: would reflag.
2:02
Speaker 2: Now, I can't say I came up with.
2:04
Speaker 1: The credit for this, because, as you guys know, Matt
2:06
Speaker 1: Clayton here writes all the articles for Fox sports dot
2:09
Speaker 1: Com to AU Forward Slash at Motorsport, And when we
2:12
Speaker 1: said Neil was going to come on the pod this week,
2:14
Speaker 1: Matt goes, oh, let's go through an article that I
2:17
Speaker 1: did last year and let's repeat it this week. So, Matt,
2:20
Speaker 1: I'm giving you the honors as our celebrating of your
2:25
Speaker 1: guests for the win last week.
2:26
Speaker 2: And because this is your.
2:28
Speaker 1: Idea, you can kick us off, give us your your
2:31
Speaker 1: first memory.
2:34
Speaker 3: The first pick in the draft is high pressure. I
2:36
Speaker 3: reckon with these sorts of things because you've just got
2:38
Speaker 3: a completely open slate. I mean, look, the obvious thing
2:41
Speaker 3: if I always think of this as what am I
2:44
Speaker 3: going to look back with twenty twenty five and think
2:46
Speaker 3: of the storyline or the thing that I really remember
2:49
Speaker 3: from this season in say five years time, And I'm
2:53
Speaker 3: actually going to slightly cheek here, and it's not going
2:55
Speaker 3: to be something that happened in twenty twenty five at all,
2:58
Speaker 3: something that happened in twenty twenty four. I'm bending my
3:00
Speaker 3: own rules here because I go back to Migillo twenty
3:03
Speaker 3: twenty four and what Mark Marquez did with the power
3:06
Speaker 3: flex when he said, no, I'm not going to Pramac,
3:08
Speaker 3: I'm going to the factory Ducati team, and you look
3:11
Speaker 3: at that as basically base camp for every single story
3:16
Speaker 3: that's happened in twenty twenty five because of the scatter
3:19
Speaker 3: effect I had with Jorge Martin moving, with Maverick Grignalez moving,
3:22
Speaker 3: and Abastianini. Jack Miller was caught up in that Pramak
3:26
Speaker 3: left Dukati to go to Yamaha. So many of these
3:29
Speaker 3: storylines that happened in twenty twenty five were because Mark,
3:33
Speaker 3: I think, said Pramac is not an option for me
3:36
Speaker 3: at Migello midway through last year. Without that, so much
3:40
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty five doesn't happen. So I am going
3:43
Speaker 3: to stretch my own rules here. That's probably the thing
3:45
Speaker 3: I'm going to remember most about twenty twenty five. It
3:47
Speaker 3: started about seven months before twenty twenty five began. But
3:51
Speaker 3: am I being too left field for you here, Ronda?
3:53
Speaker 3: Because I am bending my own rules here.
3:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say we gave Neil like
3:57
Speaker 1: you know, this is what we're going to talk about,
3:59
Speaker 1: and then you coming with that, So Neil go.
4:01
Speaker 2: Back to nineteen seventy eight if you want to hear.
4:04
Speaker 3: That's so fine, Neil could go back to nineteen seventy eight.
4:07
Speaker 3: I either why Neil Ross with these things?
4:11
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, so, I mean I like that, I like
4:13
Speaker 4: that Pig Matt, and I have to agree with you
4:15
Speaker 4: that that pretty much influenced her this season has gone.
4:18
Speaker 4: Although I'm also inclined to argue that if Mark had
4:22
Speaker 4: stayed at a satellite team and been on a year
4:25
Speaker 4: old Chicaddy, maybe this season could have been even more prominent,
4:28
Speaker 4: because from what we've seen from the other riders on
4:31
Speaker 4: his on his current package on the GP twenty five,
4:34
Speaker 4: it hasn't been that brilliant for Peca Bona or Fabrio
4:37
Speaker 4: did Antonio, and I think there is an argument to
4:39
Speaker 4: be made that the brother, the bike that his brother
4:42
Speaker 4: is on is probably the best bike on the grid
4:43
Speaker 4: and has been the best bike in the grid all
4:45
Speaker 4: year long. But yeah, that was just I mean, that
4:48
Speaker 4: was a memory of the kind of Mark that we
4:51
Speaker 4: used to know pre twenty twenty when he had the
4:55
Speaker 4: first of those like very crazy injuries which so near
4:58
Speaker 4: the end of his career where he was just eventually
5:00
Speaker 4: saying I'm the man, like it's basically my way of
5:04
Speaker 4: the highway, and I'm not going to accept the second
5:06
Speaker 4: best option. And yeah, so much of this season is
5:10
Speaker 4: just I mean, this has essentially been the season of Mark,
5:12
Speaker 4: hasn't it, even though he's missed the last what five
5:15
Speaker 4: rists are for Ryan's I mean this is this season
5:19
Speaker 4: has been all about him and he's comeback, and yeah,
5:23
Speaker 4: it's been one of the one of the most dramatic
5:25
Speaker 4: I think in the history of the sport.
5:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, can I ask Neil, have you seen like a
5:32
Speaker 1: big change in Mark? Because obviously you've followed him for
5:35
Speaker 1: a while now and you're seeing him at the circuits.
5:38
Speaker 1: We see what we see on TV and what the
5:40
Speaker 1: media portrays. But from the old Mark to the new
5:43
Speaker 1: Mark now, have you seen like a total change in him?
5:47
Speaker 4: I mean, he's I sometimes feel that the public face
5:51
Speaker 4: that he puts on is not the real Mark. I
5:52
Speaker 4: think he's kind of a bit like Valentino Rossi in
5:55
Speaker 4: that way, in that he's got this public face in
5:58
Speaker 4: which he sort of conveys interest in every question he's
6:01
Speaker 4: being asked. He can laugh. He can joke and be
6:04
Speaker 4: very charming and charismatic, but you know, deep down he's
6:07
Speaker 4: probably just thinking, like, what is the way, what's the
6:10
Speaker 4: next way that I can like manipulate the circumstances to
6:14
Speaker 4: achieve what I want to achieve. But I would say
6:17
Speaker 4: that since since he came back from his injury, there's
6:20
Speaker 4: maybe been a slightly more introspective mark, a rider that
6:26
Speaker 4: is a bit more philosophical white things. I still think
6:28
Speaker 4: he's as driven as ever, but I think there's times
6:32
Speaker 4: where you can see just a bit of a lighter
6:34
Speaker 4: side to him, especially when he's kind of sitting with
6:36
Speaker 4: his rivals. I think, you know, back in twenty nineteen
6:39
Speaker 4: early twenty twenty, it was like I just want to
6:42
Speaker 4: beat everyone and make them look so silly and humiliate them,
6:45
Speaker 4: Whereas I feel this year it's been slightly different. He's
6:48
Speaker 4: been a bit more convivial with writers that have been
6:51
Speaker 4: trying to beat him on the track. So I would
6:53
Speaker 4: say that's maybe a slight change. But I think inside
6:56
Speaker 4: that drive and determination is still as strong as it's
6:59
Speaker 4: ever been.
7:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think when you think of the you know,
7:01
Speaker 3: he's been to Helen back in these last five years,
7:04
Speaker 3: with all the injuries and the doubts and the you know.
7:07
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of this Neil for me
7:09
Speaker 3: was that he was kind of the architect of his
7:12
Speaker 3: home downfall when it came to not so much the
7:14
Speaker 3: accident that he had at Herreth, but trying to come
7:16
Speaker 3: back so soon too soon and everything that that set off.
7:20
Speaker 3: So I think he's almost been living with this. If
7:22
Speaker 3: only I had been more sensible back then, what would
7:25
Speaker 3: that have done. But you say about how he's evolved
7:28
Speaker 3: as a person, I mean, we forget that he's the
7:29
Speaker 3: second oldest writer in the sport now that kind of
7:31
Speaker 3: snuck up honest a little bit with Elaser retiring, and
7:34
Speaker 3: he's just kept moving up the order. This is why
7:36
Speaker 3: I love Motegi so much when he won the championship,
7:39
Speaker 3: because he's got the public mask that you talk about,
7:42
Speaker 3: and when he lets his guard downward something like that,
7:45
Speaker 3: and there's that ISO camera shot on him after he's
7:48
Speaker 3: won the championship and they're about to go into the
7:50
Speaker 3: typically horrendous stage managed presentation that fortunately didn't have a
7:54
Speaker 3: dancing devil in it or whatever the hell else was
7:56
Speaker 3: going on in previous years. But when you had Mark
7:59
Speaker 3: standing there watching this video of all the moments of
8:01
Speaker 3: his own career, and you could just see the emotion
8:05
Speaker 3: in his eyes and it was great to see that
8:07
Speaker 3: human side that maybe it's been a little bit more
8:10
Speaker 3: stage managed or even repressed in the past. He was
8:13
Speaker 3: able to reflect on my God, like it has been
8:15
Speaker 3: a journey to get back to this point, and it
8:17
Speaker 3: was nice to see that more human side of Mark.
