Chris Vermeulen Previews Le Mans and Chats Life & Career | OMG! MotoGP Podcast | XTRA!

Renita and Keith are joined by Chris Vermeulen; former MotoGP racer and 2007 French GP Winner. In this in-depth interview, Chris talks about his career in MotoGP, World SBK and more. Plus, Chris shares his thoughts on the new 2027 Technical Regulations in MotoGP and who will stand on top of the podium this weekend in Le Mans!
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[Music] hello and welcome to the OMG motor GP extra podcast alongside myself Rene thein is fall grun free ride up in British champion Keith hu and in a very special extra episode to look ahead to the French WR free this weekend we’re joined by former Moto GP racer 2007 French runfree race winner and World Super Sport champion chrisan Chris welcome to the OMG Moto GP podcast yes thank you good to uh I I listen to a few of these so um great to be here and and be honest awesome those you Keith I can’t believe it it’s been a while since we’ve seen you Chris I mean like I follow your broadcast probably more than you follow anything else nowadays I’ve got to say that um the transition from motorcycle racer to broadcaster has been a good one for you it has it has I I I guess you can relate right but um it doesn’t suit everybody but uh you know obviously when you stop racing your life changes especially for me being an Aussie that came over to Europe and uh you know you sort of in a way sort of put your life on hold and you come back home and I’ve stopped have a family okay what am I going to do now and um yeah I got a chance to go in broadcasting with Fox Sports doing Moto GP coverage here um and I’m doing the Australian super bike Championship now so I’ve enjoyed that transition I still miss uh well sometimes I should say sometimes I look at things when they going really well and I think gez I miss being on the bike and then you see the guys having a hard time or it’s difficult or they’re crashing or they Hing themselves and they go yeah it’s not too bad being this side of the microphone or this side of the camera occasionally you know so um so yeah it’s good fun being a family man I mean like it’s um very difficult to stay away from tracks though isn’t it it’s uh if you’re the same as me you book your holidays around wherever a Grand Prix is or wherever this something motorcycle related you’re pretty much right the only thing I add in now being a family man is I look at school holiday dates as well Keith but otherwise you could probably relate there as well but um yeah we you know my wife and I were looking at doing a few holidays this year and I’m which races are on oh yeah we can go there where’s school holidays you know all all that sort of thing but um you’re right and you planed around what Grand pries are on if we’re coming to Europe um because my wife Tony is English so you know we generally come to the UK every year or 18 months and uh try and bu a Grand Prix or two while we’re over there so yeah that begs a question quite well because Rita you’re married to an Englishman as well so um you both picked English guys to be married to I know my dad doesn’t know what he got himself into I think he isn’t there any good Aussies over here for us too so um yeah it is quite funny and and and Rita’s um a partner Richie we get on quite well as well so he’s he’s a good motorbar Rider and a bit younger than me so he keeps me on my toes and we do a bit of training together as well so um yeah good in the family what about are you two at the minute reita where are you at the moment both of you yeah so we’re both on the Sunshine Coast I live in AAR which is on the coast and Chris is about 30 minutes into the mountains from where I am up in the hland so it’s nice and close Chris lives on a farm you have dirt buying St you have animals and everything so it’s really for me The Best of Both Worlds I can be down the beach and I can go to his house and ride bike so it’s perfect that’s pretty much how it works Keith yeah if we got to the beach we sto we park at her place and um but yeah her and Richie are up here a bit you know enjoying a bit of space occasionally and I a dirt bike riding from here and duro riding we can make tracks in the paddock and uh yeah it’s quite good fun I wanted to touch on the point where you guys were talking about England before and the fact that that’s actually where you both met right Keith and Chris you you met when Chris started in the British super stock Championship back in 2000 yeah Richards I was teammate with Glenn Richards and I remember he was such a little boy at that time Chris I I’ve got to say and you had Mick Grant as team boss yes yeah M and so Russell Savory owned the team San Honda and um great bloke and Mick Grant so I I got the connection through Barry Sheen here because so Barry knew Mick obviously and was helping me sort things out to uh further my career uh cuz I had a good year in Australia that previous year and um got the opportunity so when I went over yeah I met Russell met Glenn Richards my teammate another Aussie um so he was the second person I met in England and um and then Mick Grant and um yeah it was a great year I remember you were you were working on television I don’t know which TV network it was at that stage year 2000 I was yeah okay there you go I was 17 when I came to the UK and I race Super Sport and super stock for those uh those those championships for Sor Honda and um it was good it was an eye opener the weather difference from coming from Australia to the UK and and um but what was ironic was I was fast in the wet and and that continued through my career so I won a couple of races in the wet I remember going to knock Hill and it just rained all weekend um yeah some some really cool tracks over there I was fast at Thruxton and um learn Donnington Park and from that I got a wild card in European super stock championship and and won that race um at that time so yeah it was it was a great year and and a great oper but I do remember meeting Keith because you hear from Barry about the guys he did race against and that could be in the parck and then you know of Keith Yan and uh obviously you’re before my time but then you’re you’re working on the TV and you know I’m I’m this shy little 17y old so I didn’t really know I probably hardly said boo then I reckon so well I mean yeah you’re right Barry and I um Barry and I we both raced for Suzuki in his later years and the like and uh his m and dad looked after us I mean it’s it’s funny you you just ears on the back of my hand stood up as soon as you started mentioning that because even I forget that that you what a family environment it actually was back then Frank and Iris long gone now sadly um used to really look after me and my then girlfriend who we were talking about before we came on air mother of my oldest daughter I mean she was 16 then I think uh it’s it’s funny how the family side of things stick together over a lot of years but Barry was a bit of a mentor you wasn’t he he really sort of banged your drum big time very much so so I I I raced in in the Australian championship in 9 as a privateer in the Australian super bike championship and um it did quite well obviously at the start of the year it was I’d done six months of road racing before I jumped on a super bike and um the start of the year I struggled I mean Steve Martin and Andrew pit battled out the championship so two you know the competition level was quite strong um and uh by the end the year I was finishing on the podium and challenging those guys and Barry was the TV commentator here in Australia and Allin like through and through you would have known him a lot better than me Keith I was a young kid then but just alaran and a great bloke and he helped me out a lot um in that early part of my career and and his advice was because I I had options to stay in Australia different super bikes um Factory rides and Barry said if you want your career to go forward you got to go to uh you got to go to England well his actual words the typical barrier words you’ve either got to go to England or America the only problem with America there’s too many Americans so um that’s so that’s typical sheeni and you know he says it with a laugh and he’s he’s quite funny about it but um yeah obviously knew knew a lot of people in the UK and and and organized a test for me on Sor Honda yeah he was