By Dean Adams
That Marquez kid has not been beaten in a race in America in years. His US MotoGP win streak dates back to 2013 when he won all three MotoGP races on US soil. In one season.
2019 will be the first season that Marquez will be teamed with a similar, or “normal” if you prefer, sized human as his teammate–Jorge Lorenzo.
Can Lorenzo break Marquez’s US win streak in 2019?
The Case For Lorenzo Beating Marquez at Austin:
Lorenzo–when he was on the Yamaha–enjoyed a decent run at CoTA.
As Lorenzo keeps saying, he’s the only current rider to beat Marquez for the MotoGP title.
Lorenzo has been fast since he stepped on the Honda. He says, at this time, that the Honda suits him.
Marquez is recovering from major shoulder surgery.
No rider thinks about his own legacy more than Jorge Lorenzo. Assuredly he knows that beating Marquez on the same bike puts him in a very exclusive club.
The Case Against Lorenzo Beating Marquez at Austin:
Marquez has proven himself, thus far, unbeatable at CoTA.
The characteristics of the CoTA circuit suit Marquez’s on-the-gas riding style.
The characteristics of the CoTA circuit suit do not suit Lorenzo’s ex-250 rider, knife-edge riding style.
CoTA is just the third round on the MotoGP calendar. Lorenzo has never really been a “big splash” rider–he seems to prefer to ease into these things. If the USGP were the sixth or tenth round of the championship which would allow Lorenzo a bit more time to settle in, perhaps his chances would be stronger.
Thus far, the Honda RC213V hasn’t really shown itself to be the bike for a rider who prefers a knife-edge 250 inspired riding style. Nobody with a Honda and that riding style won a race in 2018.
