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Go Kart Details

For those attending our Christmas Party Go Kart Race - The Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy, here is all the info you need to know. A group of us will be leaving from Race Center to Ace Karts at 1:15pm. All attending must arrive at Ace Karts no later than 2pm ACE Karts 20 Carrington Drive, Albion, Victoria, 3020. Phone: +61 3 9360 5005 No open toed shoes Must have a 0.0 Blood Alcohol Reading When you arrive you will need to sign in After the big race there will be a trophy presentation, then we will head back to Race Center for the BBQ and drinks Can't wait to see you all

Christmas Closure

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy new year, surely 2021 has ot be better than 2020! We will be closing on the 19th December and re-opening on the 18th of Jan. For any bookings you'd like to make for the new year just flick us an email and we'll get back to you :) Have a fun and safe holiday period.

FORM GUIDE - Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy

It’s hard to believe there is only one more sleep until Australia’s biggest race gets underway. The 2020 Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy is set to be the most unpredictable and controversial yet. As the world’s media was finally released from their 2-week quarantine following their decent on Melbourne, here is what we were able to find out. Spotlight on Sharrock All the talk during the lead up has been centred around Race Center’s William Sharrock. William is the only person in history to have their name etched on the trophy 2 years running and is now looking for an unheard of three peat. In 2018 Sharrock destroyed the entire field in the Best on Ground (BOG) category by easily being the most pissed at the after party, some say it was a win like they have never witnessed before. In 2019 Will took out the people’s champion award by being the first in the race’s history to blow up his go kart, and he did it in style. Can William add his name for a 3rd year on the trot? Here is what CNN found out in an interview with William: “Look, a lot of people thought my 2018 BOG came easily to me. I get it, maybe it seemed that way due to the manner I won, but there is a hell of a lot of work that goes on behind the scene to make a performance like that possible. It is not easy to replicate time after time.” He then added. :” Sure it won’t be easy but I can assure you I’ll be doing everything within my power to have my name added to the trophy for a 3rd year running” Bookies have Sharrock paying just $1.85 to pull of the 3 peat. The Legend is Primed It might surprise many readers that Race Center legend and foundation member Dingo Meade has never started the great race! Yes FACT! In 2018 Dingo (a.k.a. Nev) was denied his place on the grid after returning a controversial positive blood alcohol reading before the race. After a lengthy appeal Dingo was deemed to still have alcohol in his system from the night before and ruled out of the race. In 2019, after a huge training program that spanned an incredible 7 minutes and 12 secs, Nev was ruled out with a neck injury after being t-boned by a Mack truck on his way to work just weeks out from the big race. Dingo is determined to do everything he can to finally make the field in 2020. Past Champions 2018 Champion Luke Sanders & reigning champion Tim Sandy are both short priced favourites to add a second win to their belts. Sanders is paying just $1.75 while Sandy currently sits at $2.10 but is expected to shorten as the race nears. Both Luke and Tim declined to comment on their chances both this weekend, instead opting to stay away from the ensuing media and focus on their preparations. 4 and 0 – Nathan Jones 4 x Victorina Superbike Champion, Nathan Jones is yet to take the spoils in the memorial trophy. Despite being at a slight weight disadvantage to the previous winners Nathan ran 3rd last year and is hoping to hit the top step in 2020. Rumours have been circulating that Nath has been in contact with the facility to ensure he is delivered the fastest kart for the main race, even insisting the kart is fitted with fresh rubber upon his arrival! Bookies have Nath sitting at $7.00 for the win and $3.50 for the place, a great each way bet. Luck about to End – Tyson Jones Tyson Jones has had very strong runs in both 2018 with 4th and 2nd in 2019. However, the bookies are predicted a shocker for the younger of the Jones boys. With his lack of bike racing over the past 2 years and his size, bookies have Tyson way out of contention at $35 for the win! Surprising given his previous form but Tom Waterhouse anticipates Tyson’s luck is about to end. Maybe a great outside bet? Bulldozer – Ferg Gibson After missing the grid in 2019 due to no one really giving a shit about him, Fergus Gibson’s place on the grid has been confirmed for this years running. While no one expects Ferg to get even close to the win, he is expected to ruin the chances of others with his aggressive driving style and lack of sportsmanship. In fact, Ferg is the bookies favourite for the people’s champion award paying just $1.50 No Sauce in the Bottle Race Center’s Harley Side aka Hot Sauce is tipped to be among the back markers come Saturday. Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic the venue has been unable to fly in a special edition Kart that runs hangers rather than a traditional seat. With no ass to fill the seat and thus nothing to support him, Saucy is expected to have a shocker this year. Bonner – Unfair Advantage After having the Race Center logo inked on his leg, Colin Bone is tipped to be given a one lap head start on the rest of the field. However this has not been enough to sway the bookies who still have Bonner as a $1000 shot despite a 1 lap head start BOSS for BOG? Last year, Race Center boss Super Daz easily won Best On Ground after passing out into a bush early on at the after party and Russell continuing to talk to him for the next 10 minutes all this despite Daz being asleep Bookies are anticipating another competitive performance from Daz currently sitting at $2.25 for the award. Whatever happens, 2020’s Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy and our Christmas after party BBQ is set to be the best yet. In honour of Bruce While the race itself and party is designed to be a bit of fun and a laugh, at its core it’s a day where great friends come together. Friendships that have formed for our common love of our great sport, motorcycling. Our Race Center family would not have formed without the hundreds and thousands of volunteers that dedicate so much to our sport. Earlier this year we lost one of our great mates and a person that has done so much for our sport in Bruce Hill. Naming the perpetual trophy in honour of Bruce is a small way we get to remember him and his efforts that have allowed us to thrived. RIP Bruce ooxx Details for our Christmas Party can be found here:

57s x 3 WOW!!!

