MotoGP Star of the Year vote: 2nd
2nd - Marc MarquezAverage score out of ten: 9.0Team: Repsol HondaBike: RC213V (Factory)Wins: 13Podiums: 14Poles: 13Fastest Laps: 12Championship points: 362Championship position: 1st out of 27
Well this is a surprise. Last year's vote winner Marc Marquez has slipped to second in this year's poll - despite successfully defending his MotoGP crown and setting new records along the way.
Of course, voting was never meant to be restricted to race results - and we're not sure if voting was influenced by the recent controversy in Spain over Marquez's move to Andorra - but it is hard to imagine that Marquez could have done much more on the race track this year.
Despite a broken leg ruling him out of two pre-season tests, Marquez delivered a perfect run of ten straight wins to shatter any title opposition. The young Spaniard also comfortably beat his fellow RC213V riders, ending the year with a record 13 wins compared with just one victory for team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who was fourth in the standings.
Marquez won in the dry, in the wet (Assen), by leading every lap (Austin, Jerez), by fighting back from tenth (Le Mans) and by triumphing in close last-lap battles (Losail, Mugello and Catalunya).
However Marquez also threw away two further wins when he fell while leading at Aragon and Phillip Island. Another race mistake occurred early at Misano, when Marquez lowsided while chasing leader Valentino Rossi.
The 21-year-old sensation lost an average score of 0.19 relative to last year's poll and perhaps many of you agreed with Rossi's assessment: Marquez's season was great, but winning as a rookie - the first since Kenny Roberts in 1978 - was greater. "Sincerely, for me personally Marc was more impressive last year than this year, because to win the title in his first season was fantastic."
Either way, it's only the second time in the history of the Crash.net MotoGP Star of the Year poll, which began in 2008, that the world champion has not been voted as the winner.
But Marquez shouldn't feel too bad - this year's F1 champion didn't win the four-wheel poll either...
About the vote:
Rather than repeat the Riders' World Championship standings, the MotoGP Star of the Year poll asks viewers to take into account factors such as machinery, performance relative to a team-mate, riding style, experience, injuries, progress and personality just as much as race results.
Over 50,000 votes were cast for the 2014 Crash.net MotoGP Star of the Year poll, where viewers awarded each of this year's full-time participants - only Colin Edwards, who retired during the season, was not included - with a mark out of ten.
2014 MotoGP Star of the Year: Results so far2nd Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda 9.03rd Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 7.04th Aleix Espargaro SPA Forward Yamaha 6.95th Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Ducati 6.86th Jorge Lorenzo SPA Movistar Yamaha 6.77th Pol Espargaro SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 6.38th Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda 6.29th Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini 6.110th Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 5.7Full ranking featuring all 22 full-season riders to be revealed after the winner is announced.
Marc Marquez in the Crash.net MotoGP Star of the Year pollMotoGP Star of the Year 2013: 1stMotoGP Star of the Year 2012: N/AMotoGP Star of the Year 2011: N/AMotoGP Star of the Year 2010: N/AMotoGP Star of the Year 2009: N/AMotoGP Star of the Year 2008: N/A
