2022 Aragon MotoGP Race Result: Some Fuel For The Title Fire

By Zara Daniela | Sun, 18/09/2022 - 13:31

After their younger colleagues set high expectations for the local crowds, the premier class had a tough task to complete the home hero hat-trick and it soon proved nearly impossible. In a bit of a déjà vu from last time out in Misano, Enea Bastianini chased his future teammate all race long, but this time around he took the chequered flag four hundredths of a second ahead, to claim a fourth victory of the season. Although he was denied a win, Pecco Bagnaia’s second place sealed the deal on Ducati’s title in the Constructors’ championship, while Aleix Espargaro climbs back onto the last step of the podium after a long wait since Mugello.

The 23-lap race was mostly a tame affair but bookended by some real drama with consequences in the title battle. While poleman Bagnaia and his fellow front row starters Jack Miller and Bastianini made a great launch off the line to maintain position in the first few corners, their main challengers quickly became Brad Binder and Marc Marquez, both of whom had rocket starts from the fourth and fifth row respectively. Things soon started to unravel for Marquez though, as he had a moment out of turn three and, in the usual congestion of the opening lap, got hit from behind by Fabio Quartararo. The unlucky Frenchman looked bruised and battered and probably really annoyed but escaped any damage other than that in the championship standings. The drama did not stop there for Marquez, as he picked up some damage to the bike in the incident, which caused further trouble accelerating out of turn eight and sent the Spaniard into a tangle with Takaaki Nakagami, the LCR man abandoning ship in pretty scary fashion, while Marquez was forced to retire.

The leaders kept calm while replays were running, but Miller and Bastianini soon managed to reclaim their positions from Binder, who had climbed into second by the end of the opening lap. The South African then found himself fending off Espargaro for the remainder or the race, followed by the Pramac boys, Miguel Oliveira, Luca Marini and Alex Marquez, who made up the early top ten. Meanwhile, Alex Rins and Maverick Viñales were pushing to recover after getting caught in the early drama and dropping out of the top 15.

Bastianini truly started his charge on lap six, when he attacked Miller for second at turn 15 and was left with seven tenths of a second to recover on Bagnaia. The leader lost his wingman for good when Binder and Espargaro attacked Miller over the next lap, dropping the Australian to fifth. Only two laps later, Bastianini launched his first attack on Bagnaia but a messy lap from the Gresini man, including a mistake running wide at turn 12, allowed the poleman back past and with an eight tenths’ advantage. Bastianini regrouped over the next few laps to reel in Bagnaia once more, while ditching Binder one second behind, with Espargaro, Miller, Jorge Martin, Johann Zarco and Luca Marini not too far behind. A few more seconds back, Rins was charging through field and rejoining the top 10 by lap 15.

Status quo was maintained going into the final ten laps, Bagnaia and Bastianini in close proximity and a safe distance from Binder, who was under pressure from Espargaro and Miller in the battle for the final podium place. Martin, Zarco and Marini were keeping each other company for sixth position, while Rins was trying to bridge a two-second gap to the trio after getting past Oliveira and Alex Marquez.

Bagnaia started the final three laps with a mere tenth of a second of advantage but as much as Bastianini sniffed around his rival, he could not find a real gap until the final lap, when the Gresini man squeezed out Bagnaia at turn seven and defended beautifully until the finish line. Meanwhile, Espargaro had robbed Binder of third at turn one on the penultimate lap, the KTM man settling for fourth. Miller completed the top five, while Martin fended off Marini for sixth and Zarco held back Rins’ late charge for eighth place, with Marco Bezzecchi rounding out the top 10.

After the drama bookmarking the 23-lap race, Quartararo heads to Japan with 10 points of advantage in the championship standings, alongside all the bruising, while Espargaro closes in to 17 points and Bastianini keeps an outside chance, 48 points behind the leader.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time/Diff
1 23 Enea Bastianini Ducati 41:35.4620
2 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 0.042
3 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 6.139
4 33 Brad Binder KTM 6.379
5 43 Jack Miller Ducati 6.964
6 89 Jorge Martin Ducati 12.030
7 10 Luca Marini Ducati 12.474
8 5 Johann Zarco Ducati 12.655
9 42 Alex Rins Suzuki 12.702
10 72 Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 16.150
11 88 Miguel Oliveira KTM 17.071
12 73 Alex Marquez Honda 18.463
13 12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia 18.730
14 35 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 20.090
15 44 Pol Espargaro Honda 27.588
16 87 Remy Gardner KTM 28.805
17 21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 30.422
18 40 Darryn Binder Yamaha 31.330
19 49 Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 31.595
20 25 Raul Fernandez KTM 36.160
Not Classified
  93 Marc Marquez Honda 02:26.0050
  30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda  
  20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha  
2022
15
MotoGP
Motorland Aragon, Spain
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Comments

Drama ahhh plenty! How everyone got through that w/out injury is beyond me. I'm interested in the post race comments, here and from MGP, on the incidents. 

