2021 MotoGP Discussion (Spoilers)

[JettaJayGLS]

I just re-watched a few laps of qualifying to see if I could quickly spot it. Most people are on the arch of the outside foot, heel dug into frame. Ball of the inside foot. At full lean.
Oliveira seems to be more on his heel then arch on the outside foot, and I think that was throwing me off. His foot sticks like straight up in the air, perpendicular with the bike.
Don't want to re-watch anymore, but next race week I'll see if I can spot it.

[Philkinson]

So...

Is Marc back? I guess we will have to see how he performs at Assen

[Paul_E_D]

So...

Is Marc back? I guess we will have to see how he performs at Assen

Good question. He did look like his old self. When he bolted, no one could follow.

[loudbeard]

I don’t know if he’s back or not, we’ll see if he can sustain it. Honestly I was looking for him to start showing back up after the summer break. The championship is already close so I’m all for another competitor pushing the field.

I thought the most interesting part of the weekend were MV12’s comments post-race. Sounds like Yamaha is ready to show him the door….to which I’d say, what took you so long?

[jim v]

Oliviera followed and even closed the gap a bit - he took 2nd on lap 10 and was about 2 sec back, at that point they're both lapping in the 1'22"s. On lap 15 they both go into the 1'21"s. Over the next 10 laps Oliviera takes ~0.1 sec/lap sec until lap 25, the lead is 0.9sec and he decides 2nd place is a good result for the day

They were both incredibly consistent in the middle of the race
lap gap
17 1.841
18 1.557
19 1.467
20 1.330
21 1.280
22 1.194
23 1.121
24 1.004
25 0.929

[Philkinson]

Oliviera followed and even closed the gap a bit - he took 2nd on lap 10 and was about 2 sec back, at that point they're both lapping in the 1'22"s. On lap 15 they both go into the 1'21"s. Over the next 10 laps Oliviera takes ~0.1 sec/lap sec until lap 25, the lead is 0.9sec and he decides 2nd place is a good result for the day

They were both incredibly consistent in the middle of the race
lap gap
17 1.841
18 1.557
19 1.467
20 1.330
21 1.280
22 1.194
23 1.121
24 1.004
25 0.929

Where do you find this type of info?

[JettaJayGLS]

Oliviera said post race that visibly the gap wasn't closing, even if his pit board was telling him. I get what he's saying, its a pretty defeating feeling.

[jim v]

Where do you find this type of info?

The MotoGP site has lots of data - https://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics

check the analysis by lap

[Philkinson]

The MotoGP site has lots of data - https://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics

check the analysis by lap

And I'm not sleeping ever again. Thank you!

[gixxer72]

Motegi canceled, COTA back on for October. Tix on sale next month...

[Philkinson]

Gerloff in for Morbidelli!

[MUZ720]

Gerloff in for Morbidelli!

Yamaha has faith in him.. An American back in motogp is awesome... At least for one race!

[Philkinson]

Even though Vinales is quickest in every session and on pole, I'm not regretting leaving him off of my fantasy team 😂.
I predict... 7th?

[loudbeard]

He very well may win this weekend.

He’ll go back to being irrelevant next time out.

[MUZ720]

He very well may win this weekend.
1
He’ll go back to being irrelevant next time out.

I want to like him but he just seems to fade whenever he gets in a group of riders. If he gets a jump and leads at the start he might hold on for a top five! If he gets stacked up he's looking at a top ten at best. Had him on my Fantasy team to long, been doing much better since I dropped him!

[Philkinson]

Surprised by Vinales... Still stand by my word though, he's got no spot on a fantasy team

[jim v]

I wonder how he'll do on the Aprilia?

https://motomatters.com/press_releas...i_ales_to.html

[Philkinson]

I wonder how he'll do on the Aprilia?

https://motomatters.com/press_releas...i_ales_to.html

Laughable. He doesn't have the mental toughness to ride an underperforming motorcycle.

Hopefully better than the following riders that Aprilia has chewed up and spit out.
Lowes, Bradl, Bautista, Melandri, Redding, Iannone, Bradley Smith, Salvadore.

