Oh dear, what a weekend! For want of a screw, the race was lost. Or, maybe I should say: for want of a proper screw. Yes, I'm talking about Marc Marquez, him having a screw loose leading to a rather painful absence for the man who'd absolutely shattered the lap record at Les Mans on Saturday.

And it's bad news for Ducati, too, as Alex took a tumble within the first rounds today and left the door wide open for Aprilia to, once again, establish dominance. It looks like the greatest contest this year will be an in-house affair for the Bezz and his teammate Martin. Yes, it's the Axe Murderer versus the Mad Philosopher. Here's to many more battles to come!

So yeah: bad news for Ducati. But maybe not as bad as you'd think. Why? Well, I could tell you that but I won't. Not because I don't like you, dear reader, but because we've got Mat and Peter ready to talk about it. So let's just wrap this up and hit play, alright?

Cheers!

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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! And additional thanks to flowerhead, who's music you can find here.

And thanks to our sponsors, OnTrack Experiences. Check them out if you want an easy all-in-one package for your favourite race!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

Come on, it's time to check out the best race ever.

You might have noticed, but a lot has been changing in MotoGP recently. New owners, new rules, new tracks and the end of the 1000cc-era. It feels weird, doesn't it? Most humans, when unsure about the future, start ruminating on the past in search of answers. After all, it's often only when seeing where we came from that we can actually see how far we've come and how much things changed. But turn back the clock by, say, twenty years. What do we find? Well, it's the 990cc's last hurrah. There's money galore, courtesy of the tobacco companies, but those sponsors aren't coming back next year. In other words: it's the end of an era, all over again.

So, Valencia 2006. In one corner, there's the late but great Nicky Hayden, aka The Kentucky Kid. In the other corner, it's Il Dottore himself. Whoever wins the race, wins the tournament. It's one of the greatest underdog stories in the MotoGP's history, ending in 'the greatest quote of my life'.

That's Mat's words, by the way.

So come join us this week as we go back in time and rewatch this legendary race. Go here (right at the 4:00 minute mark!), mute the video, press start when we tell you and enjoy the live commentary!

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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!

And thanks to our sponsors, OnTrack Experiences. Check them out if you want an easy all-in-one package for your favourite race!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

VIDEO ALERT! We've got Mat and Peter live from Jerez, with their mugs on camera! I'd click this, if I was you!

Normally after a race, you just pack up and go. If you hurry up, you've got just enough time to celebrate your victory or mourn your losses and still catch your plane.

But if you did that this week you'd feel pretty silly at the airport, because we've got testing to do!

And it's a little bit of a special occasion, too, as we draw inevitably closer towards the end of the 1000cc bikes now looms closer and closer. Every test done is one less remaining. One tick closer on the clock to the history books of MotoGP. After today? Only two of those remaining. Get them while they're hot!

Having said that, what did we see today? Well, that depends on which manufacturer we're talking about. Let's just say that the value of a day like this might be a little different for a dominating giant like Aprilia than it is for, say, KTM...

Well, luckily we've got Mat and Peter on the case. And because yestarday's episode was rather brief, we've decided to share their findings with all of you instead of only with our super cool and special Patreon supporters. And if you're a supporter, don't worry: we've got some pretty cool stuff coming up, just for you...

Okay, that's enough for now...enjoy this special update!

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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!

And thanks to our sponsors, OnTrack Experiences. Check them out if you want an easy all-in-one package for your favourite race!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

VIDEO ALERT! We've got Mat and Peter taking a stroll across Jerez, and that's the episode version I'd most recommend!

There's this thing called the law of opposites. You know: for every Ying, there's a Yang. For every good thing, a bad thing. For every exciting sprint, one boring race.

Oh bloody hell, we weren't allowed to say that!

Well never mind anyway, because it won't stay boring if you look a little closer. And you know who's really good at that? That's right, your hosts Mat and Peter!

