Boris recaps the Valencia MotoGP finale

MotoGP 2025

Round 22 – Valencia

AAAAND…IT’S A WRAP.
THANKYOU BALL-BOYS,
THANKYOU LINESMEN

Thus ends the longest MotoGP season ever. Many of the racers will limp off, battered, bruised, and downright busted, both physically and emotionally. It has, by any measure, been a brutal championship.

Bezz finished his season by giving Aprilia its first back-to-back victory, and with the aid of Raul Fernandez, who has found lots of form at the back-end of the year, its second one-two finish. Bezz’s pace was relentless from start to finish. Each time anyone looked to gain on him, he would just dial it up a shade.

And I cannot help but wonder what kind of year it would have been if Jorge Martin had not munted himself big-style at the start of the year, and then again when he came back. This last race was nothing more than a survival exercise for him, and he retired after fourteen laps. He looked and rode rustier than an old sheet of corrugated iron, as everyone would expect. But he is certainly not making any more noises about Aprilia not offering him a competitive bike. Jorge completed a double LLP for earlier sins, then raised his arm in surrender and went home.

Pedro Acosta once again fried his tyres. I get the impression he wants to punish his bike for not being faster and just rides the buggery out of it. KTM had better pay attention. It can ill afford to lose Pedro. He did everything he inhumanly could to keep Digi from putting his Ducati on the podium, which would have been somewhat of a big deal. Ducati has not been off the podium in a thousand years. But it was not to be. Digi eventually hunted him down and took third.

Alex Marquez, believing himself especially resplendent in his now all-silver leathers, was unable to back up his Sprint Race win on the Sunday. He looked almost threatening to Bezz in the early stages of the main race, but as it wore on, he just went backward.

Raul Fernandez ate him first, then it was Pedro, then it was Digi. And just in case Marquez Light imagined a fifth place was in the offing, Fermin Aldegeur bitched him hard on the last corner and took that away as well.

For his part, Raul Fernandez rode brilliantly, but Bez was not to be denied his victory. He led from pole to flag, never once really looking like ceding his lead.

It was, as it turned out, quite an eventful race. Franky Morbidelli entertained the huge crowd just as the riders were all gridding up, by ramming into the back of the Aleix Espargaro, dropping his bike, and breaking his hand. A WTF moment for both players if ever there was one.

Mir also surprised everyone and himself by not crashing, but he finished in 13th, after having a brief flirtation further up the field and a LLP. HRC’s D-rated concessions were under threat if any of their riders finished seventh or higher, and Luca Marini made sure of they moved to the C class, knowing Mir could not be counted on.

Fermin and Jack exchanged further pleasantries in their year-long feud, which flared up in the Sprint Race when Jack carved chunks off Fermin’s bike with a somewhat indelicate pass. Race Control immediately demanded he lose three places (Jack apparently cost Fermin four places), but Jack rode on, convinced Fermin was as much to blame as Jack himself for not braking harder when Jack was coming under him. Race Control duly handed Jack a LLP.

Fabulous once again demonstrated how hard he struggles with the Yamaha by putting it into the rocks. He doesn’t do this all that often, so he would have been pushing hard.

Maverick Vinales, also freshly back from injury, was another retirement in the race. I think it will be a while before we see Batmav superheroing around his pits.

Pecco’s season ended much as it had been all year, in a shower of shitty grid positions, stones, and acrimony. This time, it was not of his doing. A hurtling Zarco took him out, and earned himself a LLP. You can actually read both Gigi’s Davide’s faces each time they behold Pecco walking back to his pit. “What has happened to you?” is written all over their dials.

We have all been asking ourselves that all year, I guess. No-one is disputing Marc Marquez rode magnificently. But I can’t help but consider how dominant Marc would have been if Pecco was on song, if Martin was fit, if Bez had come to terms with his new Aprilia faster, if KTM was able to provide Pedro with a competitive bike, and if Yamaha had maybe introduced its V4 two years ago instead of at the end of this season.

Yes, I know this is not a sport of “ifs”. Which is why it’s both the cruellest and most exalting competition on the planet. One day you’re a hero, the next race you’re eating rocks. And you know what? It’s only going to get crazier next year, the last year of the current engine. Development is pretty much frozen; most of the riders will be on the market early in the season, and some very exciting rookies are joining the fray.

Bring it on.

Valencia MotoGP Results