Monday Racing Roundup: Marquez Clinches MotoGP Title at Motegi
October 13, 2014 | By John Schwarb
At just 21 years of age, Marc Marquez has the MotoGP world in his hands. Again.
On Sunday, the Repsol Honda rider became the youngest two-time world champion in the premier class by finishing second to Jorge Lorenzo at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan at Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi.
After a dominant first half of the season that featured 10 consecutive wins culminating with the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, Marquez’ second title was all but assured and he clinched with three races still remaining on the schedule.
Last year, Marquez won the title by four points over Lorenzo, at the season’s last race at Valencia.
“Just two years in MotoGP with two titles is incredible,” Marquez said. “Maybe for the people it looks easy because I’m always smiling, but there is a lot of pressure.”
The Spaniard broke his leg during offseason dirt track training, forcing him out of preseason testing. But he opened the season with a win from the pole at Qatar, then won the next five races from the pole. In winning the season’s first 10 Grands Prix, Marquez set a record for the MotoGP class.
Marquez finished off the podium three times in four races after winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but had built enough of a points cushion that pursuers Valentino Rossi and fellow Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa couldn’t mount a charge.
Including Moto2 and Moto3, Marquez now has four titles in the last five seasons.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Harvick advances, tempers flare at Charlotte
The post-race story from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night was a fight between Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, who had an on-track skirmish carry over to the parking lot.
Next Sunday at Talladega, they’ll be fighting for their lives in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kevin Harvick won the second race in the Contender round on Saturday night, clinching his spot in the Challenger round alongside Joey Logano, who won the previous week at Kansas. Harvick, of Stewart-Haas Racing, held off Jeff Gordon by just over a half-second in a two-lap dash after a late caution for his first win since Darlington in April.
“You just know that so much is out of your control going into Talladega, and really this is the round that we focused the most on,” Harvick said.
Kenseth, Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will arrive at the high-banked superspeedway needing far better races than they’ve had the last two weekends. They are the last four in points out of the 12 title-eligible drivers remaining, with only the top eight advancing to the Challenger round, and winning may be the only hope.
“We can do it, we have won there a lot of times,” said Earnhardt Jr., a five-time winner at Talladega. “I know what we need to do. We will just have to build a fast car, hope that we don’t have any gremlins and try to go out there and win it.”
Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, finished 16th at Charlotte and then was involved in incidents with Denny Hamlin and Kenseth. The Team Penske driver clipped Hamlin’s car on the cool-down lap, then hit Kenseth’s car on pit road. Moments later, Kenseth confronted Keselowski in the hauler lot and had to be separated by officials and crewmen.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Keselowski tops Busch at Charlotte
As it turned out, Brad Keselowski’s Friday night was a lot more enjoyable than Saturday night.
Keselowski won the fourth time in nine Nationwide starts, denying Kyle Busch a third consecutive win. Busch finished second, .377 of a second behind, while Matt Kenseth was third.
Points leader Chase Elliott sat on the pole and led 66 laps through the first two-thirds of the race before finishing eighth. He leads by 42 points over Regan Smith, who finished 11th.
Three races remain in the Nationwide season, at Fort Worth, Texas (Nov. 1), Phoenix (Nov. 8) and Homestead, Florida (Nov. 15).