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Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati), just behind in third, "was a VIP spectator" for the show. "I didn't understand because they were battling, but the lap times were super-fast," he said. Despite the incessant brawling, the trio edged clear of Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati), Enea Bastianini (Leno - vo Ducati), Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM), making his way through from 13th on the grid. It was only when the reigning champ cleared his rival starting lap four that the race's second phase began, and the spectacle went from all-action to fairly muted fare. In the 15 laps that remained, there was little over - taking of note, as Michelin's front tire became close to un- rideable once in another bike's slipstream. "Two corners," was Luca Marini's (Repsol Honda) assessment of how long it took following for front-tire pres- sure to rocket out of control. "A disaster." Thus, the field gradually spread out into one of those joyless modern MotoGP affairs. One question that hung over the start was whether Bagnaia would attempt to bring Mar - quez and Bastianini into the events in a bid to upset Martin. But he later refuted claims the thought had even crossed his mind. "I'm a clean guy and a true sportsman. I don't like these kinds of things." He steadily built up an ad - vantage over two seconds. The only jeopardy came as Mar- tin—running Michelin's medium VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P73 front as opposed to the rest running the soft—made a late push on lap 15, just as Bagnaia had switched a power-delivery map, to bring the gap down to 1.6 seconds. But a near crash at turn nine ended that charge, leaving the reigning World Champion to come home 3.1 seconds clear of his assailant. Bastianini was third, albeit a gargantuan 10 seconds back of his teammate, a fact that clearly irked the winner of last year's Malaysian Grand Prix. Alex Mar - quez enjoyed his best Sunday of the year in fourth, as he held off Acosta at arm's length in the closing five laps, with Ducati once again demonstrating an al - most absurd level of superiority. Quartararo was a stellar sixth It was a horrible weekend for Aprilia, with both Aleix Espar - trous day for KTM, Acosta proved his credentials again by finishing as the top non-Ducati, and show- ing plenty of daring during his rise up through the order. "Don't get me wrong, I was pushing to get a fourth position," he said of his showing. But finishing the season consistently, he feels, is crucial for next year when he will have loftier aims. "For this was necessary for me, for us, that if one day we are going to fight for a championship that maybe less is more at the end of the season. Have a look how many points I lost in the races that I crashed. If I put a fifth place in every track where I crashed, and it's many points at the end of the season." Briefly... (Left) Luca Marini (10) holds off a charge from Honda LCR rider Takaaki Nakagami (30) in Sunday's restarted GP race and was 15th across the line. Nakagami retired early due to increasing vibrations on the bike. (Below) Andrea Iannone (29) was drafted into the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team to replace the injured Fabio Di Giannantonio, taking 19th in the Sprint and 17th in the GP on Sunday.