October 2024 – Rumbling Right Along

By Joe Tatulli

So here we are with the third edition of the newly formatted and updated RUMBLE. What do you think so far?

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Why Join a Motorcycle Club?

Right after I graduated from PC in 1971 I bought my first bike. It was a Gold/Orange Honda 305 Scrambler. I knew nothing about the sport then, other than that I wanted to ride a motorcycle. I bought a helmet and some leather gloves (at the local hardware store) and I was good to go. What could go wrong? Fast forward to 2012. At the time I owned a Marrakech Red 1991 K75S but had dreams of riding faster and farther. I knew I wanted another BMW and I located and purchased a 2004 K1200 GT in Charlotte, NC. It was (and still is) an ugly seafoam green in excellent condition. The former owner decided it was too much bike for his aging eyes and reflexes. I flew down and rode home, stopping in Lynchburg, VA to visit family for a few days. My next longish ride was back down to Lynchburg for another visit. I packed up the bike with enough stuff for a trip around the world (who knew) and planned to leave around 7AM. Fear attacked me. I opened the garage door but couldn’t leave. I had calculated that if I left at 7AM I would arrive in Hagerstown, MD about 1PM. I would stay the night there and had made reservations at the Marriott. I went out a couple of more times but the daunting aspect of being on the road alone stopped me in my tracks. “What the hell are you worried about?” I thought to myself. “You rode home from Lynchburg and it was fine. What’s the problem?” It was the great unknown. Would I get lost? Would I be able to ride that far again? What if I got a flat? What if I broke down? You get the idea.

Finally, at about noon, embarrassed and disgusted with myself, I sucked up all my courage (which wasn’t much), and started up the K12 and left. I realized that I would be five hours behind my planned itinerary but that would be fine if all went well on the road. I made it to Lynchburg in two days, a trip that I make now in one.

I rode by myself for another year or so and finally realized that my dreams were not becoming a reality. Maybe I needed to join a local club. I was already an MOA member and I found that Rhode Island had a BMW club. The rest is history. The summer after I joined the OSBMWR in 2013-14 several small groups were heading to the RA National Rally at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL (see the gallery below). I ended up in a small group with Jimmy Carter, his son-in-law Matt and Doc (Bruce Stevens). I remember everything (hyperbole alert). The Subway lunches. The stopping every two or three hours for a break. The snake in the tree at the motel. The torrential rain from an afternoon thunderstorm where all I could see in front of me were Doc’s tail lights. The Barber Motorsports Museum. Suppers with Doc at some nice restaurants in town. The noisy and very suspicious all night motel activities at the dump we stayed at. Everything! Even taking my sidecases into the motel because I didn’t even know about bag liners. It was awesome. Even the ride home was awesome. Unfortunately Jimmy’s K1600 broke down and he was in Lynchburg for a few days while we (the three of us) rode home without him. Since that first experience I have been to multiple RA and MOA rallies, mostly for the riding, and mostly with my riding buddy Bill Kenney. I think I’m more of a rally snob than a rally rat. I do like checking out the vendors, etc. and the camaraderie is top shelf, but I find hotels a far superior experience to a wet tent.

There are many more trips and the relationships I have with many of the other members are one of the delights of my simple life. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but joining the OSBMWR has turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. JT

MotoGP 2024 – Update

Every year between March and November about twenty-two of the best and fastest riders in the world travel around the planet racing on the best racetracks imaginable. Europe is home to thirteen of the twenty-one races that run in Portugal (1), Spain (4), Italy (3), France (1), Great Britan (1), Germany (1), Austria (1), and The Netherlands (1). Most of those races have a weekend attendance in the 150,000+ fan range. Currently there is only one race in the US, and that takes place at The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX in April. A US company, Liberty Media, (who also owns a majority stake in F1) has recently purchased a majority stake in the MotoGP franchise and hopes to bring another race (or two) to the large US motorsports market as soon as 2025. Only time will tell. One venue under consideration is the Flatrock Motorsports Park in Rockwood, TN. The huge facility is still under construction and boasts almost six miles of state-of-the-art racetrack, with a world class 2.6 mile GP circuit with all the bells and whistles.

