#a) have an extremely tortured relationship with the sport; b) be actively evil; c) be a proper scholar of the sport; or d) kind of suck

[batsplat]

do you watch current moto2 and moto3? and what riders are you keeping your eye on if so?

I sure do! not to be too rude to the premier class, but I kinda have to if I'm interested in seeing some actual 'racing' now and again these days. don't always watch them live, especially now that we've gotten to the flyaways, but I do at least try not to get spoilers before I actually watch them (not always successfully)

in moto3, I've grown fond of veijer - seems like a smart kid, comes across as quite a cerebral rider... had a tricky run of form of late but really I'm just interested to see what happens when he moves to bikes that should (hopefully) suit his frame better. obviously he'll be moving up next year, so we'll see how he gets on... I did really enjoy the piqueras performance from a while back, incredible mix of boneheaded and brilliant from a rider who just refused to lose on the day, very compelling to watch. as a rule ofc it's worth not to get too invested in the prospects of moto3 hopefuls, given that the switch to moto2 can be the killer... I mean, in terms of who I'm keeping an eye on, obviously alonso is the one to pay attention to. he's been a bit too good and too nice this year to be particularly interesting, so I can't say I'm all that invested as yet. missing in the sturm and drang department, seems like quite a happy-go-lucky kid... but the racing is fun to watch, the race craft is ridiculously good and hopefully he's a little less boring when he gets pushed more. has made the moto3 title fight pretty meh this year it has to be said

in moto2, I have a long standing fondness for alonso lopez, who kinda sucks but in an endearing way. still can't really preserve his tyres, is relentlessly aggressive, massively frustrating... but what's the point in rooting for someone who doesn't frequently frustrate you! idk if he'll ever hit good enough form at the right time to make the move up to motogp, his chances aren't great given his nationality but ah well. I'm not a massive ogura fan but I still have some residual fondness for that title fight nobody wanted to win in 2022, can't ever not root for a bottler. plus his refusal to ride for honda in motogp has been really funny, definitely enjoyed how he's managed to get himself a non-honda seat on the grid. also have to say, sergio garcia's really grown on me this year, first because of how good a job he was doing and now just feeling desperately sorry for how wrong things have gone for him. really hope he can regroup and fight for the title next year, get the chance of a seat in the premier class... might have been a sliding doors moment though, timing just a little off - it's brutal. oh and well, we'll have to see how the aldeguer situation turns out, unsurprisingly I'm now way more invested in him after he's flopped for most of the season lol. probably not quite got that acosta juice to him, but I do still reckon he'll turn out to be a fair bit better than this current moto2 season is making him look

but yeah, in general, I do really enjoy watching the races! mostly as a neutral, though it's fun to watch if you've chosen one or two guys to back in each class so that when they crash you can mute the feed in a fit of pique for a minute and mutter under your breath about how they've been robbed... you know, as you do