Marc Marquez has won the 2018 MotoGP world championship with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix after Andrea Dovizioso crashed late on while battling for the win.
Dovizioso had to outscore Marquez by two points to ensure the title went to Phillip Island, with the pair duelling all race long before a late tumble secure Marquez's fifth MotoGP title.
Poleman Dovizioso took the holeshot into the first corner at the start, while Marquez carved his way through to third behind Jack Miller.
Marquez cleared Miller at Turn 9, with Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow following suit two laps later at Turn 5 to join Marquez's pursuit of Dovizioso.
Crutchlow reeled in the top two once clear of Pramac's Miller, with the LCR rider scything up the inside of Marquez at Turn 7 on the fifth tour to lead the charge against Dovizioso.
Marquez regained second from Crutchlow four laps later, and pounