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MotoGP Valencia: Marc Marquez takes 13th season win

Marc Marquez claimed a record 13th win of the 2014 MotoGP season by battling to victory in the drizzly Valencia finale

Valentino Rossi clinched the championship runner-up spot with second in the race, and was on course to seal his points position even before a disastrous tyre gamble ruined rival and Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo's day.

That tyre miscue was prompted by the second shower to hit the Valencia Grand Prix.

The first came just in time for the start, and second-place qualifier Andrea Iannone revelled in it, charging into an early lead on his Pramac Ducati as the rest tip-toed around on the slippery track.

Iannone's lead grew to 1.7 seconds before Rossi and Marquez, who had jumped from fifth to third off the line, found their feet and reeled him in, swapping places along the way.

Although the shower quickly passed, Iannone maintained a strong pace and led until one-third distance.

He fought doggedly when the champions caught him, and Marquez needed to try three passes before finally making one stick and taking first place for good.

Rossi had a tough time passing Iannone too, with Dani Pedrosa catching them as they battled.

Iannone's speed then waned and he fell back to seventh place, before gambling on a change to wets when another shower arrived.

Lorenzo did likewise. He appeared to be spooked in the early drizzle and dropped to seventh, before gaining confidence and fighting back past the Ducatis into fourth, until to lose those places again when the rain returned.

Wets proved wildly over-ambitious, though. Lorenzo and Iannone were over 10s off the pace, with Lorenzo giving up and retiring, while Iannone finished a lapped last.

Rossi had been under heavy pressure for second from Pedrosa until the shower. As the track conditions changed, the Yamaha pulled clear and for a while closed in on Marquez, before the world champion upped his pace and stretched away to win by 3.5s.

Pedrosa tumbled 10s away from Rossi, but held on to third place ahead of a superb race-long battle between the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow.

After countless passes and re-passes, Dovizioso claimed fourth by 0.068s over his team-mate.

Pol Espargaro sealed sixth in the championship in his rookie season by beating brother Aleix to the same place in the race. Bradley Smith's bid for the place ended when a fall dropped him from eighth to an eventual 14th.

Stefan Bradl, Ducati test rider Michele Pirro and Scott Redding completed the top 10.

RESULTS - 30 LAPS:

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 46m39.627s
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 3.516s
3 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 14.040s
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 16.705s
5 Cal Crutchlow Ducati Ducati 16.773s
6 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 37.884s
7 Aleix Espargaro Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 38.168s
8 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 41.803s
9 Michele Pirro Ducati Ducati 45.710s
10 Scott Redding Gresini Racing Honda 51.191s
11 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 56.512s
12 Danilo Petrucci IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 57.000s
13 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 57.262s
14 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 57.517s
15 Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 58.775s
16 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Racing Honda 58.864s
17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 1m02.389s
18 Alex de Angelis Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1m15.795s
19 Michael Laverty Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 1m26.309s
20 Broc Parkes Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 1m37.212s
21 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Avintia/Kawasaki 1 Lap
22 Andrea Iannone Pramac Racing Ducati 1 Lap
- Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha Retirement
- Randy de Puniet Suzuki Suzuki Retirement
- Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati Retirement

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Rider Points
1 Marc Marquez 362
2 Valentino Rossi 295
3 Jorge Lorenzo 263
4 Dani Pedrosa 246
5 Andrea Dovizioso 187
6 Pol Espargaro 136
7 Aleix Espargaro 126
8 Bradley Smith 121
9 Stefan Bradl 117
10 Andrea Iannone 102
11 Alvaro Bautista 89
12 Scott Redding 81
13 Cal Crutchlow 74
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 68
15 Yonny Hernandez 53
16 Nicky Hayden 47
17 Karel Abraham 33
18 Hector Barbera 26
19 Michele Pirro 18
20 Danilo Petrucci 17
21 Alex de Angelis 14
22 Colin Edwards 11
23 Broc Parkes 9
24 Michael Laverty 9
25 Mike Di Meglio 9
26 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 4
27 Leon Camier 1

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