Photography by Gold & Goose
After a huge momentum swing that has gone away from Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda team and toward the Yamaha team of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo in the last two rounds, a swing back in Marquez’s favor this weekend in Japan will likely result in a second successive MotoGP World Championship for the young Spaniard.
With just four races remaining (Motegi, Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia), the title will be decided well before the end of the series – and likely this weekend in Motegi. That’s despite his two mistakes in the prior two rounds at Misano and Aragon that led to him crashing in both races.
Still, Marquez leads his teammate Dani Pedrosa by 75 points. If he finishes ahead of him in Japan, it’s over. Rossi still has a mathematical chance of taking the title, but he’s 78 points adrift and his focus is aimed directly at trying to beat Pedrosa for second place in the title chase.
“Aragon was a difficult situation and we learned a valuable lesson,” Marquez said in a Honda release. “However, we were lucky that we didn’t lose points to our rivals and now I know that in Japan it’s my first chance to take the championship. I will try not to think about it too much – even if I know it would be great to achieve this on Honda’s home soil. We will go there and work hard from day one and treat it as a normal race weekend and push for the victory on
Sunday. Last year was my first visit to Motegi on a MotoGP machine and it was a very difficult weekend, so we hope to have more dry track time this year to find a good set-up.”
Both the Repsol Honda RC213V riders have a strong record at the Motegi circuit: Marquez won the 125cc GP in 2010; in 2011 he moved to Moto2, finishing second at Motegi; adding a stunning race win in 2012 – his Moto2 championship year – after he was left on the line at the start. Last year he finished second in the MotoGP race and went on to win the title in his debut season.
Pedrosa has won at the Honda-owned circuit four times in a career that has netted a 125cc and two 250cc World Championships. He won the 125cc GP in
2002, taking the title the following year; and the 250 race in 2004, finishing second the next year, and winning the title both years. He added
MotoGP wins in 2011 and 2012, with three third places, the last in 2013.
“Obviously Aragon was a tough race and in the end I made the wrong choice not to come in earlier,” Pedrosa said. “Anyway, we have moved on and now I am focused on Motegi. I always enjoy travelling to Honda’s home race, it’s a big event for Honda and this always gives me extra motivation to perform well. The track has a lot of heavy braking and acceleration points, so a good set-up is essential for the braking stability and to get good traction out of the corners. Let’s hope the weather is better than last year.”
Rossi, meanwhile, would like nothing more than to spoil Honda’s party at its home racetrack. He is also coming off a crash at the last round in Aragon.
“Aragon was a very difficult race weekend, but there were also many positive aspects,” Rossi said. “First, the bike was really okay on Sunday. I immediately felt good on the bike as soon as I arrived on the grid. In the first laps I was able to make good overtakes and stay with the top three riders. My team did a really good job. Another positive thing is that I have not done anything, apart from the big headache the next few days! I feel very well and I look forward to the tripleheader overseas races because I am feeling better and better on the bike and the team are working really well. The fight for second place is getting interesting, we will try to achieve the best result possible! Japan is not one of my favorite tracks, but also Aragon was not and still we went very well. We will see. It’s Yamaha’s home GP and we will do our best to get a good result.”
Lorenzo comes into Motegi riding the wave of his first win of the season in Aragon. He also comes in as the defending race winner in Japan, the Spaniard having won the race last year on his factory Yamaha.
“First of all I would say it was a fantastic feeling to win at home in Aragón,” Lorenzo said. “We were able to manage a difficult race and taste the first victory of the 2014 season, which was amazing after a disappointing start. We solved many problems during the weekend and did a great job on Sunday with the whole team. Now we are traveling to Japan, a country I love for many reasons. I have great memories from last year, when we surprised everyone with a huge success in our rival’s home. Last year we won at Motegi and also achieved the 200th victory for Yamaha in front of the two Honda bikes. It was unbelievable! Hopefully we can repeat it this time with another perfect weekend.”
For American race fans, the hope is that Nicky Hayden’s wrist continues to get stronger and he continues his march to the positive end of the results sheet.
“The Grand Prix of Japan is always an interesting and different weekend,” Hayden said. “It’s a special atmosphere, the fans are passionate and Japan is the home of most of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. I love racing in Japan and I have had some good times there in the past, in fact last year I started from the front row at Motegi, which was good. This weekend will be tough because I am still working hard physically to get back to my best shape and Motegi is a demanding track, with some of the hardest braking on the whole calendar. Obviously that’s not ideal for a rider that has under gone major wrist surgery recently, but at Aragon I was able to get a feel for riding again and I am looking forward to giving my best to be as fast and competitive as possible in Japan. This is still a recovery phase for me and I know it will take another couple of races to get back to full strength, but I will not stop working until we get there. It’s a demanding three weeks ahead, but I love the flyaway races because we go to three very different but equally interesting circuits.”