Winners
Pecco Bagnaia
Four wins in a row for Bagnaia is something pretty special – the Italian’s on a bigger roll than his hire car. The Misano result moved him into second place in the championship just 30 points behind Quartararararo. Sounds to us like another great reason to throw a party.
Ducati
Last week was a big week for the Bolognaise based team as they officially announced that Enea Bastianini would be replacing Jack Miller in the factory squad. Jorge Martin was distraught as for some reason he thought being 10th in the championship with a healthy sprinkling of unforced crashes was what Ducati were looking for.
But was it the correct decision? Based on the Misano result – yes.
DUI star Pecco Bagnaia won the race with Bastianini just behind. A 2023 factory 1-2…if that makes any sense. Better still their outgoing rider Jack Miller, who if he was a browser would be Internet Explorer 5, fell off and Jorge Martin finished 9th.
Brad Binder
For whatever reason Freddie Spencer and his chums have a soft spot for Brad. Maybe they feel sorry for him because his brother is Darryn? Or maybe they cut him some slack knowing he grew up in a country that requires you to fit homemade flame-throwers to the underside of your car to stop you being robbed? Whatever the reason the stewards clearly like Binder, who is one chemical accident away from being a Batman villain, given they completely looked the opposite way after the South African caused a multi-rider crash into the first corner.
Zarco, Pirro and Pol Espargaro were all sent sprawling into the Italian countryside after Binder braked too late, clipped the kerb and caught Zarco’s handlebar. Brad, however, stayed upright.
If Binder was French he’d have been given many long lap penalties.
Aprilia
A year ago Aprilia took on the bi-polar problem-child Maverick Vinales. They knew the new Top Gun film was due out so thought he was worth a shot too – once they’d fitted his bike with an extra-strong rev-limiter.
But, unlike Yamaha, Aprilia cared for Vinales – although they probably still disliked his dad. They nurtured him. And they didn’t even tell him he was rubbish when he was. And now he’s coming good.
Misano was Mav’s third podium in the last four races which mean Aprilia finally have a rider other than Aleix who can ride their bike.
Honda Engineers
It’s been an embarrassing few months for HRC. Funny for us but less amusing for the management who have been forced to willingly fall on their swords whilst watching their staff being dumped into the Tokyo harbour. Since building their god awful 2022 MotoGP heap they’ve known it was bad and they can’t seem to fix it. It’s just fundamentally flawed and painful to look at – like a film with James Corden in it.
But for a company that’s tried nothing and is all out of ideas their nightmare might soon be over – without having to lift a single chopstick.
Antichrist Marc Marquez was at Misano. And he told his fans and haters that he will ride again this season. This was oriental music to Honda’s boneheaded ears because if anyone can fix the Honda then they can’t. But if someone can roll the turd in glitter and pull off some great results then Marc Marquez probably can.
Time for the Honda engineers to stop scratching their noodles and sit back for a well-earned rest whilst Marc takes up the slack.
Losers
Andrea Dovizioso
It was Dovizioso’s final MotoGP ever and he got a send-off. But was it really fitting for the rider that kept several seasons of MotoGP ‘modestly interesting’ by being the almost-man to Marc Marquez? We think not.
Aleix Espargaro
Mid-season the elder Asparagus brother was Aprilia’s top dog and a genuine title contender. Now he’s not and he’s not.
Franco Morbidelli
Poor old Morbidelli could be ‘cut and paste’ onto this section after every race. Something like:
Morbidelli failed to make Q2, then in the race rode around near the back before falling off/retiring/finishing outside the points.
But Misano gave us a brilliant false dawn when the outgoing Italian qualified in the top ten…tenth that is. But that was ten places higher than normal and gave hope that the VR46 Neverland reject may be starting to find some form that didn’t utterly humiliate him and his team.
But it was ‘business as usual’ for Franky once the race started as he drifted towards the back then fell off.
Fabio Quartarararo
Struggled home in 5th place whilst watching his title rival Bagnaia take yet another victory. In his sombre mood afterwards the cheese-eating Yamaha rider admitted he was trying his best but his Yamaha just isn’t a match for the Italian bikes. This sounded like Fabio was the latest in a long line of Frenchmen to wave the white flag.
Us
Bagnaia may remember this race as a crucial victory and a turning point in his championship charge. Quartararararo, meanwhile, may remember the race as being the one where he decided his bike was too crap to win him a second championship. For the rest of us the race was utterly forgettable…to the point I’m having a hard time remembering what even happened.
The Moto2 race was rubbish as well. Even the Moto3 race was tame by its usual carnage-fest standards.