Espargaro, first Open bike at Motegi The Japanese GP saw the NGM Forward Racing rider Aleix Espargaro and his Forward Yamaha as first Open bike. On the technical and demanding Twin Ring Motegi, the Spaniard finished in 11th position and on top of the Open bike category. Espargaro made a good start but after some laps he couldn’t push too hard in order to manage the brakes, that work really hard on this “stop and go” track. He lost some positions and eventually crossed the finish line 11th. With the 5 points earned today, Aleix maintains the 6th position in the World Championship. It was a difficult race for his team mate Alex De Angelis who finished in 17th position. The rider from San Marino, who was taking the start from the 20th spot on the grid, suffered some technical and electronics problems that spoiled his race.

	Espargaro capofila tra le Open a Motegi Si chiude il weekend del Gran Premio del Giappone con un’altra vittoria nella categoria Open per il team NGM Forward Racing. Sulla difficile e tecnica pista di Motegi Aleix Espargaro ha tagliato il traguardo in 11esima posizione confermandosi ancora capofila nella sua categoria. Lo spagnolo ha avuto un buono scatto al via, si è portato subito a ridosso delle posizioni di testa, prima di essere costretto a cedere il passo per preservare i freni in vista degli ultimi giri. Con i cinque punti conquistati oggi Espargaro conferma il suo sesto posto in classifica nel Mondiale. Giornata difficile per il suo compagno di squadra Alex De Angelis che è passato sotto la bandiera a scacchi in 17esima posizione. Il sammarinese, che partiva 20esimo, è stato frenato da problemi tecnici e di elettronica.

Marc Marquez - the story of a champion

Marquez made his debut in the World Championship in 2008 as a 15 year-old and although his rookie season was curtailed by injury he made headlines by achieving a podium result in just his sixth race at Donington Park. He picked up another podium result in 2009 as he gathered further experience, before becoming a 125cc World Champion for the first time in 2010 by winning 10 of the last 14 races of the year.

In the Moto2™ class the following season he won seven more races after a tricky start and he pushed hard for the title but lost out to Stefan Bradl, after a practice crash at Sepang halted his campaign. Despite ongoing problems with his eyesight from that accident which affected his 2012 preseason Marquez romped to the Moto2™ title that year with a total of nine victories and 14 podiums.

The young Spaniard therefore moved up to the premier class for 2013 joining the Repsol Honda team as the World Champion of the intermediate category.

Last year Marquez became the youngest ever rider to clinch the premier class world title in MotoGP™ thanks to a truly amazing debut season for the then 20-year-old. He also became the first rookie premier class World Champion for 35 years, winning for the first time in the premier class in just his second race in MotoGP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Over the course of 2013 he would battle with the experienced trio of Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, notching up six wins in total, but it was his brilliant haul of 16 podiums from 18 races which saw him win the World Championship. The title was sealed by four points over nearest rival and outgoing champion Lorenzo with an intelligent ride to third place in the last race of the season at Valencia.

The 2014 campaign saw Marquez raise the bar, with Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Rossi unable to challenge his searing pace and consistently powerful performances in the first half of the year. Marquez built up a huge lead in the championship with ten successive victories in the opening 10 rounds of the season and even a mid season blip in form which saw him off the podium in three races of a quartet of Grands Prix shortly after the summer break would not hold him back.

His win at Silverstone after a brilliant duel with Lorenzo and his second place in Japan proved to be decisive as Marquez wrapped up the 2014 crown with three races remaining. (moto gp.com)

(Photo sportmediaset.it)