There is no doubt since the resurface of Broadford the track has become faster with the mega grip on offer. However, there is no way in the world we expected 3 of our lesser experienced Race Center riders to smash into the 57 bracket all on the same day. And to do so with such consistency and purpose, wow! Especially as we have all had to sit out most of 2020 with that whole COVID rubbish ☹ Lee Ramstein, Joel Gilmore and Flash Harry himself, Daniel DiNuzzo all broke into the 57-bracket last weekend at Broadford. Lee on his S1000RR, Joel on his ZX-10R and Flash on his YZF-R1 They all rode extremely well and built on the hard work they have all put in before we had to have the unfortunate COVID break. All three have been on a similar journey but with vastly different programs and bikes. Yet all three smashed the lap timer with their 57s For Lee the main focus of his program has been a methodical step by step approach to his riding, preparation and bike setup. Very small steps but in the right order. Too often in this sport people jump too many steps at a time in hope of a miracle lap time but the step but step approach always delivers result. With Joel he has been on a Gen4 ZX-10R that was a very well sorted machine, so the setup is very nailed on that one. Joel is one of those riders who doesn’t tend to over think things while on the bike. It is a great mindset to have on a bike, far too often riders over complicate things and need to take a leaf out of Joel’s book. With our old mate Danny D, the main steps over the past few track days have been his new electronics and throttle maps that we developed for the YZF-R1 during the COVID break. We have also made a few revisions to his bike setup to better aid mid corner rotation. All complementing each other to deliver a very big and consistent lap time gain. If 3 boys cracking into the 57s all on one day weren’t enough, they all even had mint tyre wear on a new surface that has been destroying tyres. The times and tyre wear couldn’t be better proof that the pressures we published in Race School work. Congratulations to these 3 legends, after the year we have all had it was so heart warming to see such great guys achieve some personal goals, FY!!!!

What an Honour – Boner’s Tattoo

It’s crazy how things have escalated for our little business over the last few years. We started out wanting to provide a service that introduces this great sport to a wider customer base with genuine care and guidance for those who haven’t grown up around the sport. There is probably no better example than they amazing journey and relationship we have formed with one of our dearest customers. Someone that has now been with us for over 4 years now and someone who has become one of our foundation members, Colin Bone. Boner has not only become one of our dearest friends but a bloody great motorcycle racer in his own right. Colin approaches the sport with enthusiasm, joy and a thirst for bettering his riding abilities. Boner is one of the humblest riders you will ever meet, he always works hard on his personal goals while maintaining a level head. His skills have improved immensely to the point he is now a very fast rider. FY! The word proud doesn’t do justice to how we feel about this guy. Recently Colin did something to mark the impact this great sport has had on him and his life goals. He got one of the sickest tattoo’s we have ever seen, a tattoo of him on his first ever Race bike, his beloved Ninja 300. The detail of his tattoo is mega, it is nothing short of awesome. To say we were honoured by the fact his tattoo bares the Race Center logo is the world’s biggest understatement. We never, ever imagined we would be so lucky to be a small part of someone’s personal journey like that and our logo to be inked on someone for life. Thank you Boner OOOXXX We are absolutely honoured, flawed and grateful Love ya pal! OOXX

Race Center / RAS Christmas Party is GO!!!! 19th December

GO Karts - Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy – Followed by BBQ and drinks at Race Center!!! All welcome 😊 BOOK KARTS: BOOK BBQ SPOT: We weren't sure we were going to be able to do it BUT it's on!!! We will be running our perpetual Christmas Go Kart Trophy and from this year on it will be known as the Bruce Hill Memorial Trophy. Bruce was a dear friend of ours and passed earlier this year after a long battle with brain cancer. Bruce was a dedicated man who did a tremendous amount for our sport. Racing at grass roots would not be what it is today without the efforts of Bruce and many others like him. Bruce was all about motorcycling, Broadford and seeing people enjoy the sport. Many of our customers enjoy this great sport due to the efforts of so many volunteers like Bruce. Bruce was also a big supporter of ours, a good friend to our boss Daz and we wanted to do a tiny something to preserve his memory. So, we thought it apt that we name the trophy for this yearly ‘fun’ race after our late mate Bruce Hill. Go Karts will commence at 2pm on the 19th of Dec at the same venue as last year – Ace Kart in Albion. Contact Us | Ace Karts Anyone wishing to take part in the Race that stops a nation… ok maybe that might be a stretch, needs to register and pay via the link below. Spaces are limited so first in best dressed. We will then head back to Race Center HQ for a BBQ, drinks and a whole lot of talking crap about motorbikes and stuff. BBQ will commence at 5pm and all are welcome. We do ask that you register via the link below so that we can cater according. There will be a $40 fee that covers your food, beer and basic spirits. We might even kick on to a local bar afterwards if anyone is left standing (yes unlikely) After a crazy 2020, it will be great so see a lot of happy faces again. For those who cannot make it, have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for your support in 2020. Merry Christmas to all oooxxx! Book your spot for Go Karts: Register for BBQ: Bruce Hill Memorial Honors List 2019 Champion – Tim Sandy 2nd Tyson Jones 3rd Nathan Jones People Champion – William Sharrock – Blown Kart Best on Ground – Super Daz – Blindest at the after party, had an accidental nap in the bush Team Champions – Race Center 2018 Champion – Luke Sanders Peoples Champion – Dingo Meade – DNS due to high blood alcohol reading from night before Best on Ground – William Sharrock – Blindest at the after party – speaking proved very difficult for William Team Champions - Race Center

Tyre Tear and New Tracks - 10 Things you need to know

This topic always generates a lot of talk and mixed opinions. Unfortunately understanding tyres in detail can be a complex subject . So here are 10 things that might make things a bit clearer for you. 1 – Tyres have two main functions · To provide support and act as part of the motorcycle’s overall suspension and deal with imperfections in the road · To provide surface grip through a chemical reaction between rubber and road, yep it’s actually a chemical reaction! Tyre companies’ employ chemist / chemical engineers to work on tyre design. The biggest structural elements of a tyre are the tyre carcass and the tyre pressure. The compound elements are designed to provide a chemical reaction with the road that in turn gives us surface grip. Unfortunately, sometimes the requirements of each of these main parts will contradict each other. Furthermore, they each deal with different sciences. The structural side is governed by the laws of physics, while the compound is more so governed by the science of chemistry. Example: Lowering front tyre pressure to generate more compound heat will make the overall front suspension softer. Do this on a bike that has front suspension that is already too soft, then you’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble. SIDE NOTE: MotoGP commentators constantly referring to ‘cold tyres’ is just a far to simplistic way to look at it. 2 – Heat & Grip As with their functions, tyres also have 2 different ‘working windows’ or design conditions. Tyres have a ‘heat’ window (which every commentator on the planet bangs on about over and over again) and they also have a ‘grip’ window (which no one talks about enough) Some people think, more heat = more grip. This is not always true because it is dependent on the tyre. To think of tyres as SOFT, MED & HARD is a little too simplistic unfortunately. Tyres need to be characterised by their GRIP & HEAT characteristics. To explain this, we are going to compare REAR Pirelli racing slicks vs REAR Bridgestone racing slicks. The soft from both companies are their most ‘grippy’ tyre. HOWEVER! The Pirelli soft is designed for hot conditions, while the Bridgestone soft is designed for cold conditions. How they should be defined is like this: Thus, to try use a Pirelli Soft in cold conditions would just be the wrong choice. Even if you want the most grip you can get. 3 – High Tyre Grip comes with side effects While we all want as much grip as possible, there are some side effects that come with high grip tyres. · The higher the surface grip, the higher the tyre wear and shorter life it will provide · The higher the surface grip, the more likely tyre tear is. Tyres do not tear without high surface grip. · The higher the surface grip, the smaller the working window for the tyre · Too much grip makes a bike hard to steer on partial throttle and will result in SLOWER lap times The highest performance race tyres are only design to do about 12 laps. So if you get 40-50 laps out of it, your doing awesome. Higher performance = higher wear = higher costs 4 – Grip Coefficient Coefficient is just a big word to quantify the overall effect of something. In this case we are talking about the overall surface grip that is provided by track and tyre. This is really important to take into consideration You cannot just consider the tyre grip, you must also take into account the track or road grip. · Low grip tack with low grip tyre = low overall grip, but next to no tyre wear · High grip track with high grip tyre = mega high grip at first. This might sound ace at first but think back to the side effects of grip. Very high chance of tear and can be slower · High grip track with lower grip tyre = still high grip but not too high. Some brand-new track surfaces provide very high grip. Especially with this new smooth ‘fine aggregate’ type of tarmac that is being used with all new track surfaces. Those that went to The Bend in the early days know exactly what we are talking about. The new surface at Broadford is not as high grip as The Bend was in the early days, but it is still a very high grip surface. Thus using high grip tyres greatly increases the risk of tear. This is because the overall grip coefficient will be very high 5 – Grip Coefficient PLUS Now to add to what we just talked about. There is one more main element to the Overall Grip or Grip Coefficient. Your bike setup. Thus, the real formula to understanding grip is: Track Surface + Tyre Grip + Bike Setup Some setups will provide more grip than others. This is why in MotoGP bikes like the Honda will often use harder tyres in the race compared to the Ducatis. The Honda has a higher grip chassis setup so a less grippy tyre works better for them. Even in our own Race Center stable of racers, some of our bikes have a higher grip chassis setup than others. So the result is some of our riders will use different compound tyres at the same track on the same day to one another. Understanding if you have a high grip chassis setup or not is important. 6 – Your Suspension and Bike Setup has other work to do Motorcycle suspension has a lot more to do than just manage your tyre wear. In fact, it has much more important things to do. In order of priority they are: 1. Provide the rider with confidence and feel in most of the riding conditions you encounter. This not only gives the rider confidence but increased safety too. 2. Produce fast & consistent lap times 3. For road bike, absorb bumps 4. Manage tyre wear, (least important) You should never adjust your suspension based solely on tyre wear without considering the other 3 higher priority items & all the things we have already discussed. Adjusting your suspension based on tyre wear without understanding the below things first is not right. · if you have selected the correct tyre · running the right pressures · Using the tyre within both it’s grip & heat windows · For track bikes, using your tyre warmers properly Any person, article or video that talks about adjusting your suspension based on tyre wear without talking about all these things too should be ignored. It is misleading. 