You know you’ve made it when you have your own Wikipedia page, PURELY for your own achievements on the track.

Welcome to our 400th episode, a special look back at The Doctor, Valentino Rossi, the greatest Motorcycle rider of all-time and oone of the most recognisable athletes in the history of Motorsport.

The end of 2021 marked the end of a 26-year career in bike racing that included 432 races, 115 wins, 235 podium finishes, 65 pole positions and of course, 9 World Championships.

But there was so much more to Valentino Rossi than that. He essentially saved a fleeting MotoGP in terms of popularity twice in the 2000’s. He became a transcendent star who made yellow cool again. He drove Rallys, tested a Formula 1 car, and made the post-race celebration a huge part of Motorsports culture, way before the Shoey became likeable.

He was a lovable maverick but also a ruthless competitor. He had some of the greatest rivalries in Motorsport history. Max Biaggi, Jorge Lorenzo, Sete Gibernau, Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez all had to get past the #46 to establish their own legacies. Valentino Rossi was MotoGP, and he’ll continue to be long after he retires.

This 400th episode is a feature-length, 2 and a half hour retrospective, not only on Rossi’s career, but those rivalries, highlights from some of the greatest races in GP history, the brand that still sells over £25m in merchandise to this day, and what his legacy has done to MotoGP as a whole.

This special was originally recorded in 2021, but it never left the cutting room shelf until now. We openly admit, the audio isn’t perfect, but this was such a good time, we felt compelled to save it.

And finally, thank you to our listeners, fans, friends, our wonderful co-hosts RJ O’Connell, Cameron Buckley and Ryan Erik King, all our Patreon backers for supporting us on Episode 400. It’s been an 8-year journey and it still makes us all smile being able to do this. You’re the best audience in the world, and we’re so grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you.

Enjoy!

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Kare wa Jyakku Miraa desu. Jyakkasu he youkoso! (He’s Jack Miller, welcome to Jackass!)

MotoGP’s gauntlet of flyaways continue as the sport heading to the first Japanese Grand Prix since 2019. And despite the world slowly returning to normal, more wacky shit would go down as Jack Miller would not only win his 4th ever MotoGP race, he’d dominate it too.

It was a picture perfect performance. Aggressive off the start to get to the front, and then the pace he delivered made him uncatchable. We discuss whether it was the biggest win of his career to date, and the podium behind him of LORD Brad Binder and Jorge Martin behind him!

Another headliner behind him, was Marc Marquez! And in his first full race back since his surgery, he sticks it on pole on the rain, and then goes on to finish 4th, just 7 seconds off the win. Honestly, it’s surprising that he finds new ways to surprise us at this point. We gush over the latest phase of his comeback.

We also talk about the mess that was the title picture. Quartararo – Stuck in the midfield. Bagnaia – Binned it trying to overtake him via a divebomb on the final lap. Aleix Espargaro – Out of the points after having to start from the back after his bike was stuck in “fuel save” mode. And Enea Bastianini? Stuck in 10th again. Does anyone want to win this title?

And the breaking news that MotoGP will be heading to India and Kazakhstan in 2023. What do we make of the changes?

All that and more on another Motorsport101… PS: There might have been a hint in there about Episode 400. More on that soon.

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It’s been a fun ride for IndyCar in 2022, and to round off our coverage for the season, he’s an extended 90 minute special season review to talk about the state of the field at the end of the season.

We go team by team to talk about their drivers individually, where their teams are at, and what could be coming going forward. For example – AJ Foyt were clearly the worst, and Kyle Kirkwood was a bit of a bust, hopefully the Andretti moves help, but can we stop this team from being sorry?

Has McLaren leapt over Andretti into the Big 3? Was Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta and Alex Palou’s potential moves distractions? Is Meyer Shank going places with an Indy500 death line up with an average age of 43?

What about Rahal Letterman Lanigan? The three car expansion didn’t go to plan with Harvey having a dreadful season, but Christian Lundgaard finishing as the year’s top rookie? And is Jimmie Johnson coming back?

All that and so much on Motorsport101, extended edition! Special thanks to everyone who listened and read our coverage this year, we’ll be back in February for the 2023 season!

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And just like that, the Championship is back on and it’s probably a four-way.

Welcome to Aragon, the biggest Championship flashpoint of the season so far and it all centered around Marc Marquez and the return from his fourth surgery on his arm after nearly four months out. And he looked like the Marc of old… in every sense.

At the front of the field, Enea Bastianini stopped the four-race winning streak of Bagnaia in a tough, fierce fight that went to the final lap and just 0.04 seconds between them yet again! But further back, on the opening Lap 1, a Marc mistake on corner exit led to Championship leader Fabio Quartararo riding into him and crashing! And with it, we have the Top 3 of the title race just 17 points back, and Enea Bastianini back in contention at -48. We break down all the action and chaos. Is Bagnaia the title favourite?

We also talk about the viral Moto3 incident that had team mechanics from Max Biaggi’s racing team deliberately stop a rider from exiting the pitlane! In a never before seen moment, we try to make sense of the action, the punishment and all the in-between!

All that and more on Motorsport101!

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And so it came to be that the battle for the Astor Cup went all the way to the final round at Laguna Seca, and we had drama all the way through to the end.

Will Power dominated qualifying ahead of *checks notes* Callum Illot?! To take a record-breaking pole position, one more than the great Mario Andretti. All this while Josef Newgarden spun at the Corkscrew and Scott Dixon just didn’t get out of Round 1.

Josef went from 25th to 2nd in the race in vain, Power took a comfy 3rd like he has all year young, Dixon was nowhere, and… ALEX PALOU WON BY HOW MUCH?!

In this episode, we talk about all the drama that Laguna Seca had off and on the track, all the protagonists. And more on Alex Palou’s crushing win to close out the year and the announcement he made midweek to stay at Chip Ganassi Racing at the #10 car. There’s ramifications with that too, such as Felix Rosenqvist staying at McLaren and all this beef over… F1 tests. F*** sake.

All that and us going over our favourite moments in 2022, on Motorsport101!

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Predictable news, gang: Max Verstappen won. Again. 5 in a row now for the Champion-elect who actually has an outside chance to win the title in Singapore next time out. It’s what winning 11 out of 16 does for a guy. And to be fair, Ferrari didn’t really ahem… “honse” this one, to be honest. Yeah, Sainz had penalties and he drove really well. Leclerc just didn’t have the pace on this one.

The main event on this podcast involved Daniel Ricciardo, a dead McLaren and the race director NOT calling for a red flag as the race ended under Safety Car. But should it have done? Have we as an audience got a bit too zesty for entertainment within the confides of a sport? Is this another Abu Dhabi 21, but without the tension? We debate it on the show!

Also, we had an emergency standing, as poor Alex Albon had to have surgery on his appendix, and Nyck De Vries at the 11th hour takes his seat… and finishes 9th! Was it a debut that was a bit… too good? We discuss where it fits in an ever more complicated 2022 F1 silly season.

All that and more on Motorsport101!

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