Marc Marquez says the criticism he received in the wake of the controversial Argentina MotoGP race gave him “special motivation”, as he dominated Sunday’s race at Austin.
Marquez came in for criticism after an aggressive approach in Argentina, in which he clashed with Aleix Espargaro and Valentino Rossi, receiving a 30-second penalty for the latter incident.
Marquez dominated at Austin to continue his winning streak at the American venue, making light work of his three-place grid penalty for blocking Maverick Vinales in qualifying to take the lead early on.
When asked by BT Sport whether the Argentina controversy spurred him on Marquez replied: “Yes. I cannot lie. I had a special motivation, special pressure this race.
“I never had this kind of race, leading the first lap and pushing to the end. I always waited a little bit and attacked at the end.
“Today I felt like this: just go. I had the pace, the race was so long, in the last four or five laps I was thinking already about dinner, because it was so long and this circuit is so difficult!
“But anyway, apart from jokes, it was an important weekend, we work a lot, [it] was a special motivation.”
Marquez also paid tribute to 2006 champion Nicky Hayden, who died in a road accident while out cycling last May.
“I took the flag of Nicky [on the cool-down lap], he was an important rider for the USA, but also for the Honda family, it’s the first race here since we lost him,” he said.
“I’m happy to be back at the top and take the first victory of the year and we’ll try to keep the same level.”