ROUND 16: JAPAN

The Japanese GP held at the Twin Ring Motegi track is the
home round of many manufacturers in the premier class but most of all, the home
of Honda. With Jorge Lorenzo out again of the race weekend due to his wrist
injury, Marquez had one opponent less to worry about regarding his first match
ball in Japan.

1) Level 7

With 3 races to go in 2018, Marc Marquez was crowned World
Champion again, this past sunday at Motegi. It’s the 7th time of his career
that the young spaniard is taking the title home, to Cervera. At only 25,
Marquez already has a place with Legends of the sport that have won multiple
world titles and only has Valentino Rossi (9), Angel Nieto (12+1) and Giacomo
Agostini (15) in front of him.

The
youngster that first rode a bike before he was even 5 is domininating the field
since he first came into MotoGP winning 5 of the last 6 titles with only
another extremely  talented spaniard, Jorge Lorenzo, being able to
get the title in 2015:  “It was
impossible to imagine and I say every season it is a dream come true, but I’m
living a dream. Of course, (being) a MotoGP rider is one thing, but every year
to fight for the title, be there in the top positions and win the title, is
something that nobody can imagine. Even if you are a super talented rider and
you are winning everything in the smallest category, you cannot imagine because
in MotoGP are the best riders in the world and there are 19 races in a year, so
it is so difficult to find the best level during all the season.”

Even
though he is making history as we watch him continue his journey, Marc Marquez
isn’t focussed on the record breaking but on the new season to come.

Indeed,
the spaniard will face a whole new challenge as Dani Pedrosa’s retirement means
Marquez will now share the box with one of his main opponents so far. A threat to
him and his dominance, but a threat he knows about and is already getting ready
to face as his will to win again and again is still as intact as ever: “I never thought
about records because every season is different, but I have a two-year contract
with Honda and these two years, I will try to fight for the championship. In
the pre-season, I will work for another title and this is the way. I know that
I will have the pressure, like all top riders, but all top riders are working
to win the championship. If you finish second, it is a good season, but the
goal is not achieved. As long as I stay here, I will try to increase this
number.”

Do
not open you seat belt just yet, this ride is far from being over, the
Marquez Era has just begun !

2) The Race

Marc
Marquez did got the title on Sunday by winning the Japanese GP but he did not
do so without a trick or two.

On
a real stop and go track, Ducatis were the favorite. With Lorenzo back to
Europe to heal his wirst, all hopes of a win were on Dovizioso’s shoulder. A
burden that might have been to big to bear for the italian. With Marquez
starting from 6th on the grid, Dovizioso took the early lead and tried to get
away ”à la Lorenzo“ knowing Marquez’ pace in FP4 was fierceless. A
failled strategy in the end as by the end of lap one, the spaniard was right
being Desmo Dovi, stalking his every moves.

From
there, started the now usual and very boring – let’s wait and save as much
as possible the tires for the end – show delivered to us by Michelin. Not
much happened until 10-5 laps to the end where Dovi and Marquez started their
usual on track feud for the win with Cal Crutchlow right behind, ready to take
any opportuny that would come his way.

On
the penultimate lap of the race, Dovizioso, pushed to his very maximum by the number 93, made a mistake and crashed out leaving Marquez to take
both the win and the title, with Crutchlow in 2nd and Rins in 3rd: "I’m
obviously pretty disappointed because we wanted to win this race at all costs,
but all-in-all it has been a positive weekend because we were very quick and we
confirmed our competitiveness. Pity about the crash: I didn’t overdo it but
simply tried to prepare for the exit of the turn in the best possible way in
order to attack him and I made a small mistake that cost me dearly. Even though
we did a good race we were unable to make the difference against Marquez, and
so I want to congratulate him because also this year he deserved to win the
championship.”

Having
Dovi lead the race though seams to have provide Honda an understantement of
Ducati’s strategy, at least that’s what Crutchlow believes: “The problem was
that Dovi was yo-yoing the pace again. Now we know the strategy of Ducati,
which they have done for four or five races in a row now: they do two or three
fast laps, then he slows the pace down, and the he does two or three fast laps
again. It’s so difficult to pass the Ducati because even when he slows down for
a lap, the Ducati has so much power off the turns.“

Finally
it’s worth noting that Yamaha is now at more than 25 races without winning. After their
great revival in Thailand, the boys in blue (and black aka Zarco and Syahrin)
had to deal once again with a disappointing race weekend and a bike that still
doesn’t want to obey them. A situation that cannot continue and which is leaving
both Rossi and Vinales absolutely desperate: “I think we worked well, we made
another step [in warm-up] and I feel better on the bike and I started quite
optimistic to fight for the podium. Unfortunately the two Suzukis and also
[Cal] Crutchlow are faster than me. I tried to not give up and not make any
mistakes, tried to arrive at the end with good pace.But our potential is
this. It’s more this than Thailand, unfortunately. Suzuki did a very good
step compared to last year, because they work in the right way. Better than us.
They are strong. If Iannone didn’t crash, he would have arrived in front. They
are fighting for the podium, they are stronger.”

We
now go to Phillip Island, which is definitely MotoGP’s brightest jewel. Jorge Lorenzo will again miss the race and will be replaced by best
Ducati rider during the Japanese GP, Alvaro Bautista. The 5 times World Champ
hopes to be back for Sepang. Free of any kind of pressure, will Marc Marquez celebrate his new title with a win on the Island ? History is agains’t him on that note as each time he won a title at Motegi, a DNF followed right back at Phillip Island…