8:19
Speaker 3: But maybe we didn't see before twenty twenty.
8:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's a very fair point. I think
8:26
Speaker 4: any season model gpfan has watched this season and from
8:30
Speaker 4: pretty much Magello has non deep din that this was
8:33
Speaker 4: going to be Mark season and there wasn't going to
8:35
Speaker 4: be anyone that was going to stop them. It was
8:36
Speaker 4: pretty much a done deal by the time we got
8:38
Speaker 4: to the summer break and he went on that incredible
8:41
Speaker 4: run of consecutive victories with winning sprints and Sunday races,
8:44
Speaker 4: and it was just like, yeah, this is so. It
8:47
Speaker 4: almost became mundane the sort of regularity with which he
8:50
Speaker 4: was winning modern GP races, and you thought he must
8:53
Speaker 4: have known at that point as well. But I think
8:56
Speaker 4: when we got to Mattegi and we saw the way
8:58
Speaker 4: he was riding, very nervously through the weekend. He certainly
9:01
Speaker 4: wasn't anywhere near his best, and you thought, yeah, this,
9:04
Speaker 4: even for a guy that's been in this situation eight
9:06
Speaker 4: times before, across one to five, Model two, Model GP,
9:11
Speaker 4: the sort of enormity of the situation is actually starting
9:13
Speaker 4: to hit him. And that's why I quite enjoyed his
9:16
Speaker 4: victory celebrations afterwards. Obviously there was the TV screen where
9:19
Speaker 4: he's standing watching. You can maybe come to your own
9:22
Speaker 4: conclusion about the kind of effectiveness of that. But I
9:25
Speaker 4: think just afterwards him going around celebrating with his Jocaldi team,
9:28
Speaker 4: with his brother, with all the haunt of Mechanics who
9:31
Speaker 4: were his ex team, who were also also in part
9:33
Speaker 4: for me because Drammer was on the podium, I mean,
9:36
Speaker 4: now that's kind of what it was. That was what
9:37
Speaker 4: it was all about, and you really felt it was
9:40
Speaker 4: like four years of pain and anguish just being led out.
9:45
Speaker 4: And you know, the the interesting thing for me afterwards
9:48
Speaker 4: was he said, essentially the toughest battle that he had
9:50
Speaker 4: was against himself, and because he's always got his voice
9:53
Speaker 4: inside of his head that's died in him, I think
9:56
Speaker 4: it's quite normal to have that as a sportsperson as
9:58
Speaker 4: an elite athlete, but even for a writer of his
10:02
Speaker 4: renigned his genius, it was quite almost shocking to hear,
10:07
Speaker 4: you know, someone like Mint Mark has said that he
10:08
Speaker 4: has extreme dots and there were real moments where he
10:12
Speaker 4: was thinking, you know what, I think it's best just
10:14
Speaker 4: hang up my leathers and overcoming those dots. I think
10:17
Speaker 4: we're one of the biggest parts that he had to.
10:19
Speaker 3: Endure, Manette. Before we move on to the next one,
10:22
Speaker 3: I do want to take the opportunity to quiz kneel
10:24
Speaker 3: on this because this seventh Moto GP world title has
10:28
Speaker 3: been the carrot for Mark right for so long now
10:31
Speaker 3: because of all the injuries and the surgeries and the
10:33
Speaker 3: recovery and what have you, that's driven him. That box
10:36
Speaker 3: is ticked now. So I wonder what the you know,
10:39
Speaker 3: what's the next impetus When you've done as much winning
10:41
Speaker 3: as he has, and you've made all the money and
10:43
Speaker 3: you've done all of that, what's the driving force now?
10:46
Speaker 3: Is it records? Is it time? I don't think he's
10:49
Speaker 3: going to be one of those sorts of writers that
10:51
Speaker 3: maybe I wouldn't say hangs around past the cell by date,
10:54
Speaker 3: but I can't see him pushing deep into his thirties
10:57
Speaker 3: just to stay in the paddock. I do wonder what
11:00
Speaker 3: the endgame is, and you know from your position and
11:02
Speaker 3: your insight on this, So what do you think the
11:04
Speaker 3: next motivator is for him? Because he hasn't had to
11:07
Speaker 3: have another one for so long.
11:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good question. Honestly, it might signed a
11:13
Speaker 4: bit tried sentence, but I think it's just when the
11:16
Speaker 4: next World championship. I think he has that sort of
11:19
Speaker 4: hunger and desire deep Dine. I mean, I completely understand
11:22
Speaker 4: the question, and I think for you know, ninety five
11:25
Speaker 4: ninety nine percent of athletes, perhaps you would think the
11:29
Speaker 4: box is ticked and where am I going to find
11:31
Speaker 4: that fire to get out of bed on a called
11:33
Speaker 4: February morning and go and start training again when I've
11:35
Speaker 4: already achieved what I have done. But I think with him,
11:40
Speaker 4: the fact that he's not in this position where he's superior,
11:42
Speaker 4: he didn't have that for five years. I think he'll
11:45
Speaker 4: probably be watching the current world of GP RISS that
11:49
Speaker 4: he's absent from and looking at the performances of someone
11:52
Speaker 4: like Pedro Acosta, Marcaeo Bizek and thinking right that's that's
11:56
Speaker 4: the next thing I have to look at for because
11:58
Speaker 4: they're probably going to pause quite a big threat to
11:59
Speaker 4: me next year, and I'm sure he'll just be getting
12:01
Speaker 4: energy from that. He always says that it's not about records,
12:05
Speaker 4: but it's just I think. I think it's just that
12:08
Speaker 4: kind of winning like mindset that he has. He is
12:13
Speaker 4: just a machine, and I think while he's in this
12:17
Speaker 4: kind of prime period, this sort of renaissance of his career,
12:20
Speaker 4: he's just going to think I have to take advantage
12:22
Speaker 4: of this because I've worked so so hard to get here.
12:27
Speaker 1: Right. I think that's enough talk on Mark, because it's
12:30
Speaker 1: going to get at some point.
12:32
Speaker 4: Could could I, just before we move away from Mark,
12:35
Speaker 4: could I just nominate a quick moment that I thought
12:37
Speaker 4: reflected his kind of superiority over the field this year,
12:40
Speaker 4: which was, I mean, really insignificant in the grand scheme
12:44
Speaker 4: of the championship, but I thought really quite telling as
12:47
Speaker 4: to his position on the grid. And it was on
12:51
Speaker 4: actually on the grid in Kota, I had these weird
12:56
Speaker 4: kind of conditions where I think it was wet when
12:58
Speaker 4: everyone was leaving the pitling to go on their siding lap.
13:01
Speaker 4: Everyone changed from dry to wet tires, I believe, or
13:04
Speaker 4: maybe they extited pitling on wet tires. Mark saw the
13:08
Speaker 4: grid or sorry, he saw the track drying up as
13:11
Speaker 4: we got ever closer to the race start, and then
13:14
Speaker 4: thinking that he could either delay the start by getting
13:17
Speaker 4: everyone else to run off the grid, or thinking that
13:21
Speaker 4: he would only have to start from the back of
13:22
Speaker 4: the grid if he ran in changed bikes from wet
13:25
Speaker 4: set up to dry set up, that he would start
13:28
Speaker 4: from the back of the grid. In actual fact, he
13:30
Speaker 4: was wrong, and he would have been given a ride
13:33
Speaker 4: through penalty, I believe. But the fact that he did that,
13:37
Speaker 4: and the fact that I think what ten other riders
13:40
Speaker 4: followed him off the grid, a lot of them not
13:42
Speaker 4: even knowing why they were doing it. They just saw
13:44
Speaker 4: him running and they thought, I think I need to
13:47
Speaker 4: do that. I think, well, if Mark's doing it, then
13:48
Speaker 4: obviously obviously I need to follow what he's doing. And
13:52
Speaker 4: I thought that that was just a kind of flex
13:54
Speaker 4: which showed a the sort of cannibal Mark is back
13:58
Speaker 4: where he's just like I'm the king, and I'm going
14:01
Speaker 4: to do whatever it takes, no matter what involves, even
14:04
Speaker 4: if that involves to lend the risk start and playing
14:06
Speaker 4: havoc with the TV schedules. I'm going to bend this
14:08
Speaker 4: to my will. And then also just the fact that
14:11
Speaker 4: you had writers like Maverick Vigiella is like running off
14:14
Speaker 4: the grids, running back on, running off like kind of
14:16
Speaker 4: thinking what am I doing? I don't even know why
14:19
Speaker 4: I'm following Mark, But that just showed the kind of
14:21
Speaker 4: superiority at that point in the season that he had.
