MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Even though I haven't traveled to all of them, covering 20 rounds of MotoGP is taking its toll. On the last day of the 2024 MotoGP season, I have developed a very nasty head cold. The type that makes writing a thoughtful couple of thousand words reviewing the race on Sunday nigh on impossible. Hopefully an early night will fix this, and I can write tomorrow.

Last year, we introduced autorenewing subscriptions at the request of a lot of MotoMatters.com subscribers. However, as this wave of subscriptions has been set to autorenew, it turns out that a number of them are failing to do so.

The reasons appear to be very complex, mostly related to the communication between the back end of the subscription side of the website, payment processors, and credit card companies, but it sets up multiple points of potential failure. And while a proportion of the autorenewing subscriptions have renewed automatically, a large number haven't.

With EICMA happening in Milan, Italy, and the clean up operation in Valencia progressing, news continues to rumble on. So a short list of links and items of interest that caught my eye over the past couple of days.

Yamaha's V4 engine

With the 2025 MotoGP rider line up sorted, the

No doubt you have already noticed, but content on the site is a little slower to be posted. I am in Italy with my wife in between the two Misanos, and am alternating a vacation during the day and work in the evening. Pieces are being written, but they are taking a little longer than normal. With neither MotoGP nor WorldSBK this weekend, there is a chance to catch our breath.

It's a hectic few weeks for me. Back at home from Austria it was off to Aragon after a couple of days. And with Misano 1 back to back with Aragon, the timing of travel and flights is tricky. What this means is that I have to be off to bed early to drive to Barcelona to catch a flight, leaving me little time to write my Sunday subscriber notes from Aragon.

After the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, a video emerged on social media of Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi in an altercation with a person dressed in Aprilia teamwear in the pit lane, just before the pit lane walk for fans. In it, Tardozzi could be seen getting up close to the presumed Aprilia staffer and lecturing him forcefully. 

The summer break is over, such as it was, and MotoGP is heading to Silverstone to resume combat. And that means we are likely to see a few more announcements made over the next few days, and likely more to follow in the run up to Austria. So here is a round up of links to things to get you back up to speed with MotoGP's silly season, and who is likely to end up where.

Not that Moto2 rider

It's that time again. Firstly, it is nearly my wife's birthday, the woman without whom MotoMatters.com would not be possible. I wouldn't have started it, and I definitely wouldn't have been able to keep going without her support. So that means I have more important things to attend to for the next couple of days.Secondly, I have to once again travel to the UK to look after my late mother's affairs. 

From a purely selfish media perspective, Ducati's announcement that they had chosen Marc Marquez to partner Pecco Bagnaia in the factory Ducati Lenovo team for the next two years was a little unfortunate. Wednesday morning after Mugello, at the start of a three-week break for MotoGP, meant that we as journalists were not going to get a chance to grill those involved in the decisions. The decision raises a lot of questions, after all.