2022 banter & Silly season thread for MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Just seen a replay of the two Binders banging fairings on the last lap!. No Brotherly love there.

Great ride from Oiveira though.

[John]

Fucking hell, MMs high sider. Wow.

Great showing by lots of guys in the race, including Darren Binder.

[erwin greven]

Try to find a clip, mate.
One of the more brutal crashes of late, really.

Marc has not been the same since his crash where he broke his arm.

[Everso Biggyballies]

MM93 out until further notice.... double vision issues again after his big crash

Marc Marquez's Indonesia MotoGP crash (video posted earlier) has left him with the double vision problems that ruled him out of the final two rounds of 2021. Whilst it seems the crash was due to Michelin's switch to an old tyre construction to better cope with extreme heat, the result is not good news for Honda / MM93 who has had a pretty torrid time with injuries since breaking his arm near enough 2 years ago..... he has only been able to ride in 14 of the last 34 races.

The new 2022 Honda, specifically conceived to adapt to the new generation tyres in a bid to gain the rear traction it has spent years trying to find, became unstable and its riders began to suffer with the return to the old tyre.

It was the concussion itself that ruled him out of Sundays race, and while the initial word from Honda was that he’d sustained no serious injuries, it has now transpired that Marquez has once again damaged a nerve in his eye and is suffering from double vision.

This problem ruled him out of the final two rounds of 2021 when he was left with a concussion after a training incident, while his career was put in doubt back in 2011 when he first damaged the eye in a Moto2 crash in Malaysia.

On the flight back from Indonesia, Marquez began to suffer more problems with his vision and immediately went for checks in Barcelona, where a new case of diplopia was diagnosed.

Marquez took to social media to say that this case of diplopia is "less severe" than it was in November.

A brief post read: "It seems that I am experiencing deja vu... During the trip back to Spain, I began to have discomfort with my vision, and we decided to visit Dr. Sanchez Dalmau, who confirmed that I have a new episode of diplopia.

"Fortunately, it is less severe than the injury I had at the end of last year. But now it's time to rest and wait to see how the injury evolves. As always, thank you very much to everyone for your support!!"

His ophthalmologist Doctor Sanchez Dalmau says Marquez will undergo checks next weekend to evaluate the evolution of the injury to determine a recovery time.

He was sidelined for three months that last time he battled double vision problems. His participation next week’s Argentina GP is currently in doubt.

“The neuro-ophthalmological evaluation carried out on Marc Marquez on Monday after the head injury that occurred at the Indonesian Grand Prix, shows a new episode of diplopia caused by a recurrence of paralysis of the fourth right nerve, with less involvement than the one that occurred in the injury in November 2021,” Dr Dalmau said.

“After this examination, it was initially decided to follow a conservative treatment with periodic medical tests.

“Next week, Marc Marquez will undergo a new check-up to evaluate the evolution of the injury and to predict the estimated recovery period to return to competition.”
.

Quite a few of the riders complained about the old tyre causing problems, but Michelin basically says there i nothing wrong with the tyre

Michelin insists “there was no problem” with the tyres it brought to the Indonesian GP and that it was simply a case of teams needing to find the right settings for their bikes as the actual compounds were the same as used in the test.

“Now we have the data from the weekend and it is clear that there was no problem, it was just a matter of working to find the right setting,” Michelin boss Piero Tarramso said after the race.

“I just want to clarify, because I've heard about tyres from four or five years ago, but that's not the case: it was a type of construction that we had used before, but the compounds were the same as in the test.

“Today we have four carcass designs in our range, two standard and two designed to withstand high temperatures.

“And these two we will use when we feel it is essential to offer more safety to the drivers, because for us safety comes before performance.”

Hopefully this latest bout of double vision is, as MM suggests, not as severe as previous occasions and Marc can be back on a bike racing again shortly.

It does though make one wonder how long he will continue to ride.... repeated issues like this can not be good for your eyesight longer term and MM is only a young bloke..... if every time he has a crash it is going to recur then he has to start looking at longer term quality of life considerations. Just my thoughts.... I have not read anything publically suggesting the retirement thought is in his mind , but it seems that specialists are telling him he needs to be careful.

