Why 'illegitimate' 2020 MotoGP title claims are bogus

We are a week into the 2020 MotoGP season, and already we're mired in controversy as Honda team boss Alberto Puig and certain sects of the media claim the current campaign will forever have an asterisk next to it if Marc Marquez doesn't win it.

Breaking his right arm in a heavy accident in the latter stages of the Spanish Grand Prix, Marquez's title defence took a serious knock as he registered his first DNF since Austin last year and looked set to be sidelines for at least one race.

MotoGP's own Six Million Dollar Man, as he has done for the last 27 years, is attempting to defy all the odds and race this weekend at the Andalusian GP (also being run at Jerez) having passed a medical examination on Thursday. He will sit out Friday's running and test his arm on Saturday before making a decision on whether he will race.

Earlier in the week, it was written in the Italian press that the rest of the MotoGP field needed Marquez not to miss any races or else it would totally devalue a championship some see as already having lost credibility, owing to it only having 13 rounds.

Honda's Puig also stoked the flames when he said on Spanish television: "Obviously it gets complicated, but honestly, no matter what happens, if Marc can't win the championship, I don't think whoever wins it can feel completely satisfied, or shouldn't feel completely satisfied, knowing that the number one rider has not been fully present."

These two points of view sent social media into a frenzy with riders past and present alike throwing their opinions into the ring. And now it's time Autosport does the same.

The takes - that the champion of 2020 has won a devalued title because of the shorter calendar and because Marquez is injured and may miss rounds - are wholly ignorant of the history of grand prix motorcycle racing and the effort each and every rider puts into their racing.

Let's tackle the point about season length first.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, promoters Dorna Sports had had to shorten the calendar from 20 races to 13 - marking the shortest schedule since 1995. In 1995, Mick Doohan won his second 500cc crown by 33 points, having won seven of those 13 rounds. First and foremost, if a shorter season is the price to pay to have racing in this horrible year, then it's all fine by me.

Doohan would go onto win three more titles before his career came to an end in 1999 through injury. Of the seasons he won his other four titles, the calendar was made up of 14 and 15 rounds, which amounts to less than all the years Marquez won his six world titles. But, whatever way you make your tea, Doohan is still a legend and always will be.

"Whether it's a six-race calendar or 12-race calendar, I believe every single team and rider is doing the best they can, giving it the max they can every single time they're on the bike, trying to get the most performance they can to be ready for the race on Sunday and then get the result on Sunday" Wayne Rainey

The very first 500cc world title was won by Les Graham, who guided his AJS to two wins in a six round season back in 1949. He is and always will be a premier class world champion, and a deserving one at that.

The longest campaign Giacomo Agostini ever won was 12 rounds long, yet his eight 500cc world titles aren't considered less valuable than any of those won by Marquez, Valentino Rossi or Jorge Lorenzo, for example. Let's not forget, Agostini did much of his winning at a time when he had a considerable machinery advantage over the rest, following the exodus of the Italian manufacturers at the end of 1957.

Triple 500cc world champion and grand prix legend Wayne Rainey, who won his third title in 1992 in a campaign consisting of 13 rounds, had this to say on the matter on a call with Autosport.

"We looked at a 12 or 14 round championship as the world championship: 'Okay, this is what we have, this is the number of rounds'," Rainey (pictured below in 1989) said.

"[We] never really looked at it [like] 'Oh, I wish it was longer or more rounds'. We never did. We lined up going into the first pre-season test, we knew what to expect. And I expect that to be no different now. All these riders, all these teams in MotoGP all lined up knowing this was the calendar'.

"Whether it's a six-race calendar or 12-race calendar, I believe every single team and rider is doing the best they can, giving it the max they can in every single time they're on the bike trying to get the most performance they can to be ready for the race and then get the result on Sunday. And then on Monday reset for the next race. I don't see it being different no matter how long the calendar is."

