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Marc Marquez
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: To round off AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live for Sunday July 21, here's a look at how the MotoGP title fight is shaping up following the Laguna race.
Marquez is breaking clear, but Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo now have a month to fully recover before the next round at Indianapolis kicks off a string of three races in as many weeks.
The sensational rookie is certainly achieving incredible things, but the battle is far from over.
Championship standings after nine of 18 rounds:
1 Marc Marquez 163
2 Dani Pedrosa 147
3 Jorge Lorenzo 137
4 Valentino Rossi 117
5 Cal Crutchlow 116
6 Stefan Bradl 84
(25 points for a win)
Full season statistics on FORIX
Quote
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Laguna's first rookie winner Marquez admitted he didn't expect his success given his lack of circuit knowledge.
"I expected that I would struggle more because on the TV it looks so tricky, but from FP1 I felt so good," he said.
"I expected that I would struggle more because on the TV it looks so tricky, but from FP1 I felt so good," he said.
Breaking news
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Here's the full story of Marc Marquez's latest win.
Laguna Seca MotoGP race report
Laguna Seca MotoGP race report
Checkered flag
MotoGP - Laguna Seca - results:
1 Marquez; 2 Bradl; 3 Rossi; 4 Bautista; 5 Pedrosa; 6 Lorenzo; 7 Crutchlow; 8 Hayden; 9 Dovizioso; 10 Barbera.
1 Marquez; 2 Bradl; 3 Rossi; 4 Bautista; 5 Pedrosa; 6 Lorenzo; 7 Crutchlow; 8 Hayden; 9 Dovizioso; 10 Barbera.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Both Pedrosa and Lorenzo look exhausted and uncomfortable as they return to their pits.
Marquez looks far more nimble as he leaps into the jubilant arms of his Honda crew.
Marquez looks far more nimble as he leaps into the jubilant arms of his Honda crew.
Checkered flag
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez takes victory by 2.2s over Bradl.
Bautista mounts one final bid and Rossi gets third by just 0.059s.
Bautista mounts one final bid and Rossi gets third by just 0.059s.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Two big battles left going into the last two laps: Bautista piling pressure on Rossi for third and the two Ducatis still dicing wildly over eighth.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Barbera has passed both Edwards and de Angelis to assume the CRT lead and 10th overall.
Checkered flag
Elsewhere in America, Cup guest Joey Logano just defeated Penske team-mate Sam Hornish Jr to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Quite a lot of traffic for the leaders now, and Marquez is making shorter work of it, building his lead to 2.7s.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Hayden and Dovizioso just banged into each other on the pits straight amid their battle.
Hayden remained behind, and did some hand gestures that suggested annoyance.
Dovizioso did some hand gestures that hinted at apology.
Hayden remained behind, and did some hand gestures that suggested annoyance.
Dovizioso did some hand gestures that hinted at apology.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez is now stretching his legs. He's the only man lapping in 1m21s and he's now 1.4s ahead of Bradl.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: We might get two Americans in the top 10. Colin Edwards is now all over Alex de Angelis.
The CRT leader needs to get the Pramac Ducati out of his way as he has class rival Hector Barbera right on his tail.
The CRT leader needs to get the Pramac Ducati out of his way as he has class rival Hector Barbera right on his tail.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez is inching away from Bradl at a tenth or two per sector.
The German still has a comfortable cushion over Rossi, who has his hands full resisting Bautista.
The German still has a comfortable cushion over Rossi, who has his hands full resisting Bautista.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Can Bradl hang on? He is now half a second behind Marquez as they lap Lucas Pesek.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Here's the pass for the lead as Marquez slips inside Bradl into the final corner.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Rossi is three seconds behind the leaders in third, keeping Bautista at arm's length.
Pedrosa is not far behind and edging away from Lorenzo, who has Crutchlow on his tail.
Then it's the battling Ducatis in a fight of their own over eighth, Alex de Angelis holding 10th, and Colin Edwards keeping his nose ahead of Hector Barbera for the CRT win.
Half-distance has just been passed.
Pedrosa is not far behind and edging away from Lorenzo, who has Crutchlow on his tail.
Then it's the battling Ducatis in a fight of their own over eighth, Alex de Angelis holding 10th, and Colin Edwards keeping his nose ahead of Hector Barbera for the CRT win.
Half-distance has just been passed.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bit more urgency from Marquez, the gap is down to 0.2s and it looked like he was pondering a pass on the front straight.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bradl is still holding Marquez at bay. Is the Spaniard just biding his time? He caught his erstwhile Moto2 title rival very rapidly but has now sat on his tail for several laps.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Pedrosa passes Lorenzo for fifth into the first corner.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: American news: Hayden is chasing Ducati team-mate Dovizioso for eighth, but Colin Edwards is the local star right now, he leads CRT in 11th overall, ahead of Hector Barbera.
