Marc Marquez suffered a bizarre shoulder injury whilst celebrating his third straight MotoGP crown – and fifth of his career – after victory in Japan.
Marquez had his shoulder dislocated after being congratulated following the win at Motegi – his eighth of the season.
It drew Marquez level on five titles with Mick Doohan and only Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini have won more.
Marquez started from sixth but it did not take him long to find his way to the front of race.
Pole-sitter Andrea Dovizioso took advantage of a Marquez error to move into the lead but with just three laps remaining the Spaniard claimed the lead once again.
Dovizioso lost control and slid onto the grass as he tried to pass Marquez handing the Honda rider victory and the title.
And the Repsol Honda rider revealed the manner of the victory to secure the title was especially satisfying, with his studious approach helping him to defy the odds.
“I feel really happy and the race was exactly what I had in my mind. Yesterday, after the qualifying, I tried to analyse and understand,” said Marquez, who qualified sixth fastest.
“I knew that the pace of FP4 was really good and in warm-up I reconfirmed with the used tyres. Before the race, we planned the race like always and we tried to understand which was the real possibility, and we saw that we had exactly the same pace as Dovi.
“But I was starting in sixth place and I told myself I have to be in a perfect way in the first lap, riding in a perfect shape and a perfect rhythm,” he added. “Already at the end of the first lap I was second behind Dovi and that was the main target. Then I tried to study, tried to analyse, and I saw that I was strong enough to fight with him until the end.”
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