Marquez nails his third MotoGP title

Yamaha gifts series win to Honda-riding Spaniard when Rossi and Lorenzo crashed

HONDA rider Marc Marquez of Spain won the MotoGP of Japan in Motegi on Sunday to secure the 2016 title with three races remaining.

Marquez beat Ducati rider Andrea Dovisiozo by 2.9 seconds at Twin Ring Motegi for his fifth win of the season and his third MotoGP world championship. Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales was third, 4.1 seconds back.

Pole-sitter and Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi crashed on the 15th lap, after entering Sunday’s race 52 points behind Marquez in the overall standings.

The Honda rider’s championship bid got a further boost when Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo lost control of his bike with five laps to go. Lorenzo was in second place at the time and needed to finish on the podium to extend the championship battle to the next race at Phillip Island, Australia this weekend.

At 23 years old, Marquez is the youngest rider to win three premier class world championship titles.

The 2016 MotoGP title is his third in four years in the premier class, and his fifth world championship after becoming 125 world champion in 2010 and Moto2 world champion in 2012.

• Newly-crowned Moto3 champion, South Africa’s Brad Binder (KTM Red Bull Ajo), narrowly missed out on winning the Moto3 race when he was pipped on the line by Italy’s Enea Bastianini (Gresini Honda) by just 0.017 sec. Marc celebrates winning his third MotoGP championship at the Twin-Motegi track in Japan on Sunday.