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Motegi MotoGP Race Subscriber Notes, Part 1: Monotonous Motegi - Why Was That?

By David Emmett |

At the height of his domination of the 500 grand prix era, when the only question in everyone's minds was who would finish second behind him, Mick Doohan was asked by a journalist if he was worried his stranglehold on the sport was making motorcycle racing boring. "What do you want me to do, slow down?" Doohan retorted.

Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi would have been immeasurably improved if Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin had slowed down. Apart from the first seven or eight minutes, as the grid assumed its natural order, the race was utterly processional. Watching Bagnaia, Martin, Marc Márquez behind them, was like watching Doohan at his peak.

These are riders controlling a MotoGP machine at the highest level imaginable, putting a 300+ horsepower motorcycle in almost exactly the same place for lap after lap. Of the 24 laps of Motegi which Pecco Bagnaia completed, 10 were within one tenth of a second of the lap before, and another 7 were between one and two tenths difference to the previous lap. That is astonishing, metronomic consistency, and a sign of a truly great rider operating almost as close to perfection as is humanly possible.

Jorge Martin fought his way through from a seemingly doomed eleventh place on the grid to finish just over a second behind Bagnaia. But even that only provided the briefest whiff of interest. It took the Pramac Ducati rider just over two laps to slot into second place, though to be fair, he was handed second when Pedro Acosta crashed out in front of him and Brad Binder. But from there, he was every bit as metronomic as Bagnaia, until he lost touch around the halfway mark.

So as outstanding as the performances were, the race was also incredibly tedious to watch. The riders circulated at speed, the gaps between the barely varying. It was so bad that the first thing that Marc Márquez, who held off Enea Bastianini to take third, said in his parc ferme interview with MotoGP.com's Simon Crafar was "Super boring race. No overtakes, just doing your rhythm."

It wasn't always like this. Valentino Rossi knew that to keep the fans interested, he had to slow down, create the illusion of excitement. He would sit behind his rivals for most of the race, before making a pass in the final few laps and then running off to victory. He could do this because he knew just how much better he was than his rivals, how much margin he had to play with. He could risk toying with them, because nine times out of ten, he would come out on top.

That's not possible now. Marc Márquez explained why in the press conference. "It was boring because no overtakes and I love overtakes." It was a mixture of strategy and track layout, Márquez said. "Pecco did the perfect strategy, which was starting in first position and push and just manage the tires, but try to open a gap because he knows that Martin and me start behind. These kind of circuits where it's stop and go, if you are behind somebody you are losing a lot of performance in the braking, and then you don’t gain on the exit because the aerodynamics. Makes life a lot more difficult and you can only overtake the guy in front if you are three or four tenths faster. If you are just one tenth faster, it’s impossible."

16
2024
MotoGP
Motegi, Japan
Ducati
GasGas
KTM
Brad Binder
Enea Bastianini
Francesco Bagnaia
Jorge Martin
Marc Marquez
Marco Bezzecchi
Pedro Acosta
CormacGP
Brembo
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Comments

If it's such a shit track that produces shit races. then why keep going there. The circuit lays out the extent of the detrimental  direction MotoGP has taken over the past years, sacrificing racing talent for engineering prowess and spectator entertainment for boring predictability. Ducati's omnipresence will suck the life out of MOtoGP in 2025 if not in  2026. Thank god for Moto3, because its the only series where real racing still happens!

Just because this track is particularly blighted by dirty air, doesn't mean it isn't an otherwise brilliant layout for racing. There's 7+ good/great overtaking spots - they're just all unfortunately in a stop, preceded by a start. I'm disappointed we only got a fake Moto2 race because a series like that can thrive here.

With a technical spec that reduces the capacity for overtaking is one that is pretty lethal to the spectacle. Dorna's fixation on additional rounds means that consciously adjusting to more interesting tracks seems like a very unlikely development. If somewhere has some asphalt and some finance that means you get a GP. And we have another two years to look forward to :). May I though signal my strong agreement with your Moto3 comment. It annoys me that so much criticism is levelled at Moto3 and that many sites barely report it. At least for two years now it has given us great racing - the last 4 laps of any Moto 3 race are the best of any racing in the year. Plus I have never seen anyone more impressive than David Alonso. It is amusing that one of the criticisms of Moto3 has been that it doesn't support the emergence of a really dominant talent. Well until it just has...

So true.

The WSBK site, mostly unnecessarily, does the same with their race video titles. It’s like every race was the most epic one you’ll ever see and the championship shifted around like crazy.

If they could at least prevent that title from popping up at the top of the video every time I move the freakin slider, I would at least not get a spoiler thrown in my face. What’s the point of a no-spoiler section ya muppets…

I love MotoGP, live for it .But am really worried the direction the series is going technically. The rider talent is the best ever but next couple of seasons could be a disaster the way things are going...  

