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Episode 285 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one sees us covering the Dutch TT at The Cathedral, in Assen.

On the mics, we have the full crew of Steve EnglishDavid Emmett, and Neil Morrison as they look at the events of the Dutch round, and the aftermath of Fabio Quartararo’s crash with Aleix Espargaro.

The guys get the conversation started by covering the plethora of rider-market news that happened at The Cathedral, especially the news concerning Alex Marquez and Alex Rins.

We of course have to give considerable time to Aleix Espargaro’s race, after he recouped disaster from Quartararo’s crash, and made his way to a heroic last-corner pass for fourth place. 

Espargaro is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the MotoGP paddock, and Aprilia had a strong showing in Holland with Maverick Viñales on the podium as well.Ada 

The guys then look at the fate of KTM at Assen, and we have an interview with Brad Binder, as he talks to our man,  Adam Wheeler.

The show’s last topic consists of a discussion on why the Ducati is so good, and what an incredible performance it was from Marco Bezzecchi to grab his first podium. Naturally, we finish off with our winners and losers.

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Source: SoundCloud

Episode 276 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one has Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics, talking about the WorldSBK action from Assen.

The guys kick off with a debate over who, if anyone, was to blame in the clash between Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu which blew Race 2 wide open.

Next, they talk about how Alvaro Bautista has taken charge of the championship, in part thanks to his penalty in the Superpole race and the win in Race 2.

The show then discusses where the rest of the field stand after Assen, starting with Honda. Steve and Gordo discuss how well Iker Lecuona has made the transformation from the MotoGP paddock to WorldSBK, then they look at how Yamaha are faring, and they discuss the situation at BMW.

Lastly, Steve and Gordo take a look ahead at the Estoril round, coming up on the weekend of May 22nd.

Be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. Now, we also have a YouTube channel, which you should subscribe to as well.

If you want to support the Paddock Pass Podcast, we now have a Patreon account, where members will get exclusive content.

Help support our podcasting endeavors and sign-up to get behind-the-scenes looks at the motorcycle racing paddocks.

Source: SoundCloud

Episode 218 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is our Moto2 and Moto3 follow-up to Episode 217, which focused on the MotoGP action from the German GP at Sachsenring.

On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they walk us through the on-track action in the intermediate classes, along with special insights from ex-racer Michael Laverty.

I was supposed to have an interview with Yamaha Racing managing director Lin Jarvis this weekend, arranged well beforehand. That ended up not happening, unsurprisingly.

Lin Jarvis had more important things to deal with than answering my questions. And my list of questions seemed a good deal less relevant this weekend than they had a few days earlier.

For this weekend was all about Maverick Viñales. Whether he, or we, wanted it to be or not.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider (but not for long) arrived at Assen after finishing dead last at the Sachsenring, topped both sessions of free practice on Friday, had an explosive meeting with Yamaha on Friday evening, secured pole with a blistering lap on Saturday, then found a way to only finish second on Sunday, well behind his teammate Fabio Quartararo.

Oh yes, and there were the reports that he had signed for Aprilia for 2021 on Saturday night as well.

The last time we had a weekend like this was at Austria in 2019, when Johann Zarco announced that he had asked KTM to terminate his contract with immediate effect.

But, though that rupture was more dramatic, Zarco stepping away with immediate effect and leaving KTM scrabbling around for a replacement rider, at least it made sense from a results perspective.

Zarco had had one top ten finish and one front row start, after three podiums in each of the preceding two years.

Episode 219 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the Dutch TT at Assen.

On the mics, we have  Steve EnglishDavid Emmett and Neil Morrison, as the trio attempts to talk about the racing action at the Cathedral of Speed.

Of course, before the show can get to the on-track action, the guys have to first tackle the breaking news that Maverick Viñales will be leaving Yamaha at 2021.

Saturday at Assen only deepened the enigma that is Maverick Viñales. After being fastest in both sessions of practice on Friday, the Monster Energy Yamaha man added FP3 to his belt in the morning, then finished second in FP4.

That result was a little deceptive, however: he started FP4 on a used soft tire with 15 laps, nearly two thirds race distance, on it, and put nearly race distance on it, ending with a couple of 1’33.7s.

For context, the race lap record at Assen is 1’33.617, set by Marc Márquez on lap 4 of the 2015 race. Viñales’ second run was on a new medium tire, assessing tire choice for the race.

Eventful. That was the best way to describe the first day of practice at Assen.

The riders got a chance to sample the new asphalt, and they also got a chance to sample typical Assen summer weather: cool and dry in the morning, sprinkles of rain in the afternoon, followed by a downpour harsh enough to soak the track and allow a few laps in full wet conditions.

Not ideal for working on bike setup, especially if your name is Garrett Gerloff, and you have been drafted in to replace Franco Morbidelli, who spent the morning having surgery on his meniscus and ACL, and faces an 8-week period of rehab.

That would mean a return after the two races in Austria. But more of Gerloff later.

“This track is special.” Alex Rins summed up what most of the MotoGP riders, and indeed, almost anyone who has raced a motorcycle, think of the Circuit van Drenthe, the official name of the TT Circuit, or as most fans around the world know it, Assen. “One of my favorite tracks,” is how championship leader Fabio Quartararo described it.

Pecco Bagnaia loves it so much he has a tattoo of the circuit on his arm. “I really like the layout of this track,” the Ducati Lenovo Team rider told us. He had good reason to like the layout, as Assen has been a happy hunting ground for him.

“My first victory, the best weekend of my career in Moto2 here, when I was first in all the sessions and in the race,” Bagnaia told. Reason enough to create an indelible reminder of the occasion on his own body.

“Assen is a great place,” Valentino Rossi said. “It is the track that more or less every rider loves because, first of all, it is the track with the most history in motorcycle racing and was on the calendar from the beginning, and secondly, the layout is fantastic. Now it is modified but it remains the taste of the old Assen and the ride here is always a great pleasure.”

One might accuse Rossi of being biased, having been made an honorary citizen of the city of Assen by the Mayor, Marco Out. But the fact that it was almost impossible to find a dissenting voice suggests he was not lying.

American racing fans will see a familiar face on the MotoGP grid this weekend, at the Dutch TT in Assen, as Garrett Gerloff will be filling in for Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad.

Making waves already in the WorldSBK paddock, Gerloff’s race debut in the MotoGP Championship could be a sort of audition for the 25-year-old, showing off his skills for the grand prix paddock for the first time.