Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MOTEGI, Japan (AP) — Honda rider Marc Marquez won the Japanese MotoGP on Sunday to secure the championship with three races left in the season.
Marquez took the lead with four laps to go and crossed the finish line in a time of 42 minutes, 36.438 seconds, 1.573 seconds ahead of Honda rider Cal Crutchlow. Alex Rins was third on a Suzuki, 1,720 seconds off the pace.
Marquez won for the eighth time this season to capture his fifth MotoGP world championship.
Pole sitter Andrea Dovizioso led for most of Sunday's race and could have denied Marquez the title with a win but crashed out of second place with two laps to go and ended up with no points.
Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi was fourth while Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top five on a Ducati.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
