MOTOGP 2020 IN REVIEW
Feature
P114
Freddie Spencer. He'd already taken the title of
youngest MotoGP racer and title winner from the
legendary American, now he would take the honor
of the first rider since Spencer not to score a point
in a title-defense season.
With the king abdicating, the door was left wide
open for the next generation of MotoGP stars to
stake their claim.
And first to step up to the plate was Marquez's
2019 thorn, Fabio Quartararo. The young French
sensation was already long gone out front by the
time Marquez crashed in the opening Jerez race,
and took his debut race victory—a feat he repeated
one week later to confirm his status as heir apparent.
It was not all roses for the Yamaha factory, how-
ever. Both Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli
suffered engine failures in the first two rounds,
something that would come to haunt the factory
later in the season.
It all went wrong, however, with four laps to go at
turn four. Now up to third and closing on second-
placed Maverick Vinales, Marquez asked too much
of the Repsol Honda and it sent him skywards over
the highside in an almost identical crash to the one
that ended fellow Repsol Honda legend Mick Doo-
han's career in 1999 at the same corner. Marquez
bounced and cartwheeled through the gravel and
was punted by his wayward machine square in the
right humerus for good measure.
His broken arm may have seemed like a rou-
tine injury often suffered by the world's hardest
tarmac racers, but like Doohan's horrific leg
injury suffered in 1992, it was far from it. Marquez
underwent surgery and was incredibly (some say
dubiously) declared fit to ride less than a week
later for the second Jerez GP, only to pull out after
a handful of laps on Saturday.
It was later revealed Marquez re-fractured the
arm by "opening a window" at his house, accord-
ing to a press release by Repsol Honda, and
meant the world champion was not just out for a
few races, but the whole season as his recovery
proved much slower than expected.
As a result, Marquez claimed another record off
Marc Marquez in the midst of
one of his greatest rides, racing
back through the pack at the
opening round until it all went
wrong four laps from home.
Judging by his speed in the
first two races, you could
have been forgiven for
thinking Fabio Quartararo
was going to walk away
from it.
