2018 Motogp

**LeroyPatrol** · 09-04-18, 09:42 PM

wow no thread started for this season!

What a crazy race in Argentina! Never seen anything like it with the grid formation, MM stalling bike and not getting off the grid, his aggressive riding and taking out Flossi and poor Jack I reckoned was a little hard done by for selecting the right tyre when everyone else on the grid selected wets!!! Pity he couldn't pull 1st but 4th is still a great effort.

......Leroy

**Tiny** · 10-04-18, 09:53 AM

yeah Jack got screwed, they should have let him ride off, then started the others when he passed pit lane exit as would have happened if the rest of field had started from pits as required by rules.
I can see why it would have been too dangerous to have them to start from the pits all at the same time, but they need to make a clear & fair rule for these circumstances.

he was very diplomatic about it afterwards.

Millers initial take from his FB page

Hi everyone,
I'm speaking to you about an hour after finishing fourth in the race in Argentina and it's hard to really know where to start. I mean, a bit went on as you probably saw … So let's start at the start. I don't completely know myself what went on, so bear with me … It was chaos, to be honest.

We went to the grid, and I felt it wasn't going to rain anymore and stayed out there on slicks. The others didn't feel that way, I guess – and they all peeled back into the pit lane and left me out there by myself. For me, slicks was the way to go, there's no way we should have started on wets and the weather afterwards proved that. Once I saw how quickly the track and the pit lane were drying, it was for sure slick tyres. So the others all peel back in, I'm sitting there on pole position wondering where the hell everyone is, and then they delay the start by 15 minutes ...

Everyone else made the wrong call by choosing the wrong tyres; we didn't. So why I do I get penalised for that? I understand the guys in charge of the series are under a whole heap of pressure, but it's a shame for us because we made the right choice and got dicked around for it.

My tyres were pretty knackered towards the end of the race, but I'm more annoyed that I made two mistakes that almost certainly cost me a podium, or maybe even a victory. Who knows, the other guys, Cal (Crutchlow), Johann (Zarco) and Alex (Rins), they were all struggling with their tyres and maybe a win could have been on in the final laps. But saying that, I've just finished fourth in a race, it's the second-best result I've had in MotoGP, so there's a lot to be happy about. Us motorcycle riders are wired to always want more and you can't help but think about that, but if you'd given me fourth from pole before the weekend started, I would have said 'you beauty, thanks' and snapped that up, and probably told you that you were dreaming too … So to have that happen was still pretty cool.

As you can imagine, everyone here has an opinion about Marc's (Marquez) race, and I don't even know if I've caught up with it all yet – I know about his incident with Valentino (Rossi), but apparently there were more, even though that one will rumble on for probably, well, forever.

All I know is that when he came past me on lap two I was pretty happy, because it gave me someone to follow and a reference for how hard I could push, you're always a bit of a pioneer in the sketchy track conditions when you're out the front. It was a bit disappointing when he had to pull in for the penalty off the start from that side of things. It's not often you see someone get penalised three times in 24 laps though, I'll say that.

On the grid, when he stalled it and then was going backwards, forwards, doing three-point turns or whatever he was doing, that was a bit weird. I was more thinking about my tyres and how they were cooling off waiting for him to get himself organised. 'What the hell are you doing?' was a polite version of what was going through my mind at the time …

Anyway, it was an exhausting race to be in, and probably the same for everyone watching it. There's definitely a bit to process after a race like that, so maybe it's just as well it takes forever to get back from here, the circuit is in a pretty remote part of Argentina and we all had stories of the journeys we took to get here last week.

Between now and the race in Austin I'm going to head out to California to do some training and some cycling, so that's something to look forward to. We'll talk again after the next one, which surely won't be as crazy as that was …

Cheers, Jack

**Tiny** · 10-04-18, 11:13 AM

as for MM's behaviour, that was just insane.
The boy is very talented, but very stupid.

& just to clear up anyone's thoughts on more sanctions/penalties for MM to come, they won't

From Motomatters.com

The German site Speedweek reports that; "what happens in Argentina stays in Argentina"

"There will be no further penalties against Marc Márquez after these incidents on Sunday," Race Director Mike Webb said in an exclusive interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. "Once an incident has been dealt with and a sentence pronounced, we cannot impose any further penalties. Since we no longer distribute penalty points, we will award the penalties on the day of the race, if that is possible and appropriate. "

**ol' boy** · 10-04-18, 03:05 PM

93 needed a 1 or 2 race ban for his stupid behaviour
This isn't his first race meeting
Elite level sportsman, playing ping pong with other riders season and safety.

Riding backwards on a race track, No.1 Do Not Do Rule!
Ignoring a Race Official's Orders, Just as bad and shows he is above the rules and Dorna will look after him, Go Team Spain
Using other riders as a berm mid corner, well, if everyone did this, it would be dodgem bikes, not MotoGP

I see why Casey Stoner wanted to retire now.
Close racing is one thing, but motocross style hip and shoulders on MotoGP bikes is just asking for broken wrists or worse, another possible Simoncelli incident from a following rider.
I'm quite horrified at the light 30second penalty handed down for sending other riders of the track
If it was just the one, maybe fair enough, but he had been doing similar all race

Now that i have seen favouritism for the spanish riders, not sure its a championship worth paying much attention too.
Rules for some and not for others, aka Jack Miller.

**Tiny** · 10-04-18, 05:00 PM

Actually the penalties handed out were not by Dorna officials, read on.

Ezpeleta: “I respect the decisions taken by the stewards”
Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna CEO, comments on the Argentinian MotoGP™ Race

A day after the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta has commented on the issues surrounding the start of the MotoGP race, which was delayed due to the changing weather conditions.

Going back to what happened on Sunday, Ezpeleta explained: “The MotoGP race and the other races took place under a very difficult situation due to the weather – Moto2™ took place in dry conditions while Moto3™ was in wet conditions”.

About the starting procedure: “At the moment we studied the situation of the grid, just Miller was using the slick tyres. The rest of the riders had the right to go to the pitlane and take the exit from there, after changing the bike set-up for dry conditions”.

This is not the first time this situation has occurred, as Ezpeleta said: “It’s the same that happened some years ago in Sachsenring, where everybody took the start from the pitlane”. From then on, they’ve been planning for this situation: “We made the decision, shared by the majority of the teams, to start the way we did” [for the rider who made the right decision and did not move from the grid to start from his original position, while the others start from further back]. “That decision was taken for safety reasons, and it was the right decision”.

Concerning the race itself, he added: “The situation was very difficult due to weather conditions, there was a dry line on the asphalt. Then what happened is what everyone saw on TV”.

Ezpeleta defended the decision taken by the stewards: “Since two years ago Dorna is not involved in the nomination of stewards, they are people nominated by the FIM and by IRTA. They took the decision, which I will obviously not judge”.

A line of dialogue with the riders and teams will be opened, however: “In the next GP Safety Commission with the riders, in Austin, we will discuss this situation and for sure we will take some experience from that”.