If the Sachsenring is a “Honda track” it was certainly evident today as the Repsol duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa finished one/two, relegating the Yamaha Factory stars to third and fourth position. Although Jorge Lorenzo took the early lead, he eventually faded to fourth, and allowed the third place Valentino Rossi to further pad his championship points lead.
Marquez was fast all weekend, and started from pole position. With the second half of the series underway in a few weeks, after a short break, one has to wonder if the Marquez “monster” has been unleashed. Will he dominate the second half of the series? Can he possibly make up the points gap to Rossi (now 61 points)? Time will tell.
For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site here.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 161.0 | 41’01.087 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 160.9 | +2.226 |
| 3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 160.7 | +5.608 |
| 4 | 13 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 160.4 | +9.928 |
| 5 | 11 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati Team | Ducati | 159.7 | +20.785 |
| 6 | 10 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 159.5 | +23.215 |
| 7 | 9 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 159.1 | +29.881 |
| 8 | 8 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 158.8 | +34.953 |
| 9 | 7 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 158.7 | +35.875 |
| 10 | 6 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 158.6 | +37.253 |
| 11 | 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 158.6 | +37.274 |
| 12 | 4 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 158.3 | +42.081 |
| 13 | 3 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 157.9 | +48.611 |
| 14 | 2 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 157.8 | +50.687 |
| 15 | 1 | 43 | Jack MILLER | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 157.6 | +53.769 |
| 16 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 157.3 | +58.921 | |
| 17 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 157.0 | +1’02.738 | |
| 18 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | E-Motion IodaRacing Team | ART | 157.0 | +1’03.122 | |
| 19 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Athinà Forward Racing | Yamaha Forward | 156.5 | +1’11.162 | |
| 20 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 156.2 | +1’15.910 |
This is getting interesting.
Pedrosa, what deal with the devil did he make for this race…good grief
Perhaps he’s received an incentive from HRC to steal points from the tunig fork boys.
tuniNg fork
oh the irony
Incentive? That’s his job!
i have a feeling Pedrosa will be on a satellite team next year
And in Moto3 Danny Kent marches ever onwards.
Marquez absolutely crushed the field, and it was good to see Pedrosa mixing it up with the GOAT to remind everyone how good of a racer he really is. It would be a surprise to me if Marquez doesn’t snag a majority of the remaining top steps, but then I’ve been surprised a lot this season. I don’t know what happened to Lorenzo. After he ran around the outside of the two Hondas on that first lap, I thought we might be in for a real treat, but he faded pretty quickly. Maybe it is just karma cashing in on his ridiculous victory celebrations – humble pie time.
Karma cashing in on his ridiculous victory celebrations…lol..good one Jeremy. His celebrations are kind of goofy.
You guys quit peeing in JLo’s Wheaties. You’re right though, his celebrations make me cringe.
re: “humble pie time.”
mmmnn, tastes like Shepherds.
every time I see MM I cannot avoid to see the “almost a kid” that it’s there teeth to teeth with an extremely talented and seasoned Rossi.
results so far can only predict “anything could happen” and I guess the so far consistence of Rossi could bring him another championship.
so… was the chassis then?
Q: so… was the chassis then?
A1: yes.
A2: NATCORK.
A3: All Thee Above.
Also keep in mind what Mark himself said, that the go-kart track nature of the Sachsenring hides the Honda’s flaws. The 2015 Honda is better now than it was before the swap back to the ’14 chassis, but it’s still not completely fixed. The motor response is supposedly still too abrupt into and out of corners. This likely won’t pose a problem at Indy either, where Marquez will probably dominate again, but after that?
We’ll see. Marc will win his fair share of the remaining races, but minus a DNF or two from Rossi it’s now his series to lose, with Jorge representing the only real threat.
Dani is still running the 15 chassis isn’t he? I don’t recall him requesting a 14 frame, only Marquez, unless I missed that somehow.
Dani… the coworker who makes its stuff with the tools you complain about making you look bad…
OTOH more work for Honda as they now have to maintain two different bikes.
“…minus a DNF or two from Rossi it’s now his series to lose, with Jorge representing the only real threat.”
From your keyboard to God’s monitor.
61 points looks like a lot to make up on the one man you would not want to take on, but MM is the one man who could go on a massive streak with Dani in tow and Jorge there being Jorge… My bias is a battle to the end with Rossi taking home his 10th championship. There are lots of years to come for MM to be the hero and set records, Dani is already the greatest rider yet to win a championship and Jorge as I wrote is Jorge, but Rossi at 36 becoming champion again would be epic, inspiring, heroic.
in 2006 Rossi came back from a 51 point deficit to lead the championship but fell on lap 5 at the last race in Valencia.
He did, but he had a 51pt deficit after 3 DNF’s of his own, and only 1 DNF by Nicky. NH had a few low finishes that year too (couple 5ths, a 7th and a 9th), lower than I’d bet on Rossi finishing in any race.
If he finishes near the front, ahead of Lorenzo more often than the other way around, and has no DNF’s, it almost doesn’t matter what Marquez does.
Yes, but it’s mathematically feasible. Highly unlikely, but numbers don’t lie and there are what, still 225 points up for grabs for wins?
Rossi was sitting second in points in 2010 when he had his practice crash at Mugello which put him out for 6 weeks and ruined his chances that year. Admirably he still finished 3rd that season.
I’d love to see Rossi get his 10th, but anything is possible in motorcycle racing. That’s why they race em.
Marquez has never lost on German or American soil, and the next race is at Indy. Go ahead and chalk that one up for Mark.
Brno is when this thing gets serious.
All streaks are eventually broken.
I wouldn’t count on that particular streak being broken next month at Indy.
I think there’s a good chance that MM will stage a strong recovery (and of course you can never discount the possibility of a streak of bad luck for Rossi or Lorenzo), but I sorta doubt we’ll see anything resembling his performance in the first half of 2014. Main reason being that the Yamahas are so much stronger relative to the Hondas than they were last year. It’s tempting to speculate based on the results today, but the upcoming tracks are unlikely to be as kind to Honda.
That said, it’s pretty amazing the reversals of fortune we’ve had so far in this season. Marquez looking unstoppable at Austin, while nothing went right for Lorenzo. A Ducati on the podium every race–destined to win soon, it seemed. Then Marquez wandering in the wilderness while Lorenzo suddenly started running away with races. Now Marquez resurgent, Lorenzo possibly falling back again, and the Ducatis struggling.
Meanwhile, only Rossi has been really consistent (13 podiums in a row, and 17 of the last 18).
arquez was unbelievable today. Thought Rossi was going to run down Pedrosa but Dani hung tough and gassed it when he had to. Don’t know what happened to Lorenzo? Getting very interesting. Congrats to Vinales on setting the record for 9 straight points paying races for a rookie.
Dang, a month before it continues.
re: “arquez was unbelievable”
patricia…? oh wait.
Missed the M lol
and that’s Arquette (think that’s how you spell it)