The Honda almost shouldn't be on the grid it is such a poor project right now.  Marc is having to over ride a bad machine that doesn't even hook up on fresh rubber. The crash was something that you just don't often see and more and more with each return it is Marc causing the problem with over zealous early moves. If he keeps this up he wont be long for MotoGP because his next crash may be his last.

 

With respect, as Fabio said, 'many bikes lost the rear.'

Marc made a good start and took near perfect advantage of it at T1. Everything looked great. He was a little off the apex at turn 3 and I think expected some trouble between Enea and Aleix on the left hand side of the track. In preparation for that he tried to stay a little bit tighter on the exit and got a wobble on. Fabio was running at him, I think wanting to fire it past Marc T4 into T5. I guess you could say Fabio was attempting an over zealous early move ? Or not. Lap one, track full of racers racing ? Isn't it the fault of the rider behind when they run into the back of the bike ahead ? Or is it that these things happen in racing ? Rotten luck for Fabio that is for sure. Can never be known but looking at the field I think top 5 was on. That would have left him with a 21 point lead...instead it's 10.

I think you nearly see what happened at almost every race. Lots of riders have wobbles in close order with other riders. Lots of riders have near misses or contact as a result. As luck would have it for Fabio and Marc today it was a good solid hit with some contact on the rear wheel of Marc's bike. Never ends well when that happens as Taka knows too well from Catalunya. Reminded me a lot of Rossi running into the back of Lorenzo at Assen a few years back. Different in detail, Lorenzo lost the front and different because luckily for Rossi and Lorenzo it worked out ok.

If it's Marc's fault for racing then that must automatically extend to include every rider on the grid. If they had all just given each other more space, single file, 'after you...no after you', then none of it would have happened including the race. More interesting I think is the second incident and the role Marc's ride height device played...very undecided.

We got lucky that no one was seriously hurt. 

I don't think Marc nor Fabio were doing anything wrong. Unfortunate race incident.

Taka into the back of Marc? Looked a bit worse to me, and reminded me of his helmet to rear wheel wreck he was criticized for. A weird looking collision! Marc is looking around, the bike must have felt odd. Likely better to leave him just a bit of a buffer given the situation. Taka REALLY careens into him, eh?

I guess Taka also had his ride height device engaged, his front wheel does a merry dance out to the left on the kerb, maybe locked the front at that point, the forks do a good bounce. He then swings back into Marc and with some lean, Marc is a bit of fulcrum, tyres say thank you once unloaded. Marini also does very well to miss the mayhem. Lucky escape for all...Fabio's nipple must be painful though.

I don't like ride height devices but I don't think their design/function can be blamed for anything other than causing an issue in these very specific circumstance. Maybe the aero is more a problem because it makes it easier for a spinning tyre to grab and keep.

Pre race,

Interesting that every single bike is on hard F med R. That doesn't happen much. It was more diverse Fri and Sat. Temps are up. Aragon is a lower grip track than last Round.
Marc is getting a big welcome back. When he climbed on his bike on grid he moved SLOWLY- sore?
Dammit if I didn't get a flash of spoiler from Google's news pg. Poop. Not major, it is tough to avoid them! The YouTube thumbnails often show the podium, quit that shit will you? Grr.
Pecco is looking well focused. I am hoping for a few specific riders to battle. There were a few surprises Saturday (Bezzecchi and Vinales swapped positions for instance).
Tsuda in for Mir next Round. I'd forgotten he was already set to Wildcard. Expectations are low.
Enjoying Cal being back. I thought he'd be ahead of Morbidelli. Toprak, swap bikes! Race distance? Likely less strong for Crutchlow.
Ducati could win the Constructor's Cup today! What a surprise. The 2nd place isn't even interesting.
;)

Oh shit. Twice, Lap 1...what a mess! I see one rider doing a repeat bone head maneuver. 
:/
Rewinding to the start. Binder on Sunday! Brilliant. He benefitted early on via 
Rins did well to avoid going down behind Quarty. Fabio went down HARD. Ouch! Please be ok! Then Marini and A.Marquez also did a good chicanery before getting into the next turn without incident. Everyone behind Bezzecchi got a big set back avoiding a Nakagami and bike. Except onthe inside Oliveira and Crutchlow got a boost by luckily being in the right place.
So just like that, we have Pecco staring St a historic 5th win on the trot, another Bastiannini - Bagnaia race, and a big shakeup in the Championship. Sorry for Marc and Takagami, but obviously Quartararo is the clear big loser at Aragon.

