motogpfanpage

[motogpfanpage]

« SOY UN CAMPEON »

Time flies so fast it feels like it was Yesterday this one was fake playing the guitar in the gravels celebrating one of his 250cc wins. Yet here we are, years laters his final weekend is over and he is now an officially retired professional rider.

Of course we could all praise his incredible records in detail (5 world titles, 68 victories, 69 poles, more than 150 podiums and almost 300 races). Yet they’re just numbers and even though they don’t lie and make him one of the highest profile in the spanish motorcycling world and one of the most prolific rider in the history of MotoGP, they’re not the reason my heart was heavier last weekend than it was at some other times.

To understand why so many of us are painfully crying to see Lorenzo leave we first gotta explain you what it feels like to see him ride.

One of the defining characteristics of Jorge Lorenzo’s style is his precision in all circumstances. Like a surgeon with a scalpel in hand, he’s been going further and further, pushing in the never ending quest of improvement but always keeping in mind he had to be with in the limit of what’s humanely possible as going too far and crossing that line could end up being deadly. This precision in all time ended up being the now famous « hammer time » or as he calls it in spanish: « martillo ».

The second word that everybody uses to describe his riding style is of course : smooth. If Dani Pedrosa’s riding style was elegance in it’s purest form, Lorenzo’s goes even further than that. His quick and minimal changes of position on the bike makes it feel like he is one with the bike, his arms being the prolongation of the handlebars, his legs blending in with the bike’s fairing. Everything in between just moving along following the bike’s every movements. He is gracefully sliding on track like a skater on ice.

That one in a million style is what most of us will miss the most. I believe there’s nothing better than watch someone express his greatness and his art and to think we won’t ever be able to see Jorge’s metronomic self do his things on a two wheels beast breaks my heart. Many have called it boring to see him get the holeshot and running away until the chequered flag, but there was not a minute or a second when i wasn’t in awe seeing him ride the way only him does.

I remember being incredibly sad when Casey left having that feeling that he had never been appreciated enough. I also remember that the word « sad » could not even begin to describe what i was feeling when Nicky left, the very first of my boys. Last year, it was with an heavy nostalgic heart that i had to see Dani go away. Today, there’s sadness, and heartbreaks, and nostalgia, and a huge void that’s been open as i let go of the last rider i can call myself a fan of.

But there’s also proudness, happiness and a feeling of accomplishment. I’ve been following passionately this sport, missing as little action as possible, for 14 years. Knowing i’m 29 means MotoGP has basically been half my Life. 14 years just for a few incredibly talented Riders. I’ve been cheering, screaming, crying, (fangirling, YES) and acting like an overprotective mum when someone dared criticized one of my Boys.

Now that they’ve all left and that thanks to them i’ve got some of the best friend someone can ask for, i feel like i can hand over the baton to a new generation of passionate fans and, even though i’ll still keep up with the racing, move on to a new chapter.

I could speak about JL all day long but i’ll keep that only for my dearest Team 99. All i can say now is thank you for the memories Jorge. They won’t fade away.

You’re leaving as the true Campeon you’ve always been. And we know that, with the right tools, you can still beat the hell out of anyone on this grid.

You’re not just a great rider, nor just one of the best Champion of the motorcycle history. You’re one of it’s Living Legend.

#SiempreMiCampeonyAhoraUnaLeyenda

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 8 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 DUTCH GP

MV12 - 9: There’s no denying Maverick’s talent but we’ve kind of been waiting for a while for that! Good on him to prove us wrong but this result as fantastic as it is will have to be repeated in the next few rounds for Yamaha to be kind of out of their crisis.

VR46 - 3: You know, even for non Rossi fanatics, seeing this legend struggling so much just HURTS. We’re sure he still has it in him but maybe that just bot worth waiting for it anymore... 🤷🏻‍♀️

AR42- 6: That early crash was so unfortunate Alex! Clearly had my money on him. Clearly lost a bit of $$... 😩

MM93 - 8: Even on days where, from his own words, everything wasn’t ready for him to be able to win, he still gets 2nd. This, my dear friends, is why he is untouchable.

AD04 - 6: Years and seasons goes by and Dovizioso is still lacking that extra something World Champs have.

FQ20 - 8: Another impressive weekend for the rookie who’s giving us major Zarco throwbacks. Hopefully it will all end up better for him than his fellow frenchman.

DP9 - 6: Beware Danillo, do not close too much on Dovi or else you’ll be asked to drop a place... 👀

JL99 - DNS: Mother luck has totally left the Lorenzo boat. Hopefully she will make a comeback soon enough or at least before he breaks himself a few more vertebrae...

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 7 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 CATALAN GP

MM93 - 10: For that race only, Jorge has been added to the thanks list at the end of Marc’s title winning speech.

