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Post by truenorth on Sept 26, 2022 7:10:11 GMT -8
Designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the Buriram International Circuit opened in 2014 and will see MotoGP™ making its debut this season. Located around 410km northeast from the country’s capital of Bangkok, the town of Buriram in the Buriram province literally translates into “city of happiness”, and its typically hot and humid weather is a key feature of its Southeast Asian location. The 4.554km layout incorporates 12 turns and has seen the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship racing at the venue since 2015. Its state-of-the-art facilities, include a total capacity for 100,000 people with various grandstands around the circuit providing incredible viewing opportunities for spectators.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 26, 2022 7:19:00 GMT -8
DANILO PETRUCCI returns to MotoGP: next weekend he will race the Thailand GP with Suzuki.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 26, 2022 7:42:56 GMT -8
Martin Raines: The Yamaha factory team together with the WithU satellite team have scored a total of 275 points this year. Quartararo has scored 219 points, 79.6% of the total. Cannot remember a rider being so dominant among 4 riders on bikes from the one manufacturer. Many suggesting Marquez in 2019. The factory team + the LCR satellite team scored a total of 668 points that year. Marquez scored 420 points (62.9%)
Akira Nishimura: After the Japanese GP, takanakagami30 said he would decide whether to go or not go to Thailand before Monday morning. The announcement from his team is expected soon one way or the other.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 26, 2022 8:22:58 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 8:39:47 GMT -8
Titanic battles and Thailand just go hand-in-hand! Buriram has seen season-best attendances on both our previous visits, and it's set to be another cracking weekend of action in 2022 It’s been three years since we last visited Buriram, but if our last two visits to the circuit are anything to go by, it is going to be simply unmissable. In what will be the third instalment of the Thai GP, it’s set up to be a cracking event which will once again have huge ramifications in the 2022 World Championship title. On our most recent visit to Chang International Circuit in 2019, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) sealed his eighth world title with victory, but only after a sensational last lap battle with a then-rookie Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™). That epic fight was the icing on the cake of a brilliant weekend in Thailand, which the 226,000 fans in attendance, the largest that season, can attest to. The year previous also saw a season-best crowd at the first-ever Thai GP, and it was another cracker! Fans once again flocked to the circuit, over 220,000, where they saw the showpiece event go to the final corner. This time Marquez pipped Andrea Dovizioso to victory, a crucial win that set the Honda ace up to take home his seventh World Championship crown. This time around Marquez isn’t part of the title fight, but he will no doubt be out to defend his perfect record at the track. At the business end of the Championship standings, Quartararo still holds the advantage, but you can be sure that Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) will be out to right the wrongs of Japan.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 8:42:33 GMT -8
MotoGP™ lands in Kazakhstan in 2023 2023 marks the start of a new five-year deal that sees MotoGP™ touch down in a new region of the world
The FIM MotoGP™ World Championship is coming to Kazakhstan! 2023 marks the start of a new five-year deal that sees MotoGP™ touch down in a new region of the world as the stunning Sokol International Racetrack joins the calendar.
Located just outside Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, Sokol is a brand-new motorsport complex constructed in the heart of Central Asia. The region will be a new pitstop for MotoGP™ as the sport continues to expand around the world, engaging with new markets and fanbases.
Kazakhstan will also become the 30th country to host a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1949, a perfect landmark number to celebrate the ever-expanding history of the world’s first motorsport World Championship, and Sokol International Racetrack will be the 74th venue to host a premier class Grand Prix.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 8:43:24 GMT -8
Nagashima to replace Nakagami at Thai GP Injury has gotten the better of the full-time LCR honda rider, with Nagashima set for a second consecutive appearance
After Sunday’s Japanese GP race, Takaaki Nakagami consulted with a specialist in Japan, and after a scan on Tuesday morning has been diagnosed with a torn tendon in his little finger. The Japanese rider will undergo further surgery on Friday and hopes to return for the Australian GP, pending further evaluation.
Tetsuta Nagashima: "First of all, I wish Taka well and I hope that he can come back as soon as possible. I will try to do my best in his place for the LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team and I will try to enjoy the racing.
"I’m looking forward to this weekend’s event. I really had a lot of fun at the JapaneseGP, and I learned quite a lot. So, this weekend, I want to continue to do the same because I still have to learn a lot of things with the MotoGP bike."
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 8:58:10 GMT -8
Mat Oxley: Dorna says MotoGP is going to Kazakhstan in 2023. The new Sokol track is outside Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty David Emmett The Hermann Tilke method of circuit design: 1. Trace around most of a wire coat hanger 2. Add random squiggles 3. Send invoice
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 9:02:29 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 9:05:06 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 10:08:58 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 27, 2022 10:11:56 GMT -8
Maybe the worst offense is that the track was built on the desolate North side of Almaty instead of the beautiful South side. We could have had another stunning alpine backdrop just like Redbull ring.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 28, 2022 5:18:06 GMT -8
1/4arrow: "Buriram suits me well and also the Yamaha". Morbidelli is also betting on the Thailand GP to improve: "I want to enter Q2, it's important for the race"
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Post by truenorth on Sept 28, 2022 5:54:07 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 28, 2022 5:58:50 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 28, 2022 7:53:31 GMT -8
Mat Oxley:I like Brembo's MotoGP info. Buriram was the second toughest track for brakes after Red Bull Ring, but who knows now? Because MotoGP hasn't been there since 2019, since when power, speed, aero, brakes have all increased, plus tropical heat, so 355mm discs & hope for the best.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 28, 2022 7:54:24 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 29, 2022 6:51:51 GMT -8
After 45 years of honourable service, the medical facility, Clinica Mobile, will no longer be in the paddock at the behest of the organizer of the world championship, but will remain in SBK
Simon Patterson: it seems that Dorna are set to announce that the long-serving physiotherapy and rehab treatment team at Clinica Mobile will be replaced for 2023 by Spanish healthcare provider Quironsalud
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Post by truenorth on Sept 29, 2022 7:13:03 GMT -8
Team orders or no team orders – That is the question There may have been no MotoGP™ around when William Shakespeare famously enquired, ‘To be or not to be that is the question,’ but it’s a similar question being asked on the MotoGP™ stage over 400 years later. As the season prepares for the final curtain at Valencia next month, team orders or no team orders is the question that dominates paddock discussions and beyond.
They may not have come into play at a dramatic Motegi but Francesco Bagnaia’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) demise in Japan will just increase the pressure on the Ducati riders to help his cause. It is a tough one, with examples and answers to all arguments. Surely with Ducati closing in on Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) seemingly untouchable lead in the Championship, Bagnaia deserves all the help he needs from the Italian clan. The question is what you understand as help. The key factor is for team managers to be crystal clear when talking to their riders about what they expect from them. It is when the grey areas appear the problems start, and the mistrust starts.
The classic example of mistrust came a long time ago when Phil Read and Bill Ivy were teammates at Yamaha. After Honda departed in 1967 Yamaha dominated the 250 and 125cc World Championships on those magnificent four-cylinder two-stroke machines. It was decided before the 1968 season by Yamaha and the riders that 125cc World Champion Ivy would win the 250cc title and the former 250cc Champion Read the 125cc. All was going to plan before Read, never known as your best teammate, reneged on the original arrangement.
The seven times World Champion duly clinched the 125cc title in Brno and then told his teammate he wanted to make it a double. The new agreement came to a head at the final round horrible round at Monza, full of anger and accusations. Read beat Ivy in the twenty-two lap 250cc race. Incredibly they ended up on equal points in the Championship but Read was crowned World Champion after their respective race times from each Grand Prix were added together. Ivy, totally crushed by the turn around retired to go car racing a very disillusioned rider. He returned to finance his car racing before passing away in 1969. Read continued to win world titles and upset teammates.
Bagnaia and Bastianini may not have exactly tread on eggshells in their last lap Ducati duels at Misano and Aragon, but they showed ample respect for each other. Teammates may not receive orders but do not wreck their Championship ambitions by doing something stupid at a vital moment – just ask Dani Pedrosa. Nobody will forget and especially the Repsol Honda team that afternoon at Estoril in 2006. It was the penultimate round of the World Championship. Leader Nicky Hayden arrived with a 12 point lead over Valentino Rossi and was comfortably placed third in the race behind the Yamahas of Rossi and team-mate Colin Edwards. His Repsol Honda team-mate Pedrosa was right behind as they raced into that tricky left hand at the end of the back straight with twenty-three laps remaining. The 250cc World Champion Pedrosa left his braking too late, ran onto the kerb, locked the front wheel, with his sliding Honda skittling down teammate Hayden.
That 12 point Championship lead disappeared in a cloud of sparks, Portuguese gravel, and American expletives. Rossi led the Championship by eight points going into that final round in Valencia. I do not know who the happier person in Valencia was. Hayden was crowned World Champion after finishing third while Rossi crashed. Pedrosa followed and protected his teammate in fourth place the whole 30 lap distance but never getting too close.
Orders or no orders, some teammates are never going to help each other. Can you imagine Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo offering a helping hand in those tempestuous Yamaha days. It is not only teammates but compatriots who can help you win world titles. There is no doubt the Italian ‘mafia’ ganged up on Dutchman Hans Spaan to enable Loris Capirossi to become the youngest World Champion when he clinched the final round of the 1990 125cc World Championship with victory at the final round at Phillip Island. Seven years ago, the Rossi/ Marquez war started when Rossi accused Marquez of slowing the pace again at Phillip Island to help fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in his successful title bid.
So, four races to go including all that intrigue, plots and subplots. William Shakespeare would have loved every minute of it.
By Nick Harris|September 29th, 2022
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Post by truenorth on Sept 29, 2022 9:01:54 GMT -8
Aleix Espargaro: “At the end of the Motegi race I saw everyone out of sorts and I tried to cheer them up, mistakes are human and are part of racing. 25 points is not a distance .
Brad Binder: "We are all very close and it takes very little to start in the middle of the group, then in the first laps you can lose even five seconds and catch up with them is impossible. A shame, because in the race we always have an excellent pace.
Jack Miller: “Also in Indonesia I managed to be competitive with the water, reaching the podium. In Thailand we can repeat what we did at Motegi, but I cannot assure it "
Enea Bastianini: "Qualifying is now fundamental in all categories, and it will be increasingly difficult. Buriram? It won't be a problem to understand the track. Aaron Canet and the sponsors? I know him well, he is an excellent driver.
Francesco Bagnaia: "The only thing we've changed in the wet compared to last year is the balance of the bike. So we already have some good ideas to improve mass transfer and improve grip."
Aleix Espargaro: "On Monday, we had dinner with the team in Tokyo, and everyone was even more depressed than me. Since I'm the team leader, I had to restore morale. 25 points behind, it's still catching up."
Marc Marquez: "Monday my arm was fine, but Tuesday it was hard as wood. I will be OK for the race, but thinking about winning like in 2019 is not a realistic scenario."
Marc Marquez: "I have to work with a low profile, even if the solid Motegi race gave us motivation, both for me and at Honda. I'm working for 2023, but if it rains all the scenarios would be open"
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