Before he returns to his home in Spain for the final race of the 2012 season in Valencia, Marc Marquez could be the Moto2 World Champion.
The 19-year-old leads the Moto2 standings by 48 points, a lead he amassed by winning seven times and finishing on the podium in four other races.
If Marquez can increase that lead to 50 following the Malaysian Grand Prix, the race following Motegi, the title will be his.
Marquez's record in Motegi is impressive. In 2010, his final 125cc season, he won the first of four races in a row in Japan. He finished second to Andrea Iannone in his Motegi Moto2 debut last season.
"Motegi is a circuit where we struggled a bit last year, but hopefully this weekend everything will go well." Marquez stated. "We must be vigilant and prepared for any kind of track conditions, because there is usually at least one session there in the wet.
"We will try to give 100 percent and see if we can have a good weekend from this round. It is a track based around acceleration and braking, but we are also strong when it comes to braking now." he added.
Pol Espargaro has an uphill battle to dislodge Marquez from the top spot, though he is up for the challenge. Espargaro won his third Moto2 race of the season in Aragon, taking five points from Marquez's lead as he continues his late season surge.
Espargaro has not qualified worse than second in the past five races and has been on the podium in all five.
Of the two, Espargaro has far more experience at Motegi, first racing there in 2006. His best finish came in 2009 when he finished third in the 125cc race, following that with a fourth in 2010.
Espargaro hit a patch of bad luck in last year's race, finishing the first lap in last place before working his way up to 21st.
"Well, we don't know the weather and sometimes there it is not so good." Expargaro explained. "It changes a lot and every year there are one or two days that it rains, and so we have to wait and know what happens with the weather and after that do my best as always."
"We go there knowing we will be back in Moto2 next year. We are working so good with the Kalex, with the Team Pons. I love the team, the team loves me.
"We are so complementary, we have to know that that championship is so difficult that we have to work to win my first or try to take my first world championship and do my best next year." Espargaro concluded.
Top Image: Marc Marques could wrap up the 2012 Moto2 world title this weekend if he can lead the field home in Motegi
Credit: Honda Racing