7 – No uniform method or terminology makes it even more confusing As our example with the Pirelli and Bridgestone slicks shows, not all tyres are made in the same way, nor is the terminology used by each manufacturer the same. This makes it confusing ☹ Scientists are great at really complex things, just not great at explaining it well. Let’s take the below graphic from Pirelli, even this can be misleading. Practically the bit about ‘smooth’ tarmac vs ‘severe’ tarmac. Tracks like The Bend and Broadford’s new surface are smooth right? (well except for all the new bumps at Broadford) However, they are actually quite severe in terms of wear. It’s misleading because of the word smooth. You need to treat these tracks as Severe not Smooth. But there is even more wrong. On a stinking hot day, like stinking hot, you could use an SC0 on a Severe track but this graphic doesn’t show that. In fact the graphic indicates you might use an SC0 on a severe track when it’s cooler and if you did that it would tear itself to shreds in a lap or 2. What you really need to know is the tyres heat range and it’s grip profile. If a tyre is high grip, don’t use it at new high grip track unless you are ok with tearing it. Simple. High grip track with high grip tyre = high chance of tear. The good bit of news is that in generally terms while their temp ranges will be different, all soft tyres will wear faster, while all hard tyres will wear slower. It’s just they have different target temperature ranges. 8 – Tyre Selection This is not always easy unfortunately. The good news is for beginners or intermediate riders it is less critical in terms of tyre tear. If it all seems a bit confusing, its always best to speak to an expert in the area and someone you trust. Tyre selection is one of the most important things you will do from a bike setup, lap time, safety and cost perspective. Again, adjusting suspension or pressures for an incorrect tyre selection is not right. While we might grave it, there is no set-in stone specific number to use. You must take all factors into consideration and make an educated decision based on the information you have. Here is the formula to help you decide: Track Surface Grip + Bike Setup Grip + Performance vs Cost And here are some examples on how to apply it. Providing you have the information that is ☹ *NOTE: The higher the overall grip, high chance of tear and wear rate will be faster Example 1: You have a high grip bike setup, going to a high grip track like Broadford, its 15degC and you do not want to tear tyres. The only choice you have is the SC2. Anything else will be too high grip and will tear Example 2: You have a twitchy low grip bike setup, going to a high grip track like Broadford, its 15degC and you are chasing lap time. The SC1 is for you and you probably will not tear it either. 9 – Cold Tear & Hot Tear There are some key things to know: · To tear a tyre, you must have a lot of grip. You will never tear any tyre on wet tiles, will you? · Once a tyre is torn it is damaged. Trying to ‘clean it up’ is hard and can lead to misleading info for next time. The missing bits of tyre from the tear have been left on the track, they are not coming back. · It’s much better to properly understand why the tyre tore in the first place and resolve those issues rather than try to fix the damaged tyre. Cold tear is a situation where a tyre isn’t just ‘too cold’ but that it is producing so much grip that it tears. While the temperature may have something to do with it, it is more important to realise it has too much grip and focus on that as well, not just the temperature. For example, doing something like letting out some air pressure to generate more heat is a bit silly. Why because lowering rear tyre pressure will also increase grip. Instead what you want to do is focus on removing some grip rather than just generating more heat. The best solution would be to select the tyre designed to work in those temps. However, let’s say we can’t do that. Making a setup change that give the bike more mid corner rotation and would spin up the tyre slightly easier will both reduce some grip and generate extra heat too. So that is a much smarter thing to do then letting out pressure. Hot tear. When a tyre gets too hot it will blister rather than tear. Instead the thing we know as hot tear is just another form of a grip tear. It’s very common on new tracks. Where it comes from is from a tyre losing grip and then re gripping. On a less grippy track in the same situation it would just spin nicely and predictably. However, on a high grip track where it would normally wheelspin nicely there is just a bit too much surface grip still because of the tarmac and it tears. It looks different because the tyre is actually in a good heat range or to the higher end of heat range. So it just tears different. Sure it might be really hot but its not the heat alone causing the tear, it’s the grip. 10 –Overall Grip and Riding Grip are different things This may be a little bit different to what you have learnt and hard to get your head around at first but clear your head and have a think about it. Too much overall grip can actually feel like a lack of grip to a rider when pushing hard. What? Yep that is correct. Too much grip can make you feel like you have no grip. Why? Because ultimately what you perceive as grip and feel, is the bike doing what you want. If for example you have too much mid corner grip, subconsciously without even realising you will be forcing the bike to turn better on the throttle than it actually wants too. It can also make you carry more lean angle than is ideal to help it steer. So you’ll be doing these things without realising it and the bike might let go a bit just because it can’t follow the lines you are asking of it. Yet when it let’s go, you’ll think ‘I don’t have enough grip. Understanding if a bike is letting go because you have too much grip or because not enough grip can be hard. Here is a little bit of gold for you. Remember the stuff we have already covered? What if you see what you used to think of as cold tear as too much grip. If you have those symptoms and your bike is letting go, it’s likely you have too much grip rather than not enough. Look it would be nice if you could look at the wear pattern of your tyres and concluded what you need to do with setup. However that’s just not realistic. It’s not because tis so complicated but rather because there are so many factors at play in this. So you need to take your time to understand it properly and that takes a lot of experience. So lean on people with it 😊 If you want some great tips on specific things you can try when you have these tears plus get our latest tyre data including pressure for the new surface at Broadford, join our Race School. Race School has this data and more and is still at our introductory price of just $99 for 12 months. GO TO RACE SCHOOL Ride safe & fast 😉

