Honda’s home race at the Motegi circuit could hardly have been more successful with Marc Marquez taking the win to secure his 5th MotoGP championship in the last 6 years, and his 7th GP crown overall, while Cal Crutchlow brought another Honda home in 2nd place. Alex Rins (Suzuki) completed the podium in third.
The race appeared to be headed to another classic, final lap battle between Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), until Dovizioso crashed (unhurt) on the penultimate lap, handing Marquez an easy win. The championship continues next weekend at Philip Island. Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
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All I can say is that I won’t be renewing my MotoGP.com membership next year. Marquez is certainly very skilled and mostly fearless (and also reckless)but I’m tired of the way MotoGP.com seems to devote 75% of their time and resources only on him. If they’re not talking about him, they’re showing him riding, exiting or coming into the pits or just sitting there pondering. Their technical coverage is lame also. Plus, they did away with the paddock girls video! Really? Bye bye…
Good riddance, you and Ralph can both go and take a hike. Dont forget your Rossi wigs.
Did I mention Rossi?… uh no. I do appreciate Rossi, but my point is for MotoGP.com to do a better job at covering ALL the other riders and the technical side of MotoGP.
Work on your comprehension dude.
Do you sleep with MM?
Are only MM fanboys welcome to post here? I missed that in the rules!
Disappointed to see Dovi go down, that would have made the season competitive for at least another week, though Marquez was sure to get the championship regardless. Rossi got within 9 of Dovi, at least making the race for 2nd interesting, though I’d probably put my money on Dovi vs. any of the Yamahas. Rins had a great race, Crutchlow was uncharacteristically fast, it was good other than Marquez taking the championship so early.
I dont think Ralph gets it. Saying it isn’t interesting, and that only the ‘little people’ from other countries are winners because of computers, is living in the past. So, just how far do you go in the past to make it interesting again? I remember in the eighties, some bikes had 5 computers. So you would have to go back to the seventies, or sixties to please him. That aint going to happen.
All riders have the same electronic package. And there are large riders on the grid, like Petrucci, Rins. Rossi is tall too. They can tune the electronics to their favor. So say the smaller riders are doing better due to the electronics is naive to say the least.
Cool helmet.
To win the championship you have to be a little boy from Spain or Italy. Nobody else is given a chance. Marquez probably wouldn’t be so successful if he didn’t have computers doing much of the work for him. From my own experience, when you push the limits and the bike starts bucking and weaving you can use your strength and bodyweight to keep the bike under control. If they eliminated all of the electronic assistance it would open up the sport to larger riders. The little guys would have advantages in some situations and the bigger riders would have advantages in other ways. And then we would see a demonstration of real riding skill. I won’t be watching it next year. It just isn’t interesting anymore.
Big guy not happy small guy win.
There are big guys on the grid, like Petrucci. They all have the same electronic package, which can be tuned to suite each rider preference. To say the small guys gain more from it is naive to say the least.
Petrucci is about 5’11” and 172 lbs. Not tiny, by today’s standards, but he is not a “big guy”.
The main reasons that Spaniards and Italians are winning in MotoGP involve the number of racetracks in the countries, and the support for, and interest in, motorcycle racing. There are lots of competitive riders and plenty of opportunities to race.
While there are talented, and potentially talented, people all over the world, it is a distinct advantage to have an environment and culture that encourages bike racing, almost from infancy.
Size matters. Marc Marquez would not likely make the starting lineup with any NBA team, even if he had been putting the effort into basketball that he put into racing. Shaquille O’Neal would never have made it into MotoGP, no matter how hard he worked at it.
Within the acceptable size range, talent matters. But it takes a lot of money, hard work, and connections as well.
As a motorcycle racing fan, I celebrate Marc’s championship, and am of the opinion that we have had some terrific racing over the last several seasons. Marc is amazingly talented, and seems to be a genuinely decent human being. As a Jorge Lorenzo fan, I hope that he heals quickly and completely, and comes back to bring us more great racing in the future. Same for Tito Rabat.
“As a Jorge Lorenzo fan”
I don’t believe it! A real, live unicorn!
took me a day to get it Jeremy, but now it’s very funny!
I suppose it must be rare. To be a Lorenzo fan, you have to appreciate honesty, talent, hard work, and commitment.
5’11” is big on a motogp bike.