never very uh he was never very interested in helping me because I was his teammate at the time so well that’s see he wasn’t racing by this stage you know very well no EX very much though I can relate but um he helped a lot of Aussies you know from mickan Troy corser Gary McCoy this there’s probably many more Daryl Bey exactly you know um Barry was a big influence and it’s not that he got your rides he just opened doors and introduced you and and and made opportunities for you to uh to to you know try and build on yourself yeah I think the Sheen family were um they were embedded in it I mean if you I don’t know whether you had the pleasure of Franco and and and certainly dad Franco was for me was just one of wonderful people that would spend time with you and talk through any kind of problem that you had and I could imagine how he would be with his son back in the day um not that Barry needed a lot of that in the end because Barry was his own man but interesting times no doubt about it but let’s um move it more out of the black and white into color shall we and uh come to you if we can I mean your career actually you came up the hard way you remind me a bit of or rather Cal cruto reminds me a little bit of you in as much as that he had to come through the British championship and then Super Sport and and the like which which is an unusual sort of Route certainly nowadays into to 500 Grand Pre motor GP as it as it is now yeah exactly um I guess the reason why I did it that way is we didn’t have a lot of money and and I could get rides without paying and and earning earning a living you know from prize money or sponsors or whatever it might be but um yeah I had the opportunity to come to the UK and ride super sport bikes and from there you know the opportunity came with um Neil tuxworth because he saw me in that wild card ride when I rode European superstock and I won the race and a rider in Castrol Honda super sport team got injured and I filled in in assen Perry River was my teammate and I out qualified perro first go um he beat me in the race but you know I’m a 17y so it was all those opportunities and and so I went down that super sport ride line I got a ride full-time the next year with Neil tor’s team um we struggled a lot and sort of moved into the ten Carter bike realm you know got on better motorbikes and gave myself better opportunities and I won the World Championship in 03 and and then on to Super bikes so um it wasn’t like I planned the route I I don’t know what it was like for you Keith but in my my time it was I just loved racing motorbikes and I wanted to be the best that I could be at it whether that meant being in Grand pris or being in super it didn’t really phase me at that time I just I just wanted to be the best and and take each step as it come and try to be the best at it and when I won the super sport Championship I wanted to move onto a super bike and and I had a couple of good years on that um and then I realized you know if I want to go to the next level it is going onto a Brun pre bike so it’s just it’s just the way it worked for me and the opportunities came at the right time for me and I got on Factory bikes a lot of the time and and I think that that helps that helps a lot as well you know so and Cal did it that way like you say there’s not many others and I think the way dner have got it set out now with their road to Grand Prix sort of system with all these Junior cups it’s fantastic because it gives a lot of people like myself and opportunity that didn’t have the financial backing but it’s only that route and if you if you don’t suit a moto 3 bike or whatever it could make it difficult for you to ever get there you know I see a lot of these SP guys in super bike now especially top rack you know his name comes to the front a lot how would he go on a Grand Prix bike I think he’d be very fast but it’s a different formula and Woody style suit we won’t know unless he’s there one day you know yeah and his management as well I don’t know I don’t know whether you bothered with a manager or you had anybody that was working out the business side of things apart from Barry obviously um behind the scenes well I had I had Eddie Roberts Eddie Roberts after God bar and Eddie Roberts as your Eddie Roberts bring about the old days for me completely Eddie was a great helper you let’s say you know through my career and just advisor and I don’t know his like you you would have known him a lot longer than I am but he was very level-headed when I worked with him you probably got different stories about Eddie there well I mean there I don’t know whether we can go to this and this might be an edit point we’ll have to we’ll have to just mark this up but of course um I suppose we’ve got to say that you did have a relationship with Eddie’s daughter for for a little while I did I did and that that’s before I worked with Eddie you know as such but yeah I got to know him there we so I I did date Sarah um Sarah Robert she’s Sarah Dixon now um you know when I first was in England for for a year or two and um but uh yeah a long time ago now um but yeah Eddie worked with me in pelli when I won the World Super Sport Championship we beat uh Dunlop and mitchellan you know on that bike um that was the last year before they went control tires so um that’s when I first worked with Eddie not together and then after there he sort of he helped me out management wise and moved on from there well Eddie was Eddie Eddie was still working with your old Mentor mck grant for a while I mean they they were they had a hand in scarra I mean you would have heard about the scarra road race circuit both of those guys had a had a hand in that with a fellow called Andy Kershaw a radio one DJ as was over here um back in the day so they they were still scratching around at it just a couple of years ago well and they still are and Eddie’s still involved with the British superbar Championship now you know as uh Safety Office I don’t know what his title is but yeah he’s up in the they’ve had to widen the doors sorry Eddie I love it I love it he’s definitely got that management style now as he has he I I’ll ask him um one thing I wanted to touch on because what I noticed when um was super might extend to share a lot of old Plex from you writing it’s a lot of you on the tenata sliding that rear end into the corners there even in Super Sport right did you find that that writing style just helped was it the Honda you it suited The Hondas more did you notice it when he went to Moto GP was it different or is it just something that you felt comes to because of the flat track days he did way back when here in Australia yeah well you’re right n i and you know I did grow up racing dirt bikes and flat track or dirt track as we call it over here um so I’m used to a bike being sideways I I think the early stages of the pelli tires on those super Bikes let’s face it they weren’t the highest performing tire out there um but they made racing exciting and that’s that’s what they were put there for and our Honda had advantages over the Ducatis which we were fighting mostly um but we had disadvantages as well and for me to get the lap time out of the bike was that’s pretty much how I had to ride it you know um put the bike sideways it didn’t steer if there wasn’t the grip and and we’re talking about days this is pre-electronic so there was no engine brake control no traction control no Wheeling control um my my super bike had over 200 horsepower and had 200 horsepower in first gear or sixth gear was always the same you know that’s that’s where you played with everything completely so a great uh learning time on the bike but when I went to Suzuki Moto GP Electronics were evolving quite quickly and I remember you know they didn’t want me to use the clutch lever as much they didn’t want me to um they wanted me to shift gears when I shifting down quicker just let the the electronics take over and it took me a little while to get my head around that so um but you have to do what’s best to get the most performance out of your package and you know I like that where the rider can play more of a part less where the bike takes over but um that’s a world we live in now you know I think I would have lik to to have tried a 500 Grand Prix bike in its day full full Hammer I’m sure I would have uh ended up on the bitchman a few times like most people did but uh it would have been good fun I reckon I’m still having the operations only last week um I mean it’s it’s interesting that the Aussies and of course the Americans you know were good flat track dirt track Riders um you speak to Wayne Gardner you know Remy was really good out in the bush on a on a big bike as well um most of these guys all whereas the the British guys even though we’ve got slippery old RAC trcks and and and plenty of dirt to go and play on nobody really did that back in the day um but now no people often ask yeah why has he got injured on a on a motocross bike why has he got injured on a flat tracker or whatever it is but it is an integral part now isn’t it of of skill I I think so completely I think the man that pushed it into Ro racing was Kenny Robert Senor obviously he did a lot of it um and he had his his camps if you like I remember set juban spent a lot of time over there you know one of the first Europeans Carlos czecher did as well um and anyone that sort of rode for that that malorey Yamaha time when when Kenny was running it but um nowadays I think you’re right I think you you’ve got to be the complete package everywhere you can’t you can’t lose one skill to somebody else and and these guys do pick up skills especially on the flat track and their motor and whatever it may be and it is you got to manage the risk CU you don’t want to miss races you don’t want to turn up to races injured but you want to be fit and you want to you want to be the best motorcycle rider you can be so if there’s a benefit there and I think there is now for these guys to be riding a lot I think the world’s changed a lot when when I was racing I didn’t ride a lot away from the track um we went testing we went racing ID of trials bike and Enduro bike and endur but that was just for fun you know I did all my training in the gym went running or whatever but I think these days it’s it’s really changed and they spend hours and hours and hours on motorbikes sort of like motorcross Pro motor Rock Cross Riders do you know they’re riding two or three four times a week um and it is it’s a it’s just putting the whole package together I guess I think Andrea D vitoo still thinks he can be a promo very good point I hadn’t thought about him and and patri as well didn’t he get hurt on one as well that was huge wasn’t it smashed all his teeth out oh yeah that’s not good at all not good no no um I wanted to ask about we touched briefly before on it with electronics and stuff going to R GP but what what was it like jumping from the world super bike on the ten cutter over to Suzuki obviously different manufacturer but going into different category different padic and then you got things like carbon break you’ve got these these injures these bikes what was that like for you I’m going to say um neats I call her NS actually that’s what that’s what my kids call ANS she is so my nickname everybody so and we are brother and sister we are related yeah that’s it exactly um it started earlier my first ever Grand Prix ride was I was it’s I just finished the world super bike year in 05 I finished runner up in the championship to Troy Corsa in magne cor the last round Troy wrapped it up and um uh I won run the first r race chain fell off for the second race didn’t finish you know while I was leading but sometimes that happens and uh I get a phone call that night Troy balis is broken his wrist um the Australian Grand pris next weekend can you fill in on the camel Honda of course I can you know this is my dream I want to ride a Grand Prix bike okay so I’ve just raced IMA magn cor get on a plane flight over Philip Island I know the track but I’ve never ridden Mitchell and Tires I’d never ridden carbon brakes and I hadn’t ridden a Grand Prix bike and I’d never ridden a bike with electronics so you turn up there first session’s wet which is always a pleasure isn’t it Keith when you get on a new motorbike and you got to go out and the world’s watching so but um I I do remember it it was uh the the next day was dry typical Philip Island um but yeah coming onto the straight turn four at Philip a very very fast corner and coming in after one of the sessions or in the middle of the session and my daughter engineer said to me oh you using full full power or Full Throttle in fourth gear I said yeah I am he goes oh we can give you a bit more power there and I just remember going there’s more like there’s more this thing was was so fast I was like yeah could I have more please um but that Honda V5 engine was something else like I can’t compare it to anything else I’ve ever ridden so smooth so linear exactly what the rider wanted you can see why that bike dominated the championship for so long um but compared to a super bike at Philip Island for example you flat out down the straet you know maybe 300 300 110 km hour the Grand Prix bike was doing over 330 and when you Crest the hill at Philip Island under the bridge it had want a wheelie and you had to use the rear brake to to like keep the front wheel down it was it was that much difference um for for one second or one and a half seconds over a lap it was massive to ride you know the speed and everything how fast everything was coming at you and how much grip the bike generated and how it turned and trying to keep temperature in carbon brakes when there was cold wind and so much stuff to learn and then starting to get your head around these electronics and you’re used to giving back information about chassis and turning and steering and how the bike is when you’re picking it up and driving off the corner and all this now you got to think about the engine character side as well and do we play with that electronically or do we try and create the grip mechanically first do we you know there’s it just added another variable in there and it was it was uh you know it took me it took me a little while to get my around all that and how you learn but that’s why these teams are so big and the people inside those garages know what they’re doing and very clever and they they’re they’re the best at putting fast motorbikes on a track it was brand new then wasn’t it all of the things you’re were talking about it was sort of pioneering it back in the day so you were you know Crash Test Dummies really when it came to um trying all of that stuff out and trying to make it make it work oh completely it’s it very different to the electronics that are around today a lot of the electronics systems that are around today on these Grand Prix bikes are are preactive so they they they understand and it’s all that AI technology they understand what the bike’s going to do and they react our our systems were very we thought quite Advanced but they were reactive so the bike would slide and then it would go okay we got to catch this slide and bring it back so you could still have big crashes because it could slide a long way before it started to catch you and then it could could make the situation even worse you know um same with brake control in the early days it was just a one or two of the cylinders running on as you Brak to stop the rear wheel locking but um if the engineers ever got that wrong sometimes the more you break the harder the throttle would come on and you you just won’t stop them for a corner you know so um yeah there were a few moments where I ended up on my backside or uh or on my head or in a gravel trap because you know things weren’t working quite well I guess you could say well you didn’t come out too bad of it in the end did you really at the end of the day I mean I’m not sure about that maybe we’ll speak to your wife in a minute just to find out what you’re really yeah that’s exactly right yeah um I mean obviously as things mov through you went through I mean Rita’s got you going through the super sports into superstop into into Grand Prix but then what is really relevant right now I know we’re going to get into it in a minute because I know Rita wants to get into it as well but the you went into the 800cc class which was pretty much universally hated by by everybody but you got on quite well with that that bike at the time well the reason I’m making that lineup for anybody that’s that’s wondering is because we’ve just had the announcement this week from the fim and from ER and DNA that um we are definitely going with 850cc in 2027 there’s a whole raft of things that we’ll talk about in a minute but but I