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Valencia MotoGP: Lorenzo beats Marquez to win and Rossi to title

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo soaked up late pressure from the Honda riders to win the Valencia Grand Prix and the 2015 MotoGP title, with championship rival Valentino Rossi a beaten fourth

Starting from pole, Lorenzo produced a faultless display to resist Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa and claim a lights to flag win.

Rossi charged from the back row of the grid after his Sepang penalty to finish a distant fourth, missing out on a 10th world title by five points to his Yamaha team-mate.

Lorenzo converted pole into an early lead from Marquez, as a fired-up Rossi carved his way through the order, taking 19th into Turn 1 and ending the second lap in 11th.

As Lorenzo and Marquez attempted to break clear of Pedrosa in third, a fall for fourth-place runner Andrea Iannone promoted Rossi into ninth.

The Italian quickly dispatched Bradley Smith and Danilo Petrucci to take seventh, before setting off after Andrea Dovizioso and the Espargaro brothers.

Rossi muscled his way past the two brothers, before sweeping past Dovizioso's Ducati for fourth, where his charge stalled, 11s behind Pedrosa in third.

Unable to match the pace of the frontrunners, Rossi settled for fourth on the road, leaving the Hondas to fight race leader Lorenzo.

With Lorenzo battling tyre wear, the two Honda riders closed on him into the closing stages, with Pedrosa reeling in his team-mate and the Yamaha.

Pedrosa briefly passed Marquez for second, only to concede the position back to his team-mate, which offered Lorenzo the respite needed to cross the line and win.

Pol Espargaro ended his season with a fifth place finish, 3s clear of Tech 3 team-mate Smith and Dovizioso.

Aleix Espargaro was five seconds back, beating the charging Cal Crutchlow - the LCR Honda rider having started from the back after mechanical problems on the grid - and Petrucci to eighth.

Maverick Vinales rounded out his season with an 11th place finish for Suzuki, one spot ahead of Michele Pirro, riding a wildcard factory Ducati.

Nicky Hayden closed out his MotoGP career with a 17th place finish, while Hector Barbera claimed the Open class title ahead of his 2016 Avintia Ducati team-mate Loris Baz.

RESULTS - 30 LAPS:

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 45m59.364s
2 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.263s
3 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 0.654s
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 19.789s
5 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 26.004s
6 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 28.835s
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 28.886s
8 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki Suzuki 34.222s
9 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 35.924s
10 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Racing Ducati 39.579s
11 Maverick Vinales Suzuki Suzuki 39.746s
12 Michele Pirro Ducati Ducati 47.053s
13 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 54.081s
14 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 56.646s
15 Scott Redding Marc VDS Honda 57.278s
16 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 57.363s
17 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 58.742s
18 Stefan Bradl Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 59.086s
19 Loris Baz Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m04.339s
20 Toni Elias Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m04.413s
21 Jack Miller LCR Honda 1m05.212s
22 Anthony West AB Motoracing Honda 1m27.281s
- Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Ducati Retirement
- Eugene Laverty Aspar Honda Retirement
- Broc Parkes IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia Retirement
- Andrea Iannone Ducati Ducati Retirement

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Rider Points
1 Jorge Lorenzo 330
2 Valentino Rossi 325
3 Marc Marquez 242
4 Dani Pedrosa 206
5 Andrea Iannone 188
6 Bradley Smith 181
7 Andrea Dovizioso 162
8 Cal Crutchlow 125
9 Pol Espargaro 114
10 Danilo Petrucci 113
11 Aleix Espargaro 105
12 Maverick Vinales 97
13 Scott Redding 84
14 Yonny Hernandez 56
15 Hector Barbera 33
16 Alvaro Bautista 31
17 Loris Baz 28
18 Stefan Bradl 17
19 Jack Miller 17
20 Nicky Hayden 16
21 Michele Pirro 12
22 Eugene Laverty 9
23 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 8
24 Mike Di Meglio 8
25 Hiroshi Aoyama 5
26 Takumi Takahashi 4
27 Toni Elias 2
28 Alex de Angelis 2


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