Five-star Marquez romps to the MotoGP title

HONDA’S Marc Marquez stormed to a nail-biting victory in Japan on Sunday to capture his third straight MotoGP world championship as Ducati rival Andrea Dovizioso crashed out.

The Spanish sensation has now won five championships in motorcycling’s premier class, putting him level with Australian legend Mick Doohan.

Marquez, still just 25, trails only the Italian pair of Valentino Rossi, who won the last of his seven championships in 2009, and Giacomo Agostini, whose record eighth came in 1975, in the alltime list.

“I feel really, really good,” whooped Marquez after Dovizioso’s late spill con- firmed his eighth victory of the season. “I already imagined that it will be [decided] here but the important thing is that when you have the first chance, you do it.

“It wasn’t the best circuit to do it but I worked hard all weekend,” Marquez said.

“I was able to follow Andrea and decided to attack before the last lap.

“I was pushing really hard, so he made a mistake – I’m disappointed because he deserves to be on the podium with us.”

Marquez flirted with disaster on lap 14, however, after overtaking Dovizioso at turn nine before running wide at the next corner and spitting up dirt and dust as he battled to control a violent wobble.

Dovizioso, who needed to complete a pole to flag victory to keep alive his fading championship hopes, crashed out on the penultimate lap in a desperate last push, ending this year’s title race.

Marquez was mobbed by his team mechanics after crossing the line to seal his coronation with three races left.

“The big boss will enjoy this,” smiled Marquez after wrapping up the title at Honda’s home race, before rejoining the party at his team garage he revealed afterwards had left him nursing a sore shoulder.

“The shoulder just popped out. Luckily with the adrenalin it doesn’t hurt, but I’ll need to be careful not to overdo it on the dancefloor tonight!”

Br it i s h fel low Honda r ider Ca l Crutchlow f inished runner-up af ter Dovizioso’s fall, with Alex Rins [Suzuk i] edg i ng out Rossi [ Ya ma ha] to round out the podium.

Marquez has now won seven world titles in total after also winning the 125cc championship in 2010 and the Moto2 crown in 2012.

Meanwhile, three-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo will miss next weekend’s Australian race after sitting out the Japanese round with injury.