mean that 800 bike I mean what was that like when you first got on it I’m I’m intrigued to know I’ve never ridden one so I don’t know so what what was it like what was the big difference with it so I did I did a year on the 990 so my first year in Grand Prix was I’m going off track a little bit it was a bit difficult for me CU I didn’t know a lot of the circuits so about half of them I went to Friday first practice was the first time I’d seen the track you know apart from walking at or going on the scooter so it was a difficult year the first year for me um but I I did come 10th in the championship I think and got a Podium at Philip isand and Pole Position two pole positions I think that year so but our 990 was pretty good that Suzuki 990 I used in ‘ 06 and then we’ve Valencia Sunday Grand Prix finishes Nikki W Hayden becomes Champion that year Rossy crashes in the Grand Prix right in front of me Valentino crashed um and I nearly went down with him in sympathy you know because one of those but um as you do you know it’s like and um Sunday night the 990 engine came out and then 800 engine went in I think we started testing Tuesday and this was Suzuki’s first run of the 800 they just kept our our bike exactly the same we went out around Valencia within the third outing we’ gone quicker than we had with a 990 engine now Valencia is a little bit of a unique track because it is tighter it’s smaller but the it felt like riding a 250 g pre bike compared to a 500 just that infield the bike would change direction so fast because there was so much less engine inertia and yeah it was a bit slower down the straight and accelerated off the turns a little bit slower but you can only put so much power to the ground so a lot of the time we were limited the power especially second third maybe even fourth gear a bit so in those gears it was nearly the same it was only fourth fifth sixth that you’d really feel the power difference um but yeah we went quicker around Valencia you wouldn’t have been able to race an 800 against a 990 because you would have got beaten down the straight you know like they would have got in front of you and it would have been hard to pass but um but yeah Suzuki did a a good job they we did well on those 800s because they invested a lot just before we got the 800s they they sort of rode off the last of their 990 years to develop that 800 engine to come out prepared they were smaller manufacturer to Honda in Yamaha and for them to be ready or on the same level as them they had to spend more time to get something right and yeah that the year of 07 and’ 08 were quite good for us you know um I think I had seven podiums in those two years um another pole position or two won a race Hopkins had similar sort of podiums success to me karosi came on and jumped on the podium a couple of times so so the bike was was quite good you know um through that 800 era early on until the GFC in ’08 and Suzuki decided to cut budget and that’s when when the bike wasn’t as competitive and that’s purely just they just didn’t spend as much money developing I’ll carry on then yes I was wondering I didn’t know where you wanted to go after that you know what I I don’t the problem is with dealing with brother and sister here I don’t I don’t want to appear to be um butting in and and cutting Rita off or anything see I imagine for for Anita it’s quite hard because she probably knows a lot of this yeah you know and and and uh it’s not though that’s this is something I wanted to touch on and tell everybody is like I sit here listening to all this going I I didn’t know cuz I was so much younger and I’m I’m learning and obviously this is like probably the second or third time I’ve interview Chris now and every time it’s something new that I go I didn’t know that about his career so I’m sitting here like a fan just going wow that’s so cool well she probably she came to a lot of races you know with my parents Rita was quite young then and um and but you don’t talk about that stuff with your little sister at the racetrack do you I guess you know you don’t talk about oh we got this or we’re trying that or we’re doing this with the chassis or you don’t do any of that stuff he’s just she’s probably going why didn’t you win today you know I go well I tried that I I remember like going I think think we might have been in Saxon ring you race there G and I remember watching the final Corner coming on the straight and and pointing out to Dad oh you break earlier before whoever it was and I that’s when I started to understand what was happening but you know I see you come in and like you talk about things that I watch ping on the computer or what not data yeah to me it’s just all squiggles so I didn’t understand but I was trying to figure it out so you know a lot more about this I I I’d really love my sister saying you’re a bit early on the breaks and a bit late on the throttle mate get on with it that’s what that’s what I was thinking as well I know she was probably about 10 or 12 years old at the time you know probably or anything okay let’s let’s kind of um I mean with these let’s let’s get into the new rules that we’ve we’ve the changes that made for 2027 we’re talking about 850 smaller um CC we’ve been there before you know social media has lit up um we’ll talk about Casey owner in a minute cuz he’s got himself embroiled in um in arguing with trolls about hey that’s that’s unusual isn’t it Casey having an opinion and people not agreeing with it you I I love Casey Stoner and always have done and I think his opinion is pretty much on the on the money most of the time um the trouble is he should just keep his mouth shut because it’s only going to cause him trouble yeah well that’s it and I but you know from the other side I’m the same I know Casey quite well socially in a in a way and we spent a little bit of time together now but generally he is he is right he’s just um but he just maybe doesn’t say it the right way but you know on the other hand I don’t think he cares what people think what he says you know and and what a good way to be you know 100% I re yeah he’s still young he’s still got plenty of money and and and he wasn’t bad on a motorbike so I think we can perhaps cut him some slack on that one but I mean it goes back to the to what you were saying earlier on about electronics and the like I mean it’s one of the reasons why Casey threw the tail in in the end was he just didn’t like the way the the the whole series was developing around electronics and so on and so for there were other reasons obviously but that was one of the ones he wanted to use his right hand and he was particularly good as As again you’ve you’ve already alluded to the fact that you know the Aussies are in the dirt most of the time having a good old practice on the slippy stuff and and it it tends to work and translate across into into the racing but let’s let’s talk about these new rules shall we I mean that that we’re dropping to 850cc which I think most will appreciate that is going to be pretty much a waste of time because we are going to be slightly lighter quicker into a corner probably just a little bit quicker out of a corner da da da da da da so there’s not going to be much difference there but where they have kind of at long last um ruled out all the uh whole shot devices and launch controls and all of that business which will have some benefit as well I suppose the question is I don’t know whether you looked at the the sheet Chris but is have they gone far enough considering how much time we’ve now got to develop between now and 27 is that development going to overtake what they’ve done and are we going to be in the same position come 2027 despite the fact theyve changed the rules well thank you I think I think you you’ve hit the nail on the head there Keith I like the idea I like the ride devices going I think that’s going to make things better the the rules around people say get rid of Arrow yeah that’s easier said than done I think the rules they’ve brought around it will minimize the effect the aerodynamics has on the bike following which is what they want to do but why does it have to wait that far to come in I I don’t understand I think the manufacturers could be ready to race this stuff as of next year I don’t I completely don’t see why not um but that’s an msma thing I guess and the manufacturer Association is controlled by the manufacturers and it’s unanimous decision for anything to pass and let’s face it jatti are pretty happy with the way things are going right now and they got eight Mot work on the grid so you got to imagine they got a lot of pull in there now I’m only assuming this stuff but um yeah I I don’t know and I think it’s I think it’s great A lot of these rule changes but bring them in in sooner I I I completely don’t understand why it’s that far out does it kind of concern you I mean does me um that we’re going to have a situation where they can slow the motorgp bikes down and the main reason for that is safety and the fact that we’re out growing some of the the track tracks that we go to you know the barriers are a bit too close and we’ve run out of real estate to um extend the gravel traps and the like too but I mean are we going to be in a situation where at some tracks World Super bikes are going to be just as quick we’re going to have modified road bikes that are going to be almost as quick as a motorgp bike and that gap between the two is not going to be as great as it really ought to be yeah I remember there was a time when super bikes were faster at times and and not over a race distance but Superbike had a qualifying Tire Moto GP didn’t in the early stages of the control tire and they’d made some rule changes and I remember herth a couple one of the tracks They competed Jonathan Ray was quicker than pole position in a Grand Prix but that was a qualifying lap and there was a lot of talk about it um but from the other hand I does it matter if if the lap times are 2 seconds slower as I think as long as the racing is close and exciting and we get a an exciting Championship that’s what it’s about I don’t think if they go to Philip isand for example and they do 1 minute 28s now and and a super bike does a 31 I don’t think it matters if a Grand Prix bike does a 30 or a 31 as long as the racing is exciting and close that’s that’s the way the way I see because 15 years ago 20 years ago they were they were only doing 34s 35s but the racing was exciting so it still looked good right um and I think like you said this is this is a thing a lot of the circuits have now is that they the fim or DNA safety commission goes to him and says we need more runoff here we need more bitchman here because the speed’s too high because the lap time’s too high and the how fast they’re going around the corner well they got to slow that down because like you say they can’t keep making pushing walls back and and it pushes fans further away and and and there’s just no room that the trct you know um we want it excited because we’re not Formula 1 it’s not that’s the way I see I don’t see it as it’s about the technology it’s about the racing motorcycling formula 1’s more about the technology and and the strategies and that I think ours is about racing I wonder if that’s going to be in conflict with the new owners of MOT GP though in the and their theology when it comes to you know new Formula 1 owners of motorgp I wonder whether that’s going to come into conflict with what they might might prefer it’ll be interesting won’t it because at the end of the day they’re only buying it because it’s a business and they believe it’s going to make the money so how clever are these people and and which way do they wanted to go do they want to do they want to make it of course they want to make it successful like Formula 1 has become successful in the last few years but they just let’s hope they look at it in the right way to keep the purists uh interested I guess and keep keep motorcycle racing there for what it is and just bring you know make it exciting to bring new people in what would you have done what would you sorry reita that’s it’s a yes what would would you have done what would you have done regarding the rules um what would you have liked to have seen done I would have like to have seen early on when we saw this R height device stuff come in for it to be removed or minimalized I would have liked to seen when the aerodynamics really started to flare their head I I just think they could be more proactive on right we don’t think this is going down the right Road of the championship can we change that you know um look I’m not involved in the championship enough now and I know they got a controlled ECU and the system is supposed to be workable by everybody but I believe there’s people in the padic that can use it better than other people as well you know um and that depends how much money they want to spend um so it’s a difficult one how Suzuki left for a reason was it the money that it costs to be competitive in Moto GP why out Kawasaki in Moto GP probably the same reason you know do they want to bring in more manufacturers I think they need to be careful to not lose anymore if they make it um just a business where it’s very very expensive to be competitive well it obviously is but it as long as they don’t make it more expensive you know so does that give us the opportunity now that BMW seem to be now they rented top rcking and they’re they’re winning the world super bikes um does that does this break does this a length of time to 2027 give a manufacturer like being BMW an opportunity because no one will have any data on 2027 it’ll all be new kit that rolls out the start of that testing season um is that an opportunity do you think for somebody like BM you mentioned Kaki but I don’t think they’re interested um they’re making too much money in ships or something aren’t they yes submarines I think exactly no look it does from one way the there’s a couple of ways of looking at it I think it does give them an opportunity gives them a lot of time to develop but no one knows how much effect these rule changes are going to make everyone might think it’s going to slow us down by x amount but one manufacturer brings out a bike that’s just as fast who knows um I I don’t know I I think if everyone’s racing the rules at the moment I can’t see why a manufacturer couldn’t develop to those rules because they know where they need to be if they want to be reasonably competitive when they when they enter the championship look KTM came in you know while the rules were running and at the start let’s face it I thought they were very optimistic I can’t remember the timeline they gave but it was like we want to beat Honda within six or eight years or five years or whatever it was and I thought po this is when Honda was with Marquez winning everything and you thought geez that’s a big statement I mean they’re not far away from it now are they you know they’ve done a fantastic job and they’ve developed that being inside the championship so yeah I don’t I don’t know what I don’t know what’s right I pretend to too I’m not I’m not a businessman I don’t make rules but I think they need to be careful about how expensive they make this sport to keep manufacturers involved and interested to be competitive I guess that was was pretty much what I wanted to ask before was what you guys thought or with the real changes was there going to be anybody else who could come into the the padic in the championship but the question that I want to now put to both of you obviously both being ex Riders is do you think with these changes the era I know was quite small change the engine Etc is it going to make the racing a lot closer like they keep advertising it’s going to are we going to see more of these battles and things like they they said that it’s going to help with well I I personally I mean again I think that whatever changes are going to where we’re at at the moment the rule packages are such that all of the motorcycles are within minute amounts over overlap U and I think that’s the big change from my era to Chris’s era to the era where we are now is that the motorbikes are much much more equal all those different formats of getting to the same um you know problem solving is amazing um and and to be within thousands of a second over over a full grid I mean you’ve got to say that dorna era and the msma to a certain extent have done a have done a great job in different different types of manufacturer coming to the same conclusion at the end of of a Lab I’m just so impressed with it I I can’t see with these rule changes anything really substantive happening because they’re not radical enough um for me I don’t think they’ve been radical enough but your problem you’ve got is it’s a prototype