Fuck that team.

[Rada]

Bye Felicia

[JettaJayGLS]

I understand his move. Right now he is up against Fabio and can rarely beat him (and is usually embarrassed by him).

On the Aprilia, he is up against Aleix, who he thinks he is several levels better than (and is right, from a pure talent perspective). If Aleix can consistently finish 6th, Vinales can likely squeeze out a win and regular podiums - think about what Vinales did on Suzuki in its infancy. He and Aleix were teammates, pretty even on Bridgestones but Vinales was much better on Michelins. First win and 3 other podiums. Not even a podium for Aleix.

Vinales is seemingly phenomenal at squeezing out wins when things are right and losing his shit when they are not. This aligns perfectly with Aprilia right now, who is just looking for that first podium and win. Moving from a team that wants a championship to one that just wants individual results makes sense.

I like Aleix and I sort of hope Vinales struggles. At the same time, I want Aprilia to win races and I think Vinales has a better chance of pulling this off.

Not gonna lie, I was still shocked by this. I would have preferred Andrea go to Aprilia - I think he would have clicked really well with the bike coming from the Ducati.

[Philkinson]

On the Aprilia, he is up against Aleix, who he thinks he is several levels better than (and is right, from a pure talent perspective). If Aleix can consistently finish 6th, Vinales can likely squeeze out a win and regular podiums - think about what Vinales did on Suzuki in its infancy. He and Aleix were teammates, pretty even on Bridgestones but Vinales was much better on Michelins. First win and 3 other podiums. Not even a podium for Aleix.

Vinales is seemingly phenomenal at squeezing out wins when things are right and losing his shit when they are not. This aligns perfectly with Aprilia right now, who is just looking for that first podium and win. Moving from a team that wants a championship to one that just wants individual results makes sense.

I like Aleix and I sort of hope Vinales struggles. At the same time, I want Aprilia to win races and I think Vinales has a better chance of pulling this off.

I will have to disagree... if Aleix ever got a decent bike under him he would be unstoppable. His whole career has been wringing the neck of shit bikes.

I also hope Vinales struggles and retires. I don't see him getting in the top 10 on Aprilia.. mind you he only has 9 MotoGP victories.

[JettaJayGLS]

I put Aleix in the "ridiculously hard worker" category, not as much raw, pure, born with it, talent. I assume both him and Pol came from a shitload of family money (and probably most others on the grid too).
I think Vinales has more raw talent, on top of a very good work ethic.

[Gecko]

I don’t think the Aprilia is as good as everyone wants it to be. I respectfully disagree, and think Espargaró is very talented and an incredibly hard worker. He's able to get 115% out of that bike. No one else has been able to ride it well. I'm not sure Vinales has the mental fortitude to succeed on a bike like the Aprilia. I foresee Vinales having many difficult days on that bike, if not more, than he had on the Yamaha. A quote from this Article: “Although the Italian factory's RS-GP is a much-improved package this year, it remains the least successful bike on the grid with a best result of sixth place while the other five manufacturers have all won races in the past year.”
Who knows, maybe Aprilia makes great developmental leaps during the off season.
.

[Philkinson]

I don’t think the Aprilia is as good as everyone wants it to be. I respectfully disagree, and think Espargaró is very talented and an incredibly hard worker. He's able to get 115% out of that bike. No one else has been able to ride it well. I'm not sure Vinales has the mental fortitude to succeed on a bike like the Aprilia. I foresee Vinales having many difficult days on that bike, if not more, than he had on the Yamaha. A quote from this Article: “Although the Italian factory's RS-GP is a much-improved package this year, it remains the least successful bike on the grid with a best result of sixth place while the other five manufacturers have all won races in the past year.”
Who knows, maybe Aprilia makes great developmental leaps during the off season.
.

I agree 99.9% with this. Nicely said.

I do think that the Aprilia has progressed nicely since their beginning, but they are no where compared to the development level of KTM/Suzuki.

I hope the best for Aprilia and Espargaro. Vinales... kick rocks

[JettaJayGLS]

Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.