Motorcycle Racing 2024 - MotoGP, WSBK, BSB, MotoAmerica, TT

[SKR]

MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas -Sprint Race

It's been a while since there's been any bike racing hey? Since last week's Argentina GP was cancelled, this weekend is the first back for MotoGP. A few different names at the front after qualifying with Maverick Vinales on pole, and Honda still sucks with all 4 of their bikes qualifying in the last 4 spots. Nobody could touch Vinales all race long. Marc Marquez held off attacks from Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta. Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top 5. Ducati had an awful day with Enea Bastianini 6th and Francesco Bagnaia 8th. Yamaha was awful and I don't think I heard Fabio Quartararo or Alex Rins' names said all race. All but one of the Hondas crashed out with Luca Marini the last running rider, almost 23 seconds back of the lead in a 10 lap race.

Early on it looks like Martin is the man to beat, and if he can get some maturity to match his talent he'll win buckets full of championships. Aprilia looks good too when their bikes aren't breaking down.

[SKR]

MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas

Holy what a race today. When Maverick Vinales fucked the start and Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin pushed their way through, I thought the race was over. Usually once one of those two gets out front they check out and that's it. But Pedro Acosta raced as hard as anyone and led for a long time. Marc Marquez led briefly but crashed out of the lead a couple corners later. Bagnaia had trouble all weekend and after the first couple laps wasn't really a factor. I think Martin used up a lot of his bike trying to get past Acosta. Enea Bastianini did what he used to do, run 2/3 of the race saving his tires and then turning it on to come through the field. And Vinales coming back from 11th on lap 1 to win was something else. And not just win by a little bit either, it was a shit kicking. Great race today. Vinales became the first rider in the MotoGP era to win on 3 different manufacturers. Acosta finished 2nd, Bastianini 3rd, Martin 4th and Bagnaia 5th. Honda again was awful, with I think 2 retirements with mechanical problems, 1 crash, and Luca Marini, who chose to leave a satellite Ducati team for factory Honda, was last of the running riders in 16th, 33 seconds back. Even Alex Marquez, who crashed on lap 11 and remounted, finished ahead of Marini. Honda is so fucked.



MotoGP Standings after COTA:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 80
2. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 59
3. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) 56
4. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) 54
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 50

Next 4 Weeks:

April 20-21 – World Superbike Pirelli Dutch Round – TT Circuit Assen
April 20-21 – British Superbikes Round 1 – Circuito de Navarra
April 20-21 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road Atlanta – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
April 26-27 – Cookstown 100 – Orritor Circuit
April 27-28 – MotoGP Gran Premio de Espana – Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto
May 5-6 – British Superbikes Round 2 – Oulton Park
May 6-11 – North West 200 – The Triangle
May 11-12 – MotoGP Grand Prix de France – Le Mans

[SKR]

World Superbike Pirelli Dutch Round

Assen makes for such good racing, and mixed weather conditions really shook things up. Danilo Petrucci is out after being injured in a motocross crash, and is being replaced by Nicholas Spinelli. In race 1, most riders opted for slicks on a wet track, but Spinelli gambled with intermediates and it paid off. He took off to a 24 second lead, and as the track dried that lead dropped to 3 seconds. In one more lap he was going to be swallowed up by the riders on slicks, but the race was red flagged due to oil on the track, giving Spinelli his first win in his Superbike debut. Toprak Razgatlioglu finished 2nd, Alvaro Bautista 3rd, Remy Gardner 4th and Alex Lowes 5th.



The Superpole race was dry and factory Ducati led the way. Bautista won, followed by Nicolo Bulega, Alex Lowes, Gardner and Jonathan Rea, who was finally having a decent weekend in his first season at Yamaha.



Race 2 started off dry, then had a small shower partway through the race before drying again. Razgatlioglu won, Bautista 2nd, Gardner 3rd for his first WSBK podium, Andrea Iannone 4th and Andrea Locatelli 5th.



