MotoGP News
Date:
22/July/2013
MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez heads for the half-time summer
break having extended his World Championship lead with victory in the US GP at
Laguna Seca.
The irrepressible Repsol Honda star, 20, romped to his third
win of the year - highlighted by an audacious pass on Valentino Rossi - to pull
a clear points lead over the injured Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez had never ridden the Laguna Seca circuit before
Friday practice, meaning it should have been one of his toughest events of the
season.
Marquez said: “I’m so happy because we weren't expecting
this result from our first visit to Laguna Seca. I didn't think I would adapt
so easily to such a tricky circuit, but from the first day of practice I felt
very comfortable and quickly found the best lines.”
Talk of the race was his Corkscrew pass on Rossi, a mirror
image of the move the Italian had made on Casey Stoner in 2008.
“I said to him Valentino that I will pay the copyright!”
joked Marquez. “When I saw the video of 2008 I thought it was impossible. But
when I let off the brakes a little because there was no space and I passed in
the same place.
“The overtake that he did in 2008 was more spectacular, but
okay I enjoyed it too!”
Rossi, who went on to finish third, was gracious in defeat.
“In 2008 I made one of the best overtakes in history maybe
and today Marc did the same. When you do a move like that you have to take
risks and maybe not everything is perfect for the rules.
“But I think it is right to do this kind of overtake,
without any problem with Race Direction.
“On one hand I'm not happy, because Marc overtook me in a
great way, on the other hand I know I have a credit with him now. If I do it to
him he cannot say anything!”
Marquez leads the championship by 16 points from team-mate
Pedrosa, with reigning champion Lorenzo a further 10 points behind. Marquez
thus has a real chance of joining only Kenny Roberts in winning the
premier-class title at his first attempt.
And Rossi already believes Marquez could go on to become the
greatest ever.
The seven time MotoGP Champion said: “Marc has all the
potential to become the greatest of all time. He is a great talent, with great
skills, and is also very young. Now is very early to say, but he has 100
percent of possibility to do that.”
Marquez will now use the summer break to reflect on his
first nine races and prepare for the second half of the season, when Pedrosa
and Lorenzo will be back to fitness.
“We will review all the races and see where we can improve in
the second half of the season and it will be interesting to see what it is like
when Jorge and Dani are fully fit. It will be more difficult, but here and in
Germany we had a big opportunity to win two races and we did that."
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