It wasn't far off being an Aprilia lockout on the podium - Vinales and Olivera were right there. Hopefully there'll be a bit of a renaissance off the back of it.

I'd love to see Aprilia sign Quartararo - he needs a decent bike, and they need a rider with more consistency than Vinales. Plus Espargaro will retire at some point soon.

Not sure the Japanese marques are as committed to the series as they once were. I think the exit of Suzuki might not be the last. The Yamaha il4 config reached the end of its development cycle a while back and it is gradually falling behind as a result. Yet no sign of anything new from Yamaha. The connection between racing and sales seems to be less and less persuasive to the japs. I suspect toprak’s departure from Yamaha and possibly Rea from Kawasaki is an indication that the manufacturers have not committed to upgrades big enough to challenge the Ducati. I could easily see Honda out of MotoGP and wsb. 

its a shame to see is as growing up i always loved kawasaki, yamaha, honda etc but they are just disspaoining on road and off - the day i got my v4 dynod a 2022 R1 was there and it barley cracked 165rw i got my 2018 blade tested and it was 151 - they are also asking big money for these bikes.

what makes it even worse is in the last 5 years Yamaha have had a world champ and so has Suzuki - its a shame they have kinda thrown the towel in to think there are 2 Yamahas and 4 Aprilia's on the GP grid is a wild thought.

The correlation between wins on track and bike sales might have gone but that's beating my favourite drum, the correlation to them not caring and yamaha not really being known for the R1 any more and being known more for pizza delivery bikes is probably more accurate. 

 to me.

But it’s always fluid. A change in management or mentality can change everything. The japs haven’t forgotten how to win if they want it bad enough. 

I am but lost interest in GP a few years ago found it dull and boring and kept falling asleep but always followed BSB and WSBK always brilliant racing. 

Hit the nail on the head there in my opinion 

The Japanese manufacturers have been outspoken about their dislike for the wings / aero rules and the massive increased costs that they have brought into the class. Yamaha for example are just not playing the game and therefore are nowhere. I think they are making a stand in an attempt to get Dorna to change the rules to remove the aero development.

I have to say, I totally agree with them, the bikes are ugly and that has translated to the road bikes. The RSV4 example looks MUCH better without the wings

MotoGP need to get on top of this now before get into a decade or more of boring racing. Remember just before the wings came into MotoGP? Some of the best racing for a long time and when the wings arrived the racing spread out and focused on tyre management that was far less important before.

Even F1 that has decades of aero development has realised the problem with going ever deeper down that rabbit hole and the latest regulations severely limit aero development to the point of completely changing the design concept of the cars.

https://www.motorsport.com/wsbk/news/ducati-japanese-rivals-downward-spiral/10504498/amp/" rel="nofollow - https://www.motorsport.com/wsbk/news/ducati-japanese-rivals-downward-spiral/10504498/amp/

i suppose it boils down to BMW, Aprilia, Ducati and if you only like pizza delivery bikes then KTM??