Marquez makes history at Laguna Seca

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has pulled off the passing maneuver of the year -- one that would have made Aussie Casey Stoner smirk -- en route to victory in round nine of the MotoGP title at Laguna Seca this morning.

The 20-year-old wunderkind slammed his way past Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi heading into the infamous downhill Corkscrew, and then had to take to the infield to maintain his ascendancy over the Italian.

He did just that, and then hunted down fast-starting polesitter Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) to finally hit the lead with 14 laps to go. Marquez’s final winning margin over Bradl was 2.298secs, while Rossi held off a determined Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) to nail the final spot on the podium.

Marquez’s move on Rossi brought back memories of when Rossi did a similar thing to Stoner in 2008, which left the Australian livid. But this time there was no animosity as Rossi and Marquez embraced at the end of the race.

Marquez is now the first rookie to win a MotoGP race at Laguna Seca – normally a notoriously difficult track for first timers to get their head around – while back-to-back victories now has him a 16pt leader in the championship over teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was fifth at Laguna Seca, one spot ahead of fellow inured rider Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing).

“Before I came here, I was expecting to struggle more,” Marquez said. “From the TV, this circuit looked so tricky. Since FP1 I have felt so good. Next time I’ll be able to learn where all of the bumps are and everything – yesterday I found a new bump, when I crashed at turn six! Anyway, today in the race it was so good.

"At the beginning, with a full fuel tank, I was little bit scared because with all of those bumps it’s so easy to lose the front. I overtook Valentino (Rossi) then caught Bradl; I stayed behind him for about 12 laps and then tried to pass him to open up a gap.

“I’m very, very happy because it’s a new circuit and I’ve got 25 points. I’m very happy because it’s great to go into the summer break with this result.”

Bradl was similarly delighted after his best ever weekend in MotoGP – pole position and then a superb second place after setting the agenda early. He said: “It’s a great result for us. We did a good job all across the weekend. Of course expectations were high after I had pole yesterday, but I knew I had good speed and that I could be fast from the beginning. I tried to push from the start and I think I did that very well.

“I struggled a little bit. I thought the race speed would be a little quicker but, with the full tank of fuel, I had a few problems with the front. When he (Marquez) caught me I saw that he had some more edge grip on the tyre and that he was able to open up a gap. I just tried to manage the gap to Valentino (Rossi), which was not easy, and it was a long and tough race.”

Cal Crutchlow (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha), such an in-form rider in recent times, dropped down a peg at Laguna Seca as he finished in a lonely seventh, while Nicky Hayden got the better of teammate Andrea Dovizioso in the factory Ducati battle for eighth.

Australia’s Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) was out of the points in 17th position, but showed some renewed fight as the championship now goes into recess before reconvening back in America, at Indianapolis, from August 16-18. That round will also welcome back the Moto2 and Moto3 classes.

Results
1 Marc Marquez (Honda), 41mins, 14.653s
2 Stefan Bradl (Honda) +2.298s
3 Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), +4.498s
Australian
17 Bryan Staring (FTR Honda) +1 lap

Fastest lap: Marquez, 1:21.539 = 159.3km/h on lap five

For full results and standings, visit www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics.