Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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IN THE WIND P36 BAKER VS. MARQUEZ II M otoGP World Champion Marc Marquez and AMA Grand National Champion Brad Baker have both committed to taking part in the Spanish Super- prestigio event with the second edition of the dirt track inside the Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona, scheduled for December 13. "I'm really excited to go back to Spain," Baker said at the Gray's Harbor round of the AMA Grand National Championship. "Not just to mention going back to race and riding with all those guys. I met a lot of good friends and there's a lot of great people that I've been in contact with since the first one. It's going to be a lot of fun." Baker wants to get more from the experience than last year when he beat Marquez to win the final. "I'm going to learn a little bit of Spanish before I go back," the 21 year old said. "And it will be even more fun to be able to commu- nicate with everybody a little bit better. But not to mention being able to ride with Marquez and a bunch of other great GP riders… Moto3, Moto2 riders." Baker also plans on heading to Spain a little earlier than last year. "I'm hopefully going to go back a little early and be able to spend some time with some guys and ride outside Barcelona a little bit," he said. "And get to ride with Marquez a little again. I think he wants a little bit of a rematch from the first one. So that will be fun. And, heck, if he keeps on his streak like he's been, I might be the only person to beat him this year - maybe even twice. I'm pretty pumped about it. It's defi- nitely going to be fun. I've got something to look forward to af- ter the season's over with." Baker is also looking forward to seeing Marquez in August when the Indianapolis Mile runs in conjunction with the MotoGP at Indianapolis Motor Speed- way – with Marquez set to be the Grand Marshal of the Friday night mile. "I definitely think it helps a lot with the sport," Baker said. "Some people are just kind of set in their ways on whatever sport; they kind of have an ego thing going on. Some people like motocross, some people like football, some people like MotoGP, but sometimes it takes somebody to say, 'Hey I like that guy a lot and I like Motogp and he seems to like dirt track a lot.' Same thing with Valentino Rossi and, of course, Nicky Hayden. Marquez being the Grand Mar- shall is cool. I actually invited him to do that when I was doing all the press stuff after the first Superprestigio and he was re- ally excited about it. I'll be able to do a little bit of stuff at the GP the next day. And he's going to be the grand marshal during the Indy Mile. So it will be a fun cou- ple of days for all of us." Andrea Wilson PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON Brad Baker is looking forward to de- fending his Superprestigio dirt track title in Spain this winter.