Yamaha’s V4 appears
The House of the Rising Beansprout has been suffering in MotoGP for quite some time. Once famed for their ingenuity, attention to detail and smooth faces the Japanese teams have been left behind and dishonoured of late leaving the great wave off Kanagawathe splashing over many mysterious three-quarter-human sized bags.
For Yamaha it’s been the same Imperial House-old story. Stick with a ‘sweet handling’ bike that’s slower than Shuckle with a sprained ankle. And to clarify it’s only ‘sweet handling’ because it’s so slow.
With seasons of the same old failure how then did Yamaha manage to retain the services of the talented Fabio Quartarararararo? Easy. The promise of a V4.
The Yamaha V4 engine is more mysteriously illusive than Kumanokusubi. The famed powerplant was always a rumour bubbling under the surface swindling us into believing something great was about to appear from Takahiro Sumi’s Minka in Iwata.
But after years of tricking us and Fabio into believing they could actually be bothered building a V4 it now looks like Yamaha have had to bow their heads, fall on the noodle and hash together a new engine that isn’t just one pulled out of an R1.
Could 2025 be the year we see it? And if so – will it be awesome? Maybe…and probably not. But we can all hope.
Luca Marini won’t finish last again
Club standard racer Marini moved to the factory Honda team last season full of confidence and self-belief. Sadly that wouldn’t last long.
The problem was Ducati. In 2023 the satellite Ducati was so brilliant that it flattered Luca (along with other chumps like Bezzecchi) into believing they were Doohan-esq in their talents. Luckily 2024 arrived to punch them in the throat.
We were laboriously told by journalists that Marini was an ‘intelligent’ rider and that he’d soon figure out the Honda heap. And indeed it did. It took just a handful of races for the spindly Italian to ‘figure out’ that he and the bike were terrible and was desperately phoning his famous brother asking for him to get him out.
Alas Marini couldn’t do a Marquez and was stuck with the factory Honda team. He would finish the season as the lowest scoring Honda rider and last in the MotoGP standings of full-time riders.
So what can 2025 bring that 2024 couldn’t? How can Marini not finish last in the standings and not be the worst Honda rider? Somkiat Chantra!
Somkiat Chantra isn’t very good. Despite this the Thai rider has been drafted in to replace the not very good Token Nakagami in the LCR Honda team. It’s always been HRC’s policy to employ an oriental looking rider somehow regardless of their ability.
Whether Somkiat, whose name I have to cut and paste into articles, isn’t as good as the not very good Marini has yet to be seen. But for Luca it’s his best shot at climbing up the crumbling ladder…
Redbull buy KTM MotoGP
KTM are officially leaving MotoGP at the end of 2025. This is a massive shame for the sport, their riders and for us as it will limit the amount of comical Hitler references we can potentially use.
But could there be a saviour in the evil energy drinks firm Redbull? Redbull, who have been helping children develop diabetes and behavioural issues since 1987, have strong ties with fellow Austrians KTM. So could they take over the entire team?
Redbull have done just that in F1. The energy drinks company acquired the rubbish Jaguar F1 team in 2006 and immediately won fans by giving out tins of their product which contained enough caffeinated poison to allow many of them to stay awake for an entire race (citation needed).
However from such humble beginnings Redbull Racing have become the dominant force in Formula 1.
With ever closer ties between F1 and MotoGP would now be the time for Redbull to sweep in and buy the KTM MotoGP outfit for an insulting low amount?
