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

[SKR]

World Superbike Acerbis Italian Round

Imagine winning 13 races in a row and not winning the championship. That's going to be Toprak Razgatlioglu, still out after that crash at Magny-Cours, with Nicolo Bulega only 55 points behind him. Jonathan Rea is still out as well. The race was red flagged for what I think they called in the broadcast a "technical issue". I don't know what that means, but it was over 2/3 of race distance so it was declared a result and Danilo Petrucci won his first WSBK race. Bulega was 2nd, tightening up the championship standings. Alvaro Bautista was 3rd, Iker Lecuona was 4th in another good race for Honda and Axel Bassani was 5th. Nicolo Canepa filled in for Rea but crashed out. A German rider, Markus Reiterberger, who I've never heard of, filled in for Razgatlioglu and finished 14th. Tommy Bridewell was 18th.

Something that'll probably surprise you as much as it did me is Ryan Vickers is moving to Team Motocorsa Racing next year, taking Michael Ruben Rinaldi's spot. He's a guy who's been crashing a lot of bikes this season. It got him skidded from FHO Racing, and when I saw the news he wasn't returning to OMG GRILLA Yamaha next year I assumed it got him skidded from there too. But somehow he's failed up and is moving from BSB to WSBK. It's funny if they had to pick a BSB rider they'd pick him over half a dozen other riders - Bridewell, Glenn Irwin, Kyle Ryde, Rory Skinner, even a guy like Christian Iddon or Josh Brookes who's out of a ride next year if you believe the rumors. Or someone from Moto2 like Joe Roberts or Jake Dixon. I didn't think Vickers was impressive enough this season to warrant a move like this, but nobody is asking me to run a race team so what do I know.

[SKR]

MotoGP Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

MotoGP is on this weekend too, and other than a pass for the lead about halfway through today's sprint race I couldn't tell you anything about it. Misano sucks. I think we got lucky it rained last time. Francesco Bagnaia won, Jorge Martin was 2nd, Enea Bastianini was 3rd, Marc Marquez was 4th and Pedro Acosta was 5th. The GP race is tomorrow and then we're done with this fuckin track for a year.

Jack Miller signed a one year deal with Pramac Yamaha for next year, so that's the grid sorted. r/motogp hates that. The perfect grid for them would be 11 Spaniards and 11 Italians. It was funny, there was one Miguel Oliveira fan talking about how Miller doesn't deserve to stay in MotoGP because he's underperformed in his 2 years at KTM. Meanwhile, Oliveira has done exactly fuck all. Good for Miller. He's probably better at developing bikes than people give him credit for and I think he'll be more valuable to Yamaha than a rookie from Moto2 would be. Especially if they're able to get their V4 engine built, since they're the last ones running an I4. What's Sergio Garcia going to know about that? Nothing.

[SKR]

MotoGP Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Today was a much more tense day than yesterday. Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia again were 1-2 like they've been all season, but about halfway through the race Bagania crashed out. Enea Bastianini kept the pressure on Martin and on the last lap ran a dive bomb on him. I don't know how he wasn't penalized for it because they both ran off the track, but he wasn't and Bastianini made it back to the line first. Martin took finishing 2nd pretty well, I'd imagine helped out by Bagnaia crashing out. Marc Marquez was 3rd, Marco Bezzecchi was 4th and Franco Morbidelli was 5th.

Fuckin Mute Matt Birt, the worst sports commentator known to mankind, referred to Bastianini by his nickname, "the Beast", 17 times in a 27 lap race. I switched to the non-commentary feed for a while but when it looked like Bastianini had a real chance at winning I had to go back and watch the whole thing from the start. From the green flag to the checkered, 17 times. The color man Louis Suddaby added 2 Beasts of his own.

The Moto2 race was pretty entertaining too. Tony Arbolino had it won with 3 corners to go but he fucked it, and then Aron Canet had it won with 1 corner to go but he fucked it, and Celestino Vietti stole the win on the run out of the last corner to the line.



