Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez has all sorts of MotoGP records out of the water this year and did the final one at Valencia this afternoon becoming the youngest premier class world champion in the modern era at the age of 20.
A series rookie this year, he takes over from 1978 winner King Kenny Roberts after a frantic early race at Valencia which saw Jorge Lorenzo take the win and Dani Pedrosa second after being waved through by his team-mate with five laps to go.
Marquez had to contend with some interesting tactics from Lorenzo early on as the then-reigning champion got the holeshot but then backed the pace right down in order to give factory Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista the chance to get involved in the scrap for the podium spot.
The strategy saw Pedrosa take advantage to bag the lead on lap two but it was short-lived as Lorenzo was back past. He did the same again a lap later only to run wide and then again on the following lap did the pair swap places with Lorenzo employing very aggressive and out-of-character tactics.
In the first seven laps, Lorenzo and Pedrosa switched places, and sometimes paint, 13 times before the Yamaha's man final pass pushed the pair wide and Marquez rattled into the lead with 20 laps to go and, at the same time, Cal Crutchlow crashed out after another poor start.
It took Lorenzo only a lap to reel Marquez back in and he then studiously ignored signals from his pit to slow down, banging in lap record after lap record to pull a near three second lead in the hope that Marquez would crash in an effort to catch him.
Marquez was not to be riled, however, and sat in second place, lapping slower than Lorenzo and his team-mate because all he had to do was finish fourth. Pedrosa set the fastest lap of the race before he was waved through by Marquez for second place.
Rossi ended the day in fourth place again after another fight with Bautista while Stefan Bradl got the better of the fast-starting Bradley Smith for sixth place. Nicky Hayden, Andrea Dovizioso and Michele Pirro rounded out the top ten.
