Paddock Pass Podcast

Though MotoGP is on its longest summer break in years, WorldSBK is here to carry the load through the summer. And last weekend's round of World Superbikes at Donington Park helped shake up the championship, with Toprak Razgatlioglu taking over the lead from odds-on favorite Jonathan Rea. As usual Steve English and Gordon Ritchie gather to compare notes on the weekend.

The state of the championship is where Steve and Gordo start, asking if this is a sign of Jonathan Rea's stranglehold on the WorldSBK title being broken at last, or whether the 6-time world champion's crash was just a slip up, and whether Razgatlioglu is capable of challenging Rea consistently. They also discuss BMW's strong weekend, with podiums for both Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark, and they take a look at the difficulties Ducati faced at Donington Park, and what it means for the title chances of Scott Redding and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

Though the Assen MotoGP race and its fallout raised the most talking points, the Moto2 and Moto3 races left plenty to discuss as well. Steve English, Adam Wheeler, David Emmett, and a windswept Neil Morrison gathered to discuss the events of the Moto2 and Moto3 races, and what they might mean over the summer break.

The Assen round of MotoGP brought the shock news of Maverick Viñales' sudden departure from Yamaha. So on Monday, Neil Morrison, Steve English, and David Emmett got together to discuss what that means for Viñales, for Yamaha, and to look back at the MotoGP race at Assen.

We kick off with the big news about Maverick Viñales. We discuss the background to his departure, why he decided to leave Yamaha, and where he goes from here. We talk about how much of the blame lies with Yamaha, and how much with Viñales himself, and what role his new manager may play. There is a lot to discuss, and we try to cover it all.

In the Paddock Pass Podcast Follow On Show Fueled by Marc VDS Racing, Neil Morrison and David Emmett look back at the Moto2 and Moto3 races at the Sachsenring. Neil and David kick off with a discussion of Remy Gardner's impressive win in Moto2, and how he lured Raul Fernandez into a mistake. The talk about Aron Canet's strong podium, discuss whether Marco Bezzecchi is doing enough to deserve a MotoGP ride, and how Sam Lowes has regrouped after a couple of mistakes.

We have two special guests on the latest edition of the Paddock Pass Podcast. With the race at Assen, David Emmett was able to link up with Neil Morrison in person, and sit down with photographers Cormac Ryan Meenan of CormacGP and Rob Gray of Polarity Photo to discuss a historic race at the Sachsenring. As official photographers for the teams which finished in first and second place respectively, Cormac and Rob are in a unique position to talk about how Repsol Honda and Red Bull KTM saw Marc Marquez' win and Miguel Oliveira's second place.

Naturally, we discuss those topics first. How Marc Marquez won the race at the Sachsenring, and how the unique nature of the track played into that, and how KTM's improvement in the last few races has combined with the progress of Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder to see Oliveira emerge as a genuine title candidate. But we also go on to discuss the incomprehensible situation in Yamaha, where Fabio Quartararo ended on the podium, and his factory Yamaha teammate crossed the line dead last, with Valentino Rossi the only other Yamaha rider to score points, in fourteenth position.

On the eve of the Sachsenring MotoGP round, Steve English, Adam Wheeler, and David Emmett look ahead to the German Grand Prix, where Marc Marquez has dominated for the past ten years. They kick off the podcast with a look at where motorcycle racing is with respect to fan attendances in light of the improving situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what that might mean for the second half of the season.

With World Superbikes back at Misano, Gordon Ritchie and Steven English get together to discuss one of Steve's favorite weekends of the year. They kick off with a discussion of how well the Ducati Panigale V4R worked at Misano, specifically for Michael Ruben Rinaldi, and what makes the Ducati so difficult to get right at every track. They compare Rinaldi's fortunes to those of Scott Redding, and especially Chaz Davies.

In the Paddock Pass Podcast Follow Up Show Fueled By Elf Marc VDS Racing, Steve English, Neil Morrison, Adam Wheeler, and David Emmett ponder the Moto3 madness and Moto2 badness at Barcelona. The first subject to address were the terrifying scenes during the Moto3 race, with a bunched up field which nobody wanted to lead create some extraordinarlly dangerous situations, and the Moto3 paddock dodged a veritable hail of bullets. We discuss how to fix it, whether it needs fixing, and whether the FIM Stewards need to get involved.

In the latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, Steve English, Neil Morrison, Adam Wheeler, and David Emmett gather to look back at one of the stranger MotoGP races we have seen in a while. The big point of discussion was naturally the last few laps of the MotoGP race, in which Fabio Quartararo's leathers suddenly opened. We all weigh in on how it happened, why it happened, and whether the Frenchman should have been black flagged for his own safety.

A special treat on this episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast Follow Up Show Fueled By Elf Marc VDS Racing. Ex-MotoGP racer and current BT Sport specialist Michael Laverty joins Neil Morrison, Adam Wheeler, and David Emmett to discuss the Moto2 and Moto3 action from Mugello.