MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17 / OCTOBER 29, 2017
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SEPANG, MALAYSIA
P60
Marquez to finish third or worse.
The omens were good for
Dovi. Marquez crashed in quali-
fying and was on the third row
of the grid; and the Ducati rider
had won a wet race here last
year. But it was still a tall order.
Last weekend, somebody with
time on his hands (and lots of
fingers) counted more than 70
clear after Dovi's disaster in Aus-
tralia, there was every reason to
expect that he would tie up his
fourth premier-class crown at
Sepang.
The heavens opened less
than an hour before a race that
factory Ducati rider Dovi sim-
ply had to win. Even then, he
needed Repsol Honda's Marc
With Moto3 decided last
weekend in Australia, Franco
Morbidelli was confirmed as
Moto2 champion without a shot
being fired in anger, when his
last rival Tom Luthi was ruled un-
fit to compete on race morning
after a crash on Saturday.
It left just MotoGP, and with
Marquez a yawning 33 points
Andrea Dovizioso
did what he had
to do in Malaysia
and that was win.
His title hopes
are still alive.
