Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/200817
ROUND 17/OCTOBER 27, 2013 TWIN-RING MOTEGI/MOTEGI, JAPAN MOTOGP P44 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP A DIFFERENT MARQUEZ WINS Of all the twisted fates, that in the smallest class was by far the most entertaining. Crazy crashes pushed the advantage one way then the other, and left the way open for a new first-time race winner and almost a new championship leader - with the top three all now within only five points. The winner was Alex Marquez, a first for the younger brother of Marc, and regarded by many as an omen. The 17-year-old is in his first full season - Marc had to wait until his third 125 year. The losers were Luis Salom and - to an even greater extent Alex Rins. Rins had been given a big bonus when points leader Salom was knocked flying on the first lap, by headlong fast starter Isaac Vinales - in a crazy lunge at only the second U-bend. Salom remounted and had scythed from 31st on lap one to 26th on the eighth, fastest on track, when he crashed again of his own accord, terminally. Rins was now in a position to take over the title lead, and seemed set to take a fifth win in six races as he circulated in usual close company with teammate Marquez and Maverick Vinales. He seemed to be playing it cool, holding a close third, when he too crashed out at the end of lap 16. Vinales seemed to have control, but in the final battle ran wide at the hairpin, giving Marquez the opening he needed to win by inches, taking the lap record to boot. If the finish line had been another 100 yards away, the positions would have been reversed. Jonas Folger lost touch with the front men before half distance, and Alex Marquez won his first-ever Moto3 Grand Prix in Japan. considered himself lucky to be on the rostrum. Miguel Oliveira had a heroic ride from 18th on the grid to fourth; outpacing a Honda group of four, where Romano Fenati won out over fast starter Jack Miller and his rookie teammate John McPhee, still also inches apart. Alexis Masbou had been with them, only to crash out in the last corner. Miller was adjudged to have caused the crash, and docked two penalty points. Niklas Ajo and Niccolo Antonelli had been with them before losing touch in a private battle, with Ajo snatching eighth on the final lap. Brad Binder triumphed in a four-bike battle for tenth. Here's the points: Salom 300, Vinales 298, Rins 295. And just one race left to decide it. Marquez is secure in fourth on 200 points; Folger and Oliveira in contention for fifth, 163-144. Rossi (46) had to work his way back through the pack after an off-track excursion early in the race. He ended up sixth. Ring circuit. Marquez remained outwardly cheerful after losing another match point, riding as he was with painkillers after a high-speed crash in the morning ("cold tires") left him with wrenched muscles.