Rossi tests positive for COVID-19, to miss at least one round

[Bill_Walker]

https://www.espn.com/motogp/story/_/id/30121373/valentino-rossi-tests-positive-covid-19-miss-aragon-motogp

[chrisolson]

Its definitely been a strange MotoGP season

 

Sad for Rossi ... little info on his actual condition ... but this did take pressure off from having to prove he still can be a contender 

8 different race winners

Mark Marquez now being rumored to be out for entire season

The guy (Mir) now leading the championship hasn't won a race

Alex Marquez almost won the Aragon race

The championship leader Quartararo sat on pole in Aragon and finished 18th (did not crash, just was being passed by everyone)

Dovi still has an outside chance for the Championship but needs several straight podiums if not an outright win to do it.

[Bill_Walker]

Yep.  And just about as crazy in Moto2 and Moto3.  The top 3 in Moto2 are only 5 points apart and 4th is only 25 points adrift of the leader!

Alex Marquez clearly found something in the wet in Le Mans that he carried over to Aragon that he's been lacking all season.  As you say, he nearly won, after starting from 11th on the grid.  I haven't read any news on it, but my guess is Quartararo was suffering from his crash earlier in the weekend.

And my guess would be wrong.  He says his front tire pressure was running away:  https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/fabio-quartararo-aragon-ruined-result/4894025/

[lawnchairboy]

Little Marquez's performance was very impressive. 

[Skywagon]

Watched it live and wondered if jr Marquez continues to get better, how will Marc treat him on the track. Seems that Honda might be the ticket

[Bill_Walker]

5 hours ago, lawnchairboy said:

Little Marquez's performance was very impressive. 

Indeed.  But given how well he did winning championships in Moto3 and Moto2, what was surprising was his lack of performance up til now in MotoGP (especially in contrast to his older brother's championship-winning rookie season).  I don't know what was holding him back, but he seems to have found a fix for it.  Except that he still only qualified 11th, and that was his best qualifying position of the season.

[chrisolson]

24 minutes ago, Bill_Walker said:

best qualifying position of the season.

 

Making it into Q2 is soooooooo important these days.  So many riders/teams have good race pace that those on the front 3 rows have a huge advantage to "get away" while the mid pack fights amongst itself and runs a slower pace early on .

 

That's hard to overcome later in the race.  Not impossible, as Alex showed (and Rossi of olden days) but not common.