MV12 - 3: His anger & frustration were obvious but come on Mack, the middle finger is too much of a low point for you to do it. You’re better than that.

FQ20 - 9: Pole on Saturday, Podium on Sunday. The new Zarco is on fire.

DP9 - 8: It’s amazing how winning a race changes a man. Petrucci seems on a roll since his Italian GP win and could become one of the many key factor into this season’s title chase.

JL99 - 3: Sometimes, Sh*t happens. But kuddos to Jorge for taking the blame, apologizing and having made a step forward on the bike this weekend!

AR42 - 7: Not as present as during the first few races but still scoring important points.

AD04 - 4: I have seen a lot of “JL destroyed Dovizioso’s title chances with this crash” but let’s be honest here, there’s many races still to go. Like Nicky Hayden would say, anything can happen, that’s why they line up on Sunday.

VR46 - 4: Sometimes being the veteran makes you speak the truth. No animosity coming from Vale regarding Jorge’s bowling party was the highlight of my Sunday. Some of his so called fans asking for JL’s head on a pick in front of Tavullia tho, not so much.

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 6 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 ITALIAN GP

DP9 - 10: There’s no such things as Mapping8 when a race win is at play. Even less so when looking to extend your current factory deal.. 👀 Congrats Danilo!!

VR46 - 3: We’ll honest there, we’ve barely saw Valentino this weekend which is a shame because that special Italian flag helmet was a beauty!

MM93 - 8: Sometimes the best you can do is 2nd.

AR42 - 7: There’s no stopping Alex as of right now. He’s been lurking behind the top 3 men for the whole race hoping for some kind of a bloodbath. Didn’t worked out this time but who knows about next time ?!

JZ5 - 1: We’re entering into the danger zone right now and one can wander is that marriage will last long enough to get a honeymoon.

AD04 - 7: Danilo might have been « Sorry! » in the post-race press conf for winning instead of his teammate but WE’RE NOT.

JL99 - 3: One can only hope that flight straight to HRC’s HQ in Japan will not be a total waist of time. At least, the boy is trying!

FQ20 - 5: Look we adore Fabio. He’s a huge potential for the future. But the French press really need to stop going crazy from Friday to Sunday about him like he was alone on the grid.

MV12 - 5: To think the M1 used to win races at the Mugello, and now this...

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 5 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 FRENCH GP

MM93 - 10: Dude makes it looks like it’s easy. How rude!

VR46 - 6: Not a win, not even a podium, but still better than another Yamaha rider.. 👀

MV12 - 3: When you think he finally made a step forward, here he goes making two steps back again.. #facepalm

AD04 - 7: I’m calling it now, if Dovi doesn’t wins at either Catalunya or Mugello, this might be one really long season for Ducati...

FQ20 - 8: I do hope Yamaha is securing this guy’s deal better than what they did with Zarco... Because WOW.

DP9 - 8: Danilo was clearly not out to make a Iannone on Dovi during that race ! Gigi can breath again!

JL99 - 4: And here i am, thinking of what this season could look like had Jorge & Ducati agreed to stay together...

JM43 - 8: Is Jack chasing Danilo’s seat in the factory team ? From the outside it kind of looks like so.. 👀

JM36 - 3: Crashing is ok as long as riders get away without injuries but come on, Joan, at least try not to do it BEFORE the race start!

[motogpfanpage]

HRC MotoGP Victories: 200th - 300th

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 4 OF RATING THE RIDRES: 2019 SPANISH GP

MM93 - 10: Marc - freaking flying away into the distance - Marquez won @ Jerez.

That's it. That's the tea.

VR46 - 6: Not often that Valentino got his ass kicked by his younger spanish teammate. I'm not sure i like that tbh. Hmm...

JZ5 - 3: Well Johann if that reassures you, judging by Jorge's results so far, you wouldn't have done much better on the RCV anyway... 

AR42 - 9: Alex Rins doesn't only a Lion's mane as hairs now, he also has the will to be King.

*Mic Drop*

FQ20 - 8: Would you please stop here with the crying Fabio. I do not know if my little heart could take more of it.

MV12 - 8: Mack took a good start. Mack stayed in shaped the whole race. Mack's gotten a podium. MACK DID NOTHING LIKE THE MACK WE KNOW AND WE LIKE IT.

JL99 - 3: U're my Boy JLo and i got Ur Back 4ever - but please tell me we're not going into another year and a half of struggles. Please ? Jorge ?

*JL can't hear you*

Sh$t...

AD04 - 6: I feel like since Dovi's got read of Lorenzo as a teammate is doing "meh, whatever" 99% of the time. Now is it just me or does he needs someone to kick his ass in order to be back into the form he was over the last 2 seasons ?!