Motorcycle Mechanic / Technician Wanted – Race Center

We are on the look out for an individual who is passionate about their trade. Someone who is excited by the opportunity to work on race bikes, performance upgrades and the highest level of servicing. Essentially, we are on the hunt for someone that loves motorbikes and takes pride in the quality of their work. We are open to applications from 3rd year apprentices and above. Desired skills · A great work ethic, team mentality and willingness to learn is of the upmost importance. · Servicing experience · Previous experience working with race bike will help but not vital, we have that covered 😉 · Suspension servicing experience will help but not vital · Attention to detail · Someone who is excited about working on seriously awesome motorbikes. Opportunities The right candidate will have the opportunity to develop their skills, learn about performance work, dyno tuning and suspension tuning as they develop. There will also be opportunities for career growth as we expand our business plus be involved in a race team. Anyone interested please submit your resume to DUE TO COVID-19 interviews will be held over zoom and start date will be after the next stage of restrictions being lifted. please send your resume to

Mid-Season Score Card

The absence of Marc MARQUEZ has created one of the most unpredictable and exciting MotoGP seasons in recent memory, the action has been unbelievable. Yet it must be said that no one rider has really stepped up to take on the mantel of class leader, in fact it has almost seemed like no one actually wants to win the 2020 MotoGP title. So with 7 rounds run and another 7 to go, we thought we give each rider a score card out of 10 on their season so far. Andrea DOVIZIOSO – 5.5 5.5 might seem a little harsh for the man currently leading the championship. We just think Desmo Dovi has just been too inconsistent in terms of raw pace. Clearly there are a lot of politics in the Ducati camp and Dovi has struggled to find a good base setting for the 2020 machine. However, Dovi has been Ducati’s num 1 rider for years plus he has had a lot of say in their development path. Dovi has had a lot of time and opportunities to get the job done. With Marquez away he should be running away with this title, but he is not.' Fabio QUARTARARO 6.2 Last years rookie sensation hit the ground running at the beginning of this season. Quartararo was in scintillating form, after the first 2 rounds he had bagged the maximum available 50 points. Since then though, he has only managed a further 33 points within 5 races which has included 2 x DNFs that were his own fault. Fabio’s pace has remained quite strong however he needs to deliver solid points even when he and his Petronas SRT Yamaha isn’t the strongest package. In Misano 1, while he crashed out from a silly self-inflected error his teammate went on to comfortably win the grand prix. Misano 2 he lost the podium because apparently didn’t see the warning on his dash. While the track limits rule may suck but a rider knows when they are exceeding track limits and shouldn’t need to see a warning. Still 2020 has seen him take his first 2 MotoGP victories so there are positives but he needs to deliver more. Maverick VIÑALES – 7.5* We found scoring Maverick a little hard. On one side of the fence a rider of his experience should be constantly delivering come Sunday. Apparently following Misano 2 Mav and team are confident they have found a solution to his lack of Sunday pace. The jury is still out on that one. On the other side of the fence Mav has had some serious difficulties to deal with. In recent times facing the media scrutiny on his lack of Sunday pace and let’s not forget what happened at the Red Bull Ring. First, he was nearly decapitated by Zarco’s Ducati, then the following weekend he suffered brake failure at nearly 300Km/h. Those incidents in quick succession would rattle anyone. The fact that Maverick bounced back with 2 x Pole positions and a race win last weekend is why we have scored him higher than his Sunday form warrants. That shows some serious determination. *Maverick also score extra credit for his dismount when his brakes failed. It was very quick thinking, well executed and saved him from very serious injury. Marc MARQUEZ– 4.5 He might be absent, but we are still going to score the 8 times world champion. First off, he should score 20 out of 10 for that absurd front end save at Jerez in the first round. Then a 15 out of 10 for his fight back through the field before it all went wrong. While the mistakes were of his own doing, it is now very clear to how much he has been out riding the Honda. The reason we have scored him so low was his attempted comeback and what that approach has done to his recovery time. While at the time it may have seemed heroic it was a massive injury and if you took a proper step back you could see how equally absurd the attempted comeback was. If instead he rested properly straight away, he might well already be back and still have an outside chance of the title. Marquez’s win at all costs mentally was always going to catch up with him at some point. Joan MIR – 8.2 Joan Mir entered the MotoGP with a lot of hype surrounding him and now we are starting to see why. We have to remember Mir suffered big injuries in the post-race test at Bruno in 2019, from which he has steadily climbed his way back to form. The Vinales brake failure and subsequent red flag cost him a certain victory in the Styrian Grand Prix. On the negative side Mir has crashed out of a race twice this year, first in the first round at Jerez and second at the Chec Grand Prix. In the 5 other grand prix Joan has finished in the top 5, twice on the podium and if wasn’t for that red flag he’d probably be leading the championship. One lap qualifying pace has been a struggle for the Suzuki’s however Mir more than makes up for it with his canny race craft and super ballsy, yet calculated passes that stick! If it wasn’t for the 2 crashes Mir would have scored well into the 9s and is still our highest scorer on this list. Franco Morbidelli – 7.8 Franco’s break through win at Misano was simply a master class. Everyone watching the race probably expected Morbidelli to fade as the race went on, but he actually got stronger. He didn’t get to back up that strong performance due to illness and Aleix Esparagaro almost taking him out on lap one. Franco suffered a mechanical DNF while in 4th place in the 2nd Jerez Grand Prix and who could forget that frightening incident with Zarco at the Red Bull Ring. Another positive was his pace at Brno where he finished a strong 2nd to the brilliant Brad Binder. It’s been a strong 3rd year for Franco in MotoGP Jack MILLER – 7.3 Our own Jack Miller has had a pretty dam good season so far. While jack is still having probably a few too many crashes they are becoming less frequent on race day. His ability to dust himself off and push through the pain barrier has also been very impressive. Jack has had great pace most of the time and when he hasn’t he is still scoring points rather than throwing it away as he used to do all too often. Tyre management over race distance remains and area Miller needs to continue to work but the progress from jack has been positive. If it wasn’t for retched luck last weekend at Misano Jack would be higher than 6th in the points right now. Takaaki NAKAGAMI - 7.1 Taka has had flashes of brilliance this year holding up the HRC banner quite well. Nakagami also doesn’t get enough praise for how much he has had to fight his