And they need to be quicker than Michelin at fixing it. Next season I will be deciding if I wish to watch the 3rd year of lack lustre racing. It has become a largely Spanish/Italian series and the Ducati/aero/ tyre/ ride height fiascos are now simply boring same-same so-called racing with not enough exceptions to make me want to cough up and sit through another procession. If this is elite prototype racing give me aero and electronics free litre production bikes with manual transmissions and steel brakes any day. I do admire the skill, but……

This is also threatening to overcome WSBK too.

The other factor for me is that the TNT commentary team is good but their channel switching seems to confuse the recording system, so I also now regularly click to watch and find I’m seeing another sport or the recording failed in some way.

This is supposed to be entertainment and it is not when all these factors combine to make me think my other hobbies are actually more enjoyable.

Never thought I would say that.

The race results are stretching out David.  Just the opposite of what you are saying.  At the end of the TNT coverage on the warm down lap i think it was they said that the gap was huge compared to even just 24-months ago.  The slowest that the 10th rider had been across the line compared to the winner for like 5-6 years?  

That brings me to my second correction which ties in, if I may.  Folk think that the far shorter practices of the last and this part (so far) season is helping Yamaha with 2 and Honda/KTM/Aprilia with just 4 riders and stops Ducati 'getting ahead'.  Infact, it's benefitting Ducati more than any of them!  Look at how Martin made up 11 places, look how last week MM came through from 11th on the grid.  They aren't just being a Saturday man or a Sunday man, this is the accumilation of data from 8 bikes until a path forwards is clear.  

Someone, anyone, has just tried something a little different from one another and they can latch onto the solution by making 2+2 make 10 (sometimes you aren't fed the answer, you are fed the path on which to travel).  

What can Fabio Q do about it?  Not a damn thing!  There's now an argument that they need to put the Sprint race to last on Saturday after one more full-on practice session.  Well, they need to do something!  

Also, the above scenario of 8, 4, 4, 4, 2 isn't really true is it?  First to be productive, a rider needs to be effective.  The top 4 men are trawling over EACH OTHERS data but I don't reckon anyone at KTM is "trawling over" Jack Miller's or Augusto Fernandez's data or anyone at Aprilia over the Trackhouse teams data, or the works Honda boys over either Honda in Luca Ceccinello's LCR team?  

4 x nothing equals nothing.  There's no doubt that every rule in the sport has fallen Ducati's way except the concessions and they know that it just brings teams close - but doesn't make them winners.  Ducati are laughing because the sport brings publicity, close racing even more so, so they have an inbuilt winning streak with close racing and high audience figures which makes that winning streak even richer! 

Before anyone says it isn't close racing, try imagining Aprilia without years of concessions, try imagining where Yamaha and Honda would be this season now, without them.  They'd be getting lapped.  

The first Misano race this year had 10th crossing the line 38s back. Misano 2 was just a shade under 32s. Aragon 40s. Comparing Japan across the years is difficult, for example last years was restarted, but yes, biggest gap to 10th in Japan for a good while.

I think this year, Ducati are the only team(s) to crack the rear tyre. Unlocking that potential is leaving all eating dust. I wasn't surprised at all when Acosta dropped it in both races. The bike doesn't belong there. A lap or five ? Yes, just like Binder. Beyond that, no, and that's how it went. He's having a really good go at it though. 

Was part of a similar thread on an earlier post race report and yes, we have a problem. Apparently there was a fair bit of action down the field, this is indeed the sizzle, if not the sausage; the premise that the race IS exciting, even though that drama is going on further down the order.

I'm totally not into car racing, in the same way as I'm totally not into cars; why? Well, for me, a comparable ride on a normal motorcycle is incomparable to driving a normal car. The sights, sounds, smells etc etc, we all know this. James Whitham described F1 as 2D and most bike racing as 3D, we KNOW what he means. I think it was Ewan McGregor who described sitting in a modern car as 'watching a movie, whereas on a motorcycle, ANY motorcycle, you're IN the movie'.  The most memorable for me was the incomparable John Surtees being asked, in front of his championship winning Ferrari & MV by a snooty car journalist what the difference was? Obviously he'd been asked this many times but his answer distilled the difference. 'When you get out of the car and walk away, it just sits there waiting for its next command through a series of levers, pedals & buttons. When you get off a bike and walk away, it falls over; it's totally reliant on the input of the complete human body' And on it goes. . Again, we KNOW this, but does the wider market and in particular, Liberty & Dorna? Their earlier 'wedding' promised much (and maybe Redworld has things up his sleeve..), but we're yet to see it, and our sport really needs the sizzle selling at the moment.

What I really admire about F1 is that the spinners have managed to stay well away from that sausage and just go for the sizzle-they have, in fact, actually managed to polish that turd. The races sell out, the punters pay 3-4 times the MotoGP ticket price, they THINK they're part of this classy, sophisticated elite that know a discerning lifestyle 'sport' because of their fabulous taste and they really believe it's exciting- and because they're being screamed at over & over again that it is!! Hell, the cars may be loads quicker but they don't LOOK it, the cockpit camera footage cannot be differentiated from the Playstation/XBox games and does that steering wheel work on its' own? My point being, the twitching wobbling bike has a rider climbing all over it, there's so much going on, there's so many angles they could make that bike and its' rider look incredible but DO THEY KNOW?? I thought I saw a ray of light at the first Misano race where they had a brilliant reverse inside angle of the nuts Curvone, it wasn't used after that but wow, did it make that bend look spectacular.

