Marc Marquez (Honda) was the master of Jerez yesterday, where he stormed to his second victory of the year, and re-took the MotoGP points lead. Finishing second was the winner of the previous round at COTA, Suzuki’s Alex Rins, who now sits just one point behind Marquez in the points standings.
Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) came home third after surviving a battle with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) who finished fourth. Jorge Lorenzo (Honda) was hoping to bounce back from a horrible start to his season at one of his favorite circuits, but he again struggled in the race and finished 12th – with even that result benefitting from crashes in front of him.
Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
See more of MD’s great photography:
I’m just happy to see Suzuki back in the top three they have a great heritage in gp /moto gp racing. As far as predicting, it’s a long season and so many variables perhaps more than usual.
I’m really baffled by the disparaging/inaccurate remarks directed at MotoGP riders. These are the best of the best, all the way down to 20th place. And to say that Lorenzo can’t deal with pressure is absurd. World Champions can deal with pressure. Eventually his team will adapt the bike to Lorenzo’s style and the results will come. It might be fair to say he’s a sensitive rider and needs a very specific feeling from his motorcycle, but the guy’s a stud. As are all of them.
MM is taller than the other riders? Who, Pedrosa? Pedrosa retired. Have you seen Marquez next to Petrucci or Rossi? The guy looks like a jockey. Even his brother towers over him. Where do these opinions come from???
There have been 2 changes this year that have really benefited MM. First, the shoulder repair. Second, the Honda is no longer out-powered by the Ducati.
Additionally wasn’t Lorenzo off getting healthy while others were testing the new Honda? That testing is going on now. MM already has a working relationship with his team and the bike. Lorenzo is starting from scratch during the season. He will take a while to get on with the new surroundings.
The real news of the weekend is Quatararo. But for a broken shift linkage he likely would have reached the podium ahead of Vinales. Today in testing he was fastest and set a new lap record on the four season old chassis previously ridden by Lorenzo and Zarco. Lookout MM there’s a new alien on the track.
Even though I was disappointed as a Lorenzo fan, Jerez was a great race. Marc Marquez is amazing. Quartararo has had a run of bad luck and mistakes, but is showing great talent on a 2nd-tier bike. Rins is showing quite a bit of strength as well.
I’m not a fan of either Rossi or Dovi, but they are right there in the points hunt. I don’t expect any wins from Rossi (consistently fast, but only seems able to podium if the really fast guys crash), and maybe one more win from Dovi (the Ducati has issues this year, and IMHO Dovi is quite over-rated).
From my basement :), it looks like Rins and Fabio are the best of the rest, along with Mav if he really has figured out how to start races. Jorge will get there, sooner or later, and should still get a few wins before the year is out. Don’t really expect Lorenzo to figure in the championship this year however, unless something dramatic happens quite quickly.
There are a lot of talented riders, but Marc seems to have them all covered this year.
Whenever I see riders secure (Pole) starting positions ahead MM I think, congrats…that’s cool for the particular rider(s) but is MM the least bit concerned about these guys once the flag is dropped.
So far I can think of no one other than Dovi (well, before MM got his number) that I thought oh sh!t MM might be a little concerned about this situation.
Especially after JL strong finish last year I thought he’d be showing MM what close racing is all about.
Hopefully JL will regroup soon enough and we’ll see the two of them out front dicing (gentlemanly at that of course).
Not the most exciting of races, but it was nice to see Rins work his way up to second with precision passes, and for Dovi and Rossi to work forward to pick up valuable points.. Even though MM walked away with another race ( what can you cay, the guy is a racing machine) but the Championship is a pretty close affair at this point.
MM hangs off the bike more than others and he is taller. He has a good feel for the front end before it goes away from him. Someone who rides well on a loose bike can win and he does. He certainly cannot be said to avoid the limit because he is always on it, even with a rebuilt shoulder. Jorge cannot deal with the pressure.
It’s tough to know what’s preventing him from succeeding but I think Jorge can deal with pressure. He was just in this same place last year, and he got it together and won.
MM taller? Let’s take this in order by height.
6’00”: Rossi
5’11”: Petrucci, Syahrin
5’10”: Smith, Iannone, Rabat, Abraham
5’09”: Morbidelli, Bagnaia, Mir
5’08”: Miller, Nakagami, Oliveira
5’07”: Vinales, Crutchlow, Lorenzo, Rins, Espargaro, Quartararo, Zarco, Bradl
5’06”: Dovizioso, Marquez
Your “taller” rider shares the title of shortest along with Dovizioso.
Maybe you could explain more to us about your theory of good riders on loose bikes. I’m having a hard time imagining anything loose about any of the MotoGP bikes, especially that Honda.
Rossi is not 6′ tall. Not even close. More like 5’9″, 5’10 tops.
Wikipedia shows him at 6” 00″. MotoGP shows him at 181cm, also know as 5′ 11.25984″. I’m sure MotoGP is the more reliable source. So your right, not even close to 6′.
There’s “listed” height, and there’s the reality of how tall someone actually is. I’ve met Rossi face to face on several occasions. I’m 6′ tall, and I’m significantly taller than him. My wife is 5’10”, and she’s as tall, or even slightly taller than Rossi. Fact.
“Maybe you could explain more to us about your theory of good riders on loose bikes.”
I can see where the observation comes from. MM’s bike moves around under him more than most guy’s do. I don’t think it’s that the bike is loose, I just think he rides closer to the edge of available traction more than other riders do.
it’s a good thing, from some folks’ perspective, that MM fell off in Austin otherwise MM would already have a 31 point lead over 2nd place (Rins would have 5 points less assuming he would have taken second in Austin).
shame about JL’s luck so far.
no matter….still MM’s championship to lose.
agreed