Marc homes in as trio hit deck

MARC MARQUEZ raced into the championship lead in Spain yesterday after Andrea Dovizioso was caught up in a dramatic three-bike crash.

Defending champion Marquez powered his Repsol Honda to the chequered flag at Jerez, some five seconds ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco – much to the delight of his Spanish fans.

Marquez said: “It’s great to win here with all these amazing fans. I was convinced before the race that I was able to win.

Clever

“We started on the second row because I didn’t find the best lap but anyway I was clever, I pushed.

“I knew that my team-mate was like me or maybe even stronger, but you know here the race is very long.

“You have to manage many, many things and now we will try to keep at this level.”

Marquez took the lead on the eighth lap after squeezing down the inside of then leader Jorge Lorenzo, ironically at the corner now named after the former champion.

From there he came under no serious threat, particularly as Lorenzo, his Ducati team-mate ®Êby ZOE BURN

Dovizioso and Marquez’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa, all came together in a dramatic three-bike pile-up on lap 18.

Dovizioso, who had been leading the championship by a point before yesterday’s race, had been sitting third behind Lorenzo and had made a move for the place before drifting wide.

Lorenzo then tried to come back inside, but Pedrosa had also spotted a gap and the pair hit the apex at the same time.

Pedrosa hit Lorenzo and flew over the bars of his Honda as Lorenzo in turn wiped out Dovizioso.

That left Zarco, who had been fifth at the time, a clear run to second as Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone took third.

Dovizioso, who has now dropped to fifth in the championship chase, said: “We lost 20 precious points today, but we go home being aware of our competitiveness.”

It was a tough day for Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, who started from pole but crashed his LCR Honda Castrol on the eighth lap.

Fellow Brits Bradley Smith and Scott Redding finished 13th and 15th respectively.