Again, view of the Duc riders, Pecco is more tidy. Bastiannini made one overreach in a corner again. He was more safe and careful this go. His bike moves around just a bit more. Tires make it to the end fine. Interesting.

The 3 way V4 battle for 3rd looked good. The Aprilia had a bit of trouble keeping up with the Ducs on straights, but Aleix made masterful passes. Brad Binder brought the Sunda special sauce again, REALLY impressive! Low grip didn't leave the KTM struggling. Hope to find more coverage of this. Big gap behind the two blazing Italian B's in Red. 

:)

v Right there with punting Raul the fool, who was our backmarker all by himself today. 

P.S. re Quartararo, he was burned by the bike hitting him, and the chest sliding left an abrasion. Get this, the Marshall's scooter returning him to the pits had a head on crash w another scooter! Marshall a bit hurt, Quarty no since he was in full gear. (So he then gets a ride to medical in just shorts?!). Think kid. Zipper.

Would have loved to see the battle with him and FQ in that podium group at least. Very fortunate everyone's ok. Vinales got caught out in the incident with TN, seemed like his pace was decent - I was initially wondering if inconsistency was returning. AE made the best of his situation but he's never been able to capitalize on the momentum b4 the break - disappointing. Close enough for a Hayden/Mir style title but the racing Gods don't favor such things. 

His progress has been great for sure. Aprilia knows exactly what he needs and it wasn't necessarily a competitive bike either. Once they went all in on making a show of supporting him (not that I doubt it's genuine), and slapping everyone on the back for every little achievement, he has flourished. He needs to feel wanted and unfortunately for him he originally walked into Rossi's garage and Vale was very vocal and public in asking/warning Yamaha not to follow Vinales development even after he blitzed the tests. He doesn't seem to handle that kind of friction. Young Rossi would have torn him to shreds psychologically.. hell.. old Rossi may have been the catalyst that planted the seed that ultimately ended his Yamaha venture.

He goes dark real quick and there's a long list of riders that will leverage the hell out of that if he doesn't reign it in.

Thank goodness Marc Marquez is not in any way responsible for taking out the championship leader and his fellow Honda rider.

... because of his history of total indifference to the safety of other riders. See, for example, Argentina a few years back, 2015 maybe? When he held up the grid, started illegally, got a penalty, then knocked Rossi and Espargaro off the track trying to recover.

Cal - 2011 Phillip Island. Stalled on the grid, repeatedly tried to get a bump start while the entire grid sat there and lost all heat in their tyres. Everyone waited until he took his spot all up and running.

No penalty. No tears either.

He did ride like an idiot in Argentina, he rode like a real horses ass. At the time I couldn't quite shake the feeling though that it was quite embarrassing the speed difference between Marc and the other riders. In one way that contributed to the clashes, Marc stumbled into the other riders. That's no excuse and was also pretty stupid because if he had been more careful he might have got an amazing result given the penalty for the start. I think it was a ride through penalty during and added time after the race. Very bizarre really. Ignoring the in and out lap of the penalty and the clash lap, against Rossi he was as much as 2.6s per lap faster, on average more than a second faster per lap prior to the clash. Against Aleix he was on average 2.6 seconds per lap faster and as much as 4.4s. Even the winner Cal was over a second slower on some laps and on average half a second slower despite actually managing to be quicker than Marc on some laps. I guess those are the laps when Marc made dodgy passes. I remember the feeling, disgusted at his riding with extra disgust added in some vain attempt to distract from the fact that everybody else may as well have been riding a Moto2 bike. Very rare to see such dominance in terms of lap time.

Marquez incident 1, ok.  Incident 2, elbows out and shoving and pushing on Taaka, not buying it.  Over riding the RCV, pushing way too hard and not caring about the repercussions of it.  I’ve seen this movie before in Argentina and so many more tracks.  

