By Joe Tatulli
2025 MotoGP Update
When I first started watching MotoGP I was intrigued. Intrigued is an interesting word isn’t it? How interesting it all was. A curiosity where jockey sized young athletes rode on souped up, million dollar motorcycles, all going super fast around amazing top shelf race circuits all over the world. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Marc Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Viñales, etc. The fastest riders in the world. As I continued to watch and enjoy the racing, the topic of Track Days would come up regularly at Club events and weekend rides to breakfast. Bill Kenney and other friends would encourage me to do a Track Day. Even a “non-sportbike” track day would be a great learning experience, and I wanted to learn how to ride faster and safer. Eventually I did a Tony’s Non-Sportbike Track Day at Palmer Motorsports Park.
The track day was a blast with no speed limits, no cops, and no oncoming traffic. The learning experience both on and off the track was awesome. There was also the realization that: #1, I still had a lot to learn, and #2, I was exceedingly slow (compared to the instructors that rode around with us each session, and some of the other riders in my group). The experience also helped me to better understand the amazing level of skill and courage MotoGP riders demonstrate week in and week out. I did some research on the riders and found that most started riding and racing when they were kids, many starting when they were just four and five years old. Hours and hours on dirt tracks, many times in their own backyards. Cornering at a high lean angle, with one foot on the ground for balance and control, and all to maintain the highest possible speed… without crashing. Hey it’s racing isn’t it.
The fastest riders do several things very well, and cornering is the key. The current “highest speed during a MotoGP race” racer is Brad Binder (33) on a KTM (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Binder clocked an incredible 366.1kph (227.5mph) at Mugello in Italy in 2023 (Pol Espargaro matched that speed at the same track a year later). But Binder doesn’t often win races. It may be the bike (he’s riding) or any combination of things like skill, consistency, competitive spirit, tires, electronics, aero, etc. The last three years have seen Ducati riders take the championship, and it looks like that may be the case again in 2025.
So far 2025 has been 100% Marc Márquez. Seemingly out of the running altogether, riding the Repsol Honda, Márquez switched to Gresini Ducati last year (2024) and reached the top step of the podium, something he hadn’t done since 2021. This year he looks unbeatable.
MotoGP Weekends 2 & 3
The second race of the year in Argentina saw a repeat for Marc Marquez (93). He completed his second triple win performance, winning Pole Position in qualifying, and both the Sprint on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday. His brother Alex (73) also repeated starting from the number two spot on the grid and taking second in both the Sprint and Grand Prix. Pecco Bagnaia finished third in the Sprint, and took fourth place on Sunday, with VR46 rider Franco Morbidelli taking third in the Grand Prix, his first podium in two years.
Next was the only race weekend in the USA, where the entire world of MotoGP headed to Austin, Texas and the Circuit of the Americas. Marquez, “The King of Cota”, was on the verge of another triple win. With the Pole and a Sprint win on Saturday, Marquez was ready to win his third Grand Prix of 2025 at COTA, but it was not meant to be. Making his first big mistake of 2025, the King crashed in the lead on lap 12 and Bagnaia, who was running in second, took the checkered flag for his first win of the season. Alex Marquez finished in second for third time this year, and also took the number one spot in the 2025 championship with a two point lead over brother Marc.
After three races (with the fourth this weekend in Qatar) here are the top six.
