Please click on the above image to view it larger.

MotoGP Sepang Results: Though the 2014 Riders Championship was settled at Motegi, the 17th round of the MotoGP class saw an entertaining race contested by three of the top four riders in the premier class.

With his 12th victory of the season, Marc Marquez tied Mick Doohan’s 1997 record for most wins in a single season in the premier class. With all due respect to Doohan, I must point out that he won 12 out of 15 races in the 1997 season (and finished 2nd in two of the other three). Marquez has now won 12 out of 17 races, but has the opportunity to break the record at Valencia if he can win his 13th race of the 2014 season.

After the race, Marquez said: “This was one of the toughest races of the year for me physically and I’m happy to have equalled Mick Doohan’s record. We knew to expect this kind of weather in Malaysia but it was especially hot today and we all found it hard to finish the race. Halfway into the race the pace slowed down because I think everybody needed to take a breath! I’m happy with how I handled the race, because the first corner was a bit of a nightmare but I was able to come back to the front and stay there, while I cooled down my tires and brakes. I started to attack with 10 laps remaining, then made the difference when there were 5 laps to go.”

Valentino Rossi finished second and Jorge Lorenzo finished third.

Photograph: ©2014 by Tony Goldsmith / TGF Photos – All Rights Reserved

[mgallery keyword=”Marc Marquez”]