The other races happen in Qatar, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Malysia, Indonesia, and India. The 2024 race in India, at the Buddh International Circuit, with the inaugural race happening last year, was postponed until March of 2025 when all parties concerned believed the weather and associated conditions would be better than September for both riders, teams and the fans. I have also read a couple of accounts of some issues with the local government regarding licenses and taxes. I’m sure it will get sorted out. :0)

The 2024 Championship

The big news this year is the resurgence of eight-time world champion Marc Marquez (#93, Gresini Racing – Ducati), who started the year still recovering from possible career ending shoulder surgery, and who hadn’t won a MotoGP race in over three years. Fighting through all of that, and staying in contention all this season, Marquez won back-to-back races in Aragon (SP) and Misano (IT), ending his long drought and propelling him into third place overall. In the first race at Misano (September 8, 2024) the rain started falling during the sixth lap and several riders headed for the pits to jump on their alternate bike with rain tires. Martin, who was running second decided to pit but none of the other leaders followed. The live camera shot showed him looking back as he entered the pits. I think he knew then that he’d made a bad decision. Unable to recover, and only getting one point for his fifteenth place finish overall, he lost nineteen (points) of his twenty-six point lead (going into the race) over Bagnaia who finished second to Marquez. The second race at Misano the following weekend, the Gran Premio Pramac dell’Emilia-Romagna, had even more spills and thrills. Bagnaia (1) won the Sprint but crashed while running third during lap 21 of 27 on Sunday. Martin (89) took second at the Sprint on Saturday and also took second at the Sunday Grand Prix race, being overtaken by Bastianini (23) on the last lap. Marquez (93) came in fourth in the sprint, and took a podium third on Sunday.

The next race was two weeks later in Indonesia at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia 2024. Things were still tight. Bagnaia won the Sprint, with Bastianini and Marquez on the podium in second and third. Martin, the 2024 Championship leader, crashed on lap one. He was able to restart his Ducati GP24 and work his way back through the pack to finish in tenth place just outside the points. On Sunday Martin was able to put his crash on Saturday out of his mind and win the race convincingly, with rookie Pedro Acosta crossing the line in second over one full second behind. Bagnaia finished on the podium in third. Unfortunately Marquez and Bastianini both crashed and didn’t finish the race. The most recent race in Japan, the Motul Grand Prix of Japan 2024, wasn’t a stunner.

As outlined before qualifying can be the difference between a podium finish and riding in the pack behind the leaders. In Japan qualifying took some interesting twists and turns. To refresh your mind, fastest lap in Q2 gets that rider pole position. Second fastest = second position, and following through the twelve riders in Q2. The question is how do we get to those twelve fastest riders in Q2? The Free Practice session on Saturday morning, FP2 includes all the riders (20-22) looking to qualify for both the Sprint Race Saturday afternoon and the GP race on Sunday. FP2 on Saturday is the first key qualifying session to getting a position on the first four rows of the grid for the two races on any given weekend. The top ten riders with the fastest lap times in FP2 move immediately to Q2. The remaining riders move to Q1. So, for a grid of twenty-two riders, ten (10) go directly to Q2, while the remaining twelve (12) go to Q1. The top two riders in Q1 advance to Q2, while the remaining ten (10) slower riders are at the back of the grid, fastest to slowest, from position 13 (the first slot on row five) to the very back row.

Q2 happens right after Q1 on Saturday morning local time. Q2 therefore includes the ten fastest riders from FP2 and the two fastest riders from Q1. Those twelve riders now compete for the front four rows of the grid by posting the fastest lap times possible in the fifteen (15) minute Q2 session. In Japan a couple of interesting things happened. Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta took the pole, his first of the season and also as the third youngest rider to ever take the pole position in MotoGP history. The other two younger riders were Marc Marquez, and Fabio Quartararo both in their rookie seasons. Secondly, Marc Marquez, who seemed to have broken the fastest lap time ever recorded with a 1:42.868 lap time, had the lap disqualified by a late track limits warning. These warnings are triggered automatically, but this time the warning was delayed by a malfunction and Marquez was unable to use the lap time. His fastest lap recorded put him ninth on the grid on the third row. Lastly, championship leader Jorge Martin, only qualified in eleventh place putting him in the middle of the fourth row for both the Sprint and the Sunday GP race. All of this put Pecco Bagnaia, who qualified second to Acosta, on the front row, allowing him a great opportunity to get even closer to Martin for the 2024 Championship. As things turned out Bagnaia won both the Saturday Tissot Sprint and GP race on Sunday putting him now only ten (10) points behind the leader with four races remaining. Marquez and Martin also did very well, both coming from their third and fourth row positions (respectively) on the grid to finish third and fourth on Saturday, and third and second (both on the podium) on Sunday. 

At this point there are four riders contending but only two with a legitimate shot at the big prize. Jorge Martin (#89 Prima Pramac Racing – Ducati) is the leader with 392 points, followed by current World Champion Pecco Bagnaia (#1/63 Ducati Lenovo Team) with 382 points. Still fighting but against the odds are Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) in third with 313 points, and Marc Marquez in fourth with 311 points. See you in November with the latest results. JT