Marquez out to make amends

● Three races without a win is not much for any rider, unless the man in question is called Marc Marquez. This is the Spaniard’s longest losing streak this season.

Since returning from the holiday break, the Ducatis have won all three of the grands prix and Marquez has had to settle for two second places and a third, just enough to continue to increase his championship lead — 46 points over Valentino Rossi after Sachsenring and 67 over Andrea Dovizioso.

Despite the Spaniard appearing to have his seventh world championship in the bag, the final part of the season promises an allout battle between Marquez and the Ducati riders, Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.

Marquez doesn’t like to lose, especially at Aragon, a track where he has won three of the last five races. A corner of the track was dedicated to him this week. The best way to celebrate this honour would be the top step off the rostrum.

So once the renaming ceremony was over, the press conference began. The talk first debriefed the previous race, in this case Misano, before looking ahead.

“It was a great weekend for us in Misano; 20 points and then we had a good test on Monday,” began Marquez. “Today we’ve started in a good way with a corner in my name at one of my favourite circuits. We will see, it will be a good feeling the first time going through there. Now, though, it’s time to concentrate on the race weekend. Time to focus.” — gpgone.com and beinsports.com