Author: chad

Slip slidin away.. the name of a fairly well known song, how some of the riders ended up in the rain last Sunday, and also how the dream of taking a MotoGP championship is going for some of the top contenders. It is my opinion that with Quartararo, 108 points, ahead of Mir by 8 points but ahead of Vinales by 18 and Dovi by 24, and with only 5 races left, the chances of securing that top spot are going to get exponentially harder. Not the least because with the weather and being stuck in Europe this year due to the pandemic, the conditions are going to be more cold and probably wet than say, Australia. There IS still a chance for Vinales, or even Dovi, if both Mir and Quartararo end up sliding out of a race entirely. But then they also have to go on to finish with top marks once that happens.

So how DID the riders fair? Well, let’s start with practice and qualifying. All four Yamahas were near top of the time sheet for the final practice on Saturday. And even with the rain, the mix of Yamaha and Ducati bikes were both still filling the top slots of qualifying. But then the rain and cooler weather showed up. The temperature was in the 50s for the high with on and off rain. The track was visible wet for the race start. Valentino Rossi managed to lose the rear in one of the first turns of the first lap. His mishap caused some chaos in the group following him, allowing Petrucci and others to gain some time ahead of others. The final laps of the race saw Alex Marquez jump to 2nd (from 18th on the grid!) just ahead of P Espargaro with Petrucci securing his 2nd MotoGP win. The race also saw 6 DNFs and Alex Rins with 0 points after sliding off multiple times.

The next 2 races are in Aragon Spain! And if the race slip in Le Mans wasn’t bad enough for Rossi, just read the news that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be out of the first Aragon race for sure. But at least it looks like the weather will cooperate for the weekend.

What a race! I’m certain quite a few of you are massively disappointed with the out come of that race. 6 racers were DNF that qualified! 

Congrats to Fabio Quartararo for his first MotoGP win!

With the extreme heat Jerez saw this last weekend, the machines, the tire technology and the endurance and performance of the riders were all put to the test. Two giants, Marquez and Rossi, with 17 World Championships between the two of them, and neither made the finish line. Dovizioso remarked at the end of the race that it was the most difficult he’s ever had. 

Marquez rode off the track early in the race dropping back to almost last place only to work his way back up to 3rd! But during a high speed direction change, he slid the rear tire causing a fairly massive high side crash at about 80mph. As he was thrown into the sand ahead of the bike, his front wheel caught his arm and he suffered a fracture right arm. He had surgery Tuesday and has not ruled out racing this weekend; incredible. 

Rossi had to retire from the race due to a bike alarm. The machine slows down and does not operate at full capacity because something is wrong. I still have not read that they released what it was.

Iker Lecuona, Aleix Espargaro and Joan Mir all managed to get laps in before having incidents that left them off the track. Alex Rins was unfit to ride because of his arm injury. 

Jack Miller managed 4th place despite having numbness in his hand from his handlebar position. They expect to change the posture of the bike for the next race. 

The next race is this weekend! At Jerez again! Weather forecast is showing 96F for Sunday, so it will be another repeat hot race! It’s still any rider’s chance to make it for themselves this season! Who’s it gonna be?!

That’s right, MotoE’s first EVER race is this Sunday and to celebrate, the winning “team creator” will celebrate with a gift card! All you need to do is register, have your account approved and sign up for the MotoE event at Sachsenring midnight Saturday (ie before MotoE event starts). Winner will be determined by highest points scored and earliest time submitted.

MotoGP is in the United States, and we’re celebrating by giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to the top player who has the best predictions for the race on Sunday! And if you refer someone and they win, we will give you a $10 gift card too! It’s the last time until later this season that we have an early afternoon lights out to start the race. Starts Sunday at 1pm MDT. Can’t wait!

Terms: Good only for the MotoGP race in Austin 2019. Anyone can sign up/register to win this event, past or current points are no indicator for winning. Must be 18 years or older to newly register, must provide social media account url and/or friend referral description. Not all new accounts will be approved, reserve right to refuse. In the event of a multiplayer tie, the gift card amount will be reduced.