WorldSBK Standings after Assen:

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 123
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 117
3. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 109
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 93
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) 64

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 1

Teams and Riders:

Hager PBM Ducati
Glenn Irwin

OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing
Ryan Vickers
Kyle Ryde

ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad
Leon Haslam

Oxford Products Racing Ducati
Christian Iddon

FHO Racing BMW Motorrad
Josh Brookes
Peter Hickman

Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki
Jason O'Halloran
Max Cook

McAMS Racing Yamaha
Danny Kent

MasterMac Honda
Lee Jackson
Charlie Nesbitt

LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki
Storm Stacey

STAUFF Fluid Power Kawasaki
Tom Neave

Honda Racing UK
Tommy Bridewell
Dean Harrison
Andrew Irwin

Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad
Rory Skinner

DAO Racing Kawasaki
Brayden Elliott
Danny Buchan

Rapid Honda
Franco Bourne

Whitecliffe CDH Racing Kawasaki
Luke Hedger

TAG Honda
Jaimie van Sikkelerus
Fraser Rogers

Cumins by Team IWR Honda
Alex Olsen

C&L Fairburn / Look Forward Racing Honda
Billy McConnell

IN Competition / SENCAT Aprilia
Lewis Rollo

NP Racing Kawasaki
Louis Valleley

The biggest movers this season are 2023 champion Tommy Bridewell going from PBM Ducati to Honda, Dean Harrison going from DAO Racing to Honda, Jason O'Halloran going from McAMS Yamaha to Kawasaki, Lee Jackson going from Kawasaki to Honda and the return of Rory Skinner from a year in Moto2.

The first race of the British Superbike season starts off in Spain for some reason. The commentators said Navarra is a track without many passing spots, which makes me wonder why the fuck are we here. Usually BSB is the best racing, but not this weekend. Ryan Vickers swept the two races, winning race 1 over Kyle Ryde, Danny Kent, Glenn Irwin and Rory Skinner, and race 2 over Kent, Ryde, Leon Haslam and Christian Iddon.



British Superbike Standings after Navarra:

1. Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha) 36
2. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 30
3. Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha) 30
4. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 21
5. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 20

[SKR]

MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road Atlanta

I couldn't decide whether to pay for MotoAmerica again this year. They used to upload the races onto youtube a few hours after, but this year they stopped doing that and it'll be a week I think until the races are available for free. It's $160 which is an awful lot, but hopefully a deeper field this year means better racing.

I'm not going to do a full run-through of the riders and teams. These are the guys who'll be at the front the most this year:

1st to 3rd:

Jake Gagne - won the championship the last 3 years in a row
Cameron Beaubier - won 5 championships in 6 years, went to Moto2 for 2 years and returned to MotoAmerica last year
Josh Herrin - every year the Ducati gets better and he has a teammate this year to help collect data
Cameron Petersen - teammate to Gagne and had a good year last year
JD Beach - don't know much about him, but people talk about how good a superbike rider he was before he went to American Flat Track

4th to 7th:

Sean Dylan Kelly - comes over from Moto2
Bobby Fong - seems to be a good rider but doesn't quite have enough to stay at the front
Richie Escalante - could be in for a win on a good day
Brandon Paasch - young kid in his second superbike season
Loris Baz - back to MotoAmerica after a couple seasons with BMW in World Superbike

8th to 10th:
Ashton Yates - will be neat to see what a Honda can do, and I think it's in Superstock trim
Hayden Gillim - another Honda

Absences from this year are PJ Jacobsen, who moved to Superstock to mentor Kayla Yaakov, and Mathew Scholtz who went to Superstock after his Superbike team folded around Christmas.

Race 1:

A lot of careful racing for the first race of the season. It wasn't until the last couple laps when things started heating up at the front. Cameron Beaubier won, ahead of Jake Gagne, Bobby Fong, Sean Dylan Kelly and Josh Herrin. Right after the checkered flag, Loris Baz slowed faster than Richie Escalante was anticipating and Escalante crashed into him. Baz was able to race in race 2 but Escalante is out indefinitely with a fractured wrist and a few vertebrae.



Race 2:

Race 2 was wet after rain in the morning. Gagne came out ahead despite a couple pass attempts from Beaubier on the last couple laps. Cameron Petersen finished 3rd, JD Beach 4th and Kelly 5th.



