The opening round of the 2025 MotoGP championship was held at the Buriram circuit in Thailand this weekend. Ducati’s Marc Márquez dominated the entire weekend with pole position and wins in both the Sprint and full GP.
The podium was identical on both days with Marc’s brother Alex placing second on both Saturday and Sunday, followed by Pecco Bagnaia in third both days.
Marc Márquez leads the championship by 8 points over his brother heading into the second round at Argentina in two weeks.
For full results and points for Saturday’s Sprint race, visit the MotoGP site here. For full results and points for Sunday’s MotoGP race, visit the MotoGP site here.
is there a minimum tire pressure for qualifying? below minimum psi seems to be faster, and front row starts seem beneficial as well. what’s to stop a guy/team from running sub-minimal tire pressures in qualifying?
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Pressure rules do not apply in “flag to flag” races which I believe includes qualifying. The lap percentage at or above minimum is also different between sprint (30% of laps) and GP (60% of laps).
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I’m glad I didn’t renew my MotoGP membership. It’s looking to be a boring follow the leader season. I’ll probably renew for the 2027 season when the new engines are required.
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Yeah. I’m sure the racing will suck and you won’t miss anything. 😶
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right, and I hear baseball doesnt have any aero, neither does tennis.
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I bailed in 2002. Haven’t missed it at all. What I find missing is the dynamic between the AMA, WSB, and 500GP. They really had something going there. Sport bikes were flying off the sales floors. New ground up bikes every few years. Now what do we have. Yamaha just released a new sport bike with a 13 year old bargain bike engine in it. Looks like MotoGP does a better job of selling cars than motorcycles.
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there is something to it…
in the same time period you mention I enjoyed watching MotoGP, AMA Supersport/Superbike, WSB, supercross/motorcross, side car, TTs, etc., etc..
My friends and I were buying/riding crotch rockets and motocross bikes and there was always a new face in that growing crowd.
Then the economy tanked in North America and a lot of people (especially younger guys like me) completley stopped buying bikes every other year or longer. It seemed to me the motorcycle industry took a huge hit $$$ and stopped. Even here at MD, I came here daily and there was a plethora of interesting pertinent new articles in a week. That changed too. No mystery why…nothing much to write about. How many other Motorcycle mags/show have perished? I’m not knocking Dirck at all but I am surprised he has managed to keep this site up in these times.
Then Speed Vision went bust too. I lost interest in watching racing because it wasn’t on anywhere and I wasn’t going to pay handsomely to watch it. I watched what I could when I could but mostly just kept up on MotoGp. Thanks to youtube I see a lot more of MotoGp but still haven’t regained much interest in watching all the other stuff and I surely do not get the sense that the motorcycle industry has recovered to pre-2008ish and nor will it ever…or at least until kids are less concerned with protesting about everything and start thinking about doing other fun things with their time.
factories are rolling brand new re-designed bikes every year because there aren’t enough people buying them…a cash flow issue for the manufacturers seems to be preventing that.
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I do not keep up with new bikes anymore, however I’m seeing a slight interest by manufacturers in period looking bikes. Probably appealing to left over crusties like me, but still better than movie and tv remakes of classics. I wonder how they are doing in sales.
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far too expensive a sport/hobby for the general populace.
i was single/no kids when I started buying my own adult sized cruisers, crotch rockets, and motocross bikes.
at the time, i worked in the oilfield and suffered no financial issues paying for the bikes, gear, hauling, fuel, maintenance, etc., etc..
**not once did I ever think that the price of it all was really silly high.
less kids working and less kids earning big enough $$$ for such expensive hobbies.
just like the major leagues…a lot of parents aren’t in it for the fun of it. lots of parents expect a payoff on their investment. a lot of parents that put their kids in these high cost sports need those kids to reach the majors and get the payoffs.
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New dirt bikes sell and they are $10K or more.
