While we all expected Marc Marquez to tactically win the championship in Valencia by holding back at least a bit, the Spaniard put on a stunningly dramatic and intense race.
The 24-yearold Spanish rider Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) finished the race in 3rd and took his sixth world title and fourth MotoGP World Championship.
All this after what could be a devastating mistake when his front end slipped in Turn 1 causing him to practically drop the bike and run off track. After ran incredible save, he re-joined the race in 5th.
Title rival Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) suffered a similar fate but was unable to save it and crashed out of contention in the race, losing any hope of a Championship victory.
While all eyes were on the two riders leading the Moto GP Championship, we really must not forget the duel to the line between Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco. Frenchman put on an amazing race, leading almost to the end after Marc Marquez let him through in the beginning of the race. In the final lap however, Pedrosa rushed by, disabling any thought of retaliation. This brought the second rider at Honda, Dani Pedrosa, to secure his second victory of the year.
Dovizioso made a good start move up to 6th, then quickly sliding past Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) just to get stuck behind the Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo.
Even after multiple suggestions by the team (suggest mapping 8), to let Dovi pass, Lorenzo kept going hard, not allowing the rider to pass. With only a couple laps to go, Jorge Lorenzo crashed hard, but was unfortunately soon followed by Andrea Dovizioso as well.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) put on a stunning show, landing him in 4th, ahead of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) after the Doctor showed he had quite a few problems during the race.
Iannone dropped a few places after a run off at Turn 1 to take sixth, which is an amazing finish judging by the way his 2017 season went.
Another part of a great final race was put on by EG 0,0 Marc VDS for Jack Miller in 7th. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) moved up to 8th, while Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) made another great wildcard race finishing in 9th. Tito Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) circled off the first 10 riders.
Therefore, this is the end of 2017 exciting finale, a season that proved to be packed with great surprises and even more exciting action.
In just a couple of days, this will all be history. On Tuesday the first 2018 tests begin in Valencia!
MotoGP Valencia race results
1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 46m 8.125s
2. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 46m 8.462s
3. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 46m 18.986s
4. Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 46m 21.692s
5. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 46m 21.942s
6. Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 46m 22.641s
7. Jack Miller AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 46m 25.212s
8. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 46m 25.355s
9. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 46m 34.067s
10. Tito Rabat ESP EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 46m 35.145s
11. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 46m 38.960s
12. Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 46m 43.137s
13. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac (GP17) 46m 46.201s
14. Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar (GP15) 46m 50.113s
15. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia (GP16) 46m 55.828s
16. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia (GP15) 46m 55.834s
17. Michael Van Der Mark NED Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 47m 0.259s
Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) DNF
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP17) DNF
Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP17) DNF
Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* DNF
Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar (GP16) DNF
Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac (GP16) DNF
Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
Mika Kallio FIN Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) DNF
See you next week!
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