MotoAmerica Standings after Road Atlanta:

1. Jake Gagne (Attack Performance Yamaha - Yamaha) 45
2. Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing - BMW) 45
3. Sean Dylan Kelly (TopPro Racing Team - BMW) 24
4. Bobby Fong (Wrench Motorcycles - Yamaha) 22
5. JD Beach (Tytlers Cycle Racing - BMW) 22

Next 4 Weeks:

April 26-27 – Cookstown 100 – Orritor Circuit
April 27-28 – MotoGP Gran Premio de Espana – Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto
May 5-6 – British Superbikes Round 2 – Oulton Park
May 6-11 – North West 200 – The Triangle
May 11-12 – MotoGP Grand Prix de France – Le Mans
May 18-19 – British Superbikes Round 3 – Donington Park
May 18-19 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber – Barber Motorsports Park

[SKR]

MotoGP Gran Premio de Espana - Sprint Race

Weird race, this one. Wet in qualifying but the track was pretty dry come race time. They said it was windy with strong gusts though that might have played a factor. Twenty-five riders started the race - the normal 22 rider grid, plus wildcards from test riders Dani Pedrosa (KTM), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) and Stefan Bradl (Honda). And then the carnage started. Crashes from:

Aleix Espargaro
Jack Miller
Francesco Bagnaia
Fabio Di Giannantonio
Lorenzo Savadori
Alex Rins
Brad Binder
Alex Marquez
Enea Bastianini
Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez
Maverick Vinales
Luca Marini
Stefan Bradl
Johann Zarco

After all that, Jorge Martin sailed to win again and extend his points lead. Pedro Acosta finished 2nd, Fabio Quartararo 3rd after starting 23rd, Pedrosa 4th and Franco Morbidelli 5th. Hopefully tomorrow is different. This was entertaining, but you wouldn't use it as an example of good racing.

[SKR]

Cookstown 100

The Cookstown 100 is the first race of the Irish road racing season. Coverage is sparse; Northern Ireland seems to prefer Facebook, and I can't be wading through that mess to get results. They had 18 races scheduled and it sounds like they got them all off. Here's some race winners you've heard of.

Michael Dunlop won the Open A Invitation race Friday evening, before crashing in the Supersport A Invitation race later on. He wasn't injured but withdrew from the rest of the meeting.



Michael Sweeney won the Supersport A Invitation race Friday and the Supertwins A race Saturday in his first racing action since crashing at last year's North West 200.

[SKR]

Cookstown 100

Dominic Herbertson won 4 races: The 125/Moto3 race, Supersport A, Open A and the Cookstown 100 Open A.









The next Irish road race meeting is the North West 200 in a couple weeks.

[SKR]

MotoGP Gran Premio de Espana

Another ripper of a race, although it was probably helped a little by Jorge Martin crashing out while leading under pressure from Francesco Bagnaia. A battle late in the race between Bagnaia and Marc Marquez left rubber from Bagnaia's front tire on Marquez's right arm, but both stayed up. It looked like Marquez had Bagnaia beat but then Bagnaia set a race lap record on the 23rd lap of 25. Marquez set a personal best on the next lap but it wasn't enough. Bagnaia won, Marquez 2nd, Marco Bezzecchi 3rd, Alex Marquez 4th and Enea Bastianini 5th for an all-Ducati top 5.



Dani Pedrosa was promoted to 3rd in yesterday's sprint after Fabio Quartararo was penalized for being under (over? I don't know) the tire pressure limit. Unfortunately Pedrosa crashed out today, but the 3rd place finish yesterday gives him 7 points in the championship, which is more than Alex Rins (6), Franco Morbidelli (6), Johann Zarco (5), Takaaki Nakagami (4) and Luca Marini (0), all of whom have started every race this year.

MotoGP Standings after Jerez:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 92
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 75
3. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 70
4. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) 69
5. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) 63

Next 4 Weeks:

May 5-6 – British Superbikes Round 2 – Oulton Park
May 6-11 – North West 200 – The Triangle
May 11-12 – MotoGP Grand Prix de France – Le Mans
May 18-19 – British Superbikes Round 3 – Donington Park
May 18-19 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber – Barber Motorsports Park
May 25-26 – MotoGP Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 2 – Oulton Park

With how good MotoGP and WSBK have been, I'm having a hell of a time getting into British Superbikes this year. It might also be to do with how much I dislike Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin after last year, two riders that at the start of last year I would have considered favorites. Hopefully this turns around soon, and I'm sure it will now that that the first round in Spain is done and we're on to British tracks for the rest of the season.

