Looks like Mir has dropped out with something broken on the bike. It suddenly lurched sideways mid corner and so Mir just cruised back to the garage.
Good job he sorted the title last weekend.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Oliveira wins easily for KTM, from Miller who passed Morbidelli for 2nd on the last lap. Great day for KTM with Pol Espargaro finishing 4th.
Quartar had another dismal day, last of all the Yamahas dropped him right down to 8th in the title race. To think it was not many races ago he was leading.
Miller's podium secured Ducati the constructors championship.
Brad Binder crashed out but still finished up as Rookie of the year.
One of the best MotoGP seasons in the books, albeit down to freaky reasons. Who knows how Marquez will fare upon his comeback but this was a great season that we really needed.
I wonder if that was the finest season ever. The best one I've seen purely from an entertainment perspective, but that view is of course both aided and hampered by the fact that MM93 wasn't there. Surely it was the closest season ever, the days of drivers winning by 15+ seconds are long gone now and the field is just getting more and more tightly packed with every season.
All manufacturers except for the absolutely hopeless Aprilia (and Honda, but that's the Marquez factor) team won a race this year. They obviously don't have the resources that Suzuki has, and like KTM they probably need a satellite operation to help with development. I wonder how long they'll stick around if they continue to prop up the rear of the grid and success is measured in how many 10th places finishes Aleix can drag out of that bike.
Taakaki impressed me this year, finished inside the top-10 in every race he finished.
Dovi fourth in the championship despite a quiet season where Ducati never got the hang of the new rear slick.
Honda are hopeless without MM93, maybe they should try and make the bike more user friendly. Then again, if MM is back and winning races, Honda won't bother with the other three bikes.
Miller has been impressive this year too.
FQ faded spectacularly towards the tail end of the season.
SB83 wrote: ↑3 years ago
One of the best MotoGP seasons in the books, albeit down to freaky reasons. Who knows how Marquez will fare upon his comeback but this was a great season that we really needed.
Indeed it was very watchable, and with I think 10 different race winners offered pleenty of variety.
Choke of the year has to be Quartararo.... the beginning of last month he was clear at the top of the table.... he ended up just keeping 8th position by a couple of points!
Re Marquez I read recently in the Spanish press that his injuries are still a long way from healing, with it likely that he will still have to get bone grafts on his arm from where they had to use too many screws to try and fix the plate got broken due to his over ambitious early comeback attempt. The bone has become too damaged to repair normally and needs bone graft surgery. It sort of hinted he might not be out on track for the season start. (Whether that is a bit of Spanish clickbait or fact based I dont know.)
Edit, just tried to find the article and although not the one I saw originally there are many similar reports confirming the need for further surgery and bone grafts..... https://www.motorcycledaily.com/2020/11 ... one-graft/
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Everso Biggyballies wrote: ↑3 years ago
Looks like Mir has dropped out with something broken on the bike. It suddenly lurched sideways mid corner and so Mir just cruised back to the garage.
Good job he sorted the title last weekend.
He says the reason for his retiring from the race was an electrical issue that made the traction control very erratic.... some times not working at all, then working normally. That would explain the sudden lurch I saw, no doubt caused by the TC failing and all the power going to the rear wheel! Scary sounding shit.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
SB83 wrote: ↑3 years ago
One of the best MotoGP seasons in the books, albeit down to freaky reasons. Who knows how Marquez will fare upon his comeback but this was a great season that we really needed.
Indeed it was very watchable, and with I think 10 different race winners offered pleenty of variety.
Choke of the year has to be Quartararo.... the beginning of last month he was clear at the top of the table.... he ended up just keeping 8th position by a couple of points!
Re Marquez I read recently in the Spanish press that his injuries are still a long way from healing, with it likely that he will still have to get bone grafts on his arm from where they had to use too many screws to try and fix the plate got broken due to his over ambitious early comeback attempt. The bone has become too damaged to repair normally and needs bone graft surgery. It sort of hinted he might not be out on track for the season start. (Whether that is a bit of Spanish clickbait or fact based I dont know.)
Edit, just tried to find the article and although not the one I saw originally there are many similar reports confirming the need for further surgery and bone grafts..... https://www.motorcycledaily.com/2020/11 ... one-graft/
Hmm, from reading that, it sounds like even if he does manage to make it to the grid to start 2021, he will likely either A) have lingering issues that could hamper his performance B) have to take extra care to not aggravate the injury, which might just take the edge off his bravado (just kidding, it won't).