It's a little cliche to call Jerez "Marquez-country", but there's good reason: in the past, the Spanish 'King of Chaos' has always ruled supreme over his kingdom here. But this year, something's seriously wrong. Marc was out in the second lap; not a great sign for his condition this season. And now the king's younger brother reigns in his stead, while Aprilia is steadily cementing itself further and further as best in class.

And right in the middle of this? Mat and Peter, taking a stroll across the grid. Want to come backstage with us and see what they thought of it all? Then jump in!

(Small note: today's episode is pretty short, but tune in tomorrow night for a special surprise!)

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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!

The song during the sponsor segment is called Dolphin Shores by flowerhead.

And thanks to our sponsors, OnTrack Experiences. Check them out if you want an easy all-in-one package for your favourite race!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

Here's MotoGP. Here's World Superbike. Quickly: what's the biggest difference?

Speed, of course! Or at least that's what the answer would have been at any point in history. But here we are, at the threshold of the biggest rule shake-up in the history of the sport, laying down new regulations on aerodynamics, ride height devices, fuel and engine capacity. All to slow down the machines to a level where squishy humans won't get turned into goo when their bike flips out on a track that was never build for this kind of velocity.

That this might end up bringing them below the top speed of a World Superbike machine was NOT the intended outcome - but it is a very real possibility that now confronts the sport.

So, what's really going on and what is the new management going to do about it? Well, since they own both tournaments they've got plenty of options. But before all that, we might want to ask what's really going on here.

Are superbikes faster than MotoGP-machines? Yes, sometimes, in very specific contexts. And to understand how that works, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Mat and Peter.

Take it away, boys!

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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!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

It's tiny. It's kind of hard to reach. It gets used at the start of the race, and then it gets folded away. Oh, and for riders and engineers it's the last big tool to shave off precious time in the corners.

That's right, this week Peter's coming in clutch with a deep dive into...the clutch! How does it work, what influence does it have and why are these devices so different in MotoGP, compared to the ones on your own bike?

Mat wants to know, and Peter has got the know-how. Some of it is proven, other bits are reconstructed from observation. So come with us as we courageously construct critical clutch knowledge...cheers!

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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!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

When not writing descriptions for episodes of the Oxley Bom MotoGP Podcast, I love to spend time on games. And I mean games in every format, from ancient boardgames to weird videogames and, of course, racing. It's not just about playing them, but also about appreciating the design behind them; the way every little aspect has been tweaked just so, in order to make it fun and meaningful.

So trust me when I say: making a game flow right is so, so much harder than you'd think.

Why am I telling you this? Because I need you to understand how horrifyingly titanic a task it would be if someone walked up to you and asked you to build a multimillion dollar racing track...that feels good. Yet that is exactly the task that our guest of today specializes in. Everyone, give a round of applause for Bob Barnard!

Funny fact: he made a track called Phillip Island.
(We miss it dearly!)

Anyway, we decided to give Bob a call and see if we could get him to tell us the juicy truths of track design. Luckily for us, he picked up - and here's the chat. Bob, it's been an honor!

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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!

Oh, and a quick word in regards to sponsors:
If you’re interested in connecting with a really unique MotoGP audience — we’re working with Smash Brand Group out of Sydney to manage partnerships. Curious? Just head to smashbrandgroup.com.au and get in touch!

During the week, he's an unassuming MotoGP-rider. But when the weekend comes around and Sunday's knocking, he changes into...Super Sunday Boy! This week, will our superhero have a mighty collision before parking his bike all the way at the front?

Yes, he can!

And speaking of the front, something we didn't find there was Ducati. Forget about that beautiful uninterrupted streak of victories last year - this season, they're being passed left and right in the same corner. So what is going on here?

We've watched and understood it all, in a way we very much can't say about the Baggers!

Oh, and on another note, remember we talked about sponsors during the Q&A-episode? Well, we got a lot of responses from you all...and something might be brewing!

Cheers!

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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!