Repsol Honda->ke291 roared back to life with a dominant one-two finish at the GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, putting any rest to whispers that the team was in decline.

Defending world champion Marc Marquez completely owned the weekend, topping every session he participated in on his way to winning the actual race by +2.226 seconds over teammate Dani Pedrosa.

It was the kind of performance we’ve come to expect from the two-time MotoGP->ke5142 champion. He hasn’t showed as much this season, thanks in large part to a heavy mix of injuries and inconsistent riding. But just when it seemed like Yamaha->ke301 was running away with the title, Marquez and Honda had their best performance of the season, keeping the door open to a potential late-season rush to catch the Yamaha and Valentino Rossi. The team still has a lot of work to do but the team proved that it would be foolish to count them out with so many races left in the calendar.

Honda would’ve had an even better weekend had Rossi and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo finished third and fourth, respectively. But Yamaha kept pace and continued with its consistent excellence throughout the season. Rossi still leads Lorenzo by 13 points, 179 to 166, but Ducati rider Andrea Iannone and Marquez are slowly making some headway with 118 and 114 points, respectively. If Marquez still wants to win his third straight MotoGP title, he’s going to have to win the remaining races in the calendar and hope that Rossi finishes third every time. A bunch of other computations are possible, including races where Rossi and/or Lorenzo struggle to place points with Marquez getting the lion’s share. It’s improbable, but not impossible, which is why Marquez’s victory in Germany was a huge boost in his championship aspirations.

There are still eight races (I’m still counting Brno unless its cancellation is made official) left in the season and we all know that anything can still happen in MotoGP. For the sake of drama and excitement, here’s to hoping we see flashbacks from the 2006 MotoGP season this year.

Continue reading to read more about Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda’s dominant performance at the 2015 GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

Why it matters

Well that was an exciting race, wasn’t it? It wasn’t exciting for the obvious reasons, but because it showed that Repsol Honda is still very much a threat in the championship race. The only reason the team has been down in the standings is because of its inconsistent showing in the first half of the year. But when it’s running on all cylinders, Repsol Honda is right on par with Yamaha, no questions asked.

So here we are. There are only eight races left in the season, including Brno. That’s plenty of time for the team to put together a string of dominant performances to put it back into the championship picture. The team’s going to need some help from Yamaha and, quite possibly, Ducati, if it hopes to get to where it needs to compete for the title in the last few races. Make no mistake, the margin for error is razor thin for Honda.

There’s no room for mistakes and even then, it might still need Yamaha to post goose eggs in a couple of races.

But I’m confident in saying that Repsol Honda’s back and it’s going to mount a serious challenge to the championship when everything’s said and done. It might have seemed impossible just a few races back, but slowly but surely, the team has clawed back to the title scene. I expect more of the same from here until the end of the year from the team if only because I’m excited to see the championship go down to the wire.

So yeah, I’m a little biased towards Repsol Honda now. I want the team to catch Yamaha and set the stage for a winner-take-all finale at Valencia on November 8, 2015.

Let's be honest, too. I'm not the only one with that sentiment. Every fan of MotoGP wants to see that happen. I'm just lucky enough to share it with all of you.