Paddock Pass Podcast

The first weekend of MotoGP Sprint Races turned out to be unforgettable, in both the best and the worst meaning of the word. There were thrills, spills, crashes, injuries, and some absolutely superb racing.

With the 2023 MotoGP season on the verge of its opening race, the Paddock Pass Podcast crew gathered with a special guest to look ahead to the year. Former 500cc grand prix winner and MotoGP pit lane expert Simon Crafar joins Steve English, Adam Wheeler, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett to look back at testing and look ahead at the year to come.

As usual, we cover a huge amount of ground, and Simon Crafar gives us some spectacular insight into the mind of a racer. We walk through our biggest surprises of the preseason, who we expect to be the biggest disappointment, give our predictions for top independent rider and world champion, and give our opinions of sprint races.

With testing for the MotoGP class done and dusted, the Paddock Pass Podcast crew get together to draw conclusions from the final test at Portimão. Adam Wheeler, Steve English, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett take a long look at how testing went for the factories.

There was plenty to discuss. Are Ducati as unstoppable as they look? Has Fabio Quartararo got a bike he can fight for the championship with? What are Honda doing, and can they be competitive? And can KTM fix the lack of rear grip the RC16 suffers with?

We finish up with our winners and losers: Is a Pecco Bagnaia repeat inevitable? What's going on with Franco Morbidelli? Is Jorge Martin set for a breakthrough season?

It's a two-show week for the Paddock Pass Podcast, and in this episode, Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison report back from the launch of the GasGas Factory Racing Tech3 presentation in Barcelona.

Adam and Neil talk us through the ramifications of the Pierer Mobility Group (KTM's parent company) choosing MotoGP to promote their brand of youth-oriented motorcycles to the general public. And they here from Pol Espargaro, Pit Beirer, and Hervé Poncharal about the aims and objectives of the project.

It's been back-to-back weekends for WorldSBK, which means back-to-back Paddock Pass Podcasts for Steve English and Gordon Ritchie. In this episode, the dynamic duo look back at a strange and difficult World Superbike round at Mandalika in Indonesia, which left them with plenty to talk about.

Steve and Gordo talk about the state of the track, and the problems - and crashes - it caused for the riders. They talk about Kawasaki's terrible weekend, another triumphant weekend for Alvaro Bautista and Ducati, and how Toprak Razgatlioglu came back to winning ways.

It's been a tumultuous few days for Steve English and Gordon Ritchie, with Steve struck down with flu and Gordo having flights shuffled about, but the Paddock Pass Podcast WorldSBK crew finally managed to get together over zoom to discuss the events of the opening round of the World Superbike series at Phillip Island.

Steve and Gordo examine Ducati's dominance in Australia, and what it portends for the 2023 season. They talk us through what happened at Phillip Island, and how this weekend's race at Mandalika might change the balance of power.

The Repsol Honda team held the launch of their 2023 MotoGP season in Madrid this weekend, and the Iberian Contingent of the Paddock Pass Podcast took a train up to Madrid to attend. Right afterward, Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison sat down to discuss what they had heard and seen.

Adam and Neil discuss Marc Marquez walking back his remarks about Honda made in the documentary series All In, they discuss the new organizational rigor which Ken Kawauchi has brought to HRC from Suzuki, and they look at what to expect from Joan Mir, the second time that a former world champion has joined Repsol Honda to partner Marc Marquez.

As the racing season approaches, so the rate at which Paddock Pass Podcasts are released goes up. This episode of the podcast sees Steve English, Adam Wheeler, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett take a look back at what we saw at the Sepang MotoGP test.

After Steve tries unsuccessfully to force us to summarize each factory in 5 words, we kick off with a rundown factory by factory, from the dominance of Ducati, the improvement of Aprilia the mystery of KTM, the concerns of Yamaha, and the reboot of Honda. Then we give our surprises and disappointments.

The WorldSBK season is just 10 days away from starting, so with tests at Jerez and Portimão in the books, Gordon Ritchie and Steve English sat down to look at what has emerged from testing so far and what that means for the 2023 season. 

Steve and Gordo run down the teams and factories, evaluate their progress, and assess their chances of success in 2023.

In this episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, a small subset of the crew gathered to mull over the coming MotoGP test at Sepang. To start the show, Neil Morrison brings Steve English up to date with the state of play going into the test, including the results of preseason testing. 

Then, David Emmett and world championship winning crew chief and 2D data recording specialist Peter Bom discuss how they see the Sepang MotoGP test. Peter gives his insight into what makes testing at Sepang so useful and so challenging, and then he runs down what each factory has to test and to improve at Sepang.