Jack Miller's off in FP4...

Holy f*ck! that was so scary. Really amazing he wasn't seriously injured from that one. And he's OK to Qualify. How did that happen?

Really glad to see him OK.

eso

And that race race was exciting, but a real bummer for Rossi's unforced error costing him points Sunday.

And how about Pedrosa's elbowing past Crutchlow?

In other news Nicky Hayden has died following a cycling accident in Italy(?). Never the greatest rider but he did win a championship once. I always had a lot of respect for him for moving to MotoGP and being willing to challenge on the world stage: there's a real xenophobia and isolationism in US motorsports so it makes me happy whenever someone from the US is willing to play by the world rules.

eso

So sad for Nicky. He was a great guy and a great rider. After the accident I was thinking he would end up like Schumacher, and I honestly think it is better this way. I will miss him on the track, and we are on our way to Donington for next weekend where he was supposed to be racing. It will be sad in the paddock...

The MotoGP race was interesting. It was clear to me that Rossi was having some issues with his front again during the race, making him go wide a couple of times, and so staying down in third. Then near the end, he suddenly got new confidence for the bike and his trajectories were so tight! I really thought he would get the win, but after going a bit wide again it was just too much. It was strange though that he lost the rear and not the front. I would say it was not entirely unforced though, and Maverick showed real talent in taking it to the line.

What is really unfortunate though is that this will make him getting the title all the more difficult. Ultimately he is not quite as fast as Marc or Maverick, and he needs consistency in order to hope for the ultimate win. With 23 points behind Maverick it is going to be difficult.

Finally, Zarco is really proving to be quite something.

Yes, Zarco is bound to end up a factory rider before long.

After their abysmal performance in Spain it is interesting that France is a "Yamaha" track. I'm very curious what the details are that make certain manufacturers faster at certain circuits. The last two races that was across the board.

eso

It has a lot to do with the chassis. The Yamaha has a chassis that turns very well, and so with many stop and go like corners like in France it excels. The Honda and Ducati will be more for faster sweeping corners, where the Yamaha seems to struggle with front end grip.

It is amazing when you ride bikes how tiny things have a huge impact. I know when I ride I can tell right away when the pressure in the tires is a little bit off. I then imagine how these guys can tell differences with small changes to the chassis or the suspension setup.

Another example is with Luthi. Last year's Kalex chassis was very stiff, so they had to set the suspension also very stiff. This year, the chassis is softer, and so it was not working out for them with the suspension settings from last year. Now for France they softened the suspension setting, and things went much better for them.

Interestingly Michelin have now brought out a stiffer tire after many riders were complaining. So this weekend, Lorenzo was complaining about this as he liked the older ones. To this, Jack Miller said "opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one!". Lorenzo was offended, and was then complaining that Miller has no respect for others, especially somebody who is 5 times world champion. He is so full of himself...

A crazy weekend at Le Mans, with that Moto3 pile-up probably the biggest I've seen in motorcycles at the top level.

Tragic to see what happened to Nicky. It's so typical isn't it, spends a lifetime racing motorcycles but is killed doing something else.