own injury battles following his off season shoulder surgery. The Honda has been a hard to handle bike and young Taka has done it best of all so far, we give him more than a pass mark. NO IMAGE AVAILABLE AS CAMERAS ARE NOT PERMITTED IN HOSPTIAL Cal CRUTCHLOW – 1.3 Sorry Crutchlow fans but it seems that Cal has spent more time injured over the last 4 years than fit. There is no doubting his pace on his day, but those days are just too far and few between these days. Now we learn he has ruptured his left ankle ligaments as he slipped in the paddock upon his arrival to Circuit de Catalunya. Seriously you would think MotoGP 2020 is a scripted sitcom rather than real life sport. Maybe it’s time for Cal to return to WSBK, either that or take up permanent residency in a hospital? Miguel OLIVEIRA – 6.5 (7.5) It’s been a bit of a yoyo season for Miguel, he has taken his first ever MotoGP win but also has had his fair share of bad luck and inconsistent results. Twice he has been taken out by one of the KTM factory riders. His win in the Styrian Grand Prix was clever but a little bit of a Bradbury taking advantage of others tripping over each other rather than having outright race winning pace, still you have to be able to take advantage of those situation. We would have scored Oliveira 7.5 instead of 6.5 if it wasn’t for his post-race win celebrations. Miguel you’re not Gene Simmons, no one needs to see that much of your tongue. Valentino ROSSI – 6.9 The doctor has had a pretty consistent season, often having strong race pace albeit not race winning pace. He has been the top Yamaha more than once; he made a rare mistake crashing out last weekend and has also had a DNF due to a mechanical failure on his M1. All things considered, in terms of pace this has been one of Rossi’s stronger seasons in recent years. Rossi also seems to have more of his old humor back too. Pol ESPARGARO – 6.5 Scoring Pol was hard to be honest. We have been very critical him this year with his silly mistakes under pressure and his carry on afterwards. Deservedly so we might add. He has had strong pace but has to push so hard in order to obtain that pace that he is crashing frequently. At least he openly admits this. Pol has scored 2 podiums this year and his last one was brilliant. The length of time he held off Quartararo after his tyre had completely fallen off the cliff was very impressive. Under heavy pressure he made no mistakes and kept fighting even though it was a battle he was always going to lose. Fighting so hard meant he was close enough to capitalise on Fabio’s post-race penalty, that’s the sort of ride we need to see from Pol more often than not. Well done! Brad BINDER – 8.0 The brilliant Binder scores high in our midyear assessment as we are putting it in context, this is his rookie season! It’s not up to him to play smart or consistent yet, it’s up to him to make his mark and find pace in the MotoGP class. His win a Brno was on pure pace and merit, it was nothing short of brilliant! He has made a few errors and taken a couple of riders out but that’s what we would expect from a rookie. His goal should be finding pace. We love his no nonsense approach we just need to see better qualifying pace to score him any higher, which he started to show at the most recent round. Alex RINS – 5.0 Rins has been injured for most of the season so scoring him with a 5.0 is more about the injury than being an outright reflection on his performance. He did crash out of contention while challenging for the win against Dovi in the Austrian GP, while it was a mistake it was good to see him up there. Let’s see how the second half of the season pans out for Alex. Johann ZARCO – 4.8 Zarco has shown awesome pace at times but has been far too inconsistent in terms of results for a rider of his experience. He is riding more like a rookie than an experienced 2-time world champion. There has already been so much talk about the incidents Johann has been involved in, rather than recap all that we are simply looking at the amount of point Zarco has amassed. Simply not enough for the pace he can have at times. Hard charger but too much inconsistency. We would have scored him lower if it was not for his grit riding with a fractured scaphoid in the Styrian Grand Prix. Danilo PETRUCCI – 4.0 This hasn’t been the best season for the likeable Petrucci unfortunately. Danilo has finished all but one race this year yet sits 14th in the championship standings and he is on a factory bike. He has been very consistent, just consistently slow. On the plus, Danilo is leading the competition to see which rider can stick out their leg the furthest. It's clearly working for him. Francesco BAGNAIA – 7.4 Pecco has come on super strong this year. His pace at Misano was brilliant, especially considering he is recovering from a fractured leg. He has often been the fastest or one of the fastest Ducati’s and surely is in the box seat to take the 2nd Factory bike in 2021? His injuries are of his own doing though, he did crash out of the lead last weekend and missing as much of the season as he has it’s hard to score him higher. Super impressive though! Alex MARQUEZ – 6.0 As with Binder, we are scoring Alex in context. Rookie season, thrown into the factory team and on the difficult to ride Honda. Not to mention the pressure of being in Marc’s shadows. Alex’s qualifying pace has been poor but that’s probably as much down to his machine than just him. Where the KTM and Yamaha are easier for rookies to get along with, the Honda seems to be the opposite. Alex is starting to come along so let’s see how he develops over the second half of the season. Aleix ESPARGARO 3.0 We are not going to waste too many words on this guy. There is no doubt he can be very fast when it doesn’t count but we are just sick of his carrying on. Last weekend he crashed out, almost took Franco with him and then cried like a baby on return to the pits. Aleix has also continued his usual getting in people’s way during qualifying. Iker LECUONA – 5.5 There was a lot discussion whether or not Iker deserved his MotoGP ride or not. In his rookie season he has been fast but has also crashed a lot. We need to see a bit more before we can give him a proper score. Bradley SMITH – 3.2 Sure it’s a fill in ride while Andrea IANNONE serves his doping ban, so on merit Smith probably wouldn’t have a MotoGP ride. Bradley is always at the back of the field but not stupidly off the pace. At times his within 0.5sec of his fast teammate but without all the rubbish carry on. Smith has long been a golden boy in Dorna’s eyes and probably gotten a little further in his career than he would have without. Still he is a decent rider but when it comes to MotoGP he is only filling up grid slots at this point in his career. NO IMAGE AVAILABLE - PHOTOGRAPHER HAD GONE HOME BY THE TIME TITO CAME PAST Tito RABAT – 1.0 Rabat once promised a lot especially after being a Moto2 world champion, in 2020 we are still waiting to see it. It is hard to score him because the TV cameras don’t seem to go that for back. On the plus Tito can smash a bike as good as anyone. NO IMAGE AVAILABLE - SEE ABOVE Stefan BRADL – 2.0 We can forget that Stefan Bradl is a former Moto2 world champion and was fighting with Marc Marquez back in those days. He was a one time HRC golden boy however time has shown he was probably only gold plated rather than pure gold. He has been carrying an injury so we can’t judge him too hard and at least he hasn’t wrecked all of Marc’s bikes…yet. As always please feel free to share your own views with us too 😊

