"You're not allowed to call it the race, it's just a sprint. It doesn't count. But you get half points. But you don't get a trophy, you get a medal."
I hate this bullshit but- wait hang on. "Welcome if you're joining us on TruTV in America" holy fuck they got put on auxiliary garbage cable???? Guess I'll keep that in mind. Anyway here's the break.
Having a shorter race is okay, IMO it's a bandaid solution to the tire issues they've created from the regs. What pisses me off the most is Dorna basically just sat down and went "We're doing sprint races now" and the riders, all contracted to do 20something races a year instead of 40something, just had to take it. Yes it's the same number of sessions but there's a way higher risk of injury in the sprint races.
Part of why they don't call them "sprint races" is because if they were races that might be bad for contracts, or whatever. Anyway I don't like it. But it's here, and it's replaced my comfy saturday FP3.
I will not start discussing my upset regarding practice session names.
"Here's this big city that you can't even see from the racetrack" zzzz
It looks like some people actually showed up for saturday, the friday sessions looked pretty damn skint. I don't know if there's any grandstands not on the main straight here either? That actually get used?
I'm actually going to try not to bitch too much about the location because I'll be doing that for the majority of the races this year.
I do always make a point to shit on Texas since it's a horrible right wing country (state but they like to pretend) and I don't think we should be having motorsport events in such places. But we're not there this weekend.
Speaking of which, an american accent! Cringe! skim forward
"They want to grow the american market" then don't air that shit on fucking TruTV!!!
Ok we've gotten to the commentator cutover. I don't know what one should call the motogp version of a bernie splash but UGH DO NOT LIKE DRAMATIC ORCHESTRA SOUNDING MUSIC, SKIP SKIP
I will say I appreciate that it's got more horns now but I still do not like it. It's gone from a 1/10 to a 3/10. Whatever they had back in the late 2010s was fine enough, 7/10.
I really like Aleix's helmet! It's really cool!
STOP PLAYING THE DAMN MUSIC ok thank you.
MotoGP grids always look tiny, even when there's lots of bikes. 3 bikes per row and the bikes are way smaller.
Aw shit I actually gotta pay attention now
Pack is splitting up a bit let's see how overcomeable these gaps are
When did Enea get up there!?
Marc now going to attempt to bridge a gap
For as much as I dislike red bull, putting their slogan on the underside of the audacious KTM wing on the back of the bike is a good marketing move. A raise for whoever decided that.
Marc slowly making his way up to the front group... if he finishes in front of the factory Ducatis I'm calling that a big win.
I'm still upset about Enea's colors not being on the front anymore.
DIGI NO :(
Oh dang he OH SHIT hope he's alright that looked like a concussion??? Maybe just winded? He's conscious but wobbly.
Alright Marc let's see that shine.
Digi shots: 1 (camera shots, not booze shots)
I had forgotten about the tire pressure nonsense. Hope that doesn't become a thing, sounds like they've adjusted it a bit.
I'm sure the Ducatis are thankful for that adjustment.
"But you have to put a pass on him" No better man for putting a pass on than Binder, no? He's just going to send it.
ONE FACTORY DUCATI DOWN MARC LET'S GO LETS GO
Ducati lane still exists I see!
Digi shots: 2
Marc please escort Pecco off the track. I'm begging you.
Gonna be really funny if Marc goes right back past the aprilia down the straight... ok not quite.
I know I'm talking a lot about Marc here but there's not much going on ahead of them and the cameras aren't showing anything behind!!
"If there's a 1% chance" we used to call that a sniff of an oil rag!
Marc might be settling for 5th :(
I'll take Aleix sending it up the inside of Pecco though.
yyYYYYYYYY awwww
C'mon aleix!
C'MON ALEIX!
Curious to hear the post race interview but I think Marc had a front moment and said "y'know let's not crash on the very first race of the year". Fair.
PECCO STRUGGLING? SUFFERING?
Kinda ok race, Marc was doing things so I was entertained but the front 3 was single file the whole race more or less.
Acosta didn't do any big scary stuff but 8th isn't bad for your first race.
Aprilia looking very strong for tomorrow, for sure.
No interviews for anyone not in the top 3, and I didn't really care to hear what any of them said past Aleix saying he's really happy about how the bike is going so, there you go!
Not super excited about the racing but the season should be somewhat interesting, I think. Let me put down some predictions so I can look like an idiot later on.
Marc will win at least one race unless something terrible happens.
I think we'll see less different ducati victories this year than last.
I'm curious to see if the new ducatis gain an advantage over the old ones as the year progresses. There's no whingeing about the state of them out of the gate as previous years, but they don't look any better than the previous year bikes either.
Looking forward to the concessions making a big impact for Honda and Yam, hopefully.
And uhhhh I think that's it. Not any big predictions here I just want to see it play out at this point.