Marc's alternative to elbows out was to dump the bike on the inside, dead centre of the track with another 20 bikes on their way through. Taka was going around the outside and Marc was on a bike pulling to the left (and with him actively trying to work out what was going on after the ride height locked half way down).

So what are his options? Roll off and take another bike in the back? Concede to Taka and bail into traffic? Taka had all the room on the outside, Marc didn't. So it's elbows out and tighten the pucker.

These guys are on another level. Given how quickly they need to react and make decisions, this was possibly best case scenario.

But yes I know that Marc is everything wrong with America and likely a MAGA Trump supporter. His carbon footprint is ridiculous. Probably anti vax.

/bait

^ Damo, you are a wise man! (No one should read this "comedy,", you've been warned)

I read on RegressiveNationalistPhobias.com that Repsol put something in all the vaccinations given in the Paddock. Wonder why the new front Michelin vanished and no one noticed? Maverick lost his damn mind? Aprilia got him? Dovi fell to the rear? Suzuki QUIT? KTM rookies were the first guinea pigs, look how THAT went. 

Microchips and petrochemicals made them all sheep. I KNOW, I read the REAL patriot news and Motomatters.com every day. Everyone at the Queen of England's memorial? Drank the same wine service. That minute of silence? Microwave transmission directly from Alberto Puig. You just watch, Russia and Saudi Arabia are about to get embraced by Carmelo...look closely and you will see WIRES coming out from behind his ears!!

With a bike that’s not entirely there, and fitness at 80-85% and just a 1% shot at a podium (Marc’s and team’s words) those were very aggressive moves. That he caught that first one speaks for his talent. But that he was in/over the edge when (his words) getting race fit was the priority, that doesn’t gel. He saw the opportunity and to me it looked like 100% going for podium or win. 
 

Said differently, removing the context of the accident. He went into those first few corners *extremely* hot. Not like someone getting back to fitness, more like someone in it to win it.

Now that I also don’t have a problem with. He is a racer and a multiple world champion. It’s what he does. At a level that transcends almost all. What just will not sit right with me is Marc’s words versus behaviour. That’s why I’m not a fan of (arguably) the biggest MotoGP talent of the last 10 years. He is incongruent in his talk and walk. Why is it so hard to admit that you desperately want to win this race to demonstrate to everyone your superiority on a bike, and demotivate FQ20, FB63 and whoever else for the 2023 championship? It’s the exact same behaviour that got him injured. Bad luck that he was struck by the bike and all the ensuing bodily harm. But the overriding just to show who’s boss… we’ve seen that before.

Now he doesn’t know me, and probably won’t read this. But if he did, to gain just one fan: just own up to it. Red mist and all. You’re (arguably) the best and everyone shall know it.
 

 

Another view might be that having made a good start and being presented with an opportunity he must take it. What happened to Fabio is a great example. Stuff happens in the pack. Brad took advantage and found himself in 2nd. For a few corners 'hot' Marc would have found himself with a much easier race. That would have been good given his condition. Myself, I didn't see Marc do anything unusual, good start, nice T1. Rewind and run the scenario again, put Fabio a meter further back and none of it happens.

Let's not forget that Binder was at that 70-80% as well, even to the point of having to drag himself out of bed due to the pain killers. But he only gets praise and pats on the back for a similar start and aggressive first lap. "But Brad didn't take anyone out" - ha. Dare anybody to continue saying it.

I do get tired of the MM BS. "1% chance" --I'm sure I wasn't the only Mutterer who burst into laughter upon hearing that quote.

Yeah, Marc certainly isn't the only one, but give me Rossi's clever and entertaining BS any time. A substantial part of my enjoyment of motogp is hearing what the riders have to say.

I could listen to Dovi explain riding for hours, a big reason I was/am a fan. Pecco's thoughtful, insightful and heartfelt responses at the post-race media press conferences. Jack's humorous but brutal honesty. The Espargaros' heart-on-the-sleeve passion. Marc just comes off as an insecure bore, the dull playground bully.

Also, this quality--in addition to some inspired riding--is why I'm quickly becoming a Luca Marini fan! 

Yes, I totally agree with you both, I was softening in my assessment of MM but watching the interview after he'd bowled both of them, he couldn't care less. Not even a half arsed apology or any expression of regret-- to  Nakagami in particular, sums him and his arrogant attitude up 100%.