Series so to suddenly be clamping down on Engineers to develop things into a into a new sphere into a new era is almost a shame you know like world superbite that’s pretty simple really World Super bites I mean it’s it’s my you know we can understand it it’s a road bike that’s been modified within a certain set of rules and they great fun and it’s great racing particularly at the moment this year is a is a blasting year again British super bikes you you don’t get much better than British super bikes anywhere um I think MotoG GP is in a difficult position they’re almost they’re almost going to be penalized by their own success they theyve produced a RW package and more than than than anything an Electronics package I think that’s what’s really nailed them down is the when uh dorna managed to force Honda into agreeing on the msma that this this standardized ECU inertial platform bloody package that they wanted everybody to use and eventually they got all of the manufacturers to agree to that and that’s what’s really um kind of styed any development really because that’s what’s restricting everything it was the electron Honda’s Electronics were so far ahead of everybody else’s for so long um but but but now of course it’s it’s much much closer and I can’t see the the this RW package making that much difference in fact in fact I’ll I’ll have a little bet with anybody that wants to have a bet now and you can you can bet with us of course in the comments Department I mean anybody that wants to get involved in this can can can on OMG motorgp send us your messages I’m sure they’re going to be fairly um Lively on this subject but I don’t I don’t I think we I’ll have a bet and I’ll say we’re going to be faster in 2027 than we are now I I I actually think you be you’re right I think the way development is going I think the the one thing that could change that is the tire the tire is the limiting factor um so it depends what how that goes and who’s the tire manufacturer at the time pellia definitely making a push to try and get everything um but whether melin’s still there or or how that goes but I’m with you Keith I think and I think that’s why I said it earlier that I don’t understand why they don’t try to enforce some of these rule changes earlier why they why they give them so much time because you’re right everybody’s going to be developing well yeah I just yeah I I don’t see what the benefit is in giving everyone another three years and that look when okay going back to 850cc yeah that’s a major change but the other the other changes are just retrofitted parts to a motorcycle they can they can change all this stuff back um and and and see if it does help the racing and if it doesn’t well what what what is going to help the racing that’s what I see yeah no I I pretty much if fre I’m interested to see what happens but let’s bring it back cuz this is the French Grom Frey preview and obviously your most well known for your win at the 2007 French gr Prix that’s your meoto GP win so let’s talk about that weekend I don’t remember it because I was a teenager but I remember it was in the wet and then you were known as being this this wet Rider so talk us through that weekend how did that eventure away where did you even qualify I I think I qualified 11th 10th or 11th so third row I think there’s still four on a row back then um but yeah it’s the old days when they could fit more of us Keith probably had about 12 on the front row by by the time by the time they dropped the flag because we had a flag man of course yeah we didn’t we didn’t do lights back in the day so by the time the dropped the flag you got the rear the back row of the grid was on the front row anyway so it didn’t make any difference I didn’t make any difference a little bit different we did have lights and we had jump start penalties but um yeah no qualified I think back there in the third row um I struggled at lemon lemon was one of those circuits I mentioned earlier that I’d never been to before I went to gr Prix so the year before was my first year there and I found it an easy track to learn but a really difficult track to go faster and then come there for the second year I was a little bit more competitive but I didn’t really gel with the place and um we had no wet practice at all over the weekend it was dry all weekend and we started a dry Grand Prix we started on slicks and I was probably running around in that eighth to 12th Place you know where you qualify uh and then it was flag to flag I think it was only the second or third ever flag to flag race and I was very lucky in that my crew my Suzuki team were a fantastic team the the best in the padic I I think the camaraderie between the team everybody got on so well everyone knew everything my crew chief in particular is Tom o Kane and such a clever experienced man and you know we’ve spoken about lots of cenarios and what to do with this or that but yeah Tom put me on a motorbike with the tires that would just work quite well um it wasn’t perfect cuz like I said we did no wet practice and electronics were in their early phases so the Trac control setting was terrible so I pretty much just turned that off and rode the bike and the engine braking didn’t really work it locked the rear wheel a lot so I I was going into Corners with the clutch in so was a lot back to my my Superbike days and my experience there I guess because the bike wasn’t perfect but chassis wise and suspension and tire wise it turned really well so I just had to ride around a few electronic problems turn the traction control off use the clutch going into Corners a bit more slide the bike a little bit in and it all worked for me um but I do remember I had the lead of that Grand Prix I don’t know eight or 10 laps from the end and adalon laps in heavy rain around leemon you’ve never won a race it’s cold it’s slippery the bike’s sliding a lot if you go down now you’re going to look like a complete tool aren’t you you know so the pressure the pressure was still there and and I won the race by by quite a margin but I wasn’t trying to go too fast I wasn’t trying to do anything silly but I wasn’t going to slow down down too much either and lose temperature out of the tires and braks and and crash so um so I felt like it was managed well and I managed it and controlled it but I do remember for me when I crossed the line and got back to park for May I was excited because I was a Grand Pre winner but that’s my job my job was to try and win races do the best I can on that motorbike but for that team Suzuki had been in Moto GP for a long time their last race win was on a 5002 stoke with with Kenny Jr maybe set won a race but I think Kenny was the last winner been a long time since they’d had a bike on the top step of the podium and I just remember I’d been to ham Matsu Factory I’d seen the work that the people put in the factory i’ seen the work our team put in every weekend and they were the people that I was really proud for and and could enjoy that success you know as much as me if not more than me I love throws up the odd um the odd result doesn’t it it’s a it’s a strange place for such a simple racetrack don’t you find that simple RAC trcks are harder to ride sometimes and the more complicated ones there seems to be less room for error well it’s like that isn’t it the the line is quite small there and like I said it’s not that hard when you look at it yeah you learn your way around pretty quick but to go fast there the little intricacies I guess you could call it um but you follow people like Valentino Rossi who’s been going there for years and obviously knows what he’s doing on a motorbike and around a racetrack and you you just pick up little bits all the time you know the early days when I could sort of hang with him for a couple laps and then he’d be gone again but it’s those little things that that help a lot um but yeah a difficult track I found Keith but it’s funny how much of this sport is confidence and what goes on you know up in the mind of the riter because ever since the the next two three years I went to Lemon I was pretty quick you know for bike might have been working well but I could get my head around it and make the bike work now I’d only done well there in the wet but I just seemed to go there with confidence you know um and and it definitely helped the situation for sure didn’t help my situation when I went