The car industry has one Miata that has held the line on the overall public road fun package. Many writers in the automotive press would tell you to buy one if nothing else. The motorcycle industry has yet to ever make a Miata. And so they are in this rut of selling fluff. Modes, screens, ever more power, Jeep drag, whatever. All street bikes remain heavy. There is no Miata package. Affordable, simple, lightweight, super fun thing to ride.
“Now what do we have.”
An American youth who has lost interest in motorcycle racing and motorcycles. Can’t blame that on the racing. It’s faster & in MotoGP anyway, closer than ever, they just aren’t impressed anymore.
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Go to any local motocross race and get back to me on that one Dave. There has to be some near you because they are everywhere. New tracks even pop up every once in a while. Ducati and Triumph are getting into the mix too.
The US has a thriving Motocross industry and race program that still produces top notch racers. New ground up bikes show up all the time. Just like sport bikes used to.
It’s easy to blame the kids. I don’t do that. Kids never stop being kids. Influencing them is local. They have to be able to see a path ahead of them. I place the blame for the lack of interest in road racing with the ruthless murder of the AMA racing series at the hands of MotoGP and it’s bottomless appetite for all the money. Even WSB became a sideshow for the highest bidder to showcase their bikes. First Kawasaki. Then BMW. And now, of course, Ducati. MotoGP is full of Europeans because that’s where most of the races are.
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You might have hit on something. Kids all start out short and inexperienced lifers to be. Local influence at some point includes riding a bicycle with other kids.
Would it be a stretch to connect that to BMX ( I think it’s called ), then motocross, especially where there are no open desert or Kansas open terrain ?
Is motocross more popular back east USA ?
Every where street riding is dangerous and expensive, in the dirt what you do to get hurt is up to you not a stupid cage operator.
IMmaybeO .
As usual, your rose colored glasses are twisting history. I have been going to MX races. Since the 80’s. I remember when a huge piece of property at the edge of my town was a informal MX park, not a huge shopping mall.
For the first several years I watched MX, the US scene was the be-all, end-all. Riders like Jean Michele Bayle won everything in Europe, then they came to the US to find out if they were really good (should’a seen him try to manage a CR500 the first year…). Now they come over and beat us (see Jeffery Herlings utter trouncing of the AMA crowd..).
I wouldn’t call the US MX scene “thriving” but it’s certainly better off than the road scene. Stability helps a lot there.
There’s no real promotion in The States now. The AMA road race series used to be a big deal. Now it a glorified club series. Kids have a hard time thinking that they can make a living as a motorcycle road racer here. Do well here and they might let you race with the ex-GP ringers in the bagger class. How are you going to make a living doing that? And is that something that a young racer really wants to do?
Road racing is the way it is now because the system was disrupted and broken. If I were running the show, I would disrupt it again and put things back the way they were. AMA and WSB would have full factory teams and GP would again be merit based run what you brung. No goof ball rules about spending insane money to glorify obsolete technology or staying home.
Remind me again… how could Marc be winning when the know-it-all’s so confidently assured us his career was over? I’m confused.
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Ogura sure looked impressive for his first Premier race, I wonder if he’ll be able to keep it going? Jorge Martin was probably excited to see the Aprilia looking competitive, too.
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Highest rookie finish since Marquez’ debut?
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Makes you wonder how many championship titles MM would have won if he had left Honda years ago.
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winning the 2025 MotoGP title will be a bitter sweet for MM as it will clearly prove the titles in between 2020 and 2024 were likely his had he been on a top tier bike and not having to slag a half dead horse around all the time he did.
when MM was still in his prime (and after Dovi wasn’t)…I thought Maverick V was really going to give MM a run for it…we know how that turned out.
Then Quart and we know how that turned out.
The people who are on the list of names that won MotoGP titles “Mir, Quart, PeccoX2, Martin” all know, as well as everyone else, that their MotoGp titles were gifts from the absence of one MM. If an old beat up not in his prime MM wins 2025 then that is proven.
