Marc, Marc, Marc, Marc!

Yes, we just said his name four times. Yes, that’s the number of MotoGP titles he now has.

- Michael Scott

Marc Marquez could have taken his fourth MotoGP title the easy way. Even if Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati did win, the Repsol Honda rider could have cruised around safely. He only needed to finish 11th in the last race of the year.

That is not Marquez’s way. Starting from pole position after two crashes in practice and qualifying, he did try to play it safe – or a bit safe. But then temptation got the better of him, and the high drama began.

He’d led away in front of a capacity crowd of more than 110,000 at the compact stadium Ricardo Tormo circuit outside Valencia. Then after three of 30 laps he ceded the lead to second qualifier Johann Zarco’s Monster Yamaha. With his team-mate Dani Pedrosa in third, acting as impromptu bodyguard, and fourth-placed Jorge Lorenzo mystifyingly failing to give way to team-mate Dovizioso, the situation was secure, deal all but done.

But Marquez had a dilemma. Zarco’s pace was not high enough to keep him focused … but if he was to pass him, the Frenchman’s notorious aggression would put him at risk. So he decided to pass him good and proper to get out of his way, leaving his braking very late for the first corner.

“That was a mistake,” he laughingly admitted later.

It triggered a front-wheel slide, and necessitated yet another of the 24-year-old rider’s trademark incredible saves. “The front had gone, but the rear was still gripping, so I knew I could save it with my elbow,” he explained, showing the value of the record 27 crashes he’s had this season.

Even so, it sent him careening across the gravel. As we’ve seen before, his remedy was to open the throttle, and dirt-track it back, rejoining in fifth.