It’s been a great season indeed with many point of interest. Tyre management has been the most important factor this year and suzuki seemed the bike who was better handing the variability among all the tracks. Between the two riders Mir was more consistent and took the title with merit but he hasn’t really impressed me so much for his performances. He will have to confirm his results to prove he’s not a “one hit wonder”.
The real loser of the season was yamaha who didn’t take advantage of marquez absence and ducati fuckup, mostly because for a bad choice of riders. Quartararo melted under the pressure, vinales was more erratic than ever, rossi showed he’d better retire for good. The best rider they had was not supported properly. In my opinion the real surprise was Morbidelli who arrived few points from
Mir in the final standindgs. He payed some mistakes and the lack of support from yamaha. If i was in them i would really reconsider their official lineup for next year
This was the most coin toss season since 2000 when Kenny Roberts wasn't the fastest man on most tracks but was the most consistent rider in the field.
It's funny how after MM went down it was all down to Quartararo & Ducatis. Nobody mentioned Suzukis and if someone picked them it was Rins as the darkest of the dark horses. Yamaha actually won 7 of 14 races yet it's Ducati which won 1 race wins the constructors title.
This season killed the "this tracks suits this bike better" narrative. Suzuki worked well on most tracks, high speed and high downforce. Quartararo is a headcase, so is Vinales. Morbidelli was like #4 Yamaha rider on the pecking order and he did a stellar job matching Mir's performances. The outsiders finished 1-2 in the standings. I can't wait to see how Quartararo & Vinales belly flop next year again.
As for Marquez, even Polish TV commentators indicated his recovery is going bad due to him suddenly going silent on social media and stuff. Word is he needs a third surgery on the arm.
07.04.1968 - Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again? 01.05.1994 - We'll never forget...
@Vassago ducati won 2 races. One with dovizioso and one with petrucci
I agree with you about vinales and quartararo. And for marquez it will be a real challenge for him to go back to his previous suoerman status. The injure and the botched recovery might hit on him also psycologically. I hope he won’t have the same condition of jorge lorenzo
John wrote: ↑3 years ago
I wonder if that was the finest season ever. The best one I've seen purely from an entertainment perspective, but that view is of course both aided and hampered by the fact that MM93 wasn't there. Surely it was the closest season ever, the days of drivers winning by 15+ seconds are long gone now and the field is just getting more and more tightly packed with every season.
All manufacturers except for the absolutely hopeless Aprilia (and Honda, but that's the Marquez factor) team won a race this year. They obviously don't have the resources that Suzuki has, and like KTM they probably need a satellite operation to help with development. I wonder how long they'll stick around if they continue to prop up the rear of the grid and success is measured in how many 10th places finishes Aleix can drag out of that bike.
Taakaki impressed me this year, finished inside the top-10 in every race he finished.
Dovi fourth in the championship despite a quiet season where Ducati never got the hang of the new rear slick.
Honda are hopeless without MM93, maybe they should try and make the bike more user friendly. Then again, if MM is back and winning races, Honda won't bother with the other three bikes.
Miller has been impressive this year too.
FQ faded spectacularly towards the tail end of the season.
The finest, no.
But one of the most brilliant in our time with MotoGP (post 500cc).
"Those who risk nothing, do nothing, achieve nothing, become nothing" - David Jefferies
John wrote: ↑3 years ago
I wonder if that was the finest season ever. The best one I've seen purely from an entertainment perspective, but that view is of course both aided and hampered by the fact that MM93 wasn't there. Surely it was the closest season ever, the days of drivers winning by 15+ seconds are long gone now and the field is just getting more and more tightly packed with every season.
All manufacturers except for the absolutely hopeless Aprilia (and Honda, but that's the Marquez factor) team won a race this year. They obviously don't have the resources that Suzuki has, and like KTM they probably need a satellite operation to help with development. I wonder how long they'll stick around if they continue to prop up the rear of the grid and success is measured in how many 10th places finishes Aleix can drag out of that bike.
Taakaki impressed me this year, finished inside the top-10 in every race he finished.
Dovi fourth in the championship despite a quiet season where Ducati never got the hang of the new rear slick.
Honda are hopeless without MM93, maybe they should try and make the bike more user friendly. Then again, if MM is back and winning races, Honda won't bother with the other three bikes.
Miller has been impressive this year too.
FQ faded spectacularly towards the tail end of the season.
The finest, no.
But one of the most brilliant in our time with MotoGP (post 500cc).
I can respect that. I only followed the 500cc era casually (no Eurosport back then).