Irwin took the lead early and never let go, as you'd expect. I think he won 10 races last year and will probably win a bundle more, especially since it's a one bike team now with Bridewell going to Honda. Christian Iddon finished 2nd, Kyle Ryde 3rd, Bridewell 4th and Ryan Vickers 5th.

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 2 – Oulton Park

Glenn Irwin led again from the start in race 2. Tommy Bridewell had a good race coming from further back in the field on the Honda to finish 2nd. Christian Iddon was 3rd, Danny Kent 4th and Kyle Ryde 5th. This was a much better race and is the BSB I like to see. As I said I don't much care for Irwin and Bridewell for how they carried on late last season, but they're damn good racers and it's good to see Honda near the front.

Iddon led a lot of race 3 but Irwin got past him again and went on to complete the sweep. Iddon finished 2nd, Ryan Vickers 3rd, Kent 4th and Leon Haslam just got Bridewell at the line for 5th.



A couple of big crashes this weekend. Rory Skinner had a big one in the warm up session, losing his helmet in the process and knocking him unconscious. After being taken to hospital he was back at the track for race 3, not racing, just spectating. So that's good. And in the BMW F 900 R Cup race warm up, a 6 bike crash resulted in minor injuries for 4 riders, a broken leg for another, and a sixth, Katie Walker, with a head injury requiring transfer by air ambulance to hospital. It sounds like she's stable and doesn't require surgery so that's better than it could be. But quite a mess for the weekend.

From here, Glenn Irwin, Peter Hickman and I'd assume Dean Harrison will be going straight from Oulton Park to Northern Ireland for the North West 200.

British Superbike Standings after Oulton Park:

1. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 74
2. Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha) 68
3. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 67
4. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 64
5. Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha) 55

Next 4 Weeks:

May 6-11 – North West 200 – The Triangle
May 11-12 – MotoGP Grand Prix de France – Le Mans
May 18-19 – British Superbikes Round 3 – Donington Park
May 18-19 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber – Barber Motorsports Park
May 25-26 – MotoGP Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
May 27-June 8 – Isle of Man TT – Isle of Man TT Mountain Course
June 1-2 – MotoGP Gran Premio d’Italia – Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
June 1-2 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America – Road America

[SKR]

North West 200

The North West 200 is second only to the Isle of Man TT as the biggest road race of the year. The course is 8.97 miles long, going from the town of Portstewart, Northern Ireland, to Coleraine, then to Portrush and back to Portstewart. Today and tomorrow are practice and qualifying, and 9 races in 4 classes will take place tomorrow and Saturday.

The biggest news in the last couple days was Honda Racing UK pulling out of the Superbike and Supersport classes, due to logistic and supply issues. Its Fireblade and CBR600 are both new this year and with the TT coming up soon I guess they had to withdraw to make sure they had the resources for the TT. Honda will still be supplying Superstock bikes for riders John McGuinness, Dean Harrison and Nathan Harrison. Lee Johnston won't be participating either, with his leg insufficiently healed after breaking it in a preseason testing crash in Spain. He hasn't raced since he crashed at the NW200 last year. Alastair Seeley, the most successful rider at the NW200 with 29 wins, was unable to secure a ride for this year's event. Riders that are back are Brian McCormack, who has been out since a crash at Macau last fall, and Ian Hutchinson, who suffered a stroke last year. Michael Dunlop was a late confirmation, normally keeping his plans pretty secret until the last minute but cutting it closer than ever this year. He'll be on a Triumph 765 this year in Supersport after years on a Yamaha R6.

Glenn Irwin was the fastest in Wednesday's Superbike qualifying, followed by Davey Todd, Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison (on his Superstock bike).



Richard Cooper led the Supersport class, ahead of Davey Todd, Michael Dunlop, Michael Browne and Peter Hickman.



Davey Todd led the Superstock class from Dean Harrison, Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and John McGuinness.



The Supertwin class was cut short after being red flagged for a crash at the Mill Road chicane, and the remainder of the session was cancelled due to being out of time to restart before the roads were to be reopened to the public. Jeremy McWilliams was the fastest, followed by Adam McLean, Michael Sweeney, Christian Elkin and Hickman.