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I read where MM93 tire warning light came on, so he had to follow Alex, to keep the temp high. It seems he is not that hard on the front tire, and out front with cooling air flowing freely to it, it was going below min pressure, thats the reason he followed Alex, for most of the race. Once Ducati reviews the data, and they understand more how MM93 rides, he said he had 3 levels at this race, it looks good that he left Honda.
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correct and he did the math (how many laps to follow) in his head, while leading a MotoGP race. his actions to slip in behind AM came after he tried braking harder to heat the tires. his strategy and calculations were done alone as when he let AM by. the shock and surprise was on all the faces in his team. who else does that stuff?
yep…what the heck was Ducati thinking signing MM indeed?!? not!
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Honda? They still make motorcycles?
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“Honda? They still make motorcycles?”
They are the most important motorcycle manufacturer on earth, with 40% of the world market and a credible plan to achieve 50%. It seems the sideshow we like so much is diminishing in importance.
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They have been dead to me since 2007 when the stopped making two strokes. I was racing a 2002 CR250 at the time. When they announced that they were dying I went to the cycle shop and bought a new Yamaha. I still have the first 2007 Yamaha Yz250 that I bought. I bought and sold two other used ones over the years. After a while a bought a 2004 so I have a steel fame model. It weighs about 7 pounds more. But the frame is more supple in really rugged environments.
I do still have my highly modified 2003 Honda XR650R supermoto. I’m kind of embarrassed to own a Honda at all really. But it’s a unique street bike and most people don’t know who made the thing unless they look very closely. It’s rear fender is the stock shape. But it’s black, a aftermarket part that was only sold in the UK. Darn thing cost me $90. The rear number plates are stock items. I started making aluminum replacements for them. But the guy teaching me how died. So I only have one that is about 80% complete.
I suppose I’ll sell it some day and live the rest on my life in a Honda free environment. Blather stats all you want. Honda does not make motorcycles, or anything else, as far as I am concerned. They stopped supporting me. So I stopped supporting them.
MotoGP is kind of the same way. My bucket list only ever had one item on it. To ride Europe and attend a 500GP race there. But 500GP, and road racing in general, was ruthlessly murdered in 2002. I eventually moved to Europe and rode all over the place. But MotoGP will never get one thin dime of my money. It murdered motorcycle road racing globally. Don’t think so? Who won the AMA road racing title last year? Their biggest draw is racing fake bagger looking things now. And what they are selling for street bikes now are ECU modes to control a ride by wire throttle. Are they selling motorcycles? Or are they selling consumer electronics? I’ll certainly never buy one to find out.
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They are big, and had the most R&D, however, screwball ideas aside ( bikes that stand up, and follow you, robots that dance ) where are the exciting ideas and designs ?
Respect what they used to do every week. Now ?
Is that all there is ? Maybe too much 4 wheel transportation.
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Have we forgotten the interesting supercharged V3 Honda already?
And Mick is back to his bigoted views which we love for their nonsense or find downright irritating. Not so different from The Man In Charge methinks.
Bigoted views? Strong opinions perhaps. The lie about MotoGP was that it would at least lead to better street bikes. Here we are 23 years later and all I see are electronics. You can’t even run your own throttle anymore unless you buy a CF Moto or Enfield or something.
What of a supercharged V3? It’s going to do what? Make yet another overweight, overpowered, overcomplicated street bike with seventeen modes and every nanny known to man? Oh goody. They might sell handfuls of them. Because of course they will also be overpriced.
I wonder rather they rekindled the Active Radical Combustion project that had them Winning Dakar with a 402cc bike. But no. Just more new and exciting vanilla flavors.
Yo – Dave, Nick and Mick,
Racing dosn’t improve the breed any more.
When it shows up in a dealership counts.
Steel wheels bend in hard terrain, Aluminum not.
Of course racing improves the products we buy. It’s a marketing exercise but it’s also a test environment that is completely unique.
