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Sepang MotoGP race
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Best not to think about it, really.
And could you imagine if Marquez then went to Valencia and crashed, and Dovizioso won?
Could you imagine if Lorenzo secures his first win for Ducati by not moving aside for Dovizioso and handing Marquez the championship?
Blimey. Petrucci's up to sixth! He's just got ahead of team-mate Redding. Not bad from the back...
Crash
Let's call this an incident to stoke up some title fun – a wobble for Marquez. That is why he hasn't closed on Zarco. That'll be heart-in-mouth for Honda. Not the Spaniard though, probably. He's hard as nails.
Stopwatch
Another new fastest lap, this time from Dovizioso – 2m13.222s. But it's barely faster than Lorenzo.
Oosh! Big moment for Zarco through the fast Turn 3 right hander. Sat up, it was such a wobble. Held it nicely though. And Marquez is still 1.4s behind.
Information
Black flag for Rins. He was circulating in 19th.
Stopwatch
New fastest lap from Lorenzo, 2m13.226s, and he leads by 0.7s. No sign of him moving aside for Dovi just yet...
Marquez taking nice chunks out of Zarco this lap, so the Tech3 rider looks like a sitting duck. Still 1.5s clear for now.
Crash
Lowes went down at Turn 1 and he's back to the pits.
Marquez is two seconds behind Zarco. With 9.4s – 9.4s?! – back to Pedrosa, he's in a decent position regardless of what happens ahead of him. But he's not going to be champion today if Dovizioso hits the front.
Dovizioso might not need Lorenzo to move aside. Blistering first two sectors and he's just half a second behind his team-mate.
Now, will he move aside for Dovi?
Dovizioso into second! Formation flying from Ducati. They nail Zarco in the space of a few corners and at the end of the lap it's Lorenzo leading a Ducati one-two.
Lorenzo into the lead!
Crash
Abraham's crashed. He was fighting with van der Mark. Timing screen says rider OK.
Stopwatch
Dovizioso's last lap, a 2m13.584s, was 0.3s quicker than Lorenzo and 0.65s quicker than Zarco. Here comes Dovi...
Big lap from the Ducatis. They are now right on Zarco's case, and Marquez has been dropped a bit. They are both within a second of the lead and Marquez is 1.4s behind Dovi now.
Marquez is still in touch, within a second of Dovizioso. Just doing all he needs to right now, the champion-in-waiting.
Stopwatch
The Ducatis are in a nice groove, trading fastest sectors of the race. First Lorenzo, then Dovizioso (2m13.969s) set a new fastest lap. 1.8s between the lead trio now.
Smith's fallen to ninth on the KTM.
Rossi's back up to eighth in this muted race for Yamaha. Vinales is 14th! Awful.
Zarco's lead only a second now. A personal best from Lorenzo has him closer to the race lead and edged him away from Dovizioso.
Crash
Baz has shunted as well. He's down for good, but Rins picked it up again.
Crash
Rins has crashed. He was sixth. Nightmare for the Suzuki rider. Just dropped it at Turn 1.
Stopwatch
New fastest lap from Zarco, a 2m14.334s, and his lead's out to 1.6s. Dovi then sets a new fastest lap, 2m14.163s, and he's within a second of Lorenzo.
As it stands, Marquez will be champion. He needs eighth or better if Dovizioso can't improve on third.
Now Dovi makes it stick. He's into third ahead of his title rival. Team-mate Lorenzo next up.
Stopwatch
New fastest lap from Lorenzo, a 2m14.786s. But Zarco responds with a fine first sector and the gap's still north of 1.5s.
Dovizioso on Marquez! He takes third place. But then he goes deep into the final corner, and Marquez cuts back underneath – contact! No? Maybe. Unsure. But Marquez is back into third.
Redding's made his way up to sixth at Smith's expense. Rossi's fallen to 11th – not a fun ride for the Yamaha so far.
Pedrosa's fallen away already in fifth. He's further behind Dovizioso in fourth than Dovi is the leader.
There's around 2.5s covering the lead quartet – Tech3's Zarco, Ducati's Lorenzo, Honda's Marquez and Ducati's Dovizioso.
Stopwatch
New fastest lap from Lorenzo, a 2m14.947s, and the gap is 1.4s at the front.
Lorenzo's coming back at Zarco this lap. The Ducati has around a second back to Marquez, too, so can focus on catching the leader.
Rossi's past Iannone for 10th.
Zarco's building a nice early advantage. Of course he's also got the soft rear tyre – in the wet in Japan we saw Petrucci do the same thing, then fade slightly around mid-distance. Anyway, Zarco's lead is 1.6s at the end of lap two.
Smith passes Rins for sixth. Using that soft rear tyre to great effect early on.
Smith's had a stunning opening lap on the KTM and is up to seventh. Rossi's regained some ground in 11th.
By: Matt Beer
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