REPORT: Marquez champion as Dovi falls in Japan
Marc Marquez won the MotoGP World Championship for the fifth time as he clinched his eighth win of the season in front of Honda’s top brass at Motegi in Japan.
It was the Spaniard’s third premier class title triumph in HRC’s back yard and Marquez was a comfortable winner in the end after Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso slid off on the penultimate lap.
Marc Marquez won the MotoGP World Championship for the fifth time as he clinched his eighth win of the season in front of Honda’s top brass at Motegi in Japan.
It was the Spaniard’s third premier class title triumph in HRC’s back yard and Marquez was a comfortable winner in the end after Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso slid off on the penultimate lap.
Marquez, who had qualified on the second row in sixth place on the Repsol Honda, shadowed Dovizioso for the majority of the race as the MotoGP rivals played a game of cat and mouse.
With three laps to go, Marquez made a pass on the Italian to take the lead. Dovizioso appeared content to weigh up the Honda rider as he stuck to his rear wheel, but the normally unflappable Italian was out of the race when he went down with a lap remaining, just as he seemed poised to strike back.
Marquez took the win by 1.5 seconds from Britain’s Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) to become a world champion for the seventh times. Suzuki’s Alex Rins completed the podium places.
More to follow...