[MonteCristo]

Concussion?

Not something you want to deal with multiple times. Ask Dale Jr.

[Vassago]

Just re-watched the Indonesian races. Not bad to see Ducati struggling again and I don't buy the hype of Bagnaia being a championship favorite. Somkiat Chantra winning Moto2 by three seconds? Never see that coming! Second Moto3 race in a row where the leader drives away on his own but this time there was no mechanical drama. I don't have much faith in Garcia & Masia so this could be Foggia's title to lose.

[Everso Biggyballies]

MM93 out until further notice.... double vision issues again after his big crash

He is officially out for Argentina as well..... Bradl will replace him there, and, given the Grand Prix of the Americas follows a week later, there is a good chance that Marquez will also miss that event.

Another short season with it looks like no title chance for MM93.

Seriously I am wondering what his own feelings towards continuing his career are.

[Everso Biggyballies]

2022 MotoGP Argentina GP: Friday cancelled due to freight issues.

The opening day of running for the Argentina Grand Prix has been cancelled due to delays in freight arriving at Termas de Rio .
Five cargo flights were sent from Lombok in Indonesia to take freight from the country following the second round of the 2022 campaign to Tucuman in Argentina, where it would then be driven to Termas de Rio Hondo.

However, mechanical issues with two planes during layovers this week resulted in delays in freight arriving in Argentina.

One plane remains grounded in Mombasa, Kenya, and it is hoped it will be repaired to have it back in the air by this evening.

As a result of the freight delays, MotoGP has cancelled Friday’s running in Argentina and will instead run the grand prix over two days.




What is the new schedule after Friday cancellation?

Saturday:

Moto3 FP1 – 08:45am (BST-4)
Moto2 FP1 – 09:40am (BST-4)
MotoGP FP1 – 10:35am (BST-4)
Moto3 FP2 – 11:35am (BST-4)
Moto2 FP2 – 12:30pm (BST-4)
MotoGP – 13:25pm (BST-4)
Moto3 Q1 – 14:35pm (BST-4)
Moto3 Q2 – 15:00pm (BST-4)
Moto2 Q1 – 15:30pm (BST-4)
Moto2 Q2 – 15:55pm (BST-4)
MotoGP FP3 – 16:25pm (BST-4)
MotoGP Q1 – 17:05pm (BST-4)
MotoGP Q2 – 17:30pm (BST-4)

Sunday:

Moto3 Warm-up – 09:30am (BST-4)
Moto2 Warm-up – 10:00am (BST-4)
MotoGP Warm-up – 10:30am (BST-4)
Moto3 Race – 12:00pm (BST-4)
Moto2 Race – 13:20pm (BST-4)
MotoGP Race – 15:00 (BST-4)

[Everso Biggyballies]

Freight issues continue.... further delays to the schedule likely.

The freight affected by the above plane malfunctions is not getting any better and some of the already delayed Saturday action has been further delayed. My understanding is that some of the freight is quite substantial and critical to several of the teams including VR46, Lenovo Ducati and Gresini. When I say critical I believe it includes their bikes! The delayed freight is currently schec=dules to arrive in Argentina very late Friday night / Saturday early morning.

But the delays have helped one rider to be able to race....
Nakagami was ruled out of this weekend’s race when he returned a positive COVID-19 PCR test on Monday before he was due to fly from Spain to Argentina. He has today returned a negative test and so is on a flight to Argentina in time for P1 now on Saturday.

A brief statement from LCR team boss Lucio Cecchinello read: “Early this week before flying to Argentina, Taka tested positive, but with high CT value which indicates low viral charge and he was asymptomatic.

“It was decided, together with our medical consultant, to repeat the test every couple of days.

“Nakagami has now returned a number of negative tests and will be arriving to the paddock on Saturday morning in time for the beginning of track action as agreed with IRTA and Dorna.”

[Cheeveer]

a bit of a debacle... but the plane has landed and Saturday should be go

[Cheeveer]

it's going to be a looong day

[Everso Biggyballies]

it's going to be a looong day

And its ended with a few surprises.....

