Tyre Asia – May-June 2018

104 Tyre Asia April/May 2018

If it is Texas,

it must be

Marquez!

A

t least that’s what

has been happening

six times in a row.

Marc Marquez

showed once again who the

King of Texas is as MotoGP

Grand Prix of the Americas

ended on the penultimate

April Sunday. The four-time

MotoGP champion made it

look easy. The Spaniard has

never been even tested.

For Marquez it was cool,

especially when he had to

start from fourth position

after losing the pole for

bumping into the Yamaha

rider and got penalised. his

honda took the snub with a

VRooM... later he said he had

“this sweet feeling” back on

his bike.

After Texas, five riders within

eight points are in line for the

world title, led by Ducati’s

Andrea Dovizioso (46 pts). It

may only be a single point he

has over 2017 title rival Marc

Marquez (Repsol honda),

but the Ducati Team man has

been consistent as ever – and

earned some good points

at two tough venues for the

‘Desmosedici.’

Maverick Viñales (Movistar

Yamaha MotoGP - 41 pts),

cal crutchlow (LcR honda

castrol - 38 pts), Johann

Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech

3 - 38 pts) are all in the front

league for the world title.

Marquez has won every race

in Texas since it first hosted

MotoGP in 2013. he started

like a bolt and was in lead

and made sure there was no

repeat of the bumping that

crashed Vinales out of the

race in Argentina three weeks

back, which earned him two

penalties. he showed that did

not dampen his spirits and

won the pole in Texas in style.

But the penalties dragged him

back to fourth in the start.

once the race started,

Marquez made others look

silly, the way he sped away.

crossing the flag, he stood on

his bike, thumped his chest

with both hands and took a

bow toward his garage. he

also grabbed an American

flag for a victory lap to honor

nicky hayden, the American

2006 MotoGP champion who

died in 2017 when he was

hit by a car while training on

his bicycle in Italy. “I enjoyed

a lot to make that lap in his

memory,” Marquez said.

nine-time World champion

Valentino Rossi (Movistar

Yamaha) crossed the line

fourth. Reflecting on his

race, Rossi was happy with

the weekend as a whole, but

admitted he’d hoped he could

mount a greater challenge

for the podium. “It was a

good weekend because we

were always in the top five,

but in the race, I hoped and

TA News Bureau

Marc Marquez had a rocking time at the COTA in Texas where he made

the MotoGP GP race look Oh so simple...sixth straight win since the

GP came to Texas in 2013. As the World Championship leaves for the

European shores and his home circuit in Jerez, Spain, Marquez is only

second in the line-up for the World titlea

RAce TRAcK

Marc Marquez