rockitman

I'm a car guy at heart. F1 hasn't been the same from an excitement level since 2005 or thereabouts, imho. After watching the season opener at Qatar and watching Rossi beat a surpringly strong Ducati...all I can say is wow ! That is nail biting racing...F1 pales in comparison. Marquez the new phenom came back from last to 5th....I think had he not had that opening lap first corner off, he would have won. Great racing.....

Ritter v4.0

I watched it too and had the same thought.

JCP911S

Moto GP is awesome... without the aero BS, the racing is totally old school, and the riders are nuts.

multi21

MotoGP has been AWESOME since Rossi left Ducati and came back to Yamaha AND coupled with Marquez being the youngest racer in the group and any of the 4 riders for Yamaha or Honda Repsol having a shot at winning.

Marquez weakness is his race starts.... he's always shuffled backwards and once it strings out, he picks people off one by one. It should be another great season and much more compelling than F1

f8vr993

I watch both for different reason...
Its kinda boring when one factory motorcycle is faster than other bikes.
I think Honda had the power advantage for a while until this season where there are now Ducati(Ferrari help?!) & Yamaha both right there with matching speed.

paradisenb

I started watching MotoGP last year and man am I glad it is available from my provider. Great racing down to Moto 3.
I hope Marquez does not dominate this year like last year. That was boring. I think his Honda was significantly better than the competition, a la Merc in F1.

Great start with Rossi winning the 1st race. Marquez getting back to 5th wasn't really that impressive considering how few run at the front. Now, watch how many riders are at the front of the pack in Moto3. That is some close racing.

DCP

Okay, but what was with the Ducati getting better tires or other bits because it had not done well lately? Shades of a double points season ending race?

Nonetheless, my motorcyling brother told me to watch it because it was good. II enjoyed it.

GMP911

I love the Moto GP racing - always exciting. Val is awesome to watch and Marquez is the real deal. I watch F1 trying to find the same excitement but it hasn't been there in years - so political.

I was doing bike track days with an occasional car track day. In the last two years I have stopped the bike track days and only do the car -the same is true as it is on TV. Nothing is as exciting as a bike on the track period. But the risk is obviously just as high.

ir_fuel

They can run soft compound tires in qualifying and they are allowed to carry a few extra l of fuel. The soft compound tires they are not allowed to use anymore because they managed to score a podium win with that bike. Next time they will also lose the extra fuel (but apparently that doesn't really seem to bother them this season).

ir_fuel

Ducati is owned by Audi, so I doubt Ferrari had anything to do with it

ir_fuel

I think you underestimate the skills of Marquez. Where was Pedrosa with that same bike?

multi21

Marquez had a bad race and will be back fighting for the top step this weekend. It's clear that Pedrosa is not in the same league as Marques, but he does have an excuse....

3 April 2015 – Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa underwent "aggressive" surgery in Madrid on Friday morning, aimed at fixing the arm pump issues he has endured for more than a year.

Performed by Dr. Angel Villamor, the operation took just over two hours, during which the problematic layer of fascia – the casing around the muscle – was removed.

Pedrosa is expected to be discharged from hospital this afternoon, and will visit Dr. Villamor for regular check-ups before beginning a special physiotherapy programme.

Honda reiterated that a recovery time of four to six weeks is expected, but Pedrosa will not be cleared to return to racing until doctors are satisfied that the surgery was a success.

"The surgery was complicated and aggressive using a microsurgery technique and microscopic lens. It lasted two hours, and was done under a local anaesthetic," said Dr. Villamor.

"We examined the muscle fascia, which were hypertrophied and had to be opened up and released.

"The muscle fascia has been dissected and removed from the forearm.

"This increased volume engorged the muscle within the inelastic fascia resulting in increased pressure within the compartment, and causing a painful condition of oxygen deprivation – thus causing intense pain in the forearm which collapsed after exercising during riding.

"We will now monitor Dani over the next few weeks to measure the success of this surgery."

Honda test rider Hiroshi Aoyama will replace Pedrosa during his absence.

rockitman

I agree he is a phenom. It will be interesting to see how his little brother Alex does in Moto 2.

winders

We call this "Arm Pump" surgery here is the US. I had this surgery way back in 2001....although I didn't have the fascia completely removed. It made a huge difference in my motorcycle road racing.....

paradisenb

It is hard to assess his skills at this point, besides the obvious, that is very talented. He has been driving a bike the equivalent to Mercedes F1. If other makes and teams field competitive bikes we will see a better representation of his skills. Don't forget Rossi has earned 9 total Moto GP championships. Marquez still has a long way to go.

Alex finished 11th in his first GP2 race. Now, the guy who was really impressive was the 15 yr old Fabio Quartarro. Lead the GP3 race for a short while and finished 7th in his first ever GP. He will be an interesting rider to watch.