[SKR]

North West 200

Day 2 of qualifying ended with Glenn Irwin on pole for Superbike, Richard Cooper for Supersport, Davey Todd for Superstock and Peter Hickman for Supertwin.

After qualifying, the first 3 races were ran, all 4 lap races. Glenn Irwin and Davey Todd were in a close battle in Superbike, with Irwin making a pass on lap 3 and Todd coming up short in a late pass attempt at Juniper chicane on lap 4. Irwin won his 9th Superbike race in a row, followed by Todd, Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison.



Race 2 was the Supersport race. Polesitter Richard Cooper blew the start, but it was for the best as Adam McLean lost the front of his bike and went down into the first corner, taking Davey Todd with him. Cooper then inherited the lead and never looked back. Second place was Peter Hickman, then Michael Dunlop, Michael Browne and Paul Jordan.



Race 3 was the Superstock race. Davey Todd was declared fit to race, and had a tight race with Dean Harrison before Harrison outbraked himself at Mather's chicane on the last lap. Todd stayed on to win, Harrison had enough of a gap to hold 2nd, Dunlop was 3rd for his 3rd podium of the day, James Hillier 4th and John McGuinness 5th.



Interesting to note, to me anyway, is that there were 31 finishers in the Superbike race, 43 Supersport and 36 Superstock. That's a lot of bikes for 3 4 lap races, which says a lot for the NW200 and road racing in Northern Ireland in general. The last 6 races of the meeting are on Saturday.

[SKR]

North West 200

I don't know if I can embed a tweet with a video, but holy fuck is this worth a watch. This is the reason for one of the red flags in qualifying. Paul Cassidy clipped another rider, crashed into a fence, cartwheeled through the air and landed on the hood of a parked car. He's alright, just sore, nothing broken, but you can't understand how. I love road racing but it's worth remembering how dangerous and on the edge it can be. (Edit: skip ahead 20 seconds.)

[ExtraSlow]

Ho.
Lee.
Fuck.


Also:

[SKR]

North West 200

Six races today to finish this year's NW200. If you were watching live, you'd have got up at 2am and just finished about half an hour ago.

Peter Hickman came out the winner in the opening Supertwin race, I think his first win at the NW, after a race-long fight with Richard Cooper. Mike Browne finished 3rd, just ahead of Jeremy McWilliams, and Christian Elkin finished 5th.



Glenn Irwin extended his record to 10 Superbike wins in a row. Davey Todd had a move lined up going into the Juniper chicane, but lapped traffic got in the way and he had to settle for 2nd. Irwin was pretty harsh in his post-race comments to race control for allowing riders that slow to compete. On top of that, there was a little drama behind them as Michael Dunlop went straight through the Magherabuoy chicane and didn't come to a stop, so he was given a 10 second time penalty. Dean Harrison went straight at the start/finish chicane at the end of lap 1, and the way the course is set up it basically prevented him from rejoining the race. And Peter Hickman ran out of fuel at Metropole on the last lap out of 3rd place. The retirements of Harrison and Hickman meant Dunlop finished 3rd even with the time penalty, James Hillier was 4th and Michael Rutter 5th.



Davey Todd finally got a win in the Supersport race. Richard Cooper and Michael Dunlop stayed right with him all race, coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Mike Browne and Conor Cummins finished 4th and 5th.

[SKR]

North West 200

There was controversy in the Superstock race. The race was red flagged on lap 1 (I don't know for what, nobody has said anything about a crash and with how the week has gone it was probably drunks on the course), and once that was cleaned up it was restarted at the full 6 lap distance. But Michael Dunlop wasn't allowed to start the restarted race because he didn't do the sighting lap before the restarted race, which the rules say you must do. Davey Todd won his second race of the day. Peter Hickman finished 2nd after Dean Harrison retired on lap 5. The biggest cheer of the day was for John McGuinness, finishing 3rd and getting his first NW podium since 2012. James Hillier finished 4th after getting caught up with a backmarker at Juniper, like Todd was against Irwin earlier in the day, and Erno Kostamo was 5th.



The second Supertwin race was close again with Peter Hickman on top, followed by Richard Cooper, Jeremy McWilliams, Mike Browne and Christian Elkin.