there with Barry as a as a teammate um uh because I beat him in the race and um and and when we got back to I bet that went down well I bet that went down real well it went down like a lead brick we got back to the UK and um and uh I got this message come from Crawley where Suzuki were Bas in UK and uh it it told my mechanics to bring the truck back to Crawley took the truck back and they took 90% of our spares off the truck and and someone stole the EV gas out the side tanks as well because we used to run every back in the day um sheny had a bit of influence still then huh yeah when when I went down to to try and uh remonstrate with Dennis row who was running it then God bless him he he died last year um but um in fact we fact talking of Suzuki Dennis Rowan Gary Taylor’s recently gone as well GT you have had experience with as well which is very sad there there’s been a sea change in in the upper management um of some of the factories in in recent times but uh so I got summoned back to the to the the base and um they took all their spars off I think I don’t know whether Barry had anything to do with that but it’s certainly felt like he had you would never know you will never know kith not for sure he he had a spy down there you know whenever I turned up to do a new contract or something with Suzuki i’ I’d get in the office with Dennis Rowan and uh and he’d open his little his little mini fridge with his whiskey in and we’d sit there and I’ll tell you what I wouldn’t have been there five minutes because Barry live around the corner of Charwood and um I wouldn’t be there more than five minutes and and barrier turn up and of course I’d driven I’d driven from my house which was was like in back in this is this is going to make me feel old this is pre M25 everybody so you never had the Ring Road around London back then you had to go right the way through the middle of London and out the other side to get to Crawley in the South and uh and and and it took it would take me two and a half hours in the car to do the do the trip but for Barry it would take you in five minutes someone would ring him up and say You’s in it in Rowan’s office and before you knew it Barry would Barry would be R and you couldn’t talk any business and the pro the problem was D you know who was the big um the owner of uh of Heron Suzuki back in the day Ronson Gerald Ronson Gerald Ronson okay was the owner of the company and Dennis Rowan was just the managing director so Dennis and because Barry was friends with Gerald Ronson Dennis Rowan would never kick Barry out of his office so he couldn’t get any business done so I’d have to go away and try and sneak back another day to do whatever the contract deal we were trying to do oh that was funny that was good fun in those days I bet bit different these days my favorite part of these podcasts is Keith sories like I love them so much but um let’s finish off your story Chris so finished up with Suzuki and then you made the transition two wel of Wes once again with Kawasaki talk us through what V on that decision why did you decide to to go back to the super blacks well I I felt like a time at Suzuki things weren’t changing like I said earlier after the end of 08 Suzuki cut their budget a lot in racing and I could just see the project wasn’t going anywhere you know so after 2009 or during the 2009 season Paul and I spoke and and um we sort of both decided that we weren’t going to you know things weren’t going to continue the way they were so and I had one opportunity to stay in Grand Prix and that was with primac ducatti but primac ducatti then wasn’t primer ducatti is now it was sort of a a bike that I’m not sure you wanted to get on straight away you know a couple years later it was very good and and maybe that was maybe I could have made it work you know maybe I could have been one of the early guys that made it work but I I did not had an opportunity to go to world super bike with a couple of Manufacturers um but the Kawasaki deal was quite interesting because I felt like I was getting to that stage I was what was I 28 29 I thought I could you know start to be a development Rider a little bit and Kawasaki were it was one year on the old bike with a lot of going to Japan and developing the new ZX10 that was going to come out um and I thought this is this is going to be a great thing you know uh long-term contract maybe building a new motorbike that we can hopefully you know be competitive in World Super Bike um which they were in the end or they have been with Jonathan Ray in particular but um and Tom syes Tom was my teammate in the early days there but uh first race on on the quacker at Philip Island I had a gearbox problem uh I’ll go back a little bit first race race one I was running fourth i i a crash into turn four Honda hairpin um in the middle of the race the throttle stuck on and blew the engine up so next race they put a new engine in my bike go out and I had some shifting issues so again I’m I’m in the race I think I’m running fourth or fifth which was quite good for that bike at that time it it wasn’t the most competitive bike and uh going up to luky Heights I’ve shift um shifted down a gear and it the gearbox locked up and I went off the track at high speed pulled the clutch in and uh bailed out and hit a wall and did a lot of damage to my knee um and by the time I could get my head around the realization that I had to take the rest of that year off and to get my knee fixed I’d pretty much been a little bit too late I had to take part of the following year off as well and um cuz I had to I got plastic bits in my knee and screws and Dona ligaments and I was 6 months non weightbearing I was N9 months off a motorcycle and um yeah I pretty much pretty much at that time reason I stopped we wanted to start a family and move back to Australia and and I guess that time gave me enough of a a break to realize you know maybe this is the time to uh to call my career quits so that was um that was 13 years in Europe leading up to that point it’s made me feel quite sad I didn’t I was trying to put a fun spin on it but there is no real fun spin is off the back of that I’ve got a I’ve got a great family I live in Australia and I’m enjoying my life but um but yeah it was sort of it was quite sad at the time um there was a lot of damage to my leg and I TR I remember after Philip Island I got some scans and they said oh you need surgery but they didn’t realize how bad it was and then we I went to Portu and I tried to get on the bike and I couldn’t even I couldn’t even sit on the thing I couldn’t bend my leg enough to get on the motorb I was I tried did one lap and I come in but I was just it took me a little while I’d never missed a race in my career until that point i’ I’d raced injured i’ raced with a broken SCA for I raced with a dis after a dislocation of a shoulder um broken toes different things but i’ never had to actually miss a race because physically I was I wasn’t capable and jeez it’s hard to get your head around that when you’ve never done it and you think you think you’ll be all right you’ll get on the bikee and you you’ll be okay but um yeah it was it was quite it was a difficult time it was a difficult period that’s for sure yeah I’m I’m happy that you came home so that works well for me but yeah that’s one thing I just was listening to you then you talking about the development of the kaaki and then what I remember from your time at Suzuki and correct me if I’m wrong but you were quite on board with the development of most of the bikes that you were a part of and that’s one thing that I find that writers are either they you don’t quite often have a writer who will go through bik it would be quite competitive and then work through that development but was that something that you did a lot of when you were at Suzuki was developing the binic yeah in hindsight I probably did too much I probably spent a lot of time thinking about how we can make this thing better and um I used to write very lengthy reports of the bike after each weekend and send them through to Tom oain and Tom being the engineer that he is and how clever he is he would delve deeper and ask me more questions and get more info and would send information back to Japan and um trying to improve you know our motorcycle and and and I think we did you know we made big steps with that bike but it’s funny in the Suzuki garage