14:24
Speaker 2: So I'm so glad you brought that up because I
14:26
Speaker 2: actually had that on my list.
14:27
Speaker 1: But then you guys were talking about Mark and I
14:29
Speaker 1: was like, nah, like, you know, we'll give to the
14:30
Speaker 1: listeners something else, but Neil, I'm all about the vibes, right,
14:34
Speaker 1: And when that when that happened on.
14:39
Speaker 2: The broadcast, I thought he'd fallen over because you know,
14:43
Speaker 2: they were like going to cut away or whatever.
14:46
Speaker 1: In the next minute, you just see him going, I text,
14:48
Speaker 1: am out of course, something's happened to Mark.
14:50
Speaker 2: And the next minute they cut the intro music.
14:53
Speaker 1: That weel so funny, and then that yet I'm going,
14:56
Speaker 1: what is happening?
14:57
Speaker 2: What is happening?
14:59
Speaker 1: And then honestly on social media, because that's what I
15:01
Speaker 1: do with Fox, it was just having people.
15:04
Speaker 2: Were messaging what is going on? So it was wild.
15:08
Speaker 2: Twitter was wild that day, wasn't it, Matt.
15:10
Speaker 3: The Maverick bit was the funniest because at one point
15:12
Speaker 3: he was running in the opposite direction to where his
15:14
Speaker 3: bike was, and all you needed was like the Benny
15:16
Speaker 3: Hill theme music. It was pretty much all that was
15:18
Speaker 3: missing at that point because it was just complete chaos.
15:21
Speaker 3: And that there was a shot that I think they
15:23
Speaker 3: released sometime later where there are a whole bunch of
15:26
Speaker 3: riders literally just eyeballing what Mark was doing. And if
15:29
Speaker 3: Mark was staying, they were staying, and if Mark was running,
15:31
Speaker 3: they were running. And like you said, Neil, I'm not
15:32
Speaker 3: even sure some of them knew why they were running.
15:35
Speaker 3: The only reason why was because Mark is.
15:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you think back to like what ten to
15:42
Speaker 4: fifteen years ago, Let's see, the situation was Valentine or
15:45
Speaker 4: Rossi running off the grid and you had Jorhe, Lorenzo
15:47
Speaker 4: and kiss He still was sat there. I'm pretty sure
15:49
Speaker 4: they wouldn't be following what Rossie would do. They would
15:52
Speaker 4: just be thinking a game plan and I'm doing what
15:56
Speaker 4: I think I have to do to get the best
15:58
Speaker 4: possible result. Yeah, I mean, at that point in the
16:01
Speaker 4: year it was like Mark could just do could just
16:03
Speaker 4: do anything, and people would think, right, that's the that's
16:06
Speaker 4: the benchmark.
16:08
Speaker 3: Yeahs me if I'm wrong.
16:09
Speaker 2: Matt didn't he crash.
16:11
Speaker 3: Out though he did he did, so there was all of.
16:14
Speaker 1: That drama and all of that just for the King
16:18
Speaker 1: of Coda to not return.
16:20
Speaker 3: Well, it's either heroes here over Mark there pretty much
16:23
Speaker 3: isn't either. Windsory falls off. But that race was notable
16:26
Speaker 3: for yes, he fell off after all of his shnanigans
16:29
Speaker 3: at the start of the race. It was also notable
16:30
Speaker 3: because Picobno actually won a Grand Prix, and that's something
16:33
Speaker 3: we've only actually had to say twice this year. But
16:35
Speaker 3: let's not labor on that. Let's get to our next moment, perhaps, can.
16:40
Speaker 1: I I'm gonna I'm going to go for my next
16:42
Speaker 1: moment here. I'm going to say when it was five
16:47
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety days between podiums for Fabruary Cordurao in
16:50
Speaker 1: herreth this year, I think that was a.
16:53
Speaker 2: Very heartwarming moment because obviously.
16:55
Speaker 1: We saw what Yamha has been through, what he's been through.
16:57
Speaker 1: We know he's got the big check for them, but
17:00
Speaker 1: also you can see that frustration that's coming on his face.
17:03
Speaker 1: For me, it was okay, I think Fabio is back.
17:07
Speaker 1: I think the right mindset is back, and maybe the
17:09
Speaker 1: whole Pramaha movement is helping get him there.
17:13
Speaker 2: So for me, that was a very very heartwarming moment.
17:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that. I think one of the
17:21
Speaker 4: you know, one of the sort of standout moments of
17:24
Speaker 4: this year generally speaking, has been fabious qualifying performances. Oh yeah,
17:29
Speaker 4: just a reminder of what insane talent he is and
17:32
Speaker 4: just what a joy it is to see him at
17:35
Speaker 4: absolute full flight in kind of qualifying trim his poor positions.
17:38
Speaker 4: I think he went on a run of what three
17:40
Speaker 4: in a row her earth lamon Silverstone Acid as well.
17:43
Speaker 4: We saw him in Phillip Island. Was I mean, those
17:45
Speaker 4: laps were just absolutely insane. Her Ethre's woylbe be something
17:49
Speaker 4: of a false storm because I remember at that point thinking, oh, like,
17:52
Speaker 4: maybe this is Yamaha back to a kind of regular
17:54
Speaker 4: podium level with Fabio, and it hasn't quite pandied that way.
17:58
Speaker 4: And you know, there are real reasons to believe that
18:01
Speaker 4: he is getting very fed up at the whole situation
18:04
Speaker 4: and could well be off in twenty twenty seven, but
18:07
Speaker 4: I agree that, Yeah, having Fabua back at least, you know,
18:12
Speaker 4: at the front of qualifying and then kind of making
18:14
Speaker 4: a bit of a play in some of the races, Yeah,
18:17
Speaker 4: has been great to see because I'm not sure about
18:20
Speaker 4: you guys, but I probably rate him pretty highly up
18:23
Speaker 4: there in terms of, you know, where the rider sort
18:26
Speaker 4: of talent is on the meta or maybe not at
18:28
Speaker 4: Mark level, but certainly certainly just behind. Yeah.
18:32
Speaker 3: We say this all the time Neil on this podcast,
18:34
Speaker 3: like if you were going to you know, you're choosing
18:36
Speaker 3: football teams in the school yard style, picking your best
18:38
Speaker 3: rider as well after the other. Fabio is absolutely nailed
18:41
Speaker 3: in as number two. The only guy I think he's
18:43
Speaker 3: a bet of talent on the grid it is Mark,
18:45
Speaker 3: but Renetda. The funny thing we've talked about this before
18:47
Speaker 3: as well, in that there's so much in this sport
18:50
Speaker 3: with what people say, and you're looking at stats and
18:52
Speaker 3: hard data and telemetry and everything else. There's something just
18:56
Speaker 3: magical about the Fabio qualifying lapse when he takes pol
18:59
Speaker 3: that the best response is just to sit back in
19:01
Speaker 3: your chair and kind of giggle because it's just so
19:03
Speaker 3: completely ridiculous. What he's making that bike do over one lap.
19:06
Speaker 3: And I remember at Philip Island, Neil you mentioned that before.
19:10
Speaker 3: I had a friend that was watching qualifying and I
19:12
Speaker 3: just literally sent him a text when Fabio started his
19:14
Speaker 3: last lap in Q two and I just said, watch
19:17
Speaker 3: this because you knew that something was absolutely going to
19:20
Speaker 3: be uncorked in the next ninety seconds or so. But
19:23
Speaker 3: you know it's coming, and then you see it. You
19:24
Speaker 3: look at the stop watch, you look at the split times,
19:26
Speaker 3: you just laugh because it's just so completely preposterous. You
19:29
Speaker 3: know it's not repeatable over a full Grand Prix dicence,
19:32
Speaker 3: but my god, it's good to you that when it happens.
19:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's just it's just full commitment. I think
19:40
Speaker 4: Fabia was asked about this on Sunday, just after the
19:42
Speaker 4: rest and Portamal, like does he think he's riding better
19:45
Speaker 4: than he ever has done? And he said that, yeah,
19:47
Speaker 4: this is the most complete sort of Fabio Quatorra there's
19:50
Speaker 4: ever been and it's quite difficult to argue against that.
19:53
Speaker 4: And I know the results are not quite what he wants,
19:56
Speaker 4: but I think when you see him even like sixth
19:58
Speaker 4: place on Sunday and to my fourth place in the sprint.
20:02
Speaker 4: Pekko Bay was riding behind him for a decent chunk
20:05
Speaker 4: of the race in the sprint, and he said, with
20:06
Speaker 4: what I was seeing Diamahad do on corner exit, the
20:09
Speaker 4: amount that it was spinning, the lack of traction that
20:12
Speaker 4: he had, the fact that he was a second or
20:14
Speaker 4: two ahead of me was quite miraculous. And when you have,
20:17
Speaker 4: you know, three time world champions like Pekkabaya described and
20:19
Speaker 4: you're riding as miraculous, I think you're inclined to take
20:22
Speaker 4: nott and agree. So yeah, I think Fabio, despite being
20:26
Speaker 4: only what nine in the championship, has has definitely been
20:29
Speaker 4: one of the top performers this year.
20:32
Speaker 1: I think just even watching his body language, and there's
20:36
Speaker 1: something that Matt has brought to my attention this year
20:38
Speaker 1: is like we see it with Peco, but also if
20:41
Speaker 1: you look at the body language of Fabio, it's been
20:43
Speaker 1: really interesting because you see the waves that he goes
20:47
Speaker 1: through when he's on the bike and also when he's
20:49
Speaker 1: off the bike, right, So yeah, you can see the
20:52
Speaker 1: frustration and we've hurdled the interviews and everything like that,
20:55
Speaker 1: but seeing what he's doing on that bike and then
20:58
Speaker 1: you're talking about the writing. We hear from Jack Miller
21:02
Speaker 1: and he said that the bike's just a handful of
21:04
Speaker 1: important mal blah blah blah. And then to see that
21:06
Speaker 1: Fabuu did that result, it is phenomenal. It is phenomenal
21:10
Speaker 1: what those boys are doing on the Yamaha and what
21:12
Speaker 1: Fabio is doing and qualifying on that Yamaha for sure.
21:16
Speaker 2: But Matt, I think you're up.
21:18
Speaker 1: What's your next one?
21:18
Speaker 2: Because I'm sure you've got a goodie for us.
21:21
Speaker 3: I think when I think back to twenty twenty five,
21:23
Speaker 3: I'm going to think of a guy who did it,
21:26
Speaker 3: didn't finish in the top ten of the World Championship,
21:28
Speaker 3: didn't really do anything really anywhere else maybe except for
21:31
Speaker 3: one race after this. How can you not think of
21:34
Speaker 3: Joann Zarco winning at Lamont because of just how mad
21:38
Speaker 3: that race was, the crowd, the whole thing about was
21:41
Speaker 3: the first time his mum had been to a race
21:44
Speaker 3: since he been in the World Championship, which he turns
21:46
Speaker 3: up and he wins his home Grand Prix, first French
21:49
Speaker 3: Grand Prix winner for seventy one years. It was just
21:52
Speaker 3: absolutely amazing TV and all of the emotion and you know,
21:57
Speaker 3: thirty five years old, and he's still going to go
21:59
Speaker 3: and stick the backflip on off the fence. Afterwards, you know,
22:02
Speaker 3: whether he whether he miss is the backflip or not,
22:04
Speaker 3: he's then we're going to have a go. But Neil,
22:06
Speaker 3: that was just like you know, Zarco has these periods
22:08
Speaker 3: of where he just looks completely amazing every now and then.
22:11
Speaker 3: But to do it there in those conditions in a
22:14
Speaker 3: crazy race, now, I'm sure you're at that one. I'm
22:17
Speaker 3: not sure I've heard a louder crowd than that. Like
22:19
Speaker 3: that was absolutely crazy, wasn't it.
22:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, things tend to get sort of exaggerated a
22:25
Speaker 4: little bit of lemon because you have this massive sort
22:28
Speaker 4: of pit complex on one side and then this massive
22:30
Speaker 4: metal grandstand on the other. It sort of always gets
22:32
Speaker 4: trapped in between that on the front street. And yeah,
22:36
Speaker 4: it was. It was really quite something. I'll always remember
22:38
Speaker 4: that when Fabua crossed the line first of all, and
22:41
Speaker 4: then when they're all sang Lamarcis afterwards. Oh it was
22:45
Speaker 4: ye hair on the back of your neck standing up
22:47
Speaker 4: sort of sort of memories and that was that was
22:50
Speaker 4: a grid. I mean, it was super dramatic, wasn't it.
22:52
Speaker 4: For the first ear laps Because you had some writers
22:56
Speaker 4: changing tires. I think zark stayed on and Way didn't.
23:00
Speaker 4: He hed dried up, but then it started raining again
23:04
Speaker 4: and he had this kind of crazy situation that some
23:07
Speaker 4: riders that changed tires just before the race started then
23:10
Speaker 4: had to do a double long that penalty, and you
23:13
Speaker 4: really didn't know where the order was. And as the
23:15
Speaker 4: rain intensified, I think there were like a couple of
23:18
Speaker 4: guys out there that were on full wet, Zarco being
23:20
Speaker 4: one of them. I think Jack Miller was another, maybe Allavera.
23:23
Speaker 4: I think Jack Miller is still probably kicking himself about
23:25
Speaker 4: how that race penned out because he was absolutely sure
23:28
Speaker 4: that that was a that was maybe not a Neil
23:30
Speaker 4: don win, but certainly a podium finished because he had
23:32
Speaker 4: got the call absolutely right, but was caught out by
23:35
Speaker 4: the final turn. And then you know, the last two
23:38
Speaker 4: thirds of the race weren't even really that exciting, But
23:41
Speaker 4: there was this tension that zarko, maybe it's going to
23:45
Speaker 4: be this heroic failure of this tale of what could
23:48
Speaker 4: have been after he was what ten seconds ahead in
23:50
Speaker 4: his home Grand Prix, maybe he would crash out, but
23:52
Speaker 4: he was so composed and in that first what three
23:56
Speaker 4: months of the season. I mean Socco I think was
23:58
Speaker 4: riding as well as maybe not as well as Mark,
24:01
Speaker 4: but you would have put him in the top four
24:03
Speaker 4: or five writers in that first part of the season.
24:06
Speaker 4: And yeah, for him to get it across the line
24:10
Speaker 4: was just magical.
24:11
Speaker 3: Well, and you mentioned before the fact that he had
24:13
Speaker 3: such a big lead, Like normally you hear these guys
24:15
Speaker 3: talk about when they're in the fight, it's actually better
24:17
Speaker 3: for keeping the concentration. And you know, he would have
24:20
Speaker 3: known what was at stake here. I've got this massive lead.
24:22
Speaker 3: It's a crazy race. The crowd. I'm just it's getting
24:25
Speaker 3: louder and louder by the lap they're all expecting here
24:28
Speaker 3: and trying to keep your mind on the job with
24:30
Speaker 3: all that going on, knowing what you're about to achieve.
24:33
Speaker 3: He knows his history. He's a guy who knows the
24:35
Speaker 3: history of the sport and how long it had been
24:37
Speaker 3: in all of that, like to have all that weighing
24:39
Speaker 3: on your mind, it was whether you had an investment
24:42
Speaker 3: in him winning or not. You were sort of crossing
24:44
Speaker 3: your figure seeking don't drop the ball here because this
24:46
Speaker 3: is a great, great Motor GP story. And you were
24:50
Speaker 3: so keen to see how that crowd, how patriotic they are,
24:54
Speaker 3: and how packed that place is. You wanted to see
24:57
Speaker 3: the full throated celebration. It was prop a good TV
25:01
Speaker 3: and yeah, and also the most ark I thing ever
25:03
Speaker 3: to not particularly do very much afterwards, but if you're
25:06
Speaker 3: going to have a high point, you might as well
25:07
Speaker 3: you might as well make out that one, because that
25:09
Speaker 3: was pretty special.
25:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think the images of his parents just
25:13
Speaker 4: like spontaneously busting into tears afterwards was probably one of
25:16
Speaker 4: the images of the season as well. I mean I
25:18
Speaker 4: still almost well up a little bit whenever I see
25:21
Speaker 4: those images because it was just like so sweet. And
25:24
Speaker 4: as you said, his mom had never been to a
25:25
Speaker 4: Grand Prix Risk before when he was competing, and I
25:28
Speaker 4: think the last time his dad had gone to a
25:29
Speaker 4: GP was way way back in the day, maybe even
25:32
Speaker 4: before he was in Model GP. And yeah, it's just like, yeah,
25:36
Speaker 4: so so nice and so sweet and yeah, for that day, sorry, Joanne,
25:41
Speaker 4: tarcle was the you know, he was the most important
25:44
Speaker 4: man in France. Yeah, and I.
25:46
Speaker 2: Don't think he's ever going to forget that.
25:49
Speaker 1: Like I know from my brother's experience, he's never forgotten
25:52
Speaker 1: his motive gp wins. I can only imagine what it's
25:54
Speaker 1: like doing it in front of your home, crowded and
25:56
Speaker 1: Lamon is such an iconic circuits. But Neil, come on,
26:00
Speaker 1: gonna try and beat that one?
26:02
Speaker 4: Now, Well, that is a serious amount of pressure that
26:05
Speaker 4: you've just put my shoulders, and I might go a
26:08
Speaker 4: little left field here. I mean, if Matt was going
26:11
Speaker 4: with twenty twenty four Majello as one of his moments
26:13
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty five, Dad, that maybe this isn't so
26:17
Speaker 4: left field. But I'm actually going to choose a press
26:19
Speaker 4: conference which was on the Thursday of the Grand Prix
26:24
Speaker 4: of Chechia. It was the race in which Joorge Martine
26:28
Speaker 4: made his comeback for a Prillier after what I've been
26:31
Speaker 4: in this kind of crazy three month period behind the scenes,
26:35
Speaker 4: where we had never heard directly from Horaey himself, but
26:37
Speaker 4: we had heard from a Prillier, We'd heard from Horae's manager.
26:40
Speaker 4: There had obviously been a disagreement over his contract for
26:44
Speaker 4: twenty twenty six. Jorge had been injured three times, very seriously,
26:51
Speaker 4: the last of those injuries in Qatar. I mean he
26:53
Speaker 4: felt that he was in danger of never being able
26:57
Speaker 4: to ride again. And I thinking from that moment, he
27:01
Speaker 4: just had the impression that his bike was completely cursed
27:05
Speaker 4: and it was not capable of doing the job that
27:07
Speaker 4: he wanted it to, so he tried to move out
27:10
Speaker 4: of his contract for next year. I really thought otherwise.
27:15
Speaker 4: And then basically we had this kind of tune and
27:17
Speaker 4: throwing behind the scenes for what three months, and then
27:21
Speaker 4: he essentially knew that there wasn't going to be a
27:23
Speaker 4: clean break. He was going to have to eat some
27:26
Speaker 4: humble pie except what he had and check Yo was
27:29
Speaker 4: the first time that we as journalists had the chance
27:32
Speaker 4: to speak to him, and it was in this press
27:34
Speaker 4: conference with Yeah, I mean it was a packed up
27:38
Speaker 4: press conference. There was probably about thirty journalists there, and
27:40
Speaker 4: he wasn't getting an easy time. He was getting a
27:42
Speaker 4: proper grilling, and I have to say I thought he
27:46
Speaker 4: managed it very very well. Going off public opinion from
27:50
Speaker 4: reading comments on YouTube or on social media, I think
27:55
Speaker 4: the majority of people were thinking that he was acting
27:57
Speaker 4: well out of line. He was being a bit of
27:59
Speaker 4: a diva. He hadn't even given me a Prillier proper
28:01
Speaker 4: chance yet. He was trying to get away to go
28:05
Speaker 4: to Honda, which at that time still hadn't really been
28:07
Speaker 4: show in its best form in twenty twenty five. But
28:11
Speaker 4: I thought he made just such a convincing and compelling
28:13
Speaker 4: case for why he did what he wanted to do.
28:17
Speaker 4: I like the fact that he didn't try and like
28:19
Speaker 4: sugarcoated or pretend that it was anything other than it was.
28:22
Speaker 4: He was just direct and honest. He said, I didn't
28:25
Speaker 4: apologize to the team because I didn't feel that I
28:28
Speaker 4: need to apologize. And when he said the line that
28:30
Speaker 4: he had been sitting in intensive care and Katar fearing
28:33
Speaker 4: for his life, and at that moment you start to
28:36
Speaker 4: think about things in maybe a slightly irrational way. I
28:39
Speaker 4: don't really think there's anyone that was watching that could
28:42
Speaker 4: disagree with that or could really be overly critical of
28:46
Speaker 4: him of doing what he did with those circumstances in mine. So, yeah,
28:52
Speaker 4: I thought that was a pretty impressive performance. Actly, it's
28:55
Speaker 4: been one of the best oppressive or most impressive performances
28:58
Speaker 4: we've smart in this year. We've seen them so frequently,
29:02
Speaker 4: but yeah, that was just great to have a chance
29:04
Speaker 4: to actually speak to them, to actually hear from the
29:06
Speaker 4: horse's mouth what had been going on. And yeah, I
29:09
Speaker 4: think maybe he didn't win a lot of fans, but
29:11
Speaker 4: I think he gains a lot of respect in that moment.
29:13
Speaker 3: I agree Neil, and I think yeah, And I think
29:16
Speaker 3: the thing for me and Neil is like, you know,
29:17
Speaker 3: these guys are in their natural habitat with the visor
29:20
Speaker 3: down and you know, tucked under the bubble of one
29:22
Speaker 3: of these things, doing an insane speed, sitting there on
29:25
Speaker 3: a stool in front of a bunch of journalists with
29:28
Speaker 3: nothing to hide you, no armor, no body work, nothing,
29:31
Speaker 3: speaking in not your native tongue for twenty minutes trying
29:36
Speaker 3: to explain what it is that you've done. I like
29:39
Speaker 3: the fact that you said, Neil, there that there's a
29:41
Speaker 3: sense of authenticity with Jorge good or bad, in that
29:45
Speaker 3: there's no filter. If there's something in front of mine,
29:47
Speaker 3: he's just going to say and move on. Because what
29:50
Speaker 3: makes him a great motor GP rider is because of
29:52
Speaker 3: his aggression and how impulsive he is. And those things
29:55
Speaker 3: came out in that press conference, where it would have
29:57
Speaker 3: been so easy to go in there and be really stayed,
30:00
Speaker 3: manage and stick to this really careful script. He went
30:03
Speaker 3: in there and he just took whatever was coming to him.
30:06
Speaker 3: But you could see the nerves and like the amateur
30:10
Speaker 3: body language doctor that I like to think that I am.
30:13
Speaker 3: At this point, you know, he's unscrewing and rescrewing the
30:15
Speaker 3: lid on the water bottle, and he's fidgety, and you
30:18
Speaker 3: can watching his eyes and they weld up. I think
30:20
Speaker 3: there was some tears a couple of times. It was
30:22
Speaker 3: so raw. And whether you agree with what was coming
30:25
Speaker 3: out of his mouth or not, like you were saying,
30:26
Speaker 3: I think you gained more respect for the fact that
30:29
Speaker 3: he was prepared to sit there and take that and
30:31
Speaker 3: that was almost like a necessary step for him to
30:34
Speaker 3: even be able to get back in the fray again
30:36
Speaker 3: and race. Without having done that, nothing else could follow.
30:40
Speaker 3: And of course the thing that followed is he hurt
30:42
Speaker 3: himself again at Motegi. But that was I was a
30:45
Speaker 3: bit like you as like, you know, he has big,
30:47
Speaker 3: a bit of a diver. He's not giving these guys
30:48
Speaker 3: a chance. And you know, did he back out of
30:51
Speaker 3: the trying to get out of the contract because it
30:53
Speaker 3: was going to cost too much money and be stuck
30:54
Speaker 3: in a court for too long, Yes, probably, But he
30:57
Speaker 3: didn't have to go and do that press conference either,
30:59
Speaker 3: And yeah, super impressive that the fact that he fronted
31:02
Speaker 3: up and did it, and while retaining the authenticity that
31:06
Speaker 3: Ki will hate him. He's a genuine person in a
31:09
Speaker 3: paddic where there's a lot of people sometimes that are
31:11
Speaker 3: being bad actors, trying to portray themselves as something else.
31:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that, and I mean I live
31:19
Speaker 4: in Spain and Jorge won the one with GP World
31:21
Speaker 4: championship last year, and it's fair to say that he
31:23
Speaker 4: does not have any kind of real profile here. In fact,
31:27
Speaker 4: you get the impression that a lot of Spanish fans
31:30
Speaker 4: just don't like him, or didn't like him certainly last year.
31:32
Speaker 4: They feel that he's just a bit too cocky, He's
31:34
Speaker 4: a bit he's a bit sure. He's not afraid to
31:37
Speaker 4: put on Instagram him wearing nice watches and driving very
31:41
Speaker 4: fast cars, which you know, fair enough, he's earned the
31:45
Speaker 4: right to do that. But I really feel that this
31:49
Speaker 4: kind of this arc this year has probably opened them
31:52
Speaker 4: up on the human side to a lot of people.
31:55
Speaker 4: And obviously it's been an absolute nightmare. It's been a
31:57
Speaker 4: complete disaster of a year for him, and the Mateggi
32:01
Speaker 4: incidant was just the kind of further Neil in that
32:04
Speaker 4: particular coffin of what we had hoped from him this year.
32:07
Speaker 4: But I do think that humanly he's maybe endeared himself
32:11
Speaker 4: to some and I think if he can come back
32:12
Speaker 4: next year strongly and perform well and be fighting for
32:16
Speaker 4: risk winds, then I think is yeah, I think his
32:19
Speaker 4: profile will have, you know, taken a big boost from
32:24
Speaker 4: this whole episode.
32:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, agreed.
32:26
Speaker 1: I think what you guys have both said, like completely.
32:28
Speaker 1: My first thought when Matt told me to watch that
32:30
Speaker 1: interview in the press conference was just the vulnerability, and
32:35
Speaker 1: that's something we don't often get to see from these
32:37
Speaker 1: Moto GP writers because there are these tough marcho men.
32:40
Speaker 2: Who race blacks at super fast.
32:42
Speaker 1: So for me looking at that as yeah, like I agree,
32:45
Speaker 1: Like you see Juae Martine as this character, we got
32:51
Speaker 1: to actually see him for.
32:53
Speaker 2: The first time.
32:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, great point.
32:54
Speaker 1: So I think from like a like the fan side
32:57
Speaker 1: of things who sits at home.
32:59
Speaker 2: To watch it, it was really refreshing.
33:01
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, he is the Madinator, the Terminator as
33:04
Speaker 1: he calls himself, but he's just like meet you and
33:07
Speaker 1: everybody else and feels all the same things.
33:09
Speaker 2: Just risk his life a little bit more than we do.
33:11
Speaker 2: Hosting our podcast.
33:13
Speaker 3: I think this is a very dangerous business, Freder, what
33:15
Speaker 3: are you talking about?
33:19
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna give you mine.
33:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bundle mine up because since we're just changing
33:24
Speaker 1: the rules here, that's so fine. And I'm going to
33:26
Speaker 1: bundle all of my young guns together.
33:30
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do all my favorite moments from them. So
33:33
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do.
33:34
Speaker 1: Senna's wins this year Silverstone, which was really really cool
33:38
Speaker 1: because I was there, I got to experience it. I
33:40
Speaker 1: didn't see any of the last lap because I was
33:41
Speaker 1: trying to run to Park Ferm, but.
33:43
Speaker 2: It was really cool to witness that and be there
33:46
Speaker 2: with him.
33:47
Speaker 1: Then we had Joel when, like I said, I'm about
33:49
Speaker 1: the vibes when he announced he was getting a bulldog
33:51
Speaker 1: in Park Ferm just randomly in her wreath, and then
33:54
Speaker 1: did a show we on the podium. And then I'm
33:57
Speaker 1: going to say for Jacob because we know he's had
33:59
Speaker 1: a really, really tough year. For me, it was just
34:03
Speaker 1: his Grandma being his Brolly Dolly in Phillip Island. Like
34:06
Speaker 1: they are my three favorites from the Ozzy Youngsters.
34:09
Speaker 3: That is classic. I've forgot I've forgotten about the Philip
34:12
Speaker 3: Earland greed. That's a classic, very good gotten a by
34:15
Speaker 3: the Bulldog as well. Actually, yeah that was that was
34:18
Speaker 3: a good moment. Yeah, I mean it's a it's a
34:20
Speaker 3: pretty exciting time, isn't it to be an aussy watch
34:22
Speaker 3: in Grand Prix racing? You know, Jack has Jack's had
34:26
Speaker 3: his moments this year for sure, but there certainly is
34:30
Speaker 3: a young generation of really exciting talent coming through. And
34:33
Speaker 3: to see Senna do what he's done in just a
34:35
Speaker 3: second season as a Grand Prix rider, not even as
34:37
Speaker 3: a Model two rider, has been really special. I think
34:41
Speaker 3: the highs that he's managed to hit this year have
34:43
Speaker 3: shown that he could be destined maybe for the top
34:46
Speaker 3: of the sport at some point in the not too
34:48
Speaker 3: distant future. And you kind of just have to love Joel,
34:52
Speaker 3: don't you Like, He's just this little terrier. And I
34:55
Speaker 3: really felt from on Sunday in Portugal there I really
34:57
Speaker 3: thought that was going to be his day. Likes the track,
35:00
Speaker 3: had poor position, had a really good start and was
35:02
Speaker 3: leading the first couple of well the first half of
35:04
Speaker 3: the race, but just didn't quite pan out for him.
35:06
Speaker 3: But yeah, you really hope that his move next year
35:10
Speaker 3: could bear fruit when he's going to be on Honda
35:12
Speaker 3: machinery and yeah, Jacob, but just I really feel sorry
35:16
Speaker 3: for the guy because I think he's done more than
35:18
Speaker 3: enough in his two years in the paddock to earn
35:21
Speaker 3: another year. For sure, we all know the trials and
35:23
Speaker 3: tribulations he's gone through this year injuring himself during preseason,
35:28
Speaker 3: missing the first two races, missing all of preseason testing,
35:30
Speaker 3: I mean that is not easy. And then just a
35:32
Speaker 3: couple of bike failures in key moments and key races
35:36
Speaker 3: gave us me beyond for a podium finish in Aragon
35:40
Speaker 3: and Barcelona. I think, yeah, just it really hasn't it
35:45
Speaker 3: really hasn't fallen his way. But I think the sort
35:48
Speaker 3: of maturity that he has shown in spite of all
35:53
Speaker 3: of this toughness, you know, even if it doesn't work
35:56
Speaker 3: out from him Model three, I think the kind of
35:58
Speaker 3: character that he's shown, and you know, I have to
36:00
Speaker 3: go and speak to him after every risk weekends. You know,
36:03
Speaker 3: I'd do some work for Australian Motorcycle News, so I
36:06
Speaker 3: spend a lot of time with the Aussie riders, and
36:08
Speaker 3: you know, the sort of maturity that he shows is
36:11
Speaker 3: just it's going to bear him very very well no
36:13
Speaker 3: matter what his next step is going to be. So yeah,
36:17
Speaker 3: I think he can. He can take a lot of
36:18
Speaker 3: heart from how he handled this year.
36:20
Speaker 1: I think.
36:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, those images of him beside the track when he
36:24
Speaker 3: had the mechanical in cattle and you know that was
36:26
Speaker 3: just you just felt you felt sick for the kid
36:29
Speaker 3: because you know he'd done everything right and he was
36:31
Speaker 3: in a position to have a good result after what
36:34
Speaker 3: had been a really difficult season. That was a really
36:36
Speaker 3: really tough watch. While we're on Australians, you probably should,
36:39
Speaker 3: I do enjoy the fact that you missed the last
36:41
Speaker 3: lap of setters first motor too, went by the way
36:43
Speaker 3: he went all the way to Silverstone and didn't actually
36:45
Speaker 3: see it, So that was outstanding for you. But the
36:48
Speaker 3: other one we should probably be thankful for. We should
36:50
Speaker 3: probably be sending a little hat tip to Fermin Eldergear
36:53
Speaker 3: And I'll get to why, because if you had to
36:56
Speaker 3: knocked Miguel Olivera off in Argentina, and Olivera missed all
36:59
Speaker 3: of those races and was the fourth place of the
37:01
Speaker 3: four Yamaha riders, meaning Yamaha could use that performance clause
37:04
Speaker 3: to evict him from his seat, then maybe Jack Miller
37:07
Speaker 3: is not on the grid next year, because you know,
37:10
Speaker 3: Jack was the only one of those Yamaha riders that
37:12
Speaker 3: was on a one year contract and the Sea's parted
37:15
Speaker 3: and to be fair to Jack, like he was really
37:16
Speaker 3: good at the start of the year when he got
37:17
Speaker 3: to Pramak and we talked about him having the new
37:20
Speaker 3: bike bounce that Jack has whenever he goes somewhere new,
37:23
Speaker 3: he often comes out of the gate really really fast.
