Marc Marquez (Honda) took his 8th win in a row at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany earlier today, moving him into the championship points lead in the 2017 MotoGP series. Rookie Jonas Folger (Yamaha) ran with Marquez until the final two laps when he faded to finish in second place ahead of Dani Pedrosa (Honda) in third.
The MotoGP championship points race is closer than it has been in a long time. Currently, four riders are within 10 points of the championship lead. Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
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What a great race, had a chance to watch it 3 times now. Folger was quite impressive hanging with MM. I was wondering which one was going to tuck the front end first. Glad that did not happen. There was a lot of close racing behind as well, pretty hard to predict who was going to finish where. Over-all, fantastic racing, I really enjoyed the race!
Impressive race for both Marc and Jonas. As a Lorenzo fan, this year has been painful at times. Early on, he said he mediums were the obvious choice for the race, but then he went with softs and faded away almost immediately.
My opinion remains that Michelin has done a lousy job with the tires. I like them on my street bikes, but they have made MotoGP a bad joke over the last two years. It really seems like each race is a tire lottery, rather than a race between the best riders on the best bikes.
If it weren’t tires it would be..
Hardly a word has been uttered about the fantastic race Folger had. To watch a rookie run with a seasoned veteran, at the front, was very interesting. Tech 3 is rubbing the factory’s nose in the tarmac. The new track surface apparently has lots of grip, even in the rain.
Michelin is turning MotoGP into a lottery.
Check the history … Casey Stoner on the Ducati had a clear advantage because he was the first guy to get Bridgestone when the rest of the teams were using Michelin. VR realized this and demanded Bridgestone while JL stayed with Michelin and VR won the title that year. Bring back Bridgestone!
They all have the same tire choices –
Vinales yes, Iannone at one time, the rest not so much imo.
OK, I’ll just be completely off the wall…………
Marc has great teeth!
Seen in perc ferme, looking adorably at Marc, why did Marc’s dad not wear team and/or #93 colors? A cream colored hoodie, with white frontal text advertising what, exactly? Weird, no?
Does dad dream of Marc racing for a Spanish rally team? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
“Stay off the grass when writing a term paper.”
I’m still a fun of a unique style of GL. I did not get why he moved to Ducati, that is imho very strict motorcycle.
then came Bronson…? nope MURRGUEZ…!!! (well him and the “Orange Tide” of HRC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnPIOH8bCfk
Well, let’s not get carried away. MM/Honda deserved this one, but in our season of randomness this was the expected result at this track. NATCORK still heavily in play esp in the factory Yamaha garage (observe 3rd place) as you’ll surely be the first to admit. (Yes I called you you-know-what.)
re: “Well, let’s not get carried away.”
no worries, it’s the 30 man Boffin Army of HRC. while you protest, they’ll be carting off you (and the rest of the paddock) in style on litter boards made from “best quality” hydro-formed titanium…
watch this space.
“Stay off the grass when writing a term paper.”
ladies and gents/boys and girls, as you see there are those lay persons who no matter the year, no matter the decade, no matter the century INSIST on “learning the hard way”.
What can I say…I gotta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
Remove the German and American rounds from the series and Marc Marquez is basically a slightly larger Dani Pedrosa.
J/k.
(sorta)
What an interesting interpretation of the results. You should Give MM his due Instead of faint praise. If Rossi had won again this week you’d be praising him to the moon.
I’d say I gave Marc his due, even before he won this round…
“Speaking of Marc, he remains the man to beat in this championship. He’s going to win next week. Take it to the bank. #93 literally never loses in Germany. Where Marc Marquez is concerned, America and Germany are like death and taxes for the rest of the paddock. Everyone else is fighting for second place. The scarier thing about Marc right now, however, is that he’s not winning races yet he’s still only eleven points down in the championship, with the majority of his best tracks still to come. A Smart, Calculating Marc on a Repsol Honda is damn tough to beat over the course of an entire season. So far, it’s never happened. The only time he didn’t win the title was 2015, when he was still in Win Or Bin mode.”
He has won more races in 4 years than Pedro has in 11 years, I think there is a bit more of a difference.
Marc Marquez is the world’s best motorcycle racer. In case you hadn’t noticed (or tried to ignore, more like).
His bike is tremendous too.. .
MM and the RC213V have been quite a tough combination to beat over the years. Looked really good yesterday.
Not sure even MM likes his bike this year. HRC is a powerhouse operation but their last couple of MotoGP bikes have been, it seems, difficult.
Marquez is a tremendously talented motorcycle racer, as is Pedrosa ( and many others). I think what sets Marquez apart from the rest is desire and confidence.( Rossi obviously has these too). He ” believes” he can win every race and desires to do so. With those attributes he is naturally going to ride harder and he has the talent to back it up. Winning combination.
MM won. Guess I didn’t miss much. Good for Folger though!
You missed quite a bit.
Yeah, it was a good race.
That’s like saying Mir won the Moto3 race, but you didn’t miss much. NOT. Moto3 is consistently the most frenetic racing on the planet.
That’s because in Moto 3 the riders are all better than the bikes and almost every rider rides the bikes to their limit. Since the bikes are evenly matched they all bunch up at the front. In Moto 2 most of the riders are still better than the bikes so they too bunch up. But a few riders can ride better than the bikes and end up winning. The best Moto2 riders then move to MotoGP. In MotoGP the bikes are better than most of the riders, and only the very best riders can ride them at the front. That’s why it’s rare for a Moto 2 Champion, even if he dominated Moto 2, to make much of an immediate impact on MotoGP. Marquez being the exception.
I guess it depends on how you define impact. MM is the only one who’s won the championship, but most of the others to come up have quickly displaced riders who were there before them. Between the newer riders and the favorably adjusted technical rules, the factory boys are having fits maintaining their positions up front.
Moto 3 Champions…. Elias, Bradl, Marquez, Espargaro, Rabat, Zarco
Who beside Marquez has had any meaningful immediate impact on MotoGP after moving up? Zarco has ridden pretty well in a couple of races, but doubt he will have any influence on who wins the championship this year.
Again, depends on how you define “impact”. I define it as things like a win (don’t forget how few men have ever done it), he’ll, simply beating a factory bike on a satellite bike is impactful.
Miller, Iannone, Zarco, Folger, Espargaro(s), Vinales. I think every one of these guys has had significant impact.
Iannone has had a couple of impacts.
Vinales, yes…. Iannone..maybe at one time, the rest, not so much IMO .. but maybe someday.
Every time one of them collects points in a race ahead of a Championship contender, it has an impact. I’d be willing to bet that at the end of the season, those points add up to more than the margins between the top 4 places.
Few Moto2 champs move right up to a factory Honda or Yamaha. Not to take anything away from Marquez, but what would his rookie year have looked like on a Tech3 or LCR? Look at Vinales on the Yamaha Vs Suzuki. What would a lot of those other guys look like on one of the prime bikes? I’m not so sure the bikes are better than the riders.
Frenetic is right. Unlike a lot of people, I’m not convinced that “frenetic” equals “best.” Personal preference, I know, but to me it’s just too crazy, too much of a rat race, to the point at which the results can seem almost random.