Body Position & Lean Angle – Part 1 Understanding the Keys

Mega lean angle, great body position, knee down and these days elbow down and that leg dangle thing. These are things a lot of us crave. Especially if there is a photographer keen to snap up some action images. So what’s the deal, how important is it and what it the right way to learn it? The goal dictates the method In order to answer these questions, the first thing you need to decide is what is your ultimate goal? Is it to be as fast as you can, using body position as a tool to become faster? And if one day that leads to a great riding style bonus! Or just to have better photos than your mates and look as cool as you can without being too worried about your lap time? Whatever the answer cool, you do you. However, if you are only interested in appearances and not speed, then this is not the article for you. We always put speed and lap time 1st, appearances 2nd. It’s just how we roll. Warning – There is Big Trap Before we go any further, we need to discuss the biggest trap you will face, hanging off too much for your level and speed. Yep, there is such a thing as hanging off too much and it’s a very common trap many riders fall into. Surely the more you hang off the better right? No, that’s not the case at all. In fact, how much you should hang off its directly related to your speed. Instead of worrying about how much you are hanging off you should: · Focus on learning the key principles, they are easy and fun. · Work on them until they are set in stone · Then move onto learning how to ride faster. This is easier than you think and fun. · As you become faster you will naturally hang off more without the need to even think about it · Let your natural flare stand out and evolve, embrace it. Riding style is not a one size fits all deal. Natural Flare Why is natural flare so important? In short, feel. Riding a motorcycle has an innate or feel component. The better you understand your motorcycle and what it needs from you, the better and faster you will ride. This is what true rider feel is. (Innate just means natural for those thinking wtf is this innate rubbish) Let us take an extreme example. A Ducati MotoGP bike cannot be ridden the same way as the Yamaha M1. The rider needs to adapt right? The better ‘feel’ a rider has the quicker they will adapt. This is why riders so set in their existing ways can take a long time to adapt to change. One of the reasons riders who learn to ride from an early age normally end up being so fast is they develop natural feel without the barrier of adult conscious thought. Adults can still learn but they must embrace their natural feel and control their conscious thought. Feel comes from the sub conscious not the conscious mind. Take a look at the elite level of any sport on the planet. Be it football, tennis and of course our own MotoGP. The very best have their own style or twist on it. Compare Marc Marquez and Alex Rins, they have such different styles, yet they are both mega fast. Compare Roger Federer and Raffa Nadal, same deal. Some coaching techniques go a bit too far and stifle your feel. Just be aware of that. Basic Physics It’s a bit more complex than what we will cover here but this is riding lesson not a physics lesson 😊 First, the more you hang off the easier and faster a bike will turn. While these may seem like great reasons to hang off as much as you can, there are a couple of negative side effects. The more you hang off, the more unstable the bike becomes, making it easier to fall over. From our years of research falling over isn’t very desirable. Secondly there is such a thing as turning too fast. This is where our best buddy speed comes in to help. The faster you are travelling the more stable the bike becomes and the slower it will turn. Speed counteracts the negative side effects of hanging off. Thus, used together they equal awesomeness. Centrifugal Force The main reason a bike will turn easier and faster if you hang off is the impact it has on centrifugal force. Centrifugal force acts on any object moving in a circular motion. In this case you and your motorbike in a corner. The force tries to send the object further away from the centre point or to the ‘outside’. The greater the distance from the centre point to the objects centre of gravity (COG), the greater the centrifugal force. As you hang off, you shift the centre of gravity inwards which lessens the affect of the centrifugal force. We can take this a step further by looking at vertical. We can see the distance between the centre point and COG if further reduced. Plus it puts the overall weight of you and your motorcycle in a much better area to counteract the centrifugal force. Side note: Speed also massively effects centrifugal force, the faster you a travelling the greater the force. Vertical Stability While the physics behind centrifugal force make it seem there are only positives to hanging off, here comes the vertical stability component. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out if you sit upright on a stool you’ll be perfectly ok. Yet if you hang off massively to one side, you’ll tip over and look like a massive dickhead. In motion there are just a couple of things stopping your motorbike from falling over. A force called the gyroscopic effect and our own balance. The gyroscopic effect is created by the wheels rotating and this force will always try to make the bike stand upright. The faster they rotate, the bigger the effect and more stable the bike becomes. You can search the interweb thingy if you want to learn more about the gyroscopic effect. So, the slower you are travelling, the easier for the bike to fall into a corner due to the lack of gyroscopic effect. While you may think the more a bike wants to fall into a turn or lean over the better, think back to the stool example. You will feel the same sort of instability and nervousness. Some riders have better balance than others. The better your balance the easier you can deal with this instability, but you will still be slow. Learning better balance is a positive however your primary focus should be giving the bike what it really needs. The more stable the platform, the more we can hang off even if your balance isn’t the best. Speed is our friend for this, speed is also our best friend when it comes to lap time. Lean Angle Lean angle serves only one purpose, to allow us to turn. The best example you can use to demonstrate this is a flat top cone, something like a cup. Place a cup on its side and rotate it, it will turn toward the direction of the smaller end, always. This is the same thing that happens to your bike when leant over. The tyres act the same way the cup does. The more you lean it over, the faster the bike will turn. Turning Too Fast Now I hope you are sitting down and ready for this. This may be a little bit of a brain bender for people who have been taught or studied ‘quick steering’ or have been told the faster you steer a bike the better. As long are you are riding on planet earth the laws of physics will always apply. As we have briefly touched on so far, the faster you’re travelling the slower a bike will steer. Thus, in order for you to steer ‘faster’ you’ll need to slow down! Now as sure as Batman and Robin’s costumes are too tight, slowing to ‘steer fast’ will hurt your lap time every day of the week. There a few exceptions mid turn when we are talking more advance riding but not in terms of entry speed with the sole purpose of trying to steer fast. The only thing quick steering will help with is letting faster riders pass you easier. Another drawback of turning too fast is it can mess up your race line. A Quick Summary More speed creates a more stable platform. Hanging off a stable platform is much easier than an unstable platform Hanging off an unstable platform feels awkward and nervous More speed = slower turning Turning too fast is a problem Greater lean angle = faster turning Hanging off = Faster tuning If you hang off too much without enough speed you will be putting more effort into supporting yourself due to the lack of stability. You will also need to put effort in so the bike doesn’t apex too early. Thus the amount you need to lean the bike over and hang off is dictated by your speed. It’s no coincidence that MotoGP riders are stupid fast while making dragging their elbow look so easy. Speed, required lean angle and how much you should hang off are all connected. Still not sure? Best example I ever had of this principle was coaching a fella John Kranz at Baskerville in Tasmania. Baskerville is mostly left handers, his only goal for the coaching day was to finally get his right knee down. He had been getting his left knee down for years but could never get his right one down. He thought it had something to do with not practicing right handers enough or his ‘style’ in right handers. When I followed him my first thought was “shit this dude is pretty quick! I better put my skates on to keep up with him”. We got back around to turn 1 & 2, the only right handers on the circuit, I nearly t-boned him. He was that slow in them compared to the rest of the circuit. I sat him down, gave him some vision things to work on and put a rocket up him about his lack of speed into turn 1. I didn’t even address anything to do with his body position or riding ‘style’ or any of that crap. Just his entry speed and mind set. Next session, he went back out…. And got his right knee down for the first time after years and years of trying. The missing ingredient was speed. The Technique Doesn’t Change Now the good thing about learning to hang off is the basic principles don’t change from a beginner to a pro. Think about it like bench pressing, you wouldn’t try to bench press 120kg in your first week ever at the gym would you? Nor should you hang off heaps when you are a novice or intermediate rider. The amount changes over time and experience, however the basic technique remains the same. Which style works best? While there are many different specific riding styles out there, they can be categorised into 3 main styles. 1. Leaning in with the upper part of your body 2. Leaning in with your bum 3. Leaning in equally with your upper and lower body Each has its pros and cons, selecting which to use is as simple as what feels more natural for you. Favouring your natural tendency will far outweigh any negatives that come with the style you choose. Plus as you develop you will end up with the bit of a hybrid anyway but you will always favour one of these. Some examples of style 1 · Marc Marquez · Maverick Vinales · Casey Stoner · Scott Redding Some Examples of Style 2 · Mick Doohan · Troy Bayliss · Alex Rins · Jack Miller (although he is a bit more 2 & 3) Some Example of Style 3 · Valentino Rossi · Jonny Rea · Jorge Lorenzo All of these guys are mega in their own right and there are 14 billion world titles between them all. So what feel more natural is most important than which you choose. The reason they all work comes down to the basic physics of it. In the horizontal plane moving the centre of gravity to roughly 45deg from the head stem is ideal. While in the vertical plane again about 45deg from head stem downward is ideal Style 1 is the best in the horizontal plane, while the worst in the vertical. Style 2 is the best in the vertical but the worst in the horizontal. Style 3 is not ideal in either nor is it the worst in either so it also works. Marquez has developed a really low-down version of style 1, the physics of it definitely help him with his ridiculous 14km front end saves. Stoner had a really extenuated version of style 1 using his upper body to get the centre of gravity in a really good spot to be able to slide the rear, definitely a contributing factor to why he really came alive once he got onto the bigger higher powered bikes. The Leg Dangle There are a fair few different interpretations of why the leg dangle works and is used. There are a few factors in favour of it. · Where it places the Centre of Gravity · At really high braking g-force it can be hard to keep your inside leg on the peg with anything to support it if you are properly locked in. Over time can cause a bit of cramp in the groin. · Can look cool There are also some draw backs. · You have to get your foot back on before you turn in (any extra work you need to do takes time) · You can’t use the rear brake (unless you have thumb brake) or gear lever while doing it · You will look like a flog doing it when you are slow, sorry but you will. The leg dangle is best left until you are going so fast that it feels hard to keep your inside leg on the peg and it feel natural to let it go. We hope this theory has help clarify of few things for you. If you would like some practical exercises and specific methods to get your body position down pat, we have put together part 2 & part 3 in video format for our Race School subscribers. Not only with these tips help with you body position, they will also make you faster! Race School is just $99 for a 12 month subscription GO TO RACE SCHOOL for Part 2 & 3 full videos Or check out the sample video

