Dani Pedrosa took his second MotoGP win of the year at Sepang today, crossing the line more than two seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo with Valentino Rossi third.

But the Spaniard’s victory was completely overshadowed by an incident with Rossi and new-worst enemy Marc Marquez which resulted in the young Repsol Honda man crashing out of the race.

The pair had been scrapping tooth and nail, bashing fairings and swapping paint, passing in unusual places and generall holding each other up as Lorenzo and Pedrosa escaped at the front, pulling a significant gap.

Marquez looked to be having some rear grip issues and he harried Rossi for the final podium spot but the overtakes between the two began to get personal with one cutting off the other’s front wheel time and again.

It all came to a head when Rossi went under Marquez, looked across at Marquez, slowed and pushed him wide. Marquez then leant on The Doctor to try and turn in, Rossi’s leg then caught on Marquez’ front brake and down went the Honda man.

Slow-motion replays see Rossi’s leg coming out as the pair touch but whether it was purposeful on Rossi’s part or a reflex action in response to being leant on is a matter for speculation and one that will almost certainly never become clear.

Rossi and Marquez have already been summoned to race direction for an investigation and it is almost certain Rossi will receive some sort of penalty. In parc ferme, Rossi intimated he thought Marquez was deliberately messing him up as they had the pace to take the fight to at least Lorenzo.

“Unfortunately I lose a lot of time with Marc and in turn 14, I try to go a little bit wider for a better line and make him slow but he just come to me and I don’t know he crash in that moment but anyway it is a shame because in a normal race we can stay with Jorge,” he said.

As it stands, Britain’s Bradley Smith will take fourth place after passing Cal Crutchlow with ten laps left after the LCR Honda man went wide in the last turn and didn’t have the pace to re-pass the Monster Yamaha man but this could all change when race direction make their decision.

Silverstone hero Danilo Petrucci was sixth ahead of Aleix Espargao’s Suzuki. Maverick Vinales, on the second GSX-RR, was eighth with Pol Espargaro ninth despite a warm-up clash with Hector Barbera that left him with a fractured vertebrae. Stefan Bradl completed the top ten.

Scott Redding finished in 11th place with Yonny Hernandez 12th. Eugene Laverty ended his race in 19th.

Click here for (provisional) results