It'll be interesting seeing how Taka goes next season though, consistently best of the Hondas until he crashes, which with the Honda at present is a when not if situation. He's got plenty of commitment and bravery going for him.
 

... is why I wish MM would go away and take up golf or something. He apparently really doesn't give a flying fck about anybody else on the race track. Want to win? Of course. Push as hard as you can? Of course. Don't care about anybody else on track? Go find another job.

We're all just saying why we don't like Marquez.

Even if he wins 20 championships, he'll never be the goat, as someone said, he's the dull playground bully.

While I admire his control of the bike and how he rides, I dislike practically everything else about the guy.

I can't work out if he's a physcho or just a mega narcissist. I'm sure 'shrink can point me on that one. As an example, his comments and apology on the two incidents with Fabio and Taka appeared to be something he was forced to do. It looked like he  had dupers delight whilst explaining what happened, totally opposite facial expressions to what you'd expect for anyone else in his position.

So championships and wins are discounted when subjective measures of fair play are questioned? Winners stay winners by winning. That means beating the others around you. Seems as if I'm hearing folks say we want our champions to... Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t swallow. 

Its incredible the number of times MM has been comprehensively the fastest man on a road going motorcycle in a modern era that represents some of the closest competition in the history of the sport. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be him and know that I was capable of such feats. 

MM is no Angel on track, and he's not perfect but he is hard working, supremely talented, deals with adversity,  and is driven as all hell. I happily take the whole package and hope he's bringing it to "the best bikes on the grid" in the last few rounds to show them how to ride a motorcycle. 

Championships are just that, so for me a GOAT has to have something other than just numbers.

Over the years i've swung from being a fan to the opposite but you have to say no one has been as big an influence as Rossi.

I doubt anyone will get anywhere near what he's done for the sport. 

I was thinking yesterday all Maverick has to do is follow Marc at the start and he'll be in the front group before he can blink. Okay, being behind Marc didn't turn out to be the best place in the world for Fabio or Taka - but damn that guy (93) is smoking off the lights. 

Alex Rins cut through the pack from 20th (after avoiding Fabio) to 10th and I don't think we saw any of his overtakes. It would be great to see a decent highlights package that wasn't just repeats of what was on the live feed.

That would be nice but I rekon we might get one brief glimpse of an overtake in the 'other battles' vid. I read somewhere some rider(s) talking about how difficult it was to overtake again. Looking at the lap charts a rough number of 35 passes made in the race. That's only when the change in position was maintained to the end of the lap. Lots of action thanks to the lap 1 chaos but most of it from 9th position down.

1st thought in my head this AM waking...Marquez didn't do much at all wrong w Quarty, hope he isn't beaten up too badly on MM. Hit from the back from recovering from a slide? Then though, rolling off w a problem...not cool w Taka. But, as said above, does he have another move really? Bike problem from the collision, feels it, looks. I think hand up signal is the protocol, right? 

and I'm a FQ20 fan. Sure deprived us of another race, with MM93 and FQ20 in the mix, though I don't know how either one of them would have fared against the Ducatis.

Very glad that both Fabio and Taka are mostly okay. Both really nasty offs, but Taka sitting on track while bikes dodged him was a real heart in mouth moment.

I also didn't know FQ20's chest abrasions happened in the scooter ride back to the pits, so thanks for that!

Big congrats to EB23 and AE41 (and of course FB63)!

^ If you were involved, Marc was supposed to raise his left hand to signal unusual riding due to mechanical from his collision, avoiding the 2nd Taka wreck, yeah?

Talking to 1, Penalty 2

No brainer

Update, Nakagami has a "substantial injury" to his right hand from the fall. Gracious accounting. Likely out, as well as A.Marquez, for Japan. Huh! Bradl and...Lecuona?

"Unfortunately, I had an unlucky Sunday. I had a good start, but then had an accident on lap one. I had contact with Marc and had a nasty crash, so I’m really disappointed," Nakagami stated after the race. I’m now going to Barcelona to check the wound on the fourth and fifth fingers on my right hand."

"He he was suffering from a hand injury sustained during a big Warm Up crash on Sunday. The Spaniard says he will also need to pay a visit to the doctor to clarify the issue ahead of the action this weekend."

"I have a pain in the hand. It's not really clear what I have, if I have a small fracture or not, I'm not really sure. One hour before the race I was still deciding if I could race or not. I did two warm up laps just to see my body and it was not really good."

Yeah that one's a surprise?

