Ducati Monster Forum

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/motor-sport/hypothetical-what-would-the-motogp-title-chase-look-like-without-marc-marquez/story-fni2fu9n-1226965329515?nk=d659948c6ef861327259aea55df97f86 (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/motor-sport/hypothetical-what-would-the-motogp-title-chase-look-like-without-marc-marquez/story-fni2fu9n-1226965329515?nk=d659948c6ef861327259aea55df97f86)

Haha, would be a pretty great season... that being said, I agree that I dont think that everyone would be performing the way they have been without the kid to push them on.

Real food for thought, for sure.

'Like a local track day'  :P

Bring on 2016.  Less power, less electronics, less grip/new tires.  At least we have Moto3 ad Moto2 until then.  MM is amazing and I'll continue to tune in every week to watch the battle for second, but when the paddock has given up on winning, the season is over.

MM is winning...but have you watched the last few races? The rest of the paddock definitely hasn't given up. This season has brought some of the best racing in years...even if MM is ending up on top.

Of course, I watch every session and race.  However you will hardly ever hear anyone even utter a word about actually winning anymore.  Interviews consist of acknowledging MM is too fast and moving on to why they can't keep up.  Some riders have pushed him, but in the end and as you can see in most practice sessions/races, when the kid wants to pull half a second on you, he can.  I don't expect him to win 18 races, but he'll win most of them.  He's in everyone's head, a dominant qualifier, veteran racecraft ability, and has one lap pace that no one can touch.  He's three races up in the championship after 8 rounds.  That is absolutely ridiculous.

Gotcha. I'd agree they've given up on beating him consistently, and the championship is his unless there's an injury. They still try to beat him on race day though, which has made for some good races.

Indeed.  The upside is that everyone is being pushed to the limit and upping their game.  Lorenzo seems to have a lot of cracks in his armor, which is something I didn't expect from such a tough and calm rider.  I was expecting those two up front every week.  Jorge needs to reboot and get to next year I think.  It all went down the toilet at Qatar.

JLo desperately needs a win against MM. His confidence is shot after his mistake in Austin, and his initial struggles with the new front tire this season. Without the confidence fear is starting to creep into his mind, as he admitted after the last race.

Winning breeds confidence, and not doing so does the opposite. I think one win against MM will bring him back, unfortunately, MM has as much confidence right now as any moto racer in history. He's gonna be TOUGH to beat...especially for someone fragile, like JLo is at the moment.

somebody put a hammer in my butter