Argentina GP
Espargaro takes historic first Aprilia pole, Rossi's team stars with a front row start for Marini

Having topped practice outright on the revised Saturday schedule, Espargaro carried that form into Q2 to score his first pole since he was a Suzuki rider in 2015 at Barcelona.

He will be joined on the front row by the Ducatis of Jorge Martin and Luca Marini, on a day when factory stars Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia both suffered.

Miller had earlier lost the front of his factory Ducati at Turn 1 moments, after slotting into second behind Espargaro, then returned on his spare bike when he held up Quartararo. The incident is being investigated by the Stewards.

Miller is currently eleventh on the grid, but team-mate and reigning title runner-up Francesco Bagnaia had an even tougher day; left outside the top ten after FP2, the Italian failed to advance beyond Qualifying 1 and is due to start 14th.

Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir will line-up seventh and eighth on the grid,Mir had a bike problem forcing thim to switch to his second bike.

Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami, Miller and Brad Binder - who ran wide on a fast lap - completed the Q2 riders.

Championship leader Bastianini will line-up just ahead of Bagnaia in 13th, with Franco Morbidelli completing the fifth row of the grid. KTM's Mandalika winner Miguel Oliveira heads row six.


Sunday’s 25-lap GP will take place at 3:00pm (7:00pm BST).

MOTOGP ARGENTINA, TERMAS - FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM
1 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Factory (RS-GP)
2 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP22)
3 Luca Marini ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)
4 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V)
5 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Factory (RS-GP)
6 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
7 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
8 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
9 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP22)
10 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V)
11 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Lenovo (GP22)
12 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16)
13 Enea Bastianini ITA Gresini Ducati (GP21)
14 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP22)
15 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
16 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16)
17 Marco Bezzecchi ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)*
18 Andrea Dovizioso ITA WithU RNF Yamaha (YZR-M1)
19 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V)
20 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA Gresini Ducati (GP21)*
21 Raul Fernandez SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16)*
22 Remy Gardner AUS KTM Tech3 (RC16)*
23 Darryn Binder RSA WithU RNF Yamaha (YZR-M1)*
24 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V)

[Everso Biggyballies]

Miller had earlier lost the front of his factory Ducati at Turn 1 moments, after slotting into second behind Espargaro, then returned on his spare bike when he held up Quartararo. The incident is being investigated by the Stewards.

Miller is currently eleventh on the grid, but team-mate and reigning title runner-up Francesco Bagnaia had an even tougher day; left outside the top ten after FP2, the Italian failed to advance beyond Qualifying 1 and is due to start 14th.

Miller Penalised for impeding Quartararo
Jack Miller has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Quartararo ias mentioned above.
Miller revealed in his debrief on Saturday, having qualified 11th, that he will receive a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s 25-laps race – dropping him 14th - which was later confirmed by Race Direction.

Miller – whose Q2 session was also blighted by a crash early on at Turn 1 – said of the incident:

“I’ve just been told now that I have penalty, a three-place grid penalty.

“I don’t know what they want from me. I swapped bike, I swapped leathers to get comfortable on both.

“I don’t understand. But anyway, it’s not like I was intentionally trying to get in somebody’s way. Whatever.”

Miller’s penalty will promote Brad Binder, championship leader Enea Bastianini and Miller’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia up a spot.

[Vassago]

Aleix Espargaro takes his win ever Grand Prix win! 200 MotoGP starts and 84 in lower classes

Also first ever Aprilia win in the premier class! I didn't think they would be able to do that when they joined MotoGP.

[erwin greven]

totally forgot about this weekend.

[SBan83]

Long time coming for Alex for sure!

Not sure if this has been there since the beginning of this season, but has anyone noticed how the picture of the leader changes to a smiling face as soon as he takes the lead? When Jorge repassed Espargao, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as it seemed like Jorge's serious face changed to a wry smile. But then when Espargaro got back past, the same thing happened (sad Aleix photo to grinning Aleix photo). Found that pretty funny tbh. Cool idea by the broadcast team.