MOTEGI:
Marc Marquez can clinch his seventh MotoGP world championship in Japan at the weekend to underline a season of dominance and match the record of motorcycle great Valentino Rossi.
The Spanish Ducati rider is on a whopping 512 points and needs just three points more than his brother Alex Marquez to win the title with five weekends to spare of the 22-race season.
Sealing a first championship since 2019 at Motegi would crown a comeback from an injury nightmare which began when Marquez broke his right arm in 2020.
The 32-year-old has been in unstoppable form this year and his points total is already a single-season record for a MotoGP rider.
The last of his three Japanese MotoGP wins came in 2019, but such is his brilliance that Marquez's victory in San Marino two weeks ago was his