Special mention for DP26: We were happy to see U. We miss U. Please. Come Back.

[motogpfanpage]

QATAR / ARGENTINA / USA: WHERE ARE WE NOW, AFTER 3 ROUNDS ?

Back in Europe after 3 races spent oversea, the Spanish GP at Jerez always feels like a second start of the season. Before we got to go deep in it though, let's see what we can take away from the first  rounds.

1. What happens oversea, stays oversea !

Losail, Termas de Rio Hondo and Cota are special tracks that often don’t reflect well what are the forces in play. A night time race will always be very different from a day time one. The best example of it was FP1 at Losail where both Rossi and Lorenzo dominated before getting back mid-field once the night had come.

The mixed weather conditions from the Argentina tracks makes the race a wild card for anyone to shine even though this year, Marquez took no prisoners there. As for CoTA, the asphalt is so specific (and bumpy) that only Marc Marquez can lap around 1 second faster than everybody else.

2. Yes for Ducati, BUT...

Ducati is having a good start of the season.

Not as good as you could hope coming from Dovizioso, who’s been challenging for the title over the last 3 years, but not as bad as they used too before 2016. You can help but have mixed feeling when it comes to the Bologna squad. They sure have the best bike on the grid. After years of hard work they finally created a beast able to take the win on any track and even able to fly away in the sunset in the right hands. Nonetheless, Dovizioso isn’t shining as much as he used too. Sometimes out of Q2, he’s lucky to be able to save precious points on sunday which is the main reason he's coming back to europe leading the title chase.

As for Petrucci, the life as a factory rider isn’t an easy one. The boots left behind by Lorenzo are not easy ones to take on. While the spaniard needed time to adapt, once it all clicked into place he was one of the strongest contender of last year’s championship before being stroked with bad luck.

So far Petrucci isn’t meeting the expectations but again, employed to be number 2, what could they really asked him more to do ?

3. YAMAHA: 50/50

There’s a strange situation going on at Yamaha.

The bike doesn’t seems to have improved a lot compared to last year and yet, in the hands of Valentino Rossi, it’s a major threat every sundays, sometimes even though he was struggling in FP. The Doctor seems to be in the form of his life. Now he still hasn’t won and Marquez & Dovizioso will make this harder and harder for him yet this seems to be a now or never kind of situation for the 10th title.

On the other side of the box, Maverick’s new number isn’t hiding his weaknesses. The same as always: starts is still a huge problem for the spaniard, always loosing ground in the early laps even though he has the same pace as the leaders by the end of the race.

4. It’s hard to shine @ Honda near MM93

Marc Marquez might have lost and tumbled at CoTA ending his streak of US victories, but what he showed during the first 3 races of the year still is pretty clear to anyone who’s not wearing tinted glasses: only Marquez can beat Marquez. Still a phenomenon, his injured shoulder surgery during winter didn’t stopped him one bit. As fast as ever, he’s almost unbeatable if he doesn’t make a mistake on his own. His only let down though is the RCV.

Together with Lorenzo, the spaniards suffered quite a few mechanical problems on their bike sometimes resulting on missing a good spot on the grid, sometime scoring 0 points during a race.

Like when he started at Ducati Lorenzo clearly needs time on the bike to understand completely how she’s working beneath him. While somes experts seems to be loosing patience with him again, much like @ Ducati, it’s worth remembering everyone that the spaniard has been on a roll with bad luck since Silverstone 2018. Race cancelled, injuries - some bigger than expected at first - and mechanical problems have led Lorenzo to have little time spent on the bike before the start of the season and deprived him from top 10 and maybe even better. Watch out for Jerez though, Lorenzo loves this track where he always does well and the RCV is always a major threat there. Jerez is always Lorenzo's real start of the season, if it click there, things could change pretty fast.

5. Rins, a slow burn

While he was in smaller categories, Alex Rins showed he had to potential to do great things in GP. Since he took on the factory ride at Suzuki, Rins has been a slow burn but is finally meeting all expectations we had for him. Winner at CoTA, it didn’t came as a surprise for those os us that were paying attention to his progress since around mid season last year.

The bigining of great things to come ?

6. Rookies on fire

To say we have an impressive bunch of rookies this season would be an understatement. First Quartararo is clearly showing some huge potential on his M1 and we can only wish Yamaha will realise that before they loose him like they did with Zarco. Mir is also doing great stuffs so far and mix up with Rins, the Suzuki team could become a much bigger player in years to come. Things are harder for Oliveira. The KTM still is in huge need of progress yet Pol Espargaro’s good result last time out shows they’ll be there at some point.