And ultimately that's what it boils down to: the races are what they are and a rider must exert their maximum effort no matter how many races there are if they are to be world champion. It was the same for Graham and his rivals in 1949 as it is for the current crop.

As for winning the title against a hobbled or potentially absent Marquez.

Pramac's Jack Miller called this notion "a complete crock", stating: "We all started on Friday or Wednesday 100% fit. One guy gets injured, doesn't matter. We all get injured. I mean they keep bringing it up, that's not valid. We all have the opportunity to get injured and it's the risk you take."

PLUS: Why Marquez isn't out of the title fight yet

The simple truth is Marquez put himself in that position where he crashed by having that front end moment at Turn 4 while leading on lap five last Sunday. None of the other riders made that mistake, and as Rainey points out, "he made a few more mistakes trying to get going again" after rejoining down in 16^th.

Marquez had the warning at Turn 4, and several times again as he rose through the field. And ultimately he pushed too hard on lap 22 at Turn 3, the rear stepping out as a result.

Remember, he lost the 2015 title because he failed to realise that pushing all out every lap when the bike wasn't up for the abuse wasn't the way to go, and crashed several times early in the season as a result. To his credit, he learned from the error of his ways in the seasons since, but the killer instinct that makes Marquez so devastatingly brilliant has - on occasion - clouded his judgement.

In every championship battle, the potential to get injured is the omnipresent threat. In 1992, Doohan dominated the opening phase with five wins from the first seven races and two second place. A horror leg injury at the eighth round at Assen almost ended the Honda rider's career and foiled his title hopes. That left the door open for Rainey - who also missed the Assen race through injury - to grab his third title, not that it made the job any easier.

Rainey, perhaps, more than most is best placed to comment on the validity of a championship. Locked in battle with Kevin Schwantz, both he and Rainey had won four races apiece by the Misano race. Tragically, Rainey's career ended in a crash in the race which left him paralysed from the waist down. Schwantz would go on to win his one and only 500cc crown in 1993 - a legitimate one, as far as Rainey is concerned.

Everyone only has 12 rounds left to contend with - even Marquez - and they will have to try to win a championship amidst what looks to be MotoGP's most competitive grid ever

"What you said about Mick and myself in '92, I mean, which rider in which season can't say, where there is a situation like that, that it hasn't happened to each and every one of us?," he told Autosport.

"I mean, you could say the same thing about Kevin and I in '93. I was leading the championship, I had my accident, it took me out, Kevin went on to win the championship. I in no way look at that saying 'well, that's been diminished because I wasn't there'.

"I made the mistake, Kevin didn't and he was the world champion. That's what it's all about. You race the 12-race championship, the only way you can be champion is [by being] the guy with the most points at the end of the championship."

On Thursday, Puig (pictured below in 2019) tried to clarify his comments, citing past experience of his sole 500cc win at Jerez in 1995 when he secured victory after Doohan had crashed out.

"Obviously, whoever wins the championship will be the just winner and deserve it," Puig stated. "But my opinion, and I know what I am talking about, is that when you win but the champion is not on the track you always have something left inside.

"I will set my example: I won a race here in 1995, and I've always wondered if I would have won it if Mick Doohan hadn't fallen. The same would not have happened. That is what I meant. Because the champion, without Marc, will always have that [doubt] in his head."

Only Puig knows what's in Puig's mind, but he sure doesn't look terribly cut up about his 'illegitimate' Jerez win if you re-watch the race online. Puig is also a master of spin, and I'm convinced his original comment - more than anything - was meant to disarm any of Marquez's potential usurpers going forward.

As Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso points out, "this championship is a bit different and the rules are the same for everybody." Everyone only has 12 rounds left to contend with - even Marquez - and they will have to try to win a championship amidst what looks to be MotoGP's most competitive grid ever.

Unless the winner cheated, there is no such thing as an illegitimate championship. And whoever wins this year, like any other year, will have earned it.