Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa!
Yes, it seems like we suffered a bad case of "missing Maverick" during our rider reviews. What can we say - he was right in the middle and we just straight skipped him. Scandalous! Seems like the rider reviews aren't quite done, yet...

What have we got in other news? For starters, there's Constructors' World Championship. That's the grading system where we're not looking for the best rider, but the best bike. Don't feel bad if the above doesn't immediately make you feel excited or even ring a bell, because the Constructer's Championship is woefully underexposed in MotoGP. That's a shame, because it is an arena where the stakes, drama and tension are all sky-high.

In other words, it makes for good stories. And we all love a good story, right?

So now that we've done all the riders, let's have a look at their rides and dive straight into this championship-inside-a-championship. Cheers!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

Last week, Mat and Peter set out on a journey to review every rider currently in MotoGP.

This Sunday...they're back to finish the job!

Yes, we're going all the way to number one this week as we bring our mid-season Rider Reviews to an end. According to my notes, we've got (in no particular order): a semi-stoned maniac, a warrior monk, space aliens and the reason Yamaha isn't going to flog a dead bike.

That has got to make you curious, right? So hit play and cheers!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

Quick question before we continue:

Are you now, are were you at any point in the last year, a MotoGP-rider? If so, you probably shouldn’t be listening to this. In fact, I think we can all agree that you should probably just turn off this device and come back next week. Don’t worry, there’s fun Patreon-episodes that you can listen to. I’d offer them for free, but you’re riding bikes around the world while I’m writing podcast descriptions, so I know you can miss it. Go listen now, you’ll have fun! See you next week!

…are they gone? Good, then we can begin with our great Rider Review! Yes, Mat and Peter are going to discuss all the riders and see where they’re at at this point. And yes, it’s going to be best for all of us if we do this without the riders themselves, because we’re scary! We’re ruthless! We really respect what they’re doing! But we’re going to say some very mean things, regardless! Because we love the sport! And exclamation marks!

This is getting silly, and I feel like you already know why this is going to be fun. So pour one out, and let’s have a little chat. Those riders will be back next week, you know?

What?
We’re maybe doing part II next week?
Oh, bugger, they’re not going to like that…

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

Remember the Cybermen, from Doctor Who? Scary races of machine-men and living computers who share all their experiences in a massive network. And that makes them really daunting, because any trick you might use in a fight against them only works once. Fool one once, and all of them learn and adapt. Your victories only help them slowly iterate towards perfection, all through data, data and more data.

Why am I waffling on about sci-fi when we just had a spectacular race? Because the Cybermen are in MotoGP, too, but here they're called Ducati. Each bike gathers more and more data, sorted and organized by algorithmic machine learning brains forever searching for speed. So what happens when that advantage disappears?

Well, it's not a great day to be on a Ducati if your name is not Marc Marquez. But what does that mean? For one, it's showing the capabilities of the riders in a whole new light. But it also shows that, under the right circumstances, the Ducati's may be less removed from the Aprilia- and KTM-machines than they care to admit.

And Marc Marquez? Well, five years after a horrific injury he's still the winner. There's a story there, and we've got Mat and Peter to tell it.

So strap in, because we're lifting off!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

Welcome to Sachsenring, where riders face an education in teutonic terror in every turn. Eighteen riders on the grid, and ten make it to the final finish. It's crash central down here!

But what would motorsport be without a little danger? That's what Mat and Peter wonder as they take a look at Sunday's race. Are the Marquez brothers holding back in their fights on the tarmac, or is Alex just really good at calculating the risk-reward ratio when it comes to attacking his brother? And Marc himself walks a frightful tightrope, too, constantly leveraging an increasingly battered physique to demonstrate utter domination on the grid. If he falls, the damage could be immense - but as long as he wins, he's writing history.

Yes, we love danger - or maybe we just love the feeling of taking risks and getting away with it. That's a very different danger than the one faced by riders in the JuniorGP, who were witness to tragedy this week as a shameful lack of marshals and preparation resulted in the tragic and completely avoidable death of Borja Gomez. That's the wrong kind of danger, and this episode goes out to him.

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

It's happened: MotoGP is now the property of Liberty Media, owner of Formula 1. So, what now?

Well, things are definitely going to change and that might not be a bad thing. Change is life, right? The only question is which changes are necessary, which are wanted and which are inevitable.

To find an answer to this, Mat and Peter turn to the one and only Dennis Noyes. Dennis was a racer, he's one hell of a journalist and commentator, and he's right here with us for a little chat.

See, this isn't the first time that the whole circus was sold and it most definitely won't be the last. So what happened last time around, when the Spanish moved in and Dorna Sports bought it all? And how was that different from now?

Noyes is intimately familiar with this world, covering MotoGP from Spain. His son, Kenny Noyes, won the 2014 Spanish Superbike championship before suffering a career-ending crash the following year. You want someone that knows the culture, the history and the sport? Noyes is your man.

So join us as we attempt to look at the future of MotoGP under it's new corporate overlords, before immediately getting distracted and talking instead about that time King Kenny gave the King of Spain rabbit ears.

Hey, what were you expecting? Cheers!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

"I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat."

-John Milton, London, 1644

"I'm going to ride my fast machine!"

-Franco Morbidelli, Assen, 2025

It's always awesome to be in Assen, and this year was no exception as the Dutch track celebrated it's Tourist Trophy Centennial. Luckily, the race itself proved worthy of the occasion with some truly spectacular fights. We've got Marc Márquez winning, but something seems different this time around. We've got Alex crashing, more teams than Ducati on the podium and Franco Morbidelli being, well, Franco Morbidelli.

Also, we've got a surprising amount of poetry?!

It's going to be a good one, so go get yourself a drink and let our humble bards Mat and Peter sing you the ballade of Assen. Cheers!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!

Well, that was an extremely exciting and unpredictable race...until Marc Márquez woke up and showed everyone how it's done, again. Yes, nr. 93 achieved his 93th victory in his archrival's backyard, while his brother Alex fights off Bagnaia and a surprisingly competitive Di Giannantonio.

So what else is there to talk about? Well, we've got a bunch of knobheads booing, a 'dead bike riding' and penalties escaliting into punishments. And a lot more, too, but you're just going to have to have a listen for yourself, eh?

Cheers!

Want more? Visit our website or support us on Patreon. With big thanks as always to Brad Baloo from The Next Men and Gentleman's Dub Club for writing our theme song. Check out The Nextmen for more great music!