MotoGP Standings after Misano:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 341
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 317
3. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 282
4. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) 281
5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 165

[SKR]

World Superbike Acerbis Italian Round

Danilo Petrucci backed up yesterday's win with 2 more today, first in the Superpole race over Alex Lowes, Andrea Iannone, Nicolo Bulega and Iker Lecuona, and then in Race 2 over Alvaro Bautista, Bulega, Garrett Gerloff and Lowes. Despite Petrucci's dominance this was a real fun weekend with lots of racing going on further back in the top 10, and TV direction not afraid to show it. Another good weekend for Honda, and Toprak Razgatlioglu holds on to his championship lead. Hopefully he's back next weekend at Aragon because Bulega has done well, but compared to what Razgatlioglu has done you wouldn't call Bulega's season championship-worthy.



World Superbike Standings after Cremona:

1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 365
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 352
3. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 283
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 255
5. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) 252

Next 4 Weeks:

September 28-29 – MotoGP Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia – Pertamina Mandalika Circuit
September 28-29 – World Superbike Tissot Aragon Round – MotorLand Aragon
September 28-29 – British Superbikes Round 10 – Donington Park
September 28-29 – MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey – New Jersey Motorsports Park
October 5-6 – MotoGP Motul Grand Prix of Japan – Mobility Resort Motegi
October 12-13 – British Superbikes Round 11 – Brands Hatch
October 19-20 – MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
October 19-20 – World Superbike Prometeon Spanish Round – Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto

[ThePenIsMightier]

LoL at shitty announcers. That reminds me of that terrible Canucks announcer that everyone creamed their pants over in the 90's who would say "PahVelle BooRay - The Russian Rocket" just 7 or 8 thousand times per game.

Have you been to any live races? Where would the closest place a guy could go for that?

[SKR]

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LoL at shitty announcers. That reminds me of that terrible Canucks announcer that everyone creamed their pants over in the 90's who would say "PahVelle BooRay - The Russian Rocket" just 7 or 8 thousand times per game.

Have you been to any live races? Where would the closest place a guy could go for that?

I'ven't been to any live races. The closest for gentlemen like us would be COTA.

Hopefully next year (but at the speed I go probably not), I want to go to the TT. I have to go at some point and I want to go for the full 2 weeks.

[SKR]

MotoGP - Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia

Such a weird day today with crashes and yellow flags in qualifying shaking up the grid. Johann Zarco dragged his Honda out of Q1 into Q2, and then Marc Marquez crashed early in Q1, cancelling a lot of fast laps behind him. Then he crashed again late, cancelling more laps. That let Zarco kind of through the back door again, getting him up to 7th which is miles ahead of what Honda has done all year.

Jorge Martin knocked 6 tenths off the lap record in qualifying to start on the pole, and then crashed on the first lap. That left the door open for Francesco Bagnaia to take the lead and go on to win. If there was one more lap Enea Bastianini probably would have got around Bagnaia but ran out of time. Marquez started the race in 12th and exited the first corner in 5th, and got a couple more spots to finish 3rd. Marco Bezzecchi was 4th and Franco Morbidelli was 5th. Our boy Zarco finished 8th, which has to be the first points a Honda has scored in a sprint race this season.

[SKR]

World Superbike Tissot Aragon Round

Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea are back after being out since Magny-Cours. Sam Lowes blew the motor in his bike on lap 1, dropping oil on the track and causing the race to be red flagged. On the warm up lap for the restarted race, pole sitter Nicolo Bulega had a problem with his bike and wasn't able to make the start, and even with 6 races in hand in the championship standings over Razgatlioglu this is something he can't afford.

A lot of riders could have won the race, and Danilo Petrucci did lead for a while, but Andrea Iannone rode a near perfect race to get his first WSBK win. Razgatlioglu was probably faster but Iannone was defensive enough to keep him behind. Garrett Gerloff finished 3rd and like Razgatlioglu was probably faster but never could get position on Iannone to make a move. Alvaro Bautista was 4th and Petrucci ended up 5th.