I really worry that we'll always be the poor relation to elite car sport, both figuratively & literally. We KNOW bikes are more exciting than anything else out there, maybe everyone else just don't ride them so therefore aren't interested? I hope I'm wrong, but if our sport is slowly morphing into a pig's ear, they need to send out for the artisan that can make it into that silk purse, Liberty did it-and continue to do it for F1. Trouble is, the sizzle might end up eating the sausage..

 

 

 

 

Never mind moaning at Race Direction, how about having a go at the video directors. Pretty well the whole race showed nothing but the first four ............riding around. Incredible skill levels, bike control, pushing to the limit etc, but where were the other 20 odd riders?

Certainly not showing up on my screen.

Why isn't more angst being directed at them? I see the artistic element of their craft in the incessant slo-mo shots of the riders getting on the bike, off the bike, looking thoughtful, angry, worried, happy, etc off the bike, but not so much of the real action that's happening actually in the race further down the field. It is motorcycle racing, and the racing should be taking precedence,  The on  bike cameras are showing incredible images which on some circuits we see  quite a lot of, on others next to nothing. Same with the coverage, occasionally there'll be a flash to action further down the field, but not often enough.

More artisans and less artistry, and more  coverage of the entire field would be good starting points for improving viewer involvement [and enjoyment]

  

Was it the most thrilling three- or four-way battle for the lead from start to finish? No, but to me, as someone who has just started this year watching the races on same-day streaming without knowing the results, I was waiting for yet another Pecco or Martin mistake. Or maybe rain. Or, Pedro racing to his first victory. And while the skirmish between Bastia and Marc was brief, it was an example of superb riding by both. But what really makes the racing good for me is seeing how close to the edge the riders are. Some folks wax nostalgic about the 500 two stroke era, or the Stoner and Rossi and Lorenzo duels, but the combination of today’s bikes, today’s riders, and today’s video quality let’s me see things that were unimaginable in the Surtees, Ago, Doohan, and perhaps even Rossi and Stoner eras. Watching Pecco or Marc or Brad backing it in, wheels skimming off the ground, elbows dragging - what’s not to enjoy? For context, I’ve been a fan since Ago was on an MV and the only sports I watch on TV are MotoGP and World Cup mountain bike racing, XC and downhill. 

…was insightful. These guys all love a battle. You can see them grinning ear to ear when they dismount after a hard fought race. Mind you, that’s what we all love too. Vicarious thrills for we who are neither brave nor skilled enough but understand what it takes.

Quartararo's race time last Sunday was only 0.2 seconds quicker than his race time at Motegi 2019, while Bagnaia's 2024 winning race time was more than half a minute quicker than the 2019 winning race time set by Marquez. Okay, Quartararo can be gifted a second for running out of fuel at the finish line this year, but his time is still a couple of seconds slower than his finishing time from two years ago. Yamaha may be throwing a ton of money and effort at their Motogp project, but the result of their commitment has yet to make much of an impact on their race times.

There is a similar story about the last Misano race too. What is concerning about the Motegi race is that Yamaha showed no improvement from Michelin's new rear tire. Doing some math gymnastics for rear tire advantage, Quartararo and his team improved his race time at Misano by about four seconds since their championship winning season of 2021. But that result comes from the second race of a double header split by a test at the same track. And Misano has always been a happy hunting ground for Yamaha; Rossi, Lorenzo, and Viñales have gobbled up a couple dozen wins and podiums over the years. While riding for Yamaha, Lorenzo only finished lower than 2nd place one time at Misano (3rd in 2016).

Hopefully having four bikes next year will hasten Yamaha's renaissance. I am not holding my breath. And the question has to be asked, Dorna: Who is in charge of the Ducati Cup? To an objective observer, not allowing KTM to increase their grid presence to six bikes while Ducati fields eight for the last decade reeks of favouritism. Just looks unfair. Results at Honda's home track two days ago was seven Ducatis in the top eight with Binder the sole outlier. Even the one Ducati DNF was a comical metaphor of the current state of Motogp. 

The Motegi race was predictable and dull. The lap chart is reminiscent of the Bridgestone era. The only tension came from wondering if anyone was going to crash.

 

Or, at least, the current version. After Ducati dominance, the I-phone of motorbikes, we might see those extra grid slots go to a Chinese brand before long. Both Yamaha and Honda also rely on that Far Eastern local market and, having used Western expertise to learn the racing game, the next step might be to buy some glamour in the premier class.

The current management and R&D staff moves show that nationality is no longer a barrier for the real power seats, and Saudi Arabia has shown that influence via sport is cheap in relative terms.