forced to restart with 14 laps remaining. Rain inundated the circuit during the first half of the race as numerous riders, including Marc Marquez (Honda) and Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) hit the deck. The rain became so intense that the race was red-flagged, and then restarted as a 14 lap sprint.
On the restart, Alex Rins (Suzuki) was positioned at pole with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) second and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) third. Those three quickly distanced the field and appeared on their way to podium finishes before Rossi crashed (eventually re-mounting to finish 13th). At the flag, it was Dovizioso taking the win ahead of Rins in second and Pol Espargaro (KTM) in third.
Espargaro secured the first ever podium finish for KTM in the MotoGP category. This ends an exciting season dominated by Marc Marquez, who clinched the title with four races remaining. Going into 2019, Honda (with Jorge Lorenzo, who finished today’s race in 12th, joining Marquez as teammate), Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki all look strong — with KTM finding the podium today just before Johann Zarco teams up with Pol Espargaro next year. Aprilia has an entirely new bike coming to hopefully become competitive next year. Testing for 2019 begins Tuesday at Valencia.
Today also marked the end of the outstanding career of Dani Pedrosa (Honda), after many wins and countless podiums in the MotoGP class without ever taking the title. Pedrosa joins KTM as a test rider for 2019.
Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
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