VALENCIA: Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati took advantage of a difficult wet track to win the season-ending Valencia MotoGP on Sunday.

Poor conditions forced the race to be interrupted near its halfway point with Alex Rins in the lead on a Suzuki, but Dovizioso took control after the restart to seal his fourth win of the season.

The Italian rider, who had already secured second place in the championship, started third at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. He finished ahead of Rins and Pol Espargaro of KTM, who earned the first podium of his career.

Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi started near the back but recovered to second place before crashing with five laps to go. He still secured third place in the championship, ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales, the pole-sitter who was one of the many riders to go down before the race was red-flagged because of the treacherous track conditions.

Marquez, who claimed his fifth MotoGP title in Japan three races ago, crashed with 21 laps to go after starting fifth. He competed with pain in his left shoulder after also crashing in qualifying on Saturday.

Andrea Iannone, who is moving from Suzuki to Aprilia next season, also crashed early in the race.

It was the last MotoGP race for Dani Pedrosa, the 33-year-old Spaniard who is retiring as a full-time MotoGP rider and will test with KTM next season. He finished fifth on Sunday.

Three-time champion Jorge Lorenzo ended 12th in his final race before moving from Ducati to Honda to replace Pedrosa.

Alvaro Bautista, the 33-year-old Spaniard who will race in Superbikes next season, also was among the riders who crashed.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2018