Quote Originally Posted by Drano View Post
You might want to double check your facts before posting. In fact, Marquez's first crash this year happened during the second qualifying session at Catalunya, and he didn't have a broken arm at Qatar, it was a broken leg and happened 6 weeks prior to the race.

If you want to talk about determination, look at every rider out there. I doubt you could find a single rider on the grid that doesn't have a physical injury of some sort and yet still show up to do the job. For example, Lorenzo crashed at Assen last year in free practice and broke his collarbone, flew home, had surgery on Friday to install a plate, and was back to race on Sunday. Did he win the race? No, he took 5th. But, it's the simple fact that he was even out there at all that is a testament to the grit all of these guys have when it comes to motorcycle racing. They all push through the pain to do what they love.

Marc Marquez is a talented rider, no doubt about it, and he's blessed to be on a bike and with a team that suits him. Would we be having the same conversation if he had landed a factory Ducati ride? I doubt it, but it's something we'll never know.
I think we might be saying the same things if he were on a Ducati. Look to 2007 when Casey Stoner was on the Ducati. Ducati nailed the newly redesigned 2007 800cc spec bike and clearly had an advantage on the rest of the bikes on the grid. I'm not taking anything away from Stoner's achievements but it was very clear to see his bike in 2007 was the dominant bike on the grid in terms of power. Was it as forgiving as the RC213V is now?? No, I'll agree with that. The Ducati was a bike that had to be ridden hard and the problems ridden around rather than being worked out. The Ducati didn't respond as well to set-up as the Honda, plus the Honda has never had the front end issues that Ducati has been plagued with for years.

Marquez is a very talented rider and I agree with you. He's blessed to be on the best bike at the moment.

I personally believe the Honda is the better bike. Can the Yamaha beat it?? Yes, I believe so. I think the main problem for the Yamaha is it's lack of power(compared to the Honda) and it's lack of not being as forgiving in mistakes as the Honda. Look how many times Marquez had mistakes, yet was able to cancel them out rather quickly in the race. He is able to recover quicker than the Yamaha's.

I do agree though that these guys are very determined riders. Lorenzo's performance last year at Assen is a testament to that. However, like any highly paid athlete, I would expect that no only his competitive nature spurred him on, but the fact that he's getting a big paycheck from Yamaha and didn't want to come across as letting them down. In my opinion I wouldn't have thought twice about sitting a race out because of a broken collar bone. But for him, the championship was at stake and he was pushing to retain his title. I think for racers(or athletes of all facets of sports) their incentive to compete while injured his greater than would be a regular person.

I will say this, if someone offered me millions upon millions of dollars to ride and race motorcycles I can say that I'd be more than willing to push the limits at all times because of the paycheck. Even while injured because the end would justify the means because of the paycheck.