The last race of the day was the third Superbike race, and again it was between Glenn Irwin and Davey Todd, with Dean Harrison right there on his Superstock bike within striking distance as well. Irwin finished the sweep and made it 11 in a row, ahead of Todd, Harrison, Michael Dunlop and Paul Jordan.

[SKR]

MotoGP Grand Prix de France - Sprint Race

There is also a MotoGP race this weekend. Jorge Martin continues to be the man on Saturday, winning today's sprint race at Le Mans. Francesco Bagania started on the front row, but on his backup bike after a crash in qualifying (or practice, I don't remember) and they must have had the setup wrong because he dropped like a stone before retiring early. Marc Marquez came from 13th to finish 2nd. Maverick Vinales was 3rd, Enea Bastianini 4th and Aleix Espargaro was 5th, even after serving a double long lap penalty for jumping the start.

[SKR]

MotoGP Michelin Grand Prix de France

Good race today. They were saying it might rain partway through the race but it didn't, which is probably for the best but flag to flag races don't happen that often so it would have been fun to see. The second factory Ducati seat is still open for next year and it seems to be everybody's opinion that it'll go to Marc Marquez, but I don't know what more Jorge Martin can do. The guy is winning everything right now. I think Francesco Bagnaia ran out of grip toward the end of the race, allowing Martin to get through and go on to win and Marquez to pass him on the last lap for second. Third is still good for Bagnaia but it's still 9 more points he gave up to Martin today. Enea Bastianini finished 4th, but with Martin and Marquez finishing ahead of him I don't think that's going to be enough to stay at Ducati next year. Maverick Vinales finished 5th.

I think were it not for Marquez being Marquez, Ducati's decision would be easy and they'd take Martin onto the factory team. Which would spring Bastianini loose and he'd probably end up at Aprilia if Aleix Espargaro retires. But if they're going to take Marquez, or keep Bastianini, I'd assume Martin would go to Aprilia. He said he wants to be on a factory team, and I can't imagine he'd want to go to Honda, I don't know if there's a spot for him at Yamaha which wouldn't be a much better choice anyway, and I don't think anyone really considers GASGAS a factory team. KTM will have Pedro Acosta next year for sure, but maybe they'd be able to move Brad Binder to GASGAS to make room for Martin. Or Marquez. Marquez and Acosta on KTMs next year versus Bagnaia and Martin at Ducati could be a lot of fun.

The nice thing about Martin winning is that I get to post pictures of him leaning off the bike. Nobody gets lower than him.



MotoGP Standings after Le Mans:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 129
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 91
3. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) 89
4. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 89
5. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) 81

Next 4 Weeks:

May 18-19 – British Superbikes Round 3 – Donington Park
May 18-19 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber – Barber Motorsports Park
May 25-26 – MotoGP Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
May 27-June 8 – Isle of Man TT – Isle of Man TT Mountain Course
June 1-2 – MotoGP Gran Premio d’Italia – Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
June 1-2 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at Road America – Road America
June 5-7 – Imatranajo – Imatra Circuit

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 3 – Donington Park

I had this all typed out and then I lost it all. My fans will be so disappointed.

Rory Skinner and Peter Hickman were non-starters this weekend. Skinner was declared fit but withdrew himself, still feeling the effects I guess from a crash during practice at Oulton Park. Hickman had a "near-crash", whatever that is, causing some injury to his hand so he withdrew to allow time to recover for the TT.

Race 1:

1. Kyle Ryde
2. Tommy Bridewell
3. Leon Haslam
4. Danny Kent
5. Glenn Irwin

Race 1 was red flagged on lap 15 of 20 after Christian Iddon crashed and the medical team had to be sent onto the track. Iddon was good enough to race in races 2 and 3.



Race 2:

1. Glenn Irwin
2. Leon Haslam
3. Tommy Bridewell
4. Danny Kent
5. Kyle Ryde



Race 3:

The best race of the season. Here's a tweet with video of the last two laps.

Edit: Nice one, Elon. Here's the link, you figure it out. https://x.com/OfficialBSB/status/1792237472358809722

1. Jason O'Halloran
2. Tommy Bridewell
3. Danny Kent
4. Glenn Irwin
5. Kyle Ryde



British Superbike Standings after Donington Park:

1. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 115
2. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 102
3. Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha) 95
4. Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 93
5. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 84