According to reports, Honda’s Marc Marquez lost control of his bike while doing 198 mph on the long straight at Mugello, ultimately jumping off his bike at 173 mph to avoid hitting a wall. Fortunately, it appears that Marquez is not seriously injured. He has a swollen chin and strained neck in addition to some bruising.
During qualifying, Marquez complained of shoulder pain, but managed to finish in 6th position, while his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa took pole. Here are the qualifying results for tomorrow’s Mugello MotoGP (from Q2).
|
Pos. |
Num. |
Rider |
Nation |
Team |
Bike |
Km/h |
Time |
Gap 1st/Prev. |
|
1 |
26 |
Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
340.5 |
1’47.157 |
|
|
2 |
99 |
Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha |
338.7 |
1’47.226 |
0.069 / 0.069 |
|
3 |
4 |
Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati |
341.0 |
1’47.628 |
0.471 / 0.402 |
|
4 |
35 |
Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
340.0 |
1’47.632 |
0.475 / 0.004 |
|
5 |
6 |
Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda |
340.8 |
1’47.737 |
0.580 / 0.105 |
|
6 |
93 |
Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
338.4 |
1’47.763 |
0.606 / 0.026 |
|
7 |
46 |
Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha |
340.6 |
1’47.872 |
0.715 / 0.109 |
|
8 |
69 |
Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati |
339.8 |
1’48.006 |
0.849 / 0.134 |
|
9 |
19 |
Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | Honda |
342.9 |
1’48.355 |
1.198 / 0.349 |
|
10 |
51 |
Michele PIRRO | ITA | Ducati Test Team | Ducati |
341.8 |
1’48.564 |
1.407 / 0.209 |
|
11 |
38 |
Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
333.9 |
1’48.706 |
1.549 / 0.142 |
|
12 |
41 |
Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART |
330.5 |
1’48.765 |
1.608 / 0.059 |
It’s not the crash that usually kills ya it’s the sudden STOP! Marquez did the right thing bailing before hitting the wall. he fared a better chance of survival not hitting it. Lost 6 friends to those sudden stops and witnessed 4 of them….
go alpinestars…!!! go shoei…!!!
Hole-in-one Norm. Actually to all the gear manufacturers. Unbelieveable that someone cam get off at those speeds and have relatively minor injuries.
I did a quick google on 170mph crashes. This is what I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK-nBOckayE
Granted he had “lost control of his bike” but do you have more control after you jump off?
Funny. 🙂 In all seriousness though, if you lose control of the bike, then you have no less control of it after you jump off. You at least have a split second of control as to where your body is going at the time you bail, though.
I have been in that area more than a few times. I can’t imagine bailing out at that speed. That is almost tunnel vision speeds. Glad he is okay. And agreed and wonder like the post above…how far did he slide?
Word is he hit a paint strip and lost control. But jumping off at 173 is a lot better than hitting a wall at maybe 120+
I rode a rental ‘Busa in 2000 to an indicated 315kph on the Autobahn South of Frankfurt on a tour to the French MotoGP. My world was a mile down the road ’cause I was going to be there soon. I kept thinking about body bags. Also a brand new rear tire was used up in 3 days of this kind of behavior. But, boy, you sure could get places fast.
I’ve never even ridden a motorcycle at 173MPH. Well I did take one up to 171(indicated) once on the Autobahn, and I cannot imagine bailing at that speed. Glad he’s not hurt and wondering what happened??
My goodness, I wonder how far he slid.
Jumping off while on a long straight, I’m wondering how he didn’t tumble like crazy.
Growing old beats the alternative hands down, and you have only one way of avoiding it.
Must be nice to be young and durable. I pulled a muscle just thinking about what that crash must’ve been like.
I pulled a muscle laughing at your post.
Being old sucks.
Goose
Wow would hate to make the decosion at 173 mph to jump off or hit a wall. Neither decision sounds very promising. Guess he chose the right one. Glad he wasnt badly hurt.
YEEOUZAAA!