Marc Marquez wins fourth MotoGP title after third-place finish in Valencia MotoGP crown

Marc Marquez secured the MotoGP world title for the fourth time in five years on Sunday as the 2017 season concluded in Valencia.

The 24-year-old Honda rider – champion in 2013, 2014 and 2016 – had gone into the showdown in his native Spain very much on course to retain his crown, lying 21 points clear of second-placed Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in the overall standings.

And the subsequent action saw Italy’s Dovizioso crash out before Marquez, who had survived a scare at one point when he went off the track, finished third behind compatriot and team-mate Dani Pedrosa and runner-up Johann Zarco (Yamaha) of France.

Marquez, the youngest man to win four titles in the class, ends the championship with a total of 298 points, ahead of Dovizioso on 261 and another Spaniard, Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), on 230.

After topping the podium in only one of the first eight races of the year, Marquez won five of the last 10.

And he said on Sunday, quoted by motogp.com: “It has been a really tough season, lots of ups and downs.

“I would like (to thank) all my team, my family, everyone who helps me here because they helped me a lot this season, especially in the first part of the season, which was very hard.

“We are all human, but when you have a good team and good people around you it helps a lot. You can go out and be better and better.

“For me the second half of the season has been perfect.”

Amateur Jonathan Wale of Team KGF was fifth in the kilo in one minute 1.174 seconds, joining fellow Scot Skinner in achieving a qualification time for the Commonwealth Games.

In the men’s madison, British pair Mark Stewart and Christopher Latham had to settle for sixth in a race won by Niklas Larsen and Casper von Folsach of Denmark.

Young British sprinter Joe Truman put in an encouraging performance in the men’s keirin to reach the final, but finished sixth and last in the medal round.

Katy Marchant was back in action on Sunday morning in the individual sprint, reaching the last 16 before being edged out by world champion Kristina Vogel of Germany, who went on to win gold.