Jack Miller decimated the competition in the Japanese Grand Prix at Mobility Resort Motegi to score a first MotoGP win of 2022 as Francesco Bagnaia crashed out.
The Aussie looked like a man possessed in the early laps as he quickly launched up from seventh on the grid to sit third by the end of the opening tour before then snatching away second from KTM’s Brad Binder by the end of the second lap.
The factory Ducati pilot wasn’t finished yet though as he quickly chased down the leading Martin before lunging past at Turn 11 to secure the leadership.
He was never headed beyond this point as he streaked clear from the rest across the remainder of the encounter, crafting a lead as big as 5.5 seconds at its peak as he cruised away to a fourth career premier class success by 3.4 seconds at the flag ahead of the close scrap for second.
Martin looked to be on for a safe run to the runners-up spot for the majority of the contest, though he ultimately came under pressure for the position in the closing stages from a charging Binder.
The South African bided his time and eventually managed to get the better of the Pramac Ducati rider at Turn 1 on the final tour, matching his best result of the season so far while Martin was forced to make do third – albeit his first rostrum result since the Catalan GP in June.
Marc Marquez put in an impressive performance to score a strong fourth for Honda in his first full-race distance since May’s Italian GP after crashing last weekend at Aragon, the six-time premier class champion passing KTM’s Miguel Oliveira at the death to secure the place.
The Portuguese rider very nearly lost fifth to a resurgent Luca Marini to boot after the VR46 rider passed him at Turn 11 on the last circulation, though a brave move from Oliveira at Turn 12 beat the Italian to the line.
Maverick Vinales fended off Fabio Quartararo to bring his Aprilia home in seventh, the pursuing Yamaha ace ultimately extending his series lead from ten points to 18 with eighth after Bagnaia crashed out while trying to steal the position on the last lap.
The Ducati pilot looked to squeak past his rival at Turn 3 but asked a little too much from the front tyre of his Desmosedici while on a tight line, Bagnaia losing the front as a result and sliding off into the gravel.
His demise promoted Gresini’s Enea Bastianini to ninth, while Marco Bezzecchi took top rookie honours in tenth on the sister VR46 entry.
Aleix Espargaro suffered bad luck on a day he could have carved a significant chunk of points from his two rivals in the championship after he suffered an electronics problem with his primary Aprilia RS-GP on the warm-up lap.
Despite minimising his time loss by jumping on his spare bike and joining the race from pit-lane, his compromised tyre strategy due to having the soft rear compound rubber fitted to the machine limited him to a 16th place finish in the end just behind RNF Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow.
It was not a happy day for the home riders in the premier class as Takaaki Nakagami was the only one of the three Japanese riders to see the chequered flag, the LCR Honda man struggling with his hand injury to 20th as the final classified rider, while Tetsuta Nagashima and Suzuki’s Takuyo Tsuda went out thanks to a crash and a spectacular engine blow-up respectively.
