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MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 16 / OCTOBER 19-21, 2018 TWIN RING MOTEGI / MOTEGI, JAPAN P62 iii My Own Race: 93 MARC MARQUEZ 1ST MOTOGP "I feel really, really, good," Marc Marquez said. "I would say it's a dream came true, or bet- ter, that I'm living a dream. It's something so special, here together with my team, all the Honda and HRC people, my family and my staff. Today the race was as I expected. I was prepared to make a good start and immediately make some passes. I got to second place at the end of the first lap, and then was able to follow Andrea and stay with him. I thought I could try and attack before the last lap because I felt I had something extra to give. He was pushing very hard and made a mistake, and that's a shame because he deserved to be here on the podium. That's also something that I think Dani [Pedrosa] would deserve at least once this season. Anyway, when I crossed the finish line it was an explosion of joy. My people prepared this Level7 celebration, but I didn't know anything ahead of time. I never want to know, but I think it's because I used to play that kind of game a lot. Now it's time to celebrate this seventh title and enjoy these final three races." 04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 18TH MOTOGP "I'm obviously pretty disappointed because we wanted to win this race at all costs, but all in all it has been a positive weekend because we were very quick and we confirmed our competitiveness," Andrea Dovizioso said. "Even though we did a good race we were un- able to make the difference against Marquez, and so I want to congratulate him because also this year he deserved to win the championship. Pity about the crash: I didn't overdo it but simply tried to prepare for the exit of the turn in the best possible way in order to attack him and I made a small mistake that cost me dearly." 46 VALENTINO ROSSI 4TH MOTOGP "Fourth place is not a bad result," Rossi said. "I think that we've worked well today, be- cause this morning we made another step and I felt better with the bike. So, I started the race quite optimistically, trying to fight for the podium. Unfortunately, some other riders were faster than me. I tried to not give up, not to make any mistakes and to arrive at the end of the race with a good pace." his teammate Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi's Movistar Yamaha, though Iannone would soon crash out. Marquez's pass on Dovi, however, signaled a change. "Now he started to push harder," said Mar- quez later. "But I was able to go with him, in a good way." Rather than save his attack for the last lap, Marquez swooped past on the 21st lap at Turn Nine approaching the furthest point of the track, before the hairpin and the swoop downhill. This time, he made it stick. But it clearly wasn't over. This would surely go to another last-lap battle. But it didn't. On the penultimate lap, poised to counter-attack as they ran into Turn 10, Dovi was a little wide, and a little fast. The Ducati's front wheel tucked, he was down, and Marquez errant component was the generating system rotor, and it is not the first such failure, Domi Aegerter having had something similar happen to him previously. It was, said Poncharal, "an unbelievable unlucky accident." NAGASHIMA AND GARDNER Japanese Moto2 rider Tetsuta Nagashima will join Australian Remy Gardner in the SAG (Stop And Go) Moto2 team next year, with the long-awaited confirma- tion of the Spanish team's lineup. As previously re- ported, Gardner—son of 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne—was recruited soon after the summer break, but promised official confirmation had to wait until his new teammate was confirmed, in the days before the Japanese GP. Nagashima is in his third full Moto2 season, with a best finish of eighth (his second top 10) at the Thai GP two weeks ago. Briefly...

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