I I think you’ll understand this Keith we had to Tom mcain on my side the garage and we had um Stu shenton on the other now they’re completely different crew chiefs but can still get Stu’s won World Championship so Tom you know as a as a as a crew chief or engineer but just different ways are going about it and I reckon at times now in hindsight if I would have had stew on my side he would have said now stop trying to make this thing any better it’s not going to get any better go and ride it that’s all you’ve got you know um and get out there and do what you can do instead you know sometimes I was I was trying to make the motorbike better all the time but I did enjoy that too I really enjoyed the technical side the behind the scenes how you know early stages of talk mapping motorcycles and how we can make throttle connection linear through changing you know electronic systems and how some of the butterflies are working fly by wire and and just giving Tom lots of information and uh data to go back with so he could make these these systems work better and same with his shassy programs and how he he developed these shassy programs and he could use my information to help I really enjoyed being part of that um because they’re they’re clever people and they’ve made fantastic racing motorcycles but like I say maybe it hurt me at times when I could have got a few better results but um it’s all hindsight you know it’s we that’s why we’re young and you do silly things you know you might do everything perfect the first time around you’d have quite like our time three clicks on the front couple of clicks on the rear go for it yeah see that’s what I needed sometimes you know oh this is do this do that here you go to turn a preload that will fix it go you know but it works it does work sometimes even these days you know even these days some of the riders need it’s all that stuff and they just need to be sat down and say right this is what you got to go and do that’s what we got now you’re the one that’s got to go and do it you know and in the ride it can make the difference I used to have rebound damping really turn right up on Two Strokes because the second that thing sat down and was ready to launch you it would just flick you yep it’d be like a slingshot you know if the if that spring had some some rebound it would throw you out really quick it’s funny to say that we talk about dirt track earlier that’s what you do on a dirt track bike you slow that you slow that rebound damping down so you can have it sideways and it doesn’t flick your other seat yeah same principle hello [Laughter] moon all right you twoo obviously obviously we got LM Mom that’s that’s coming up this weekend which is an important one we we just talk about the atmosphere and the like of them on it is the most populated racetrack of the series I mean we get more Spectators of this racetrack um I worry about what goes on in the campsites there because I think they eat their young um you know they burn everything in sight it’s like it’s like something out of a Mad Max movie you know you’d be you’d be familiar with that down there oh yeah oh yeah you’re you’re exactly right and being a rider in the padic excuse me um trying to sleep in your motor home at night you don’t get any sleep there’s engines being revved all night long there’s burnout competitions going on there’s Yahoo and cheering and everything going they’re having a great time but passionate fans too and they get they get right behind you and and being successful at the track if I go to went to lemon and after that gez I had some support you know from the French crowd um and they really love their motorcycle racing um so is atmosphere wise is a cool event to go to they they they generally put on a big stage all the Riders go to the stage you know have interview sessions autograph sessions and they try and incorporate you know a bit of a festival around around the RAC me and I think it’s it’s a great event to go to well with this weekend’s gr freak something that we do here on the extra p is we always ask Keith Keith what are your predictions for the weekend well before we get to Keith and normally people in the comments which we doite people to write in the comments to share their thoughts but Chris what’s your predictions for the weekend who’s going to win the Sprint and who’s going to win Sunday’s Grand Prix I think I think who’s going to win it who’s going to win I I could give you a couple of guys that are going to be out there um I I honestly think J Martin Mark Marquez uh you can never rule out bagn I think especially for Sunday’s race he’ll be competitive and and I think Pedro Costa is going to be pretty special here this weekend I don’t know why I just I just think he’s just it’s just something about him and I think he’s he’s going to really manage this this this racetrack quite well I think binder and Miller have been quicker any in the KTMs in the past so I think um I think the bike might work quite well so um yeah if I’m going to go for a Sprint win I’ll say Martin and a Grand Prix win I’ll say Marquez oh yes Keith first one first one yeah it’s it’s due and I think that based on what I said earlier on about lemon being one of them ones that chucks up the odd you know slightly not normal kind of uh result I’m going to go with I don’t know J Martin at the moment I think leemon is one of them ones it punishes punishes you as well if you are just a little bit too you know a it’s going to be difficult weatherwise I mean if it’s if it’s sunny and consist it always is it always is you don’t look at a forecast to you there Keith you just know it’s coming in yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s when it’s inconsistent that’s a real problem and the guys that have got themselves dialed in like like you say I mean his racecraft last time out was just exceptional you know his fastest lap was late on in the race he managed everything you know there was nobody that was going to beat him I mean that not not only fastest lap was a new lap record wasn’t it two or three laps to go like but that double pass in the opening lap down into Pedrosa corner I think they call it nowadays I mean that was something exceptional he just I don’t know how anyone can be so underrated and yet be so bloody good as As magn it’s like he’s not really tearing up the popularity Stakes but mate he is a weapon on a motorbike there’s no doubt about it it’s hard to explain to people how well some people that don’t know racing how impressive that pass was I think You’ got to imagine the the tires are not at temperature the brakes are probably not at temperature you got a full fuel load for the first time for the first time for the first time they are the best riders in the world and you go around the outside of two of them when they are on the absolute limit they’re trying to stop the motorcycle the tires locking the brakes are incredible really really impressive and his manner that he did it there was no rushing there was no out of control there was no yeah very very good yeah I think that um across the board you got the vote for that one there’s no doubt about it okay let’s go with this um I’m I’m I got a feeling for a bit of Bazi in there as well you know he’s been looking quite good maybe it’s a situation for Bazi to to to to to prove what he’s capable of doing and I think he is so I’m GNA have for Sunday banga Bazi Marquez for the Sprint race I’m gonna have Marquez for the win from jge Martin from bang all right well guys like we said let us know who you think is going to win the spring and the podium on Sunday in the comments below but I think that just about w us up here for the OMG extra French Grand Prix preview Chris thank you so much for coming on the Pod it was awesome to chat with you no worries we’ll see you soon any and Keith as always is such a pleasure I love hearing your stories and chats from the past but guys don’t forget to get in touch with us and the team at OMG MotoG GP on social media or you can email us your question OMG mot GP gmail.com lastly our patreon members sh shout out to you guys for helping us support OMG we’ve got an Scott Josh Peter Josh again Eric Sam Rob Mel and Richard thank you so much if you’re watching this on YouTube don’t forget to like subscribe and share but we will see you all again after the French gromy at lemon for our post race revieww [Music] by