Martín Closes the Gap in Buriram

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Jorge Martín takes another win in Buriram and cuts further into Francesco Bagnaia’s point lead. (MotoGP/)

After last weekend’s Phillip Island GP the Big Question was, will MotoGP title challenger Jorge Martín crash out again or pick the wrong tire, enabling current champion Francesco Bagnaia to pull away? Or will he rely upon his own speed and focus to win again? Martín followed his recent pattern by qualifying on pole and winning the Saturday 13-lap sprint race.

Martín then narrowly led 21 of Sunday’s 27 laps. First-to-second separation was always a harrowing small fraction of a second. No pulling a small but comforting gap. Time for unbreakable concentration! At about lap 16 his lead began to disappear. He was now challenged by the two riders who had closed: KTM’s Brad Binder and the Ducati factory’s Bagnaia. From lap 21 Binder got by for three laps.

Binder said, “I tried to stay behind him and maintain the tire.”

This was pure Marc Márquez from years past: Push the leader, wait for a mistake or for his tire to drop, then pounce.

Binder continued, “I did exactly that. As soon as I passed him, [my tire] dropped.

“The lap I passed him was fine. It was the next one.

“As soon as [I was on the left side] of the tire, it would start pumping on the straights. Also, I had big vibration on the rear tire.”

“Pumping” is current rider-speak for weave oscillation, a two-to-three cycles-per-second instability that intensifies with speed. Kenny Roberts had a big weave in the Dutch TT 40-odd years ago that made one of his tires go flat. “Big vibration” often signals that heat is causing tread blistering—the eruption of volatiles through the tread surface. Bad omens.

Binder continued, “From then on it was just survive and fight with whatever I had.

After passing for the lead, Brad Binder’s tire dropped and he held off Bagnaia to the finish, but then was docked a position for exceeding track limits. (MotoGP/)

“I tried to brake late and roll through [turn 4]. When I cracked the gas, it pulled weight off the front tire. I tried to square it up but it touched the green.”

This gave him a time penalty for “exceeding track limits” that made Bagnaia officially second to Jorge Martín in the final results. The top five were Martín, Bagnaia, Binder, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Duc), and a man having a rare good day, Fabio Quartararo (factory Yamaha).

“Before we finished the first lap the battle commenced (he started sixth). There was a lot of contact, a lot of battles. It was intense,” Bagnaia said.

“I didn’t have time to manage the rear tire. I had to push a lot to close the gap.

“When I got to Binder and Martín I couldn’t be incisive in acceleration.”

A daring next-to-last-lap attempt to pass both on the outside showed sincerity but failed. At the end, all three headed for the slot through the last turn and it belonged to Martín.

Bagnaia said, “…Jorge makes more of an impression because he has incredible consistency and aggression, while we work more in the shadows.”

Later, when Bagnaia was asked if he were surprised that Martín was able to bear the pressure of the championship battle and win, he replied, “No, I knew it would go like this. The same happens to me. I make a mistake and the next race I’m in front.”

Martín described his race: “…today I had that confidence that I could use to gain back positions, to fight back with Brad.

“I was hearing his engine a lot out of corner 7. I was on the limit with the tires. I thought he had more grip.

“When they touched me in the last part of the race they were faster than me. I thought Brad was going to pull away—but I was able to keep the distance small.

“…as soon as he overtook me I saw he was on the limit with rear grip. I tried to keep the distance for one lap, then overtake him back. I didn’t want my front tire to get hot.”

No tire nonsense like last weekend, when Martín’s soft rear gave up at the very end. This weekend he was just one of the top 17 on the medium/hard combination. He didn’t need a trick tire choice to make the pace.

Marco Bezzecchi saved a fourth place finish. (Mooney VR46/)

It has been interesting to see the response of race fans to change. In the recent past MotoGP has been dominated by Supermen in whose shadow the others appeared two-dimensional. Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, and Marc Márquez have now been replaced by a dozen near-equals, well matched in both skills and equipment. For whom shall we root? Who is the standout? Any one of the dozen is capable of winning a race or two. Several of them—including Bezzecchi—are riding at less than their best, still recovering from the early season spate of injuries. Others lack consistency, finishing below their capability because of unpredicted tire drop or technical issues. Yet all are fast, capable of hatching a surprise. The biggest change is that nothing is certain any more. No rider appears larger than life.

When years ago I asked Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, “What will happen when Rossi retires?” he replied, “Other great champions will arise.”

Martín celebrates a hard-fought win. (MotoGP/)

As it has turned out, none of the latter-day champions has been a showman and crowd-pleaser like Rossi. Theorists propose that “close racin’” is what packs ‘em in, but the present situation throws that into doubt. Fans want a Superman who does unimaginable things.

Aleix Espargaró (factory Aprilia) was assessed a three-second penalty for riding more than half the race under the Michel-specified minimum tire pressure. This turned his earned race finish of fifth into an official eighth. Based on other riders’ experiences, this is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. If your crew gives you higher pressures to avoid a rules penalty, you may earn a physical penalty in the form of your front tire beginning to lock as rising tire pressure shrinks its footprint, or as “closing” of the front (loss of self-aligning torque as front grip decreases). Can any rider count on leading, thereby keeping his front tire cool? Does anyone have such low self-esteem as to be certain of being locked into a hot drafting cluster?

All riders know this problem is real. On full throttle, the energy of the fuel divides three ways: One-third becomes mechanical power to the rear wheel, one-third is rejected to cooling water or oil, and the last third emerges as exhaust heat. Stand in the right place and you can see the air surrounding bikes on the track shimmering as heat alters its index of refraction. Near top speed, even the energy given to the rear wheel becomes heat—as the result of forcing a half-streamlined object through the resisting air.

Bagnaia’s brave outside pass nearly stuck. (Ducati/)

Bagnaia noted, “I tried to never stay in [anyone’s] slipstream on the straights because the [tire] temperature and pressure rose a lot.”

Luca Marini (now reportedly under consideration by Honda) said, “When Brad overtook me I tried to overtake him again as soon as possible because I knew if I waited too long the pressure of the front tire was rising and then it was more difficult.”

Marini finished seventh on a Mooney VR45 Ducati.

He described the same in Saturday’s sprint: “After three, four laps you start to feel more front locking, more closing—especially closing the front in turn 6, turn 9, the last corner. I try to block Brad and close everything [to block pass attempts] because I know that maybe if I can do eight laps in front, his [front tire] temperature will rise more [so that] he cannot overtake.”

Luca Marini finished seventh on Sunday. (Mooney VR46/)

Tire heating as a racing strategy? Successful racers are imaginative opportunists. See the photos and videos of Martín, dragging his inside shoulder in turns. Like Marc Márquez before him, he knows there is a limit to how far the bike can be leaned before it drags on the pavement, causing grip loss and running wide—or worse. To prevent this, he moves as much of his own mass to the inside and downward, in order to hold the bike more upright.

Buriram was one of the closest races of the year. (MotoGP/)

Why doesn’t a team just raise its bike so it won’t ground, allowing the rider to stay centered like Gary Nixon 50 years ago, rather than look like a mad gymnast on the pommel horse? Nope, can’t. Reason? Tall bikes wheelie easier, lowering the upper limit on acceleration. Races are mostly won on acceleration! Dragsters are built long and low for this reason, but MotoGP bikes can’t be made longer without slowing their steering response, wasting more time in rolling over for each corner. Motorcycles are tight compromises.

In two weeks comes Malaysia. Just three races left, from which a champion will emerge.

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