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Lorenzo Wins at Aragon, Marquez - the 2014 Champion, Super Sic Remembered

Yamaha factory rider Jorge Lorenzo claimed victory in Japan at Motegi yesterday, but his win was not enough to create problems for Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez. The young Spaniard clinched the second MotoGP World title in his career, which is his 4th, after two in Moto2 and Moto2, and last year’s premier class one.
Motegi 2014, Marquez becomes MotoGP champion 19 photos
Photo: motogp.com
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Despite a slow start, with Dovizioso in the pole position and a race authoritatively led by Lorenzo, Marquez crept up place by place and managed to get in front of Rossi for the second position. However, the biggest impediment for his 2014 title was not represented by his Yamaha rivals, but by his very team mate Dani Pedrosa, who was second overall before the Motegi round and who could bring in a delay for the 2014 crown.

Pedrosa’s race also had a slow early stage, with the Honda rider battling his way up the pack really hard for a final 4th finish, ahead of Dovizioso. Top 10 was completed by Andrea Iannone, Stefan Bradl, Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Alvaro Bautista. Aleix Espargaro finished the Motegi round with the 11th-fastest time, and Yamaha’s wildcard rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga behind him. Four riders crashed out of the race, with the first of them being Cal Crutchlow, who signed out of the Japan round in the debut of the race. The DNF list is completed by Karel Abraham, Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernandez.

A huge battle for the podium ensues

The Japanese round was a truly spectacular one because the battle which took place behind the leader Lorenzo showed just how thrilling MotoGP can at times be. Rossi, Marquez, Pedrosa and Dovizioso have offered a first-class action show which, given the fact that the 2014 title is settled hints us on how fierce the battle for the places 2 and 3 will be.

With 312 points and an 82-point gap lead over Rossi, Marquez can only try to win more races and gather points and victories for future records. However, 3 riders are facing the three more diehard rounds in this season, each of them having equal chances for the remaining free places of the 2014 podium.

Rossi is now second in the world standing, with the same number of points as Dani Pedrosa, 230. Still, Jorge Lorenzo’s Sunday victory brought him in full striking range of the other two with 227 points, and he looks like he finally regained the feel and confidence in the 2014 tires. Of course, with 3 more races remaining this comes a bit late, some might say, but the numbers don’t lie.

Being three points outside the podium three races before the end of the season means serious business. Basically, the rider who makes a mistake in any of these races may miss the 2014 podium, it’s as simple as this. And with all three being highly-experienced riders, each with a long racing history, we can expect the mother-of-all-battles for the end of the season.

Near 4,000 riders remember Marco Super Sic Simoncelli at Brno

The Super Sic ride at the MotoGP circuit in Brno, the Czech Republic has become a tradition, and this year marks the 4th commemoration of Marco Simoncelli. Attendance seems to grow year by year, with 800 more people present at the Brno track. The commemoration looked impressive, with 3,795 motorcyclists riding together on the track, creating a memorable sight.

Simoncelli’s untimely demise occured at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, October 23, 2011. He came off his hike and was hit directly by two bikes. One was Colin Edwards’ while the other one was ridden by his close real-life friend and on-track rival Valentino Rossi. Both riders could do nothing to prevent the freak accident. Super Sic was posthumously inducted in the MotoGP Hall of Fame as a MotoGP legend.

MotoGP action stays overseas, with the Australian round which will take place at the Phillip Island circuit outside Melbourne. The Practice sessions and qualifying will take place on 17 and 18 October, while 19 October is the race day. Hopefully we won’t get to witness another hectic race as the one in 2013, a flag-to-flag, shorter race, with Marc Marquez disqualified for failing to change tires on time.
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