Championship points leader Marc Marquez (Honda) scored a remarkable 10th straight victory at the Sachsenring earlier today by leading every lap of the race … ultimately stretching to a huge cushion over second place Maverick Viñales (Yamaha). Cal Crutchlow (Honda) came home third despite his recent injuries.
Among those who crashed out of the race today were Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) who qualified on the first row and Alex Rins (Suzuki) who started from 4th.
Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
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How many podiums did Aprilia and KTM win since they entered the fray, and at what total cost? None, 1 for what, a quarter billion USD?
The funny thing is, you can’t know what is needed to beat MM if you don’t have a bike equal to the Honda. And you can’t equal the Honda without a rider equal to MM to find your weaknesses.
Oh, the humanity…
Are you suggesting that manufacturers not currently in MotoGP avoid entering the fray because it might take several years to score a win? Kawasaki, et al, just stay home.
Yes, but only because you have to go back to the days of thumpers to find more factory teams. There isn’t much “al” remaining in “et al”. Kawasaki, BMW, and maybe Triumph could enter the feast, but there isn’t much meat or bone left to dine-on.
Thing is, they do have riders of nearly MM’s caliber. Not quite as good, but certainly among the 20-30 best riders on the planet right now. It’s just not that easy to get to the front in Moto GP, technologically speaking.
There are maybe a handful of riders of Marquez caliber in the paddock and new and upcoming companies like Aprilia and KTM (or Kawasaki or BMW if they were to join) can’t hire them because they are already under contract to someone else. The better riders are not going to go to a developing mfg when their contracts expire if they have a chance to go to a developed machine, already proven capable of winning. The few that have tried it have been disastrous for their careers.
KTM and Aprilia already have the riders I’m referring to (Iannone, Espargaro’s and Zarco). The difference in their bikes and Marquez’ has nothing to do with them as riders.
So you think Iannone, Espargaro and Zarco are equal in ability to Marquez? Don’t think so. Until their riders start challenging for podiums on a regular basis signalling their bike is capable of winning, KTM & Aprilia will never pull a top rider like Marquez, Lorenzo, Rossi, Vinales, Rins, Petrucci or Crutchlow and probably not a Quatararo, Mir,or Nakagami into their garage. I was real surprised they were able to get Zarco (Apparently he had an issue with Honda and refused to talk to them) and look where he is now. From top 5 to bottom 5 in consecutive seasons, and nothing in the future looking very bright for him.
The caliber of riders Aprilia and KTM have now, bottom 10-12 of the field (barring higher riders crashing out) are riding to their own and their machine’s capabilities. Until the machines get better the riders cannot improve. Just like Suzuki did.
“So you think Iannone, Espargaro and Zarco are equal in ability to Marquez?”
Insofar as having the skill to extract the maximum from a race team’s efforts to develop a motorcycle, absolutely. Their abilities are not an obstacle for KTM and Aprilia in developing their bikes. Iannone even has a MotoGP win to his credit.
” Their abilities are not an obstacle for KTM and Aprilia in developing their bikes.”
Then why did KTM spend big bucks to hire Danny Pedrosa? and Aprilia hire Bradley Smith, both former MotoGP winners to help develop their bikes?
Though not especially “exciting”, it was a great race, and a good way to wrap up the first half of the season. It left the fans and the teams a lot to chew on over the break.
I was no fan of Marc Marquez in 2013. IMHO, he was on the wrong side of the sportsman line on a number of occasions. Since then, his skill, determination, unfailing cheerfulness, and good sportsmanship have won me over. He has handled fortune and fame extremely well, at least from outside appearances.
Rossi never won me over, bad sportsmanship, foul mouth, trash talk, etc. I do respect his love for racing, and his work ethic. He’s remained competitive far long than expected because of that drive and the fact that he has been remarkable injury-free. As long as he was able to run top-5 pace consistently, he seemed to be enjoying himself, but top-10 pace appears to be taking a toll on him. Even though the fame and fortune part is still working, the on-track rewards are slipping away. I don’t think he’ll win another race (Sete’s revenge?), and expect him to hang it up at the end of this contract, with a good chance of retirement at the end of the year.
Fabio impressed me years ago, and I expect that he will continue to impress. Both Rins and Mav seem to have overcome many of their issues, and should give us strong races for years to come.
I had a lot of hope for Mir, and he appears to be turning the corner (no pun intended). I still think he will be running at the front by next year.
Dovi’s career has been solid but unimpressive to me. He had a nice peak for a couple of years, but IMHO it was a fortuitous combination of circumstances that will not repeat. An injured Petrucci beat him, and I suspect that will become a more common occurence.
