Spaniard Marc Marquez became the first rider since Italian great Giacomo Agostini in 1972 to win the first five races of the season as he eased to victory in the French MotoGP at Le Mans yesterday.
The Honda rider — who also emulated Australia Mick Doohan in winning the five straight races from pole — recovered from a poor start to take control with 16 laps remaining and came home ahead of Italian great Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), while Alvaro Bautista of Spain was third on a Honda Gresini.
Victory on Sunday made the reigning world champion the youngest ever rider to win five successive races in the premier class, taking the record from late Englishman Mike Hailwood, who was 22 years and 160 days old when he won five successive races in the 500cc class in 1962.
Marquez got overwhelmed at the start of the race as Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Rossi and Pol Espargaro swept past him and his efforts to regain his position were thwarted as he clipped Lorenzo’s back wheel and did brilliantly not to go down.
Rossi, Espargaro and Bradl passed Dovizioso with 23 laps remaining, while Marquez continued his fight back by overtaking Rossi’s teammate Lorenzo with 22 laps to go to move into fifth.
He was fourth a lap later and going away from the stands with 19 laps remaining, he overtook Bradl and set off after Espargaro with Rossi still leading, while Dovizioso’s electric start had petered out completely as he dropped to 10th.
Marquez breezed past Espargaro the following lap and with 16 laps from the finish the young Spaniard went past the Italian as Rossi went too wide on a corner and Marquez took over.
Behind the front two, Alvaro Bautista was surging up the field and was turning the pressure on Espargaro for third place, which he eventually secured, while Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa produced a late charge passing Lorenzo to claim fifth.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB