[Smoke]

SPOILERS BELOW.
What's a more impressive 2019 season champion while the season is still in progress?


WORLDSBK




WorldSBK - Jonathan Rea crowned FIVE time (Five in a row) World Superbike champion with two rounds left (six races).
Winning the championship on round 11 of 13 with finishing 1st or 2nd in 27 out of 31 races without a DNF.
Incliding after being behind by 61 points from the middle of the season.
http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/2019/Belief+is+the+bedrock+of+Reas+success



MOTOGP




MotoGP - Marc Marquez crowned SIX time (Four in a row) Moto GP champion with four rounds left.
Winning the championship on round 15 of 19, with finishing 1st or 2nd in 14 out of 15 races and one DNF.
Including four of five second place margins by a fraction of a second.
https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2019/10/06/8ball-marquez-makes-it-a-magic-eighth-world-title/311227

 

[the bartender]

and its actually Marquez's 8th World Championship title.

 

[Smoke]

and its actually Marquez's 8th World Championship title.

Notice I said MotoGP, not Moto2 or 125cc.

 

[Young Lion]

Notice I said MotoGP, not Moto2 or 125cc.

The 125cc title and his Rookie MotoGP year title were the most impressive for me.

Rea is on another level and clearly is a mental juggernaut for holding his shit together while Alvaro stormed out of the gates this year. One knock on him would be that he's won his titles on whats universally accepted as the best balanced bike in the paddock over the past 5 years however Marc has won DESPITE the bike, not BECAUSE of it.

Yesterday was embarrassing for Honda - Curious George was damn near a minute behind and Crashlow was barely in the points while Taka on last years bike was still a million miles back. Marc is paid roughly 15 million/yr by HRC and worth EVERY penny IMO - same for whatever Kawi pays Rea in SBK.

 

[Redhawk]

Yesterday was embarrassing for Honda - Curious George was damn near a minute behind and Crashlow was barely in the points while Taka on last years bike was still a million miles back. Marc is paid roughly 15 million/yr by HRC and worth EVERY penny IMO - same for whatever Kawi pays Rea in SBK.

Honda clearly has a dilemma when no one but Marc can ride the RC 213-V and it would be a disaster for Honda if he injures himself. Marc's FP1 crash in Thailand must have been a heart stopper for the Honda executives. But then, they put all their development into making a bike that suits Marc, so they took the risk.

On a related note, so good to hear that Johann Zarco has found a test rider/development job with Yamaha in 2020. Great to see some positive results from them lately.

 

[Smoke]

The 125cc title and his Rookie MotoGP year title were the most impressive for me.

Both those championships of Marquez's could have changed with results at the final race, agreed it's more exciting watching a close points battle.
This year Marquez getting 1st or 2nd in all MotoGP races but one DNF to wrap things up with four rounds to come is amazing.

My hopes for Rea in WorldSBK were fading after Bautista's start to the season.
We've come to expect Rea win the championship before the final rounds are raced, but this season looked like Bautista was deciding the championship early.
Watching Bautista's crash trackside at the Laguna Seca round it was seemed like Rea can do it again by being consistent, it is an impressive championship.

The worst thing with crowning the championship this early is that the final rounds on the racing calendar become less fun to watch.
The Valencia curse = plan a MotoGP trip there to hopefully catch a last round epic battle, or get stuck watching a non-event race.
Qatar for WorldSBK is out of the spotlight/floodlight/nightlight on the most recent five decided seasons, but the track shines at the start of MotoGP.

Looking forward to next year, even though this year's races aren't finished.

 

[doser]

On a related note, so good to hear that Johann Zarco has found a test rider/development job with Yamaha in 2020. Great to see some positive results from them lately.

not signed and sealed yet, of course, but totally logical. Zarco was amazingly fast on the Yami from the word go, and I'm sure he will be again. and there could well be a racing ride opening for him if Valentino retires at the end of 2020. Rossi is still an amazing rider, but the youth are clearly passing him by (literally!). my only hesitation on Zarco's role as test rider is that he has shown that he can just just on 'any' version of the Yamaha and be fast. so i wonder whether that extraordinary adaptability will interfere with his ability to be analytical, and 'feel' the extra tenth or two that a certain change in setting or equipment will provide. anyway, he's way too good to be sitting at home, so welcome back ( I hope) Mr Zarco!

 

[Young Lion]

https://motomatters.com/analysis/2019/10/08/marc_marquez_vs_jonathan_rea_is_winning.html

 

[Danke]

https://motomatters.com/analysis/2019/10/08/marc_marquez_vs_jonathan_rea_is_winning.html

That's why Wayne Rainey wound up in a chair.

 

[Squint]

Marquez certainly is in a class of his own on the track, but frankly between him and his brother this has been the most boring MotoGP season in a while. thankfully Moto3 has been interesting to watch.*

 

[Redhawk]

not signed and sealed yet, of course, but totally logical. Zarco was amazingly fast on the Yami from the word go, and I'm sure he will be again. and there could well be a racing ride opening for him if Valentino retires at the end of 2020. Rossi is still an amazing rider, but the youth are clearly passing him by (literally!). my only hesitation on Zarco's role as test rider is that he has shown that he can just just on 'any' version of the Yamaha and be fast. so i wonder whether that extraordinary adaptability will interfere with his ability to be analytical, and 'feel' the extra tenth or two that a certain change in setting or equipment will provide. anyway, he's way too good to be sitting at home, so welcome back ( I hope) Mr Zarco!

Some more possibilities for Zarco...

Johann Zarco Set to Replace Nakagami for the Final Three MotoGP Races of 2019

https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/motogp/johann-zarco-lcr-honda-replacement/

 

[Redhawk]

Marquez certainly is in a class of his own on the track, but frankly between him and his brother this has been the most boring MotoGP season in a while. thankfully Moto3 has been interesting to watch.*

Moto2 from Japan was a cracker. Motogp was not a cracker

 

[doser]

well. that's over... the WSB results certainly turned around mid-season, but the outcome was not better racing. respect to Jonathan Rea, and actually not bad action in the 2nd full Losail race, but race 1 was NOT exciting - amongst the most dull of the year, in fact. the fans seem to think so too - here's a screen grab of JR on pole, with a nearly empty grandstand behind him. maybe a few thousand spectators? perhaps Dorna should pay JR to NOT race?

Losail by Don Serl, on Flickr

 

[Smoke]

The VanDerMark / Haslam battle was good in both race one and race two, seemed like every time into turn one Haslam went too deep.
Qatar normally has the smallest crowds, but some decent races.

I think Rea's "massive target of finishing every single race of the season" was Kawi's toast to the last half of the season for Bautista on the Ducati.
2019 is done, will see with new team changes if Lowes can catch him on the same machine in 2020.