There is talk that Lorenzo is considering retirement. While I would like to see him continue, as I am a big fan, the injuries add up. Stoner was tired of the politics, but it was the big crash at Suzuka that motivated the “no more” decision. Lorenzo has had a lot of injuries over the years, and he appears to be realizing that he is young, famous, rich, and a multi-year World Champion. Winning on the Honda would be a great accomplishment, but it just might no longer be worth the risk of being permanently crippled or killed.
As far a speculation goes, 2020 could be even more interesting if both Jorge and Vale decide to hang up the gloves at the end of this season.
Quartarao to take JL’s ride in 2020?
Rossi will retire at the age of 46.
You heard it here first.
Oh please God stop the suspense! I just can’t take wondering who wins the Championship from now through 2037…
Marquez is very much in the conversation,he is already #3 in the premier class and closing. I think his bike is far from the best on grid and the level of competition is higher than some eras. You could throw in spec tires and ecu’s that has leveled the field to some degree. Thin it would be safe to say Marquez/Rossi/Ago would be down in wins competing in the mid 80’S to early 90’s era .
It is obvious the Honda is not at the top for ride quality.
We can look at the record as well as who they competed against and how they beat them,ride quality and throw in control tires and electronics . If you go by wins in the premier class he is already at #3. Yes, he Is easily in that conversation and. Is pretty close to the top.
Marquez popped a small wheelie off the line resulting in Vinales leading him while braking for the first turn.
By the time they’d reached the apex of that turn, Marquez got in front under braking (around the outside) so quickly, it was obvious the racing was only for second place.
Rossi’s season isn’t going as smoothly as they have in the past, and I’ll be mildly surprised if he continues to compete after this season is over with.
Certainly no shame there if that were what he wanted to do.
It also looks as if Rossi is no longer able to contend for a MotoGP championship. If he switched to Superbike, I bet he could win a championship or two there still.
Sorry, but I think he will retire to run his Moto3 VR46 Team full time, and hang around MotoGP tracks till he cark’s it.
It doesn’t seem too early anymore to start considering Marquez in the conversation for greatest of all time.
I wouldn’t see it as being fair to put him on that pedestal yet without taking the quality of his ride into account first. Who is the greatest would be exceptionally difficult to determine because all we can look at is their record. How would the great riders of the past fare if they were on these bikes as opposed to the bikes they had then? would they do the same? Would they do better? Would they do worse? We really have no way of knowing, and I would ask if it is even all that important for us to determine who is the greatest ever?
the question of vehicle superiority asks how did it get that way. was it Honda or mv engineers, or was it doohan’s fitness/determination or ago’s sense of mechanical sympathy? angel nieto won on kreidler/minarelli/bultaco/garelli. were they all the “best” bike? if all bikes share ecm’s now isn’t the kid that skids it home first the most the best?
Cross generational GOATS are hard to determine due to the vast differences in equipment. Is a guy that won on non electronically limited a better rider than one who rides electronically equipment? Or would he be just as good on the limited equipment if he were riding it today. How about frames, and brakes, and aerodynamics? How about racing gear… all of them fall off, does the guy protected by kangaroo skin, air bags and carbon fiber helmets have an advantage in a crash and recovery, than a guy wearing leather and a polystyrene lined helmet and therefore able to win more races?How about level of competition?
Nope too many fine details to say who was the greatest. All you can go by in this case is records, winning percentage, pole percentage, laps led etc but that won’t tell you in the scheme of this who was absolutely the best motorcycle racer. Ago has the most wins and titles. Rossi won on the most different equipment. Marquez if he stays healthy will undoubtedly break many of Rossi’s records including wins and titles. Which one is the greatest racer of all time? Impossible to say for sure.
Just read that Marquez has beaten Ago’s and Rossi’s records for wins in consecutive straight seasons. Both Ago and Rossi won at least 5 races in a season 6 times in a row. Marquez has now done it 7 seasons in a row.
If any one on the GOAT list is to be dropped for level of competition, it’s Ago, by a million miles. He raced for about a decade as the only factory rider and contemporary bike in the 500 class. His closest competition for much of this time was literally privateers riding bikes made by defunct British manufacturers.
The British had imploded, the Japanese were just arriving in the small displacement classes, and Count Agusta had not followed through with his promise to the other three Italian marks that left together after 1957. The Hailwood versus Ago rivalry is mostly a myth. It was mostly for a couple of seasons on 250cc bikes. Then, the Honda technology was banned and they went back to Japan. It took Suzuki wit their two-strokes in the mid70’s to change things up.
MM is competing against riders using the latest and greatest technology of the current time. ago and doohan (and all the old greats) also competed with riders using the latest and greatest technology of their time.
sure, top speeds and lap records are obviously going to be constantly broken by today’s, and future, riders but race wins and championships have been won on a level playing field…best rider of the day usually wins.
(of course team(s) with the most money/best tech can be a factor …same as yesteryear too)