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2014 MotoGP: Marquez Secures 4th Victory, Extends Solid Gap

Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda have added a new victory to their ever-growing racing history, with the young Spaniard winning for the 4th time in as much races this season. With Jerez being a track Marquez never won at, his 100th GP start was crowned by even more glory.
Marc Marquez wins at Jerez, 2014 16 photos
Photo: motogp.com
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He was followed by Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa on the podium, with the latter all over the Doctor’s rear wheel in the last laps. In fact, should the race have been say, a couple of laps longer, we’d most likely have seen Pedrosa getting the better of Rossi for a higher podium placement.

A disappointing race from Jorge Lorenzo, who seems to be still struggling to make his bike work the way he wants. Still, there’s something amiss in the Yamaha paddock, as the Cobra is definitely not happy with something… bet it the bike, the tires or something else we still have to find out. He practiced 7 starts through the weekend, and 5 of them were awful… but his dual wheelie and hesitation in the race start cost him precious efforts, as himself declared.

Forced to push really hard to regain positions lost in the beginning of the race, he ended up having to ride very cautiously to the end of the Jerez round, some huge 8.5 seconds adrift leader Marquez. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso had a great weekend (unlike 3 other Ducati riders), finishing 5th at Jerez, while Bautista, Aleix Espargaro, Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl completed the top 10.

The Jerez round also saw no less than 6 riders not finishing the race: Ducati’s test rider Pirro, Borgo Panigale works man Cal Cutchlow with a dead front brake, Karel Abraham, Mike Di Meglio, Pramac Ducati’s Iannone and Colin Edwards, in the very last lap.

Marquez secured the pole, best and fastest laps at Jerez this weekend, with the circuit lap still belonging to Lorenzo since 2013.

The current championship scoreboard has Marquez as the absolute leader with 100 points, followed by Dani Pedrosa with 72 and Valentino Rossi with 61. Divizioso sits in the 4th position with 45 points, while Jorge Lorenzo got closer to the podium with 35 points. The next round will be in France at Le Mans in two weeks’time, and we can almost bet it’s going to be a wet race, just like on so many occasions. These days, the MotoGP teams are still in Jerez for the post-race test.

Can Lorenzo make a comeback and win 11 races this year, or Marquez’ domination will extend to an even higher level. If Marquez wins at Le Mans, he will be on par with Rossi, with 5 first victories in the first 5 races of a season.
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