They're the old home riders as wildcard Blake Young's weekend was ending by a big Friday practice crash that wrecked his Attack bike.
They're the old home riders as wildcard Blake Young's weekend was ending by a big Friday practice crash that wrecked his Attack bike.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bradl is still hanging on in the lead, but Marquez is now just half a second behind after nine of 32 laps.
Pedrosa is now giving Lorenzo some hassle for fifth.
Pedrosa is now giving Lorenzo some hassle for fifth.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bradley Smith slows and retires his Tech 3 Yamaha.
Crash
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Aleix Espargaro has crashed at the final corner. He had been unbeaten in CRT all year but that's over now. He had been fending off Bradley Smith for 10th.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Randy de Puniet has abandoned a smoking Aspar Aprilia at the trackside.
Marquez is already carving into the 1.6s lead Bradl gained while his rivals were battling through the dust.
Marquez is already carving into the 1.6s lead Bradl gained while his rivals were battling through the dust.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez attacks Rossi into the Corkscrew, they get very close, both brake too late and slid over the dirt, with Marquez slipping ahead.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bit of CRT interest: Colin Edwards is up to second in class on home ground, and Randy de Puniet tumbled from 12th on the grid to near the tail of the field at the start.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez is already right on Rossi's tail for second. Bradl leads by 0.9 seconds.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez has regained his composure and is inching towards Rossi.
Bautista passed Lorenzo for fourth when the champion slid a bit wide at Turn 2.
Bautista passed Lorenzo for fourth when the champion slid a bit wide at Turn 2.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bradl completes lap one still holding the lead over Rossi, with Marquez, Lorenzo, Bautista, Pedrosa, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Hayden and Espargaro completing the top 10.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Marquez has to fend off attacks from both Lorenzo and Bautista over the hill into the Corkscrew.
Lights out
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Bradl holds the lead, it's a slightly slow start from Marquez and Rossi is through to second.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Green flag lap is underway. Watch for Cal Crutchlow as ever too, he's only fifth on the grid after a crash in final practice and technical issues in Q2, but he's never less than rapid these days. Will he lose ground at the start again, though?
Stefan Bradl
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: The grid is clearing ready for the start.
It's Stefan Bradl's first MotoGP pole and LCR's first since it ran Casey Stoner in 2006.
Both Bradl and fellow Honda satellite runner Alvaro Bautista are known to be under pressure with results not living up to the Japanese firm's expectations. They're both on the front row today...
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Guitar hero Joe Satriani has just performed his own rendition of the national anthem.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: Several teams are running decals in memory of Antontelli today, among them Pramac Ducati, which only has one bike in the field.
With Andrea Iannone suffering a broken shoulder in Germany and Ben Spies still recovering from his late-2012 injury (though he expects to be back for Indianapolis next month), Moto2 frontrunner Alex de Angelis in back on the MotoGP grid with Pramac.
The team had hoped to still run two bikes and sounded out sometime Suzuki and Kawasaki MotoGP rider John Hopkins, but a deal could not be done.
With Andrea Iannone suffering a broken shoulder in Germany and Ben Spies still recovering from his late-2012 injury (though he expects to be back for Indianapolis next month), Moto2 frontrunner Alex de Angelis in back on the MotoGP grid with Pramac.
The team had hoped to still run two bikes and sounded out sometime Suzuki and Kawasaki MotoGP rider John Hopkins, but a deal could not be done.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: The grid is observing a minute's silence in memory of World Supersport rider Andrea Antontelli, who died in a crash at Moscow Raceway earlier today.
Jorge Lorenzo
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: But would Marquez be in such good shape if Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were fully fit?
Both are 'walking wounded'. After his astonishing 'break collarbone on Thursday, have surgery on Friday, finish fifth on Saturday' performance at Assen, Lorenzo crashed again at the Sachsenring and bent the titanium plate in his wound.
He initially planned to skip Laguna, but he's here, qualified sixth, and was right on it in the warm-up this morning.
Pedrosa also sat out the German GP due to shoulder damage and concussion from a practice shunt of his own. He's been more muted than Lorenzo this weekend - sitting out practice one and three, but qualifying seventh.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: On paper, Marc Marquez is favourite for this race - and that's an astonishing state of affairs.
As Laguna is the sole track on the MotoGP calendar that Moto2 and Moto3 do not visit, the sensational rookie has no prior experience of the track.
That didn't stop him being quickest in practice two, three and four, and he was on course for a commanding pole until crashing late in Q2.
As Laguna is the sole track on the MotoGP calendar that Moto2 and Moto3 do not visit, the sensational rookie has no prior experience of the track.
That didn't stop him being quickest in practice two, three and four, and he was on course for a commanding pole until crashing late in Q2.
MotoGP - Laguna Seca: All the prototype riders are on medium front and soft rears.
By: Matt Beer, Glenn Freeman, Andrew van Leeuwen, Dan Cross, Scott Mitchell
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