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 10 – Donington Park

Second to last round in British Superbikes, with the championship between Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell, and Glenn Irwin still with a chance. Ryde led every lap of Saturday's race 1 under intense pressure from Bridewell. Irwin came through in 3rd, but with a lot of help. Brother Andrew Irwin was in an impossible spot; passing Glenn would help teammate Bridewell's chances in the championship, but staying behind would help his brother. In the end despite multiple opportunities to pass, Andrew stayed behind Glenn to finish 4th. I'm not sure what Honda Racing UK thought of Andrew giving up his chance at his first podium finish of the season or allowing Glenn to stay in the championship fight, and it's worth noting Andrew doesn't have a contract signed for 2025, but at the same time it's his family. So I don't know. I don't like team orders and I think that's a flimsy way to win anything, but this wasn't team orders. Danny Kent was 5th and probably would have been at least 4th if he got a chance at Glenn.

[SKR]

MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey

Josh Herrin had a 46 point lead over Cameron Beaubier with 50 points available in the last round at New Jersey. Several riders led the race at one point, but Herrin was the winner. Bobby Fong was 2nd, Loris Baz was 3rd, Beaubier had to settle for 4th and Richie Escalante was 5th. The win means Herrin is the 2024 champion.





(Josh Herrin is the young guy in that picture.)

[SKR]

MotoGP - Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia

Only 12 finishers today from 21 starters. Jack Miller locked the front brake on lap 1 and took Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Luca Marini with him. Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed on his own. Marc Marquez blew the motor in his bike and it caught on fire. Joan Mir crashed in standard Honda fashion. I don't remember if Augusto Fernandez crashed or just retired with bike problems. And Enea Bastianini the Beast was setting fastest laps every lap until he crashed on lap 21. Despite all that, I don't think the race was ever in any doubt as Jorge Martin led from the start. Pedro Acosta was 2nd, Francesco Bagnaia 3rd, Franco Morbidelli 4th and Marco Bezzecchi 5th.

Since there's only 7 riders left, I might as well run through them all. Maverick Vinales was 6th and I don't think I heard his name said all race. Fabio Quartararo was 7th and that's as good or near to it as he's been all season. Brad Binder was 8th, after qualifying 19th. Johann Zarco was 9th which is great. Raul Fernandez was 10th, and like Vinales I don't think they said his name at all. Takaaki Nakagami was 11th, another good finish for a Honda. And Alex Rins was 12th, and he'll probably feel good about that after an awful season.

I kept up on the Beast count again when it looked like he had a shot. From lights out to his exit on lap 21, Mute Birt called him either Enea, Bastianini, or Enea Bastianini 32 times. He called him the Beast 15 times. He also called Martin "Martinator" once that I remember. A few other riders have nicknames but nothing excites Mute like the Beast.

And Yamaha is building a V4, that might debut as early as next season. After Suzuki left Yamaha is the last manufacturer with an inline 4 engine. That'll be neat.



MotoGP Standings after Mandalika:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 366
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 345
3. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 291
4. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) 288
5. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) 181

[SKR]

World Superbike Tissot Aragon Round

Lots of bike racing this weekend. Alvaro Bautista made a late, last lap pass to win the Superpole race ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, Nicolo Bulega, Andrea Iannone and Garrett Gerloff. It looks like Razgatlioglu is back in race shape already which is bad news for Bulega, who was only able to pick up 79 of a possible 124 points while Razgatlioglu was out.



Bautista looked like the Bautista of last year in Race 2, starting on pole and leading every lap. Razgatlioglu got his third 2nd place finish of the weekend. Bulega was 3rd, Iannone was 4th and Gerloff was 5th. Despite the finishing order looking the same as the starting order it was actually a really good race. Just funny how it turned out that way.



World Superbike Standings after Aragon:

1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 414
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 375
3. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 333
4. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) 277
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 264

[SKR]

British Superbikes Round 10 – Donington Park

Good battle between the top 3 in Race 2, with Glenn Irwin taking the win ahead of Tommy Bridewell, Kyle Ryde, Danny Kent and Charlie Nesbitt. I think Irwin is too far back to win the championship, but he'll be riding as hard as he can.



Race 3 was pretty much all Ryde with Kent closing in but the race was red flagged on lap 18 of 20. Billy McConnell lost the front coming out of Melbourne, taking Christian Iddon and Jason O'Halloran with him. Iddon and O'Halloran were down for a long time before they were taken off the track, Iddon with a broken foot and O'Halloran with a shoulder injury. With the race stopped, Ryde was the winner, with Kent, Ryan Vickers, Irwin and Bridewell behind.



One more round to go, with three races at Brands Hatch with race wins worth 35 points each. I'd say the track is better suited to Ryde's Yamaha than Irwin's Ducati, but they've all won there. Last season the championship came down to half a point between Bridewell and Irwin and it looks like it'll be close again.

British Superbike Standings after Donington Park:

1. Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) 398
2. Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 394
3. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 352
4. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 290
5. Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) 265

[SKR]

MotoAmerica Superbikes at New Jersey

Last race of the weekend. Loris Baz and Josh Herrin took off and built a gap but with about 5 to go Sean Dylan Kelly started coming. It kind of looked at points like Herrin could have went past Baz but didn't, but as Kelly passed him he started to slip back, eventually finishing 6th. Baz held on for his first MotoAmerica win, over Kelly, Bobby Fong, Cameron Beaubier and Richie Escalante.

Remind me next year just to pay for the Daytona 200, not the full MotoAmerica season. Video quality has been garbage all weekend and last race wasn't very good either. This race the audio was 15-20 seconds ahead of the video. Too bad, I don't think MotoAmerica has been this good since back when AMA was in its glory days.



I'll have to edit this later to include the final MotoAmerica championship standings, because MotoAmerica just does not give a fuck. Points on their website haven't been updated since COTA 3 weeks ago.

The standings have been updated on MotoAmerica's site, but they're wrong. Fuckin hilarious outfit. Again, too bad because the racing has become quite good. The following order is correct, but I'm not sure about the points.

Final MotoAmerica Standings:

1. Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati - Ducati) 335
2. Cameron Beaubier (Tytlers Cycle Racing - BMW) - 280
3. Bobby Fong (Wrench Motorcycles - Yamaha) 249
4. Sean Dylan Kelly (EasyHealthPlans.com/TopPro Racing Team - BMW) 237
5. Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati - Ducati) 233

Next 4 Weeks:

October 5-6 – MotoGP Motul Grand Prix of Japan – Mobility Resort Motegi
October 12-13 – British Superbikes Round 11 – Brands Hatch
October 19-20 – MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
October 19-20 – World Superbike Prometeon Spanish Round – Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto
October 26-27 – MotoGP OR Thailand Grand Prix – Chang International Circuit

[SKR]

MotoGP - Motul Grand Prix of Japan Sprint Race

Pedro Acosta started on pole and looked great leading the race, until he crashed. Francesco Bagnaia was there to take advantage, just holding off Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli were 4th and 5th. Tough race for Honda at their home GP. Joan Mir was forced off track early on, and they didn't really show who he was tangled up with but it looked like Johann Zarco to me. Later on Takaaki Nakagami crashed, and that was definitely Zarco's fault. Luca Marini was the top Honda in 13th. It's Yamaha's home GP too I suppose and they didn't finish much better, with Fabio Quartararo 12th, Alex Rins 16th and Remy Gardner 18th. It's fun that the top 7 were all Ducati, and the only one who wasn't part of that is Marco Bezzecchi. He has the attitude like he's the second coming of Valentino Rossi with none of the results to show for it, and it's always nice to see him finish so far behind Marquez.

[SKR]

MotoGP - Motul Grand Prix of Japan

Pedro Acosta crashed again, this time out of 2nd place. Too bad. Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez, Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli top 5. They say it was a boring race but I thought it was alright. The Moto2 race was good. It started off dry, then it rained, and then when the race was restarted a handful of guys gambled on slicks and it paid off.



MotoGP Standings after Motegi:

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 392
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 382
3. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) 313
4. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) 311
5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 183

Next 4 Weeks:

October 12-13 – British Superbikes Round 11 – Brands Hatch
October 19-20 – MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
October 19-20 – World Superbike Prometeon Spanish Round – Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto
October 26-27 – MotoGP OR Thailand Grand Prix – Chang International Circuit
November 2-3 – MotoGP PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia – Petronas Sepang International Circuit