Form Guide – San Marino Grand Prix

Mav – Top Gun Surely there isn’t a soul who would begrudge Maverick VIÑALES’ brilliant pole position for San Marino Grand Prix. The fella with arguably the coolest name in MotoGP, produced a scintillating 1.31.411 around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to take pole by 0.3 of second. As we predicted earlier in the week, the freshly resurface Misano circuit has been a Yamaha fest so far with all 4 Yamaha’s on the grid filling the top 4 positions. Seeing Mav in P1 on the time sheets was super nice considering what he has been through in recent times. After 2 near death experiences, 2 weeks in a row Maverick probably would have been happy enough if his brakes worked more often than not this weekend. So to see him in top form with great race pace, one lap pace and what seems to be a load of confidence is really, really cool. Normally we are a little critical of riders who celebrate a pole position too much, especially when they have a record of not delivering the goods on a Sunday. However, in this case Mav’s celebrations were completely warranted and seeing it definitely brought a smile to our faces. From a mindset perspective we also think letting all the built up emotion out will serve him very well for the 27 lap race. Maverick will be a contender. MORBIDELLI – Nothing to Lose While we predicted the Blu Cru boys would be strong, we didn’t expect to see Franco in P2 if we are honest. We expected his teammate to comfortably have his measure, particularly in qualifying but that was not to be. After that monster coming together with Zarco and all the politics that followed Franco seems to be in a happy head space, plus he has nothing to lose either. He currently sits 11th in the championship and his seat is secured for next year, thus there isn’t a lot of pressure on him at the moment. He will need to find a bit of extra-long run pace if he is to be a contender for the race win. We have him down as a podium chance rather than a contender for the win. El’ DIABLO – A must to Pounce Championship leader Fabio QUARTARARO has been in hot form in every session this weekend and needs to capitalise whenever his Yamaha package is strong. The Misano circuit really suits the sweet handling M1 and this is an opportunity for Fabio to cement his place as championship favourite. Regardless of what unfolds he needs to be in the battle for the win and ideally needs to finish in the top 2. The Doctor – Primed for Surgery Valentino has also been in very strong form this weekend. Something to really take note of is the fact Rossi was on the pace as early as FP2. These days it normally takes the Doctor a little longer to find his mojo and we often see him in Q1. Not this weekend, Vale has had good long run pace as well as one lap pace almost from the get go. While it has been a long time since Rossi has fought for race wins, he has done it so often over such a long career he will not have forgotten how. The issue the Doctor normally faces these days is his pace, not his mental strength. When it comes to performing when it counts on a Sunday, Valentino is a blue-chip performer. He will be a real threat this weekend and we wouldn't be at all surprised to see him fighting for the win. Thriller Miller As predicted, it hasn’t been easy going for Jack this weekend, on top of that he had another fall in FP3. Still he has shown some decent pace even when being a little inconsistent and he delivered the goods when it counted being the first non-Yamaha in P5. We can’t really see Jack having the pace to fight for the win or podium on true merit, but this is a big weekend for him to deliver a strong result. Jack also needs to keep his head so that he can pick up any crumbs should the boys in blue trip over one another. After all, the new re-surface has resulted in a lot of new bumps. Bumps plus hard braking pass attempts often end in tears. Top Step for Top Gun It’s impossible to pick a winner this weekend with any real confidence. We all know that Mav’s Sunday performances have let him down in recent years, which is a real shame. He is so talented yet hasn’t delivered on the promise he showed when he first joined Yamaha. As we started typing this little form guide our money was on Fabio but we are going to put our hopes on Maverick to take the win. Good luck Top Gun, Mav on the top step? We would like to see that Who’s your tip?

Miller Time

Jack Miller has always been a bit of a puzzle. Supremely talented but is he the real deal? Amazing on his day but is he good enough to win a MotoGP world championship? In short, our belief, yes he is! One of the best Grand Prix rides in any class we can remember in recent history was Miller’s 2014 Moto3 win at Phillip Island. Under massive pressure to perform in front of his home crowd and still in the title hunt, Miller produced to goods to take a throttling win. He was engaged in a race long freight train with his slower KTM clearly down on power on the straights, yet he found a way to win against the odds and take the title fight down to the wire. His race craft and determination were 2nd to none! For anyone that has never seen that ride, watch a replay if you can, it was awesome. So can he take that next step? Here are 5 things to consider. 1 - The Deep End Jack Miller is the only rider on the current MotoGP grid that went straight from Moto3 to MotoGP, skipping Moto2. The option for Jack to jump straight to MotoGP from Moto3 in 2015 was one he probably couldn’t refuse. Especially seeing there was a HRC contract waived in front of him. That said, missing Moto2 would have an impact, no matter how good you are. There are skills you learn on a middle weight bike that serve you for the rest of your riding career. Sure you can learn the same skills on a bigger bike but it takes longer. Why? Speed perception and the ability for the brain to process things quickly. No one is immune to this, no one. It’s just how the brain works. Having to learn the entire MotoGP tech and speed perception all at once is a monumental task. Jack is in his 6th season of MotoGP now however due to his path, purely from an expectation level we think it should be seen as if he is only in his 3rd year. 2 – He didn’t Drown Jack is starting to shine, getting better and better. Yes he has crashed too often at critical times in a Grand Prix however when you put the path he has taken into perspective that is more than understandable. Not only did he survive his jump into the deep end, he had to deal with contract negotiations year to year to keep his place on MotoGP grid. The reward for learning to swim in the deep end with the sharks is he actually has 5 years MotoGP experience under his belt now. 3 – Ducati’s Main Man Jack Miller should now be Ducati’s main focus. He is confirmed factory rider for 2021 and Dovi is on his way out after a bit of a public spat with The factory. Furthermore Jack was faster than Dovi on pure speed at the Styrian Grand Prix, a track Dovi has been very strong on in the past. Being only 14 point off the championship lead, there can be no doubt that Jack will receive the full weight of the Bologna factory behind him. 4 – No Marc Anyone who thinks that the eventual 2020 MotoGP world champion only won it because Marc wasn’t there is being unfair. Sure if Marc was on the grid he would be at the front, no one would deny that. Marc crashed and injured himself all of his own doing. Yes he rode a brilliant race in Jerez before his crash and that front end save was utterly ridiculous, wow that was really out of this world. However, every rider faces the same risks week in and week out. Part of wining a championship is staying fit enough to ride. Marc has got away with a lot of crashes over the years, unfortunately he finally got caught out. All that said, no Marc on the grid does give the young crop of riders fresh hope. 5 – Belief No one denies Jack Miller is a ruthless hard charger with tonnes of bravery and skill. Yet to this date Miller has never been in a realistic shot of the title, now he is. With that comes added pressure, does he have the true inner belief to face this challenge? This weekend we return to Misano, a track the outrageously fast championship leader Fabio QUARTARARO finished 2nd last year. In fact, all 4 Yamaha’s finished in the top 5 in 2019, only the great Marc MARQUEZ could beat them. Sure the Yamaha’s are struggling this year with their usual lack of power and their latest feature, the ultra high tech part time braking system. Still this is a track they will be strong. And so too will the sweet handling KTM’s. In 2019 Jack finished 26 secs off the lead in 9th place, in 2018 19th and 50secs off the lead. Misano has not been a happy hunting ground for Miller in recent years. Jack could be facing a difficult weekend coming. Can he find the pace to be competitive at Misano? And if not, does he have the inner belief to stay positive and deliver a performance that will keep his championship alive? We believe he can but let us know what you think? One thing is for sure, we’ll be cheering for Thriller Miller!