“Steel wheels bend in hard terrain, Aluminum not.”
That’s ^ entirely an engineering choice + outcome (steel is used for heavier/cheap stuff, alloy for lighter/expensive stuff). All things equal, auminum bends more easily than steel and then stays bent. This is why you’ve probably never seen a spring made of aluminum.
Dave – Yes racing is an unique test environment, of racing go fast parts, not a day to day street ride. Seen any pneumatic valve trains lately at a dealership ? Any materials or manufacturing processes, for 200 mph motorcycles, necessary for a go to work scoot ? Improves anything, – just race day receipts.
Now wheels in harsh terrain. Bent several steel ones over 30 years, never bent an aluminum laced by Buchannons in the same terrain and on the same 3-1/2 inch travel 350 pound dirt sled, with a 220 pound peep.
I would argue that racing has not really improved street bike simply because the manufacturers don’t let it. Racing brought developments in electronics in the last couple of decades. But look at the sport bikes now. The 850-900s make less power than the 600s did over a decade ago. They aren’t any lighter either. I just read a review of the new V2 Panigale. The said it handled like a dream, They also said that it lost 35hp and 29 pounds. Pull 35hp and 29 pounds out of any bike and it will seem to handle much better. So sayeth The Holy Book of DUH. If history is any clue. The bike will eventually gain the weight back and then lose it again. I’ve been watching that cycle for decades. But has a street bike that makes 80-90hp really lost any appreciable weight in thirty years? I would submit that the street bike industry has certain weight to power ratio lines that the will not cross. So now it’s electronics. Modes and TFT dashes.
The four stroke dirt bikes continue to be improved. They are becoming lighter and more durable over time. But street bikes? Nope. If you pay more, you get more power. The modes are all about selecting a power profile that you actually want to use on the street. Can you buy that power profile in a much lighter and more nimble package? Nope. They refuse to make those. Kramer does. But they don’t want you to have street bikes like that. Kramers are for racing only, unless I buy one.
Can’t we all just get along ?
Bring back skinny tires for handling, pushrods for thump,
and flat seats.
Now that’s progress by racing, instead of leaving sooner.
Geeze Louise
Yeah whatever. Just don’t try to tell me how wonderful the current street bike world is when it clearly isn’t in any real world measure, other than maybe valve check intervals. The street bike industry probably puts food down Dave’s neck. So I get it that he going to make up these fairy tales. Being such a predictable shill doesn’t do his credibility any favors. If some bike’s paint flew off he’d call it an awesome new self lightening feature.
Pecco just stated MM is playing with us.
Pecco stated earlier last year (2024) that the 2024 Championship is nice (thinking he’d possibly win it) but not really meaningful until he races against MM on equal bikes.
Well…Pecco just stated he is hoping only to salvage points in the next two races too.
he has already conceded them to MM.
MM made everything look way too easy this weekend.
this is going to be an exceptionally gratifying year for MM fans but may be pretty boring for racing…other than for 2nd place.
another season of watching MM handily take most of the wins.
1 more MotoGP Championship win to tie VR’s record and one more in 2026 to go ahead of VR and remain there for all time. then retire in 2027 when it all goes to pot and let the others fight it out. nice.
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Marc was great but he’s not “playing” with anyone. Everyone in the top-5 finished within one or two mistakes of him. If this new, improved MM can keep his excitement under control when someone challenges him, he has a great chance of winning the title but he’s just recovered from a few seasons where winning wasn’t possible. Not that he has a taste for it again? And a title dangling in front of him? We’ll see.
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well… MM’s current team mate and very recent 2X MotoGP Champion stated that MM was playing with them.
I’m going to go ahead and take Pecco’s word over your’s as I believe he’d know better about these racing things than you or I.
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And as older, more life-experienced people than any of these racers, we should know better than to take the emotional words of a drained athlete as gospel fact. The fact is, there’s no “toying” on a 300+ hp GP Bike, for anyone.