Taka's crash looked a lot like when he ate Rins' rear tyre. After watching it again a bit last night, Taka looks like he had a mini moment himself on exit. Could be wrong, I'd like to know others thoughts on it though. Marc had three options, go under Marinis front end and the rest of the pack, go under Taka's front end and the rest of the pack, or elbows out and wrestle to hold his line (that was pulling left whether he liked it or not). He was sandwiched and didn't know he had the issue until the squat.

Lots of ink and keyboard pecking will be spilled this week and in many ways we are blessed to have something to punch on about all week.

Good luck to Taka getting himself sorted. Hope to see him on track asap. 

I'm not sure if I'm missing a joke. With respect, I don't think raising a hand after the bike starts veering left on the exit of turn 7 would be a wise idea. The only time he could have raised a hand would be somewhere between the Fabio contact and turn 7. Twenty three seconds elapsed between the two incidents. If he knew the bike was going to hit big trouble then ok, he should have just run off, there's a lot of asphalt outside of the track limits through 4, 5, 6 and 7. However, he didn't lose any time to the bikes ahead and Taka didn't pass him in those 23 seconds so the bike was working fine. He did say he felt something but acceptable through turns 4 and 5. I think that means he didn't know the bike was going to hit big trouble or he's lying. I don't think he's lying. He's just come back after a fourth operation on his arm and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be riding any bike he thought wasn't mechanically sound.

Yet again, Damo ^^ ***** and WaveyD ^ *

Nothing personal, just noticing. Just delivery/phrase change might help how I am receiving palatable thoughts. Trim off a bitter bone and I won't choke on it. Cooking chicken thighs tonight. If you'd prefer I read past them I can. Feel free to skim/skip what isn't for you in mine. Constantly doing the same. Some of my posts are crap.

:)

It's fine. No offence taken. I'm not precious, I'm happy with simple things including the gutter where I have found/put myself on more than one occasion. I think I do have a family trait that often presents as very cold, and combative in discussion. We're not out to destroy, we're out to engage in a positive dialectical something or other but the process seems deadly serious. It doesn't even take any effort, it's natural, just a family sport. A long time ago an Aussie friend of mine mentioned in conversation, 'well you are aggressive'....'me ? really ?'...the response was 'F*** YEAH !' Mad to hear because it's not that way inside, I'm very easy going. I say that not as a compensation...However, nothing is ever a finished article. The stats spew forth because I'm not very busy, itchy excel finger. It's a habit of work, think or feel is fine and might be useful but data gets a candy bar.

Something wedged between the swingarm and tyre could deform the tyre and the new shape could make the bike want to go in an unwanted direction.

It's possibly similar to  riding over a deformity in the road surface and the bike wanting to go in a similar direction.

Visible to the naked eye as Marc pulled off, his rear tire had grooves worn into it. I think a bit of smoke just before.

Agreed, left hand up helps little in this case. And, I think it is the only protocol. Foot off peg and wag it has been done too. But if Marc did his left, he might lose a boot to Taka.

That was frightening! Which explains some intensity amongst folks perhaps. We are critters after all. Homo Racien Nutuosos.

Marc: A broken piece of Quartararo’s fairing became jammed in Marquez’s ride-height device, causing his bike to veer to the side on the exit of Turn 7 - creating an impact with Nakagami.

“I felt something strange in Turn 5 and I said, ‘what's going on?’ But when I went into turn 6-7, I felt OK. Then in Turn 7, Nakagami overtook me on the inside and went wide. So then I was inside of him, already a little bit in front, and I engaged the holeshot [ride-height device, on the exit]. As soon as I engaged the holeshot, I felt like the rear wheel was locking. I checked very carefully the images, and you can see that a piece [of bodywork] is going out from the fairing. And then when I felt it was locking, everything became crazy, and the bike had that rear lock, going to the left side, and no torque."

If Honda has 3 riders negatively impacted by a ride height adjuster incident impacting safety, isn't that enough to ask for a vote in MSMA? Review by RD? Public Relations release? I don't know the nuts and bolts, but ride height gizmos and Ducati could use a push back...before Suzuki is gone and it is a Euro V4 rulebook on gold plates handed to Dorna.

….would Marc throw up his hand when he’s racing a full speed? That’s something you do when you know you have a problem, not hard on gas or hard on gas, even lonely club racer knows that.

Marc specifically said he felt an issue with bike after he got rear ended but it then cleared up but suddenly the rear momentarily locked up when he was alongside Taka, and at that point you want him to throw up a hand???