37:25
Speaker 3: He's done that at previous addresses, really good in Kota
37:28
Speaker 3: for example. But then that Oliver, you know, being out
37:32
Speaker 3: and then being compromised, kind of opened the door for
37:35
Speaker 3: Jack to perhaps extend his career again. And particularly after
37:40
Speaker 3: Pramaha take a shot signed top rack for next year,
37:44
Speaker 3: so we knew that it was five riders of four
37:45
Speaker 3: seats effectively, but Jack was putting together a pretty iron
37:49
Speaker 3: clad case of being retained and he had that sort
37:52
Speaker 3: of high ground of being the second leading Yamaha rider
37:55
Speaker 3: in terms of the points. So Australian fans, next time
37:58
Speaker 3: you see fermin Aldeger, perhaps shout him a beer because
38:00
Speaker 3: he's probably partially responsible for Jack. But you got the
38:02
Speaker 3: grid next year.
38:06
Speaker 2: Can we speaking about Jack Miller and beers. This is
38:08
Speaker 2: another moment that I had that I didn't know whether
38:10
Speaker 2: it was right to bring up.
38:12
Speaker 3: Are used to recording here or what?
38:14
Speaker 2: We also Jack in the.
38:16
Speaker 1: U turn getting fined for it.
38:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, he got fired for that.
38:21
Speaker 1: Not the most Jack Miller thing that he can expect.
38:25
Speaker 3: Well, he didn't get the beer and he got fined.
38:27
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean talk about bad luck, like if
38:29
Speaker 3: you get a if it's the world most expensive beer,
38:31
Speaker 3: then he never got.
38:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I heard that he's still been He's still
38:34
Speaker 4: been bitching, to put it mildly to the people that
38:38
Speaker 4: give him the final bite D And they're like, meet,
38:40
Speaker 4: you were actually on the driving riding on the wrong
38:42
Speaker 4: way on the track, like you just that's an automatic find.
38:45
Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
38:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's what's the old argument, the spirit of the regulations.
38:48
Speaker 3: We need to have a clause for the spirit of
38:50
Speaker 3: the regulations, Like come on, he was being offered free beer.
38:52
Speaker 3: He's Australian, what do you expect expect?
38:56
Speaker 1: Just before we move away from the Aussies and possibly
38:59
Speaker 1: talk about Valencia and Neil, I wanted to talk to
39:01
Speaker 1: you about Joel Kelso because one of the things that
39:04
Speaker 1: we've spoke about on the pod is it seems like
39:07
Speaker 1: Joel has this the first half of the race, he
39:10
Speaker 1: has this pace and then something happens and he drops back.
39:15
Speaker 1: Was what we've seen before, and we know he's so
39:18
Speaker 1: been so close to that first win, it just hasn't
39:20
Speaker 1: quite happened. What are you seeing from Joel? What's the
39:24
Speaker 1: missing piece here to get everything together? If he can
39:27
Speaker 1: make it happen in Valencia.
39:29
Speaker 4: Well, I think coming into this year you could maybe
39:32
Speaker 4: look at his strength and his fitness potentially as reasons
39:38
Speaker 4: for that. I know he did a lot of off
39:40
Speaker 4: season training on superbikes when he was back in Australia.
39:45
Speaker 4: I think he's up to his motocross riding this year
39:48
Speaker 4: so that when he's physically knackered, he is able to
39:52
Speaker 4: perform at a bit of a better level. And we
39:53
Speaker 4: saw that reflected in where it was at Quarta and
39:56
Speaker 4: Herreth at the start of the season, where he was
39:57
Speaker 4: on the podium and strong right the way through the
40:01
Speaker 4: Portugal I think was more related to he was one
40:05
Speaker 4: of the few riders that chose the softer front and
40:07
Speaker 4: rear tire option. It didn't feel good with the medium
40:11
Speaker 4: front during the weekend so he thought, you know what,
40:12
Speaker 4: I'll risk it with the soft and just tore that
40:15
Speaker 4: apart basically by mid race distance and couldn't stop the
40:18
Speaker 4: bike mid corner from there. So I think that was
40:21
Speaker 4: maybe more related to tire issues. And yet, I mean,
40:26
Speaker 4: I guess there have been races in the mid point
40:29
Speaker 4: of the season where we didn't see the best of Joel,
40:32
Speaker 4: and he said in Philip Island that there were things
40:34
Speaker 4: going on behind the scenes. He was never explicit about
40:38
Speaker 4: what those things were, but I reading between the lines,
40:41
Speaker 4: I think it was talks about twenty twenty six and
40:45
Speaker 4: where he was going to end up, and I think
40:47
Speaker 4: that was probably something that was preying on his mind somewhat.
40:50
Speaker 4: I know his team manager, a Los angele To Nucci,
40:52
Speaker 4: has been slightly harsh in some of the comments that
40:55
Speaker 4: he's made about Joel, the fact that he maybe doesn't
40:57
Speaker 4: quite have the requisite aggression when he's in those big one,
41:01
Speaker 4: tho three group battles, And you wonder whether those kind
41:05
Speaker 4: of public comments from his team manager were just maybe
41:08
Speaker 4: an irritant to do all somewhat maybe playing on his mind.
41:13
Speaker 4: But I think from the moment that he signed to
41:16
Speaker 4: go to Honda next year with m lav Racing, which
41:19
Speaker 4: you said, Missano, he's pretty much been at the front
41:21
Speaker 4: of every race again, and I know he hasn't quite
41:24
Speaker 4: managed to get the job done, but I just feel
41:26
Speaker 4: with him it's maybe like, get one race went under
41:30
Speaker 4: your belt and that'll just give you this kind of
41:31
Speaker 4: level of confidence and prove that you can do it.
41:33
Speaker 4: And I think it's it's almost that kind of weight
41:35
Speaker 4: on his shoulders at the moment where it's like, yeah,
41:38
Speaker 4: it's just not coming together for him because he's been
41:41
Speaker 4: so close and it's still not quite happened.
41:45
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I'm just going to finish this off because
41:50
Speaker 1: I did say those things that we wanted red flagged,
41:52
Speaker 1: and can I just say the thing that I was
41:53
Speaker 1: like red flagged is to stop saying Valencia is the
41:56
Speaker 1: last dance?
41:57
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, are.
42:00
Speaker 2: You gonna put that as you're title, Matt, No.
42:03
Speaker 3: This is one of the this is one of the
42:05
Speaker 3: things I do you enjoy about that Paddock Pass podcast? Actually,
42:07
Speaker 3: because Adam Wheeler gets really really agitated about the cathedral
42:12
Speaker 3: and the roller coaster and all of the other names
42:16
Speaker 3: that we just trot out every year like nobody's ever
42:19
Speaker 3: said them before. But yes, the last dance, and well,
42:22
Speaker 3: we can't really use the last dance for Valencia this
42:24
Speaker 3: time because technically is the last race. But for one
42:26
Speaker 3: of the first times in a long time, we don't
42:28
Speaker 3: have a live last round of the championship because Mark
42:30
Speaker 3: won it so early. So that should my virtue of
42:33
Speaker 3: it not being the last dance for a championship. Let's
42:35
Speaker 3: just ban it for this weekend, and given that it's
42:38
Speaker 3: bit of twenty two round season, perhaps we should just
42:41
Speaker 3: come up with something that involves getting some sleep or
42:44
Speaker 3: having a celebratory beer or something. No last dancing, perhaps
42:47
Speaker 3: more beverages, no last dancing, last bearing, last bearing, indeed
42:56
Speaker 3: perfect right, you.
