Marquez crashed in Australia taking risks with MotoGP title secure

Marquez sealed a third title in four seasons in last weekend's Japanese GP, and built a lead of three seconds at Phillip Island on Sunday from pole position.

However, he crashed at Turn 4 on lap 10, ending his run as the only rider across all three grand prix classes to have scored points in every race this year - Marquez having remounted and finished 13th after crashing at Le Mans.

"I made a mistake today," he said.

"If I had been fighting for the title it would've been an entirely different race, as I wouldn't have risked so much.

"Today I started strong because I knew I had to make a difference at the beginning.

"I was maintaining the distance, but at one of the hard braking points I braked too late and instead of taking a wider line, which is what I had been doing throughout the year, I tried to keep going.

"In such cases the limit is a fine one. We remain happy of course because we had already won the title but of course we wanted to win more races."

After a rain-hit weekend, Marquez tried Michelin's hardest front tyre in the Sunday warm-up and was one of four riders to switch to it on the grid.

With winner Cal Crutchlow and third-placed Maverick Vinales also among that group, Marquez denied it was a factor.

"It was completely my mistake; during the whole season I've been very careful on the braking points and this time I risked more so this crash," he said.

HAYDEN'S CLASH WITH MILLER 'RACING'

Standing in for the injured Dani Pedrosa, 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden was in the thick of a seven-rider fight for seventh place eventually won by Pramac Ducati's Scott Redding.

With three laps to go, Marc VDS Honda rider Jack Miller looked to pass Hayden for ninth on the inside of Turn 4, but contact sent the American off, and he rejoined to finish 17th.

"I felt like I had the best tyres left in that group and that I could win that battle... but then in the Honda hairpin, Jack knocked me down," Hayden said.

"I didn't actually see him, I just felt him when it was too late to do anything.

"But that's racing, especially in a group like that, where it makes a big difference winning the battle and getting seventh or losing it and finishing out the top 10."