Five races. Five podiums. Five wins.
The current MotoGP premiere class history books is being rewritten by reigning world champion, Marc Marquez. In a race where he has to battle it out after making a mistake in the early stages of the race, Marquez, came down from tenth place to masterfully overtake every rider in front of him and take his fifth win of the season. The young Spaniard decimated nine riders and went past them even before the race has gone halfway. And after he has done breaking the hearts of the other riders, he kept pace, ensuring that no other rider would even come close to denying him the top step in the parc ferme. Let’s take a closer look at what makes up the impressive season for the reigning champion.
Machine. Marc Marquez cannot be argued is by far riding the best machinery in the grid. The Honda caters to the strength of the young Spaniard who likes to slide and accelerate the bike at the most odd places of the track. With an exceptional fuel management, braking and acceleration, this allows Marquez to quickly pick the areas to line up his maneuver and perform the passes smoothly and cleanly.
Mentality. It is very rare in the premiere class that a rider comes to every race with the mental toughness that Marc Marquez exhibits. His calm and smiling demeanor masks the mental preparation he does at each race which instills in him the belief that he can and will beat the other riders. he has certainly gotten inside the heads of last year’s runner-up, Jorge Lorenzo and teammate Dani Pedrosa, and is certainly showing the Italian master, Valentino Rossi, that he is capable of playing mind games.
Mistakes. The young Spaniard certainly have his own dose of mistakes in every race, but he manages those at a minimum and ensures that his riding and determinations covers the ground he lost. Riding at the top level of motorcycling requires for each rider to make the less mistake or no mistake at all.
Man. Of course, there is no doubt that Marquez has come of age after winning the championship last year in his rookie season. He is showing this season that the wins, podium finishes and the championship he earned last year was no fluke and he will continually to improve the form that gave him such. His relentless quest to improve can certainly be demoralizing for the other riders as everyone knows that the young Spaniard is still learning. And learn fast he does.
Very rare that such a rider comes to the premiere class with the overwhelming talent that Marc Marquez has shown so far. For the other MotoGP riders in the premiere class at this point, it is either they need to step up their game far beyond their limits. For us MotoGP spectators, we could only watch in awe as this rider continues to rewrite MotoGP in a spectacular fashion.
