to the line. The difference was it
all happened on a more difficult
circuit in much more difficult
conditions, after three days of
increasingly troublesome rain at
the remote hilltop venue.
Just surviving the conditions
was an achievement. And that
was for some 52,500 specta-
tors, huddled under umbrel-
las and plastic sheeting, their
patience already sorely tried by
a delay of more than an hour.
A Moto3 bike had spilled oil
around much of the track, requir-
ing a long and tedious clean-up
operation, and curtailing both
Moto2 and Moto3 races.
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
M
otorcycle racing is
great, isn't it? This fact,
understood by all its
fans, wasn't just underlined at
Motegi. It was projected on the
surrounding clouds in letters
hundreds of feet tall, burned
into the consciousness with the
force of a laser, tattooed on the
moon. Or it might as well have
been, after just over 47 minutes
of heightening tension in atro-
cious weather culminated in
a breathtaking last lap, in turn
ending in a last-corner shootout
between the two remaining title
contenders.
It was like Austria all over
again with the same result: An-
drea Dovizioso getting his Ducati
back in front of Marc Marquez's
Repsol Honda only in the sprint
VOL. 54 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 17, 2017 P73
How many superlatives can we keep giving the
constant fights between Marc Marquez and
Andrea Dovizioso? In Japan, we were treated to
another classic, this time in pouring rain
THRILLER
Just when it looked like Mark Marquez
had struck a major title blow in
Aragon, Andrea Dovizioso stunned
everyone with a crucial win in Japan.
