ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17 / OCTOBER 30, 2016
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SEPANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
P62
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A
ndrea Dovizioso, that
most rational of riders,
was getting exasperated
at being asked if he thought he
could become the ninth win-
ner of 2016. Race after race. At
Sepang, he finally put the ques-
tion to bed.
Starting from pole, he made it
look like another well-controlled
performance. He bided his
time in third, as the Flash Har-
rys duked it out ahead of and
around him. He kept his wheels
down as several of them fell off.
Then, as the laps counted
down and the drying track
became more punishing for the
tires, he was firmly past Valen-
tino Rossi and moved clear to
claim his first win not only of
the season, but since 2009,
by better than three seconds. It
was the former 125 champion's
second premier-class victory.
Long-time leader Rossi
(Movistar Yamaha) had run out
of threat by the end but was
far enough ahead of teammate
Jorge Lorenzo to secure second
overall in the title. And Lorenzo,
by his own admission, was lucky.
By managing to stay on board
while three riders crashed ahead
of him—Cal Crutchlow, Andrea
Iannone and Marc Marquez—
he soldiered on to reach the
podium. "If not for the crashes I
would have been fifth or sixth,"
he admitted, adding that it was
at least an improvement on his
