MotoGP: Marquez clinches second win of 2015 in Germany - MotorSportsTalk

Marc Marquez claimed his second win of the 2015 MotoGP season at the Sachsenring in Germany on Sunday to reignite his hopes of a third world championship.

The two-time champion dropped to second place behind Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo in the opening stages of the race after starting from pole position, but recovering the lead on lap four.

From there, Marquez didn’t look back, leading the rest of the race en route to his sixth successive German Grand Prix victory from pole position.

After a troublesome start to his 2015 season, Marquez has now cut the gap to standings leader Valentino Rossi to 65 points with nine rounds remaining.

The Spaniard felt delighted to have scored his first win in seven races – his longest drought in MotoGP – after topping every single session across the course of the weekend.

“From the beginning I felt good and when I had the gap I just tried to manage it,” Marquez said. “I’m happy because this weekend we’ve been always first and it has been a long time since I had that.

“It’s a good result to go on holidays with, but I want to keep getting better.”

Marquez was followed across the line by Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, marking the Spaniard’s best result of the season so far. Rossi completed the podium for Yamaha in third.

Despite leading early on, Lorenzo faded as the race wore on to eventually finish in fourth ahead of Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith. American rider Nicky Hayden finished just outside of the points in 16th place.

MotoGP now takes a one month break before the Indianapolis Grand Prix, which will be the final American round of the 2015 season.

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In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

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