[cycleworld.com] - Motegi MotoGP Report

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Like any good Greek drama, Motegi saw plenty of catharsis.

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Ducati’s Jack Miller, the protagonist of the Motegi 2022 drama, running away with the race. Note the heat mirage behind his bike. (Andrew Wheeler/)Of the infinite ways to interpret GP results, two stand out at Motegi this year: First, were the fans entertained? Were there the required number of exciting lead changes? Was there enough thrill of victory and agony of defeat? This was how the classical Greeks valued drama: for its ability to take our emotions out for a gallop, to expand and enjoy our feelings through the ups and downs of heroes. That sells tickets and creates favorites.


Motegi’s other dramatis personae: Miller, Jorge Martín [Ducati] Brad Binder [KTM]. Martín and Binder swapped positions by the finish, rounding out the podium. (Andrew Wheeler/)From this standpoint, Jack Miller’s runaway win provided excitement (why has Ducati let this man go?) as did Marc Márquez’s fighting return, which saw him put himself on pole and then finish fourth, 7.8 seconds behind Miller. Brad Binder (KTM) and Jorge Martín (Ducati), both strong, proven riders, came second and third. Yet qualifying reveals how stormy, wet practice tumbled the dice: powerful Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) starting 12th, current champion and title-chase leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) ninth, and challenger Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) sixth. Quartararo finished eighth. Without the information normally provided by four free practices, tire choice was a gamble.

An alternative way to view MotoGP, and the way I must look at it, is to see the action and its results in relation to the championship. After all, that is what riders are hired to win. Is Ducati’s strategy of eight-bikes-and-hot-young-riders succeeding? Has Yamaha’s one-time edge in corner apex speed been fatally eroded by Ducati’s recent similar gains, and even Honda’s? And most important of all, what is the championship situation that results?


Honda’s Marc Márquez delivered a heroic performance at Motegi, qualifying on the pole and finishing fourth only a few months after doctors sawed his right humerus in half and rotated the pieces relative to each other. (Andrew Wheeler/)Points Standings After Motegi

Quartararo 219

Bagnaia 201

Aleix Espargaró 194

Bastianini 170

Miller 159

By staying on two wheels, Quartararo has increased his lead, from 11 points coming into the event to 18. Does his boldness coefficient meet your standards? Bagnaia, by doing the very thing Ducati management urged upon Andrea Dovizioso at the end of his career, namely to be bold and embrace more risk, has fallen behind, sliding away on the last lap as he fought with Quartararo and Enea Bastianini.

Aleix Espargaró's championship chances took a torpedo at the start. His ECU somehow switched to a low-power mode, forcing him onto his spare bike (on different tires) to make a delayed start. He came home 16th, out of the points.


Yamaha’s great hope for 2022, defending champion Fabio Quartararo, played it smart, finishing eighth but adding to his cushion in the overall points total. (Andrew Wheeler/)Have spec ECUs developed a personality of their own now? Did wet weather somehow infiltrate one of the many electrical connectors? Find the photo from the Aragón GP showing Quartararo’s Yamaha, its front smashed after its collision with the back of Márquez’s Honda. The carbon fiber is broken away to reveal a Medusa’s-head tangle of wires and cables. As NASA engineers used to say, the more systems you carry, the greater the number of potential failures.

Binder and Martín have, so far in their careers, been riders of promise who have failed to turn Add-A-Pearl results into a championship necklace. Oddly, such occasional brilliant performances have remarkable effect upon fans. It was Harvard Professor B.F. Skinner who showed that intermittent reward, usually in the form of food pellets, is a more powerful shaper of behavior than a reward given for every success. Fans save their loudest shouting for underdogs. Win too often and the fans turn against you; Mick Doohan, winner of five back-to-back 500 GP championships, was told by fans, “Slow down and make a race of it.”

Make a race? A pantomime? No, racing is what it is—take it or leave it.

Remember Kevin Schwantz, a rider the fans dearly loved. His way of racing was not a calculated focus on earning points, in the style of Kenny Roberts or Eddie Lawson; it was an impassioned rush to win every corner. Spectators strongly connect with that passion, even if (or possibly because) it’s such a weak play for maximum championship points. People most love the riders who give everything they have, every moment.


Pity poor Pecco, a classic tragic figure in our Motegi drama. He crashed out on the last lap, battling with Quartararo. Perhaps it was poetic justice—Quartararo crashed out the week before, and left Aragón empty-handed. Eighteen points separate the two now. (Andrew Wheeler/)What holds back those riders of proven skills who have yet to begin a season in Casey Stoner fashion—winning five of the first 10 GPs, then staying ahead to the end? Are their teams underfunded, saving precious euros by bunking in hotels far from the track, and making do with half-worn brake pads in practice? Do their crew chiefs lack the experience and breadth of view the best enjoy? We can’t know.



Those in championship contention have to decide between riding carefully, to be sure of something gained, or riding boldly to maximize that gain by risking everything. Riders out of championship contention so late in the season can still prove their worth to their teams by charging to the front when they can. Different motivations, different behaviors.

Onward to the next performance.


An excellent shot of the “wings” on Maverick Viñales’ Aprilia! Seventh at Motegi, he’s signed on for two more years with the team. (Andrew Wheeler/)