42:57
Speaker 1: Two, Let's preview Valencia because we saw that Joje Martin
43:01
Speaker 1: is back and Maverick Vignalees is also returning, and we
43:05
Speaker 1: know that Boula guy is still replacing Mark Marquez as
43:08
Speaker 1: well this weekend, so we won't seeing him back in
43:11
Speaker 1: Bred this year. Benil, let's focus on Valencia. What's your
43:16
Speaker 1: thoughts this weekend? Are we going to see something similar
43:19
Speaker 1: where it's been the bez Pedro Costa maybe Alex Marquez
43:24
Speaker 1: Peco hopefully in the mix.
43:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. I think that's probably a fair thing.
43:29
Speaker 4: We don't have the benefit of going back to twenty
43:32
Speaker 4: twenty four, because obviously Valencia was canceled. There was like
43:35
Speaker 4: some tragic flooding Aronda area, this time a year ago,
43:38
Speaker 4: which caused the final race to be shifted at the
43:40
Speaker 4: last minute to Barcelona. So it's twenty twenty three the
43:43
Speaker 4: last time we were there, and that was a pretty
43:47
Speaker 4: weird risk weekend in which Martin and Banna were going
43:52
Speaker 4: for the title. Martin had that spectacular high side coming
43:57
Speaker 4: out of what turned four. I think it was that
43:59
Speaker 4: contact with Mark which is which essentially ended his his
44:02
Speaker 4: championship tilt, and Bana won it in style ahead of
44:06
Speaker 4: Zarko I think in digen Antonio. But we also had
44:09
Speaker 4: two ktms leading that last race of the year, I
44:12
Speaker 4: think both Sorry man, but it was it was what
44:19
Speaker 4: could have been moment for KTM, for sure. They still
44:21
Speaker 4: haven't won a dry race since god knows when was
44:24
Speaker 4: it Barcelona twenty twenty one, and that was that was
44:27
Speaker 4: probably the closest they had come in the in the
44:30
Speaker 4: interim period since, so I'm inclined to think that KTM
44:33
Speaker 4: should be pretty well suited to this race. Weekend. I
44:37
Speaker 4: think we didn't mention Pedro Acosta in our moments of
44:40
Speaker 4: the season, and I think one of the more positive
44:45
Speaker 4: and pleasing storylines in the second half of the year
44:47
Speaker 4: has been his evolution from kind of moody teenager that
44:53
Speaker 4: is giving off the impression that he wants to be
44:57
Speaker 4: anywhere but in the Orange garage where in an orange
45:00
Speaker 4: T shirt, to being a kind of this rider that's
45:04
Speaker 4: accepted what he's got and is essentially absolutely determined to
45:08
Speaker 4: get the absolute most out of what he has the
45:11
Speaker 4: tools he has at his disposal. I think that's been
45:13
Speaker 4: that's been great, and that was reflected in the sprint
45:15
Speaker 4: race in Portugal, where he was just absolutely awesome to watch, like,
45:18
Speaker 4: oh yeah, could not sort of imagine a more kind
45:22
Speaker 4: of heroic performance, and we speak, We spoke about Zarka
45:25
Speaker 4: almost achieving heroic failure in Lamon. I mean, essentially that's
45:28
Speaker 4: what costed it in Portamu. He didn't win, but you
45:31
Speaker 4: know the fact that he was so close to a
45:33
Speaker 4: Jacaddi when it was clear that the bike wasn't really
45:35
Speaker 4: ready to be at that level was fantastic view. And
45:38
Speaker 4: so I get accused quite often of being a bit
45:41
Speaker 4: too aboard the Pedro hype train. But I think when
45:44
Speaker 4: you see the last couple of months, I don't see
45:47
Speaker 4: how it's possible to not be because yeah, it's I
45:51
Speaker 4: think it's been really, really impressive, and I have a
45:54
Speaker 4: funny little sneak and feeling this could be this could
45:56
Speaker 4: be the weekend.
45:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say, if there's still tickets
45:59
Speaker 3: going on the cost A hype train, I'll buy one,
46:01
Speaker 3: because after what he's done in these past five or
46:03
Speaker 3: six I think it's like four sprint podiums in the
46:05
Speaker 3: last five and three Grand Prix podiums in the last
46:07
Speaker 3: four or something. I've probably got those back to front.
46:09
Speaker 3: But he's been so good in this second half of
46:12
Speaker 3: the year. And while we're doing fearless predictions here and Ita,
46:16
Speaker 3: given that I am on a winning streak of exactly
46:18
Speaker 3: one prediction, I am going to go out on a
46:21
Speaker 3: limit saying we're going to have a seventh different Motor
46:23
Speaker 3: GP race. Wit are in seven races to finish the season,
46:26
Speaker 3: and Pedro Costa is going to win his first Grand Prix,
46:28
Speaker 3: so we don't have to talk about him as one
46:30
Speaker 3: of the only four full time riders on the grid
46:32
Speaker 3: who hasn't won a Grand Prix, so that's what the
46:34
Speaker 3: crystal ball is telling me. And if the crystal ball
46:36
Speaker 3: doesn't work, then I can throw it in the bin
46:38
Speaker 3: because it'll be out of date because the next race
46:40
Speaker 3: will be in twenty twenty six.
46:42
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first. Matt Clayton
46:45
Speaker 2: drops the mic at the end of the podcast, Neil,
46:49
Speaker 2: can you beat that? Have you got any good predictions
46:51
Speaker 2: for us?
46:52
Speaker 3: He's going to get seventh, seventh, Peco?
46:57
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, yeah, probably Pecle. Yeah, I mean I know,
47:01
Speaker 4: again we haven't really spoken about Peco, but that's probably
47:03
Speaker 4: been one of the stories of the year as well,
47:05
Speaker 4: hasn't it for less positive reasons.
47:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's in my red flag list for sure.
47:11
Speaker 4: Yeah he was gonna have yeah, yeah, but yeah, I
47:15
Speaker 4: mean I do fancy Pedro, but I can't really see
47:19
Speaker 4: anyone other than Alex Marquez Bez probably as well. I
47:23
Speaker 4: think those are going to be the three guys have
47:25
Speaker 4: been there the behind mark this year. I think those
47:27
Speaker 4: are the next three riders, and you know Katao as well.
47:31
Speaker 4: I would put in there, but the bike isn't quite
47:33
Speaker 4: the level of the THEMA has or sorry of the
47:37
Speaker 4: and the KTM and did you Caddy and also a
47:40
Speaker 4: bit of a dark horse. I do fancy Honda to
47:41
Speaker 4: have a decent weekend. This has historically been a great
47:44
Speaker 4: track for Honda, and it's quite tight. There's a lot
47:47
Speaker 4: of stop and go corners, and they've shown in places
47:49
Speaker 4: like Matteggi that the kind of updated RC two one
47:53
Speaker 4: three V can be really competitive in those circumstances. Joan
47:57
Speaker 4: Meyer has his only Grand Prix victory or his only
47:58
Speaker 4: Motor GP victory sorry, at Valencia, so maybe going to
48:03
Speaker 4: tip mirror is a bit of an eye side shot
48:05
Speaker 4: for the podium like that juicy?
48:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that a lot? All right, Well, Neil, thank
48:12
Speaker 2: you so much for joining us.
48:13
Speaker 1: On the Fox Sports Pittalk pod. It has been an
48:16
Speaker 1: honor chatting with you and we can't wait to hear
48:18
Speaker 1: you on the broadcast this weekend.
48:20
Speaker 4: It's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks very much for the invitation,
48:22
Speaker 4: and yeah, always a pleasure to chat more to GP
48:25
Speaker 4: with you guys.
48:26
Speaker 2: We love it.
48:27
Speaker 1: Guys. Make sure you read all of Math's articles on
48:30
Speaker 1: Fox sports dot com dot au, forward Slash at Motorsport,
48:33
Speaker 1: and do follow us on socials at Fox Motorsport. At
48:36
Speaker 1: Fox Sports OS and at Cho Sports on all of
48:40
Speaker 1: the platforms this weekend. It is Valencia. It is the
48:44
Speaker 1: last beer or something we're calling.
48:45
Speaker 2: It for the year. It's the final race, so and.
48:48
Speaker 1: It's only like a decent time zone for us as well,
48:51
Speaker 1: so make sure you tune in on channel five or
48:53
Speaker 1: six or on KO Sports. You can get the app
48:55
Speaker 1: for one dollar at the moment, which is a bargain.
48:59
Speaker 1: But from Clayton and myself, a big thank you to
49:03
Speaker 1: Shannon's Insurance for sponsoring this episode of the pod and
49:05
Speaker 1: we're going to be back real soon with more Moto
49:08
Speaker 1: GP pittalk H