He does have a point about small riders. I always new Pedrosa was tiny, but didn’t realize most of the rest of the field is so small until now. A quick scan through the MotoGP website rider bios shows Redding is the largest at 6 feet and 172 lbs. The announcers talk about Petrucci as if he’s a monster, but he is pretty much the definition of the average sized american/european male. Why not have a mandated combined rider and bike minimum weight instead of a minimum bike weight? Make it so riders up to say 200 or 225 lbs could be on an even footing. Larger riders might even have an advantage in cornering this way because they have more weight to move around to change the weight distribution of the bike. Accelerating and braking might be better for light guys with a lot of extra weight placed low on the bike.
The rider+bike weight rule is nothing new. It is used in Moto3 (or at least used to be.) Rossi (being of the taller, heavier clan) petitioned for the rule to be applied to the premier class back in the 800cc days. It was also considered for Moto2.
Race data was analyzed, and it was determined that weight and size did not correlate with race wins in the mid and premier class. Granted, I’m sure there weren’t any 6’2, 215 lb riders that data, though.
Ultimately, though, one has to realize what such a rule does… It gives the lightest bikes to the heaviest (which implies strongest) riders. To paraphrase Pedrosa’s famous comment concerning Rossi’s proposal, “If they think being big is a disadvantage, they should try being small.”
Marquez can’t play in the NBA. LeBron can’t race MotoGP. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Big guys get enough breaks in life as it is, anyway!
Spaniards, Italians, Brits, French, Swiss, Germans, Japanese, Czecs, and Malaysians line up on the grid at every race. An American would be in there too if he were good enough (They have certainly been good enough in the past)
Too bad you are so quick to dismiss MotoGp, since this is really the hey day of MotoGP racing with more talented riders on competitive machinery and the closest racing in history.
We are also witnessing one of the most talented men to throw a leg over a racing motorcycle prove how good he really is. Like some of the greats before him, he is at the top of his game right now. No different than when Rossi was in his prime, or Agostini, or Roberts, or Sheene. One day, it will be somebody else.
Ralph, have you seen Marquez on a dirt track flatracking with the world’s greats? That’s just pure riding skill. No electronics. Your argument is moot. Besides, Rossi and others are taller or bigger and they’re right there. Marquez is really that good. Dovi is bigger and he’s right there.
There have been a bunch of great Americans and other riders like that kid from Australia, what was his name? Of course I know who he is. But due to your ignorance of history, I will leave you to search for the answer.
Stoner.
Jack Findlay.
Mick Doohan?
ralph; There’s plenty of great racing, riders and bikes in this series right now. MM wins because he’s the best. Your flawed analysis would have Dani winning the title every year.
“from my experience…”. yeah, I’m sure that’s relevant to 2018 MotoGP bikes!
MM and the rest are supreme athletes, not fly-weight jockeys.
Bye bye ralph.
Close the door on your way out, now!
The fact that Marquez is not only skillful but he is also very strong and fit can be seen in numerous Youtube and Instagram clips where he saves the bike from crashing by using brute force. Not much the electronics can do when the rear wheel is off the pavement.
This statement proves you know not of which you speak….”when you push the limits and the bike starts bucking and weaving you can use your strength and bodyweight to keep the bike under control”….
Ever try to stop a tankslapper by tightening (“strength”ening) your grip on the bars/clip-ons? I didn’t think so.
“Marquez probably wouldn’t be so successful if he didn’t have computers doing much of the work for him. ”
Huh.. He seemed to do pretty well in Moto 2, where there are no electronics, and he was racing a lot of the same guys as he is now, only they’re not as competitive with him on the bigger bike.
Yep, not to mention he beat some of the best US flat track racers sliding around a flat track at Superprestigio. No electronics there either. Same in the 125GP where he was also a beast of the grid.
Whether one likes him or not, Marquez has already established himself as one of the greatest riders to ever throw a leg over a motorcycle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another rider that can manage the ragged edge between abosolute control and crashing quite like he can with such routine consistency.
A few years ago, Marquez’ dominance didn’t impress me as much, because I knew that many riders in the paddock had been more competitive with him on Moto2’s. Now that the gaps in equipment disparity have been much closer (as evidenced by Pedrosa’s and others’ performance on factory equipment), plus his ability to put his bike up front even if the setup isn’t good, he has fully demonstrated his control over his competition.
He is unquestionably the best rider in this generation, and one of the very best, ever.
Weird that Pedrosa doesn’t win all races huh? LMAO
Marquez wins because he isn’t scared to crash, and he pushes the tires to the absolute limit. He wins because of his crazy corner speed. The Ducati is way faster on the straightaways.
if Marquez wasn’t a demon on the brakes and through corners he wouldn’t even be competitive. He’d probably be racing Vinales for 10th every weekend like his teammate.