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 3 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 AMERICAS GP

AR42 - 10: Here at MGP_Fanpage we always knew Rins would do great at some point. A long awaited result that just show the rider’s potential when doing 1 with his bike. Sure enough, there’s much more to come!

MM93 - 6: Turns out, MotoGP’s very own alien is just human after all. Also, let’s note that the AmericasGP was once again proof that most of the time, only Marquez can beat Marquez.

VR46 - 9: it’s pretty obvious age is just a number and, at the end of day, you’re as old as you feel. On this note, i guess Vale was feeling 22 last night!

JL99 - 5: It’s pretty obvious now that HRC’s second bike is cursed. This, or JL killed a bunch of black cat secretly and is getting his ass kicked with bad luck for ever since.

JM43 - 9: *cuff cuff* doing better than Petrucci *cuff cuff*

MV12 - 3: Just when we thought he finally had a reasonable enough start, turns out, he jumped it! Oh Maverick, what are we gonna do with you...

AD04 - 6: *start taping* Forever the bridesmaid & never the bride.

*Hearing Dovi screaming* Yet, leading that championship!!

JZ5 - 4: If KTM’s test rider, Dani Pedrosa, has any magic trick up his sleeves, now would be a good time to show them to Johann!

HS58 - 1: Yes, Hafizh isn’t doing particularly well so far, but he’s still our favorite weird dancing person when it comes to gifs!

[motogpfanpage]

ROUND 2 OF RATING THE RIDERS: 2019 ARGENTINA GP

MM93 - 10: Impressive. Unbeatable. Maestro. Out of this world. Boys, they better watch how hard this guy is gonna hit them all in two weeks at Austin...

MV12 - 6: Yes he crashed but let's all keep in mind that, for once, he had a good start!

VR46 - 9: There will always be something magical about Valentino Rossi. He crossed the line 2nd and he celebrated it like he had won for the biggest pleasure of all the tifosi around the world.

JZ5 - 3: There's some signs that doesn't lie and right now facts are that Oliveira is doing better on that KTM than you Johann...

AD04 - 8: On a day where Marquez was unbeatable, the best Dovi could have done was 2nd. Except he did not even finished 2nd...

FQ20 - 7: Last time out Fabio was crying his eyes out, this time he wasn't. This time Fabio delivered one hell of a ride !

JL99 - 4: Remember Jorge's famous jumped start from the US GP ? Well this ArgentinaGP one will soon be as legend as the former one. Let's find a name for it: drawning start ? How to have a bad start in one lesson ? Mum, i hit the wrong button start ?

JM43 - 8: An impressive ride from the man Ducati said "NO" to for the second factory seat... Danilo, where were you ?

CC35 - 7: He moved. As harsh as it is, Cal did moved on that line. Now you can argue, maybe the penalty was too strong or maybe not, but the penalty was deserved, that's for sure.

AI29 - 2: Lately, Andrea is having way more success on Instagram than on track. Maybe now would be the right time have a new look at your priorities and what you really care for ?

[motogpfanpage]

Round 1 of Rating the Riders : 2019 Qatar GP

AR42 - 8: i don’t know if it’s the hair or whatever he’s eating lately but Alex Rins was kicking everybody’s ass on the Suzuki!

JL99 - 6: i believe Jorge’s HRC deal had a few lines written in the smallest caracters ever telling that he wasn’t only taking Dani Pedrosa’s bike but his bad luck as well.

AD04 - 9: Just like last year, Dovi wins at Losail. We know how it ended last time but now that he has a secret weapon named Danilo can he REALLY finish ahead of Marquez in the standings ? 🤔

MM93 - 8: What kind or « nursing shoulder » shit were you expecting ?!

MV12 - 4: New Year. New Number. New Maverick. Same old crappy race start.

JM36 - 7: This new comer is not just here to be some kind of eye candy for the Ladies but to get sh$t done!

VR46 - 7: it looked promising at first. A FP1 straight outta 2008, Vale leading with Jorge on his tail. And then FP2 happened... Thanks God he’s still able to give it to Maverick during the race!

DP9 - 6: After a great bunch of winter tests, Danilo is now back to reality. The one which says that his only job is as simple as making sure Dovi is in front of him while blocking everybody else behind. Life as a number 2 sucks, right ?

CC35 - 8: we were just as relieved as Lucy to see Cal back on the podium!

FQ20 - 7: didn’t we all « awwww » when seeing Fabio cry in his box at the end of the race ? 19 years old guys, 19!

[motogpfanpage]

Honda Repsol Team

[motogpfanpage]

Jerez 2018

[motogpfanpage]

Dani Pedrosa - CoTA 2018

[motogpfanpage]

KTM Tech 3 Team

[motogpfanpage]

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team

[motogpfanpage]

Valentino Rossi - Sepang Test 2019