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2014 MotoGP: Place Your Bets, Will Marquez Win the 5th Race in a Row?

The premier class bikes are heading for the second European round of the season, and MotoGP action visits France this week, at the iconic circuit Le Mans. This weekend we might see some new MotoGP record-breaking in case the reigning world champion and current leader of the board Marc Marquez gets on the top step of the podium.
Marc Marquez versus Jorge Lorenzo 1 photo
Photo: motogp.com
So far, Marquez won all the 4 races of the season, and has a solid lead. With 100 points, he looks back at Pedrosa (72) and Rossi (61), while his arch-rival Jorge Lorenzo is in the 5th position, with 35 points, Andreas Dovizioso leading him by another 10.

At Jerez in early May, Marquez took down Giacomo Agostini’s 1971 record and become the world’s youngest rider to win the opening quartet. Even more, he equaled Stoner’s 5 consecutive poles record dating back from 2011, while at the same time raising the bar as far as the points lead in 4 races is concerned, having passed Rossi’s former 2005 record.

With the Jerez win, Marquez also checked the Andalusian track on his victory list: he won at all the tracks in MotoGP, so now it’s up to more records. In case Marquez wins at Le Mans this Sunday, down goes Mike Hailwood’s 1962 record for the youngest rider to win 5 consecutive MotoGP races, opening the road for an even more stellar career.

As I’ve mentioned, Marquez is only getting better with each race, making it even harder for the rest of the riders to catch him. Before Jerez it looked like Lorenzo was the only rider who could come up with a solution to stop Marquez, but his constant struggle with the 2014 version of the M1 bike is preventing him from reaching the front of the pack. At the same time, Rossi is on the rise, with a new chassis which seems to allow him more stability when braking, and his second position at Jerez might be telling the beginning of another great racing story.

Dani Pedrosa rides hard as well, but it seem to be still unable to find a way to threaten Marquez for real, and we’ve seen him blazingly fast, almost catching Rossi in the last couple of laps at Jerez. He obviously can hinder those chasing Marquez, while he’s trying to get the better of his younger team mate.

With the weather at Le Mans being funny, to say the least, some might pray for rain hoping that it would give the rest of the riders in the front better chances for stopping Marquez’ charge. Most weather-forecast websites claim that this weekend will be a fair one, so I guess it’s time to place your bets. Are we in for another weekend of racing history in the making?
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