MotoGP: Is This The End Of Marquez’s Title Hopes?

The eyes of the world are fixed on Jorge Lorenzo – and Marc Marquez has been left in the shade.

MotoGP Italy Race Report

How the mighty have fallen. We were left shaking our heads in disbelief this weekend as Marc Marquez’s title chances looked slimmer than ever. Just when the young champion badly needed another victory, he crashed out in second place and it was Argentina all over again. This devastating result leaves him 5th on the table, a whole 30 points behind Valentino Rossi. The Doctor is not exactly sitting comfortably either. There are only 6 points separating him and Ducati’s persistent Andrea Dovizioso.

The surprising thing is that Marquez started the race well. He looked strong and confident as he made his way from a less-than-ideal 13th place on the grid, up to second. But with just 5 laps remaining, all that hard work went to waste as he lost his battle with Andrea Iannone and crashed out of the race. Things couldn’t get much worse for last year’s champion, but Marquez is still hoping for better results. He said: “We have dropped quite far behind in the standings, but Honda are working hard and together we will keep pushing to improve the feeling with the bike for the second half of the season.” For all his ambition, it doesn’t look likely that the young Spaniard is ready to take another title this year.

Honda did badly out of this race, with Dani Pedrosa in 4th as the only Honda bike that made it to the top ten. Britain’s Cal Crutchlow had another disappointing race for LCR Honda, crashing out with just 3 laps to go. He had been battling injury problems since the warm up, when he injured his hand. Problems with the front tyre led to his crash in fifth place, which left him with a dislocated his ankle as well as an injured hand. After two races in which Crutchlow has failed to finish, he has a lot of catching up to do on June 14th.

As Marquez and his Honda team regroup, Yamaha are still on a high after Mugello. Both Lorenzo and Rossi returned to the podium. This weekend, Jorge Lorenzo took an astonishing third victory and tightened his iron grip on first place. Lorenzo sailed away from the rest of the paddock early on in the race, putting on a masterful performance with a gap of over 5 seconds. The real battle was for second, with Andrea Iannone coming out on top on his home tarmac. Lorenzo commented on his chances of making this year his third MotoGP title: “It seems that this year could be our year, so we have to take advantage of it.”

Perhaps the Doctor will have something to say about that! With Lorenzo hot on his heels in the world standings, it was essential for Valentino Rossi to gain 16 points by coming in third. He should be proud of himself – achieving his place on the podium was a remarkable feat. After dropping down to 10th, the nine times world champion rode hard to secure third place. Rossi has not left the podium yet this season. This consistent performance is keeping his hopes of a tenth world title alive. On his troublesome teammate, Rossi commented: “I think we have to improve, especially with Jorge being very strong, he is in a great shape and to match his level we need to be more competitive.” The battle of champions goes on – we can’t wait to see what happens on June 14th in Barcelona.

Our own Bradley Smith did a brilliant job for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 as he finished in 5th, his best result of the season. He battled with his fellow Brit Cal Crutchlow, but in the end it was Bradley who went the distance, gaining 11 championship points. Smith was ecstatic with the result:”I’m really pleased to close this weekend with a 5th place finish after a superb race that was a real pleasure to ride…to come home with 5th is great for me, the team and the championship standings.” He now sits at 6th on the table, 10 points ahead of Crutchlow. Both of these home-grown riders are doing us proud this year. Let’s hope that Crutchlow recovers well and gets his mojo back for the next race.

Can Marquez recover? Can Lorenzo ever be stopped?

Whoever you’re backing for MotoGP champion this year, we want to know your hopes, fears and predictions for the second half of the season. Leave us a comment below and tell us what you think!

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Photo courtesy of www.motogp.com