MotoGP:Lorenzo tumbles – Marquez wins in Qatar!

If you thought that Marc Marquez pulled all the tricks from the bag,while strangling his opponents, inorder to snatch the 2013 World Championship and myriad records in the process, you would be dead wrong!

Marquez, the youngest MotoGP World Champion, made a mockery of the proceedings in 2013 – books are still being written about his mind-boggling exploits.  He climbed the mountain, stood at the peak and absorbed the surroundings and I am certain that there must have been moments when he quietly asked himself – so where do I go from here? The first hint to a well-defined and clear answer, revealed itself on Sunday,in Qatar.

The off-season was not kind to Marquez. When other riders were busy familiarizing themselves with what their armoury offered to wage war in 2014, Marquez was reluctantly enjoying couch duties. A preseason mishap – a broken leg – sidelined Marquez and as such he became a spectator during preseason testing.

Lorenzo

But, while the curtain prepared itself to be raised for the opening round in Qatar, qualifying blew the warning abeng. Despite spectating during testing and hampered by a recovering, broken leg, Marquez blew his grid-mates into the sand at the Losail circuit. He rode to pole! Marquez was flanked by unfamiliar figures – Bautista and Bradley Smith, who claimed his first start at the front of the grid. The usual suspects Lorenzo, Pedrosa and others were still within striking range – in 5th and 6th and bearing in mind that Marquez usually has a slow getaway, they must have had lofty ambitions re their race-pace.

The script ran as expected when the red lights departed and the race began. Lorenzo, who knows how to seize a MotoGP moment, did just that and burnt a trail to the front – he was P1, Lap 1. But haste makes waste and that is exactly what Lorenzo realised in Qatar. In a bid to complete a disappearing act, Lorenzo pushed, but Losail pushed back, forcefully. Lorenzo went scuba-diving and returned with a helmet laden with sand! He crashed out in dramatic fashion on Lap 1.

In a race which saw riders struggling to come to terms with their machines and the track conditions, Bradl, Bautista and Bradley, 2 World Champions – Marquez and Valentino ‘the Doctor’ Rossi – opened a training school and waged a battle which fans could not have paid for!

But, youth eclipsed maturity and Marquez rode to an emphatic victory in Qatar. Rossi kept the Yamaha clan happy, he secured 2nd. Pedrosa stole more points for Repsol Honda with an impressive 3rd.

Marquez was injured in Qatar and there were questions relating to the race-pace he would be able to maintain. It would be accurate to surmise that he is not yet at 100 percent. That is frightening!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer