Extra Notes from the Qatar GP: Zarco’s Exceptionalism, Morbidelli’s Maturity,...
We need to talk about Johann Zarco. For a rookie to lead his very first race on a MotoGP bike is not just unusual, it has never been done before. To do so for six laps is beyond remarkable, and a sign...
View ArticlePaddock Pass Podcast #49 – Qatar GP
Episode 49 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees David Emmett and Neil Morrison covering the opening round of the MotoGP Championship, the Qatar GP at Losail International Circuit. The race weekend was a...
View ArticleMore Bits & Bobs: Racing News Post-Argentina GP
If the two MotoGP races so far this year have had the kind of internal logic more commonly associated with a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, the Moto2 and Moto3 classes have been rational seas of...
View ArticlePaddock Pass Podcast #50 – Americas GP
Episode 50 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees Steve English, David Emmett, and Neil Morrison covering the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas. With wins from Marquez, Morbidelli, and Fenati all...
View ArticlePaddock Pass Podcast #51 – Spanish GP
Episode 51 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees Neil Morrison and David Emmett covering the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. The MotoGP Championship’s first round on European soil proved...
View ArticleMotoGP Silly Season Begins – Who Goes Where in 2018?
With all twelve factory riders on two-year contracts, there wasn’t supposed to be a MotoGP Silly Season in 2017, or at least, not much of one. That impression was further reinforced when the Monster...
View ArticleFranco Morbidelli Signs Two-Year MotoGP Deal
As had been widely trailed, Franco Morbidelli has signed a two-year with the Marc VDS Racing squad to move up to MotoGP. The deal will see the Italian take the place of Tito Rabat inside the Marc VDS...
View ArticleSunday MotoGP Summary at Sachsenring
If the 2017 MotoGP season has been anything, it has been entirely unpredictable. After two races, we were declaring the season over, and penciling Maverick Viñales’ name on the trophy. A race later,...
View ArticleMotoGP Silly Season Update: Feverish Negotiations
The MotoGP bikes have fallen silent for over a week now, the teams and riders dispersed to the four winds, nominally for “vacation”. And while riders relaxed on a beach somewhere for a week, before...
View ArticleSunday MotoGP Summary at Silverstone: Unscripted
If there is one thing that makes real life much more interesting than fiction, it is that real life is no respecter of plausible plot lines. If you were to take a script of the 2017 MotoGP season so...
View ArticleSunday MotoGP Summary at Aragon: One Step Closer to the Championship
When they come to write the history of the 2017 MotoGP season, one of the largest chapters is going to bear the title “Weather”. The weather continues to play an inordinately large role in the 2017...
View ArticlePaddock Pass Podcast #63 – Valencia GP
Episode 63 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees Steve English, David Emmett and Neil Morrison on the mics in Spain, as they cover the final race of the MotoGP Championship season – the Valencia GP. Of...
View ArticleTalking to MotoGP’s Rookies: Franco Morbidelli
The Jerez MotoGP test provided three of the four MotoGP rookies with a chance to get familiar with their new bikes and their new teams. The second test is often more important than the first one, as...
View ArticleThree Predictions for the 2018 MotoGP Season
A new year brings new opportunities, and a chance to start again with a blank slate. The future is unknown, and so now is a time for predictions, some wild and baseless, some canny educated guesses....
View ArticleTesting for WorldSBK & MotoGP Starts This Week
With the holiday season receding into the rear view mirror, that means that we are getting closer to seeing bikes on tracks. Testing starts this week for both the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks, and...
View ArticleThe Comprehensive, Exhaustive, Cover-All-The-Bases Preview to the 2018 MotoGP...
It seems safe to say we are living in a new Golden Age of MotoGP. The stomach-churning tension of 2015 was followed by an unimaginably wild 2016 season, the racing turned on its head by the combination...
View ArticleWhat I Missed at Qatar: Lorenzo’s Brakes, Crutchlow’s Tires, & Silly Season...
Once upon a time in MotoGP, the life of a journalist was easy. At the end of every day, and after every race, there were four or five riders you absolutely had to speak to, plus another couple who...
View ArticleHonda CBR1000RRW Debuts for Endurance Duty
What you are looking at here is the bike that Honda hopes will win the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race this year. It is called the Honda CBR1000RRW. It is not all that different from the WorldSBK-spec...
View ArticleThe First Domino in the MotoGP Silly Season Has Fallen
With the MotoGP paddock back in Europe and heading to Jerez, the first round of contract announcements is upon us, with the second wave not far behind. First domino to fall for the moment is Pol...
View ArticleYamaha & Sepang Agree to Field Satellite MotoGP Team
Confirming what had long been a suspicion in the Grand Prix paddock, the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) is set to field a MotoGP team with Yamaha YZR-M1 machinery. Signing a memorandum of...
View ArticleMotoGP Preview of the German GP
The Sachsenring is a unique circuit, and a unique place. We say that about almost every racetrack we go to, but it is much more true of the Sachsenring than of anywhere else. No track is as tight, yet...
View ArticleMid-Season MotoGP Silly Season Update
The summer break – if an extra weekend off can be counted as an actual break – marks the end of the first half of the 2018 MotoGP season, but it also marks a significant point in the MotoGP Silly...
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Petronas SIC Yamaha MotoGP Team Set to Debut
It is hard to keep secrets in the MotoGP paddock (though not impossible, as Jorge Lorenzo’s move to Repsol Honda conclusively proves). One of the worst kept secrets has been the news that the Sepang...
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Mega Gallery: The New Riders & Machines of the Valencia Test
The post-season test at Valencia is underway for the MotoGP Championship right now, giving us a hint at what to expect for the 2019 season. The post Mega Gallery: The New Riders & Machines of the...
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Tuesday MotoGP Summary at the Valencia Test: Yamaha Engines, Lorenzo Lags,...
The first day of the 2019 MotoGP Championship was today. Here's what happened at the first day of the Valencia test. The post Tuesday MotoGP Summary at the Valencia Test: Yamaha Engines, Lorenzo Lags,...
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