Paddock Pass Podcast

After the MotoGP Court of Appeal announced their decision on the legality of Ducati's swing arm spoiler, and ahead of this weekend's Argentinian round of MotoGP, Steve English and David Emmett get together to chew the whole thing over for another episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast.

Naturally, the decision on Ducati's spoiler is at the center of the episode. We take a deep dive into the whole subject, going through the process of what happened, and how the appeal ended up in Switzerland at the MotoGP Court of Appeal. We discuss how the rules are made in MotoGP, and what the whole thing means for the future of rule making in the series. We talk about why Ducati's spoiler was ruled legal, and why Aprilia's was not. And we debate how much of a factor Aprilia's Massimo Rivola, who joined from F1, had in the dispute ending up in the Court. Is this an F1 habit, or was this just an argument waiting to happen whoever was in charge?

With the latest round of WorldSBK behind us, it's time for another review of the Superbike series with WorldSBK commentator Steve English and the world's leading superbike guru Gordon Ritchie.

Steve and Gordo sat down on Sunday morning before the sprint race in Thailand to discuss the events of Saturday, and look ahead to the races on Sunday. It was, as ever, an enlightening conversation, covering a vast range of subjects around the WorldSBK paddock.

In latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, Neil Morrison and David Emmett get together to discuss the opening MotoGP round at Qatar, and the controversy which engulfed the race, despite it being a thoroughly thrilling episode.

We naturally have to kick off with the dispute which erupted after the race over Ducati's aerodynamic parts. We take a deep dive into how the controversy developed, tracing it back from the first complaints, through the Qatar test, and on to the Qatar race. We discuss what the rules say, whether Ducati's parts are legal or not, and where the appeal submitted by four rival factories goes from here.

It's been a busy week at Chateau Paddock Pass Podcast, with two shows in a week. After previewing the 2019 WorldSBK season, Neil Morrison traveled to Jerez to cover the Moto2 test at the track, where he joined David Emmett to talk about the MotoGP test at Sepang.

There was plenty to talk about, as the Sepang test had a raft of fascinating narratives. Neil and David go through each factory, and evaluate what they were testing and how it turned out. We discuss how much effect the fact that Honda had to test with the walking wounded had, and whether the Honda RC213V is more competitive than the timesheet shows.

What can we expect from the 2019 WorldSBK season? In this episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, Steve English and Neil Morrison review WorldSBK testing and go factory by factory to discuss how they expect each one to fare.

There's plenty of talk about Ducati's new V4R, of course, but first they have to beat Jonathan Rea. Can Leon Haslam keep up with his Kawasaki teammate? Can Tom Sykes reinvent himself at BMW? Will Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark be able to keep up the progress they made in 2018? And how will the arrival of Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese affect Yamaha's chances?

As the off season is a time for thinking over what has been and what is to come, and so Steve English, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett get together to look back at 2018 and forward to 2019. Steve, Neil, and David all pick one thing which struck them about 2018, and what they are most looking forward to in 2019.

In the latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, Jensen Beeler, Steve English, and David Emmett take a deep dive into the WorldSBK championship. We take a look back at last season, and use that, and the results of the Jerez WorldSBK test, to preview the 2019 season, leading to a debate on what WorldSBK should be, and the difficulties of managing a racing series for motorcycles which are primarily to be sold for use on the road.

We start off with a long look at Kawasaki, and how Jonathan Rea has come to define the Kawasaki era. We analyze the reasons Rea has become such a dominant factor in the series. But we also discuss Tom Sykes, his situation, and how Sykes has handled Rea coming into the team.

The latest episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and after a week of testing at Jerez over four different classes of bikes, Steve English, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett get together to discuss what happened, who brought what, and what it all means for the 2019 season.

We start first with a rundown of how the various factories fared in the MotoGP test, starting with Yamaha, and their development dilemma, and the very different opinions which Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales have of the 2019 Yamaha M1. We then move on to discuss Ducati, and the myriad tricks Gigi Dall'Igna has up his sleeve, including the return of the torque arm for the rear brake and aerodynamic additions to the rear seat.

Another episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this time Steve English and David Emmett are wrapping up the last round of MotoGP at Valencia and the test which followed it.

Steve and David start off with a look back at the race, and how the weather affected both the weekend and the race itself. We talk about those who crashed, and those who didn't, and whether the right decision was made in red-flagging the first race. We discuss the strength of the Ducati, Marc Marquez' crash and what consequences it might have, how good the Suzuki has been this year, and KTM's first ever podium.

After a long hiatus, the Paddock Pass Podcast is back. With David Emmett and Steve English not only in the same timezone, but also in the same room, we finally got a chance to take a look back at the three rounds in the Pacific region.

Instead of recapping the race, Steve and David give their thoughts on the lessons learned at the races. We debate whether Marc Marquez' 2018 title was a fair reflection of the season, take a look at Valentino Rossi's astonishing race at Sepang, and go over the performance of the Suzukis, the Ducatis, and the Yamahas. We take a look at the steps made by Yamaha in the flyaways, which now look a sign of real progress.