INDIANAPOLIS -- It's a golden year for MotoGP competition, and what's making this season so special is the resurgence of grand prix motorcycle racing's golden oldie.
Valentino Rossi, in pursuit of his first MotoGP crown since 2009, has won three races this year. At age 36, the seven-time champion of motorcycle racing's top category leads Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo by 13 points.
Since returning to the factory Yamaha team after a frustrating and fruitless two-year stint with Ducati, Rossi has overcome injury and steadily regained the form that made him the top rider in the world for more than a decade.
He won the 2015 season opener at Qatar, quickly added another win in Argentina, then prevailed in a thrilling last-lap duel over heir apparent Marc Marquez at the legendary Assen TT circuit in Holland.
Marquez rebounded to score his second win of the season in the series' most recent race, at Germany's Sachsenring. But the two-time defending MotoGP champion is 65 points behind Rossi at the midpoint of the campaign.
The second half of the season rolls off Sunday at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Rossi admits that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is not one of his favorite tracks, while Marquez has won his last four starts at IMS (two each in MotoGP and Moto2). So Sunday's race could create a turning point or momentum shift in the championship battle.
Marquez suffered DNFs in three of the first seven races of the season, while Rossi has finished on the podium in all nine starts. But after finishing third in Germany behind Marquez and fellow Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, the old master said it would be "stupid" to count Marquez out, despite his 65-point deficit.
"At the beginning of the season, Marc had some problem with the feeling with the bike and lost some points," Rossi said. "But from Assen, he came back very strong.
"For sure the distance is still quite a lot, but we are just in the middle [of the season]," he added. "Nine races to the end is a long way. We have to concentrate, and last year we were strong in the second part of the season. We improved [the bike] a lot ... and were able to win some races. We have to try to fight every race."
Marquez exploded into MotoGP with the factory Honda team in 2013 and promptly won the championship his first two years in the top category, streaking to the 2014 title in record fashion. Not even Rossi managed that; he won two races and finished second in the 500-cc class in his first year, before claiming eleven races and the 500 title in the last year of the category before the MotoGP class was created.
Marquez' third year of MotoGP hasn't been as easy, causing the 22-year old Spaniard to question whether his aggressive riding style is suited to the latest Honda RC213V and Bridgestone tires.
But he bounced back and nearly won at Assen before taking the win in Germany. Now, with the MotoGP series' traditional summer break ending, he is ready to take the fight to Yamaha.
"Of course last year's situation was much better," Marquez laughed. "This year is not like that, and I know that they are really, really far [ahead].
"Most important is that now I'm enjoying the bike," he said. "Since last year in Valencia or Malaysia, it was difficult to find this feeling, and in Holland I found this feeling and these last two races I enjoyed a lot. So I hope to continue enjoying the bike and then the races will come."
He will take the rest of the season race by race, "and we will see in Valencia [site of the November 8 season finale] what is my situation."
Lorenzo, the 2010 and 2012 MotoGP champion, is almost a forgotten man amid the Rossi vs. Marquez hype. But the Spaniard reeled off four consecutive wins earlier this year and cannot be discounted.
Lorenzo, Rossi and Marquez have between them swept all nine series races to date.
"We are [13] points behind [Rossi], so the one we have to focus to beat is him," Lorenzo said. "But also Marc is coming on strong again. ... He won the last race and it looks like they found something to solve their problems. So for sure they will be competitive like last year and he could win a lot of races in a row, like he did last year.
"Nine races to the end, there's a lot of points still at play," Lorenzo added. "Marc can recover a lot of points or we can make mistakes, so for sure he is one of the favorites for the championship."
Marquez is certainly not giving up.
"Sixty-five points are a lot," he acknowledged. "But if I lost it in the first part of the season, maybe they can lose it in the second part of the season."
"I know it's a big distance, but we will try to focus like the last two races, try to do our best, try to push at the limit and then we will see what happens," he said.
While a big rally from Marquez would help the overall story line, Rossi remains the sentimental favorite as he chases a championship late in his career.
The man called The Doctor isn't ready to give up his practice just yet.
"I'm very happy to be fighting for the championship because it is a long time that I didn't win -- from 2009, passing through some difficult moments with bad injuries and also the difficult season without good results with the Ducati," he said.
"[Since] I came back to Yamaha, step by step I was able to be stronger and stronger," Rossi added. "This is a great season because of a lot of riders are very fast, so the level is so high. But yes, I'm happy and I will try to the end.
"Every weekend is a story, so we have to try to do the maximum."