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what?
how much of your life-experience was accumulated racing in MotoGp in the last 10 years?
mine, none.
Pecco is a drained athlete? Pecco is one the most in control of his emotions athletes I know.
I’d guess MM ‘worked hard’ to earn pole, Sprint and race wins this past weekend.
I’d guess every other rider on the paddock also worked as hard or harder but, obviously, did not earn the same result MM did.
Go figure?
I think (and I’ve said it years ago) that MM, finally on a top tier bike, is going to absolutely squash the competition because he is so used of having to work harder than most, even in 2024.
Now, in 2025, MM is finally on a top tier bike and his high work ethic/effort pays off handsomely. 2025 is going to be easy for MM and he will be able to let off and relax whenever he knows he can and wants to and still place very well.
MM can play whenever he wants on the bike he’s on now. MM stated he’s just enjoying riding now.
Like you, my life experience has been accumulated in many different things, not one singular thing. Point is, “he is toying with us” is a hyperbolic, exaggerated statement.
I thought MM was going to squash everyone on the 2nd tier Ducati last year but he didn’t because he’s no longer the same rider he was back when he could dominate on the Honda. He has said so himself (“I am no longer that fast”.).
I agree, I think MM win a lot but let’s not get carried away. This was weekend #1 and it was 100*f, extraordinarily difficult conditions to race in. He nailed it. Someone always does, but he will be challenged. He’ll get the tire pressure thing wrong, just like everyone does sometimes. That’ll be all it takes to lose or even crash.
(2024 Ducati)
MM, on a 2023 bike (second tier bike), did squash all but two of the competition as he finished third in the Championship (ahead of some 2024 Ducati bikes).
there is a good article about the differences between the 2023 and 2024 Ducati.
–in the 2023 race season- the 2023 Ducati bike wasn’t much better than the 2022 bike. all the statistics and race/pole results proved that. there was a very big mix of riders on 2022 bikes getting poles/podiums amongst the 2023 bikes.
—in the 2024 race season…totally different story! the new 2024 bike was leauges better than the 2023/2022 Ducati bikes. the 2024 bike was top tier…the 2023 was absolutely not.
i maybe mistaken [slightly], which is easy enough to verify, but no other rider other than MM put a 2023 Ducati bike on a podium/pole in 2024.
the 2024 Ducati is so good that Ducati is using the 2024 bike instead of the 2025 Ducati for the 2025 race season…when has a factory team ever done that before?
We don’t get to know what bike / configuration / parts Marquez and the others rode last year.
He’s the biggest rider in the sport since Rossi retired by far. If he’s not competitive on a Ducati, it’s a HUGE negative for marketing. I think it’s safe to assume his GP23 was not the same as the others.
Honda and Yamaha have both reverted to a prior year’s chassis at times when the new thing didn’t pan out like they hoped. It’s not that uncommon.
Sure looked like he was controlling the race if not playing with them.
Very long season and I think he can make a few mistakes and still win. I think he’ll win in the USA by a LARGE margin. And how many other tracks does he have multiple, dominating wins. Germany, Aragon…
I am not a fanboy of anyone but on the best bike Marquez is tough to beat.
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exactly.
‘they’ may call me an MM fanboy all they like, it’s a waste of time but go ahead.
I don’t understand how I’m supposed to be insulted or offended or put off from stating things that are favorable to MM’s position by me being called a fanboy.
I like watching MM race and I’d like to see him take 2 more MotoGp Championships then retire and enjoy life. Whomever would find that statement offensive…too bad…I’m not apologizing as there is nothing to apologize for.
whatever “gushing/fanboy” MM things that I write down (gush over) here, are they wrong or inaccurate?
not so far.
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Ooooo, somebody hit a nerve there.
i think so too. MM’s results has indeed hit a nerve of many. could be a very interesting year ahead.
Well this baby is over!
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