Title in Marquez's grasp

Mark it down: Motorland, September 29, lap 6 – the moment when Repsol Honda’s riders went their separate ways, one towards the sport’s highest honour in his rookie year, the other towards an increasingly uncertain future in the upper echelons of motorcycle racing. On that lap of the 23-lap Aragon Grand Prix Marc Marquez just touched the rear wheel of Dani Pedrosa’s sister Honda; instants later Pedrosa was down and out, Marquez was still safely on board and 30 minutes later he had his sixth win of 2013 in his pocket.

“I was going into the corner. He was over the limit, completely missed the braking, tried to avoid me and at that moment touched me a little bit and went off,” was how Pedrosa saw it on a 28th birthday that could hardly have gone more wrong. “When I opened the gas, the cable of the traction control was broken so I had a big highside and couldn’t really avoid the crash, unfortunately.

“The positive part is that I am physically okay. I had a big impact on my hip and my lower back, but it is nothing really to worry about at the moment. I am just hoping to get physically well for the next race. I have zero points (as a result of the incident) but it wasn’t my mistake today - that is what I take from it.”

Marquez went on to pass early race leader Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha with 14 laps gone and held on to open up a 39pt gap over his compatriot with just four races remaining. “Today the victory was quite important,” said the 20-year-old Marquez matter-of-factly. “Jorge won the last two races so this victory had more than 25ptr – it was a little bit to show the opponent that you are there, you want to fight for the victories. The most important is that the distance (between him and Lorenzo) is bigger than before Aragon.”

Some MotoGP insiders are seeing this as the end of Pedrosa’s hopes of ever winning the senior class title to add to his 125cc and double 250cc successes from 2003-2005. Aragon was his 129th MotoGP start; he has won 24 races in his eight seasons in the top class and been runner-up on three occasions in the world championship, twice to Lorenzo and once to Casey Stoner. But with Marquez only likely to get stronger – especially if he goes into his second premier-class year with the title already in his pocket – Pedrosa must now wonder what lies ahead and what he can do to remain a title contender as 30 approaches.

“Today he was faster than me; there are no excuses,” said Lorenzo. Behind the front two Valentino Rossi finally ended his run of fourth places, fighting off a feisty Alvaro Bautista’s Gresini Honda to put the second Yamaha on the podium for the first time since Laguna Seca. He remains in fourth place with a more comfortable 29pt cushion over Yamaha satellite rider Cal Crutchlow, who was sixth at Aragon.

In his 200th Grand Prix Andrea Dovizioso beat Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden as the pair finished eighth and ninth behind Crutchlow and his Tech 3 sidekick Bradley Smith, while Yonny Hernandez performed creditably on Ben Spies’s Pramac Ducati to finish in 12th place behind new teammate Andrea Iannone and the top CRT bike of Aleix Espargaro.

Aussie Damian Cudlin had a trying weekend with a practice crash and a race that ended after just three laps when his PBM suffered a gearbox failure. He gets another crack at his home race at Phillip Island in three weeks’ time.

On his 25th birthday weekend Nico Terol claimed his first Moto2 pole position and used it superbly to race away to a 1.736-second win over Tito Rabat, his second in the class following success at Austin earlier this year. But the key story of the race was about third place, which went to Pol Espargaro in a classic late-race tussle with Scott Redding. The British rider will still be thrilled to have come through from 13th on the grid to take fourth and maintain a 20pt lead over Espargaro with only four races to go.

“It’s incredible to win this race,” beamed Terol, who has recently realised that dietary deficiencies were sapping his energy and begun his fight-back to full fitness. “All weekend my pace was very fast, but the race was very difficult because there was so much wind.” Australia’s

Ant West went down, fortunately without injury, two-thirds of the way through the 21-lap race.

Moto3: Rins and repeat…
1 Alex Rins (KTM), 40m 04.214s • 2 Maverick Viñales (KTM), 0.426s down • 3 Alex Marquez (KTM), 12.377s down

If you heard a faint tinkling noise in the background during the Aragon Moto3 encounter it was the sound of Luis Salom’s nerves jangling as the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider finished off the podium for the third straight race and saw a large chunk vanish out of his championship lead. Unable – again – to qualify well, Salom started eighth and had to fight tooth and nail just for the fourth place that keeps him nine points clear of Spanish compatriot Alex Rins and 12 clear of another Spaniard in Maverick Viñales with four races to go.

Rins and Viñales finally dropped Alex Marquez, younger brother of the MotoGP title leader, with 14 of the 20 laps gone; Rins bided his time, swooped at turn one of the last lap and claimed his fourth win in the last six races and his fifth of the season – just one fewer than Salom.

Seventeen-year-old rookie Philipp Oettl, son of Germany’s five-time GP winner Peter, claimed fastest lap on his way to a fine sixth place, easily his best to date.

Aussies Arthur Sissis (Red Bull KTM Ajo)and Jack Miller finished ninth and 13th respectively, Miller doing well to bring the Caretta Technology – RTG bike through from a lowly 20th on the grid.

For full results and standings, visit motogp.com.