By Whit Bazemore

Bend. Pecco Bagnaia is developing a “bin it or win it” reputation. The defending MotoGP Champ, who won his championship last year in a stunning comeback from a mid-year 91 point deficit (caused by, you guessed it, too many DNF’s from unforced crashes), has, after four GP’s thus far in 2023, won — or crashed. 

After his surprising crash from the lead in Austin’s Red Bull US GP two weeks ago, Bagnaia said that his factory Ducati, while being by far the best bike on the grid, might “feel too good” and that it will suddenly “just crash with no warning.” His words sounded eerily reminiscent of what F1 drivers said some 40 years ago at the dawn of the ground effects era. The down force was so good, the cars so fast through corners, almost every driver to a man said, that it was almost unbelievable, until, of course, the limit was reached — and at that point, without feeling or warning, you would crash. Could MotoGP bikes, and the Ducati specifically, with its now huge wings, be facing the same situation? 

We are not engineers here at AE, but common sense plays a big role in racing, and common sense will lead you to believe that a 220MPH prototype motorbike, leaned over at 63 degrees, or more, on the edge of traction, with tons of downforce (actual figures are, so far, impossible to get, but we are very curious, and are working on it!) can suddenly, and without warning, lose front tire grip and crash. It’s always been this way, but now with the wings, it is likely that the bike feels great until that very moment, as opposed to in the past, when a MotoGP rider could feel the front moving, could feel the edge and the limit. Now it seems, the limit is so high, that when it is reached, it is a light switch being flipped. There is lots of grip, until there is none. BAM. Plus, the wings and downforce are not directing 100% of their pressure straight down through corners, but also toward the outside of the turn. Say the bike is turning right, then the wings are pushing the front at a certain amount — toward the left. 

Everything in racing is usually a compromise, and the aero on MotoGP bikes is 100% effective in keeping the front on the ground during acceleration (anti-wheelie — thus more power able to be utilized sooner) and under braking — both huge benefits to increased lap times. But maybe the cornering compromises are an issue and a contributing reason there are so many crashes lately. Two heavily favored Championship contenders, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini have both missed every race thus far due to injury. 

The Spanish GP typically marks the beginning of the “European season” the traditional summer schedule of MotoGP in front of fevered fans across the continent. Jerez, in the south of Spain, is a beautiful old Spanish city, filled with a maze of super narrow streets, $1.00 dbl shots of espresso, small bars going all night (beware if you are a racing photographer and want to sleep well and be the first to the circuit every morning) and an everyday, huge, fresh fish market to die for. The tight track just out of town is world famous too — for its past F1 history, and its current place in MotoGP where 200,000+ rabid Spanish fans turn up every spring. 

Bagnaia, no doubt under considerable pressure from having discarded fifty plus points so far this year while his two main championship rivals (Bastianini and Marquez) have been MIA due to injuries, rose to the occasion, again, showing incredible speed and, it must be said, aggression, to win the difficult and hot Grand Prix. 

The two KTM’s of Jack Miller and Brad Binder were the surprise of the weekend, qualifying well, and leading most of the race until Pecco forced his way through into the lead with only three to go. It’s great to see KTM showing consistently great performances. This is due in part to the efforts of their test rider, 31-time GP winner, Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa, 38, who retired from full time competition in 2018, was entered in Jerez as a wild card. Pedrosa was one of the biggest highlights of the race, qualifying an unbelievable 6th, and finishing an even more unbelievable 7th. 

Jerez was a great and exciting race, but MotoGP is still facing some important issues that need to be resolved immediately. 

One issue involves the overheating of front tires, which negatively effects the racing and thus the show, and is a serious safety issue. This, in the words of the riders themselves. A second issue, and more than somewhat related to the front tire issue, is the unchecked new reliance on aero downforce. This is an issue that will only become more and more serious the longer it is allowed by the rule book. 

The people who run MotoGP, Dorna, need to remember that lap times do not sell tickets. Not one MotoGP ticket is sold because the bikes are .03 of a second faster than last year. Not one, ever. It’s just insanely stupid to surrender to the engineering minds within the sport, engineers who care not one bit about “the show” about TV numbers, about anything other than lap time. Just the High-Octane Truth here. 

What does sell tickets are heroes on the edge, heroes doing something on 250HP motorbikes that the mere mortals among us can only watch and know that we are incapable of doing. Bikes wheeling, bikes sliding, bikes passing each other several times a lap. That’s what we’re talking about...

Jerez was great. But it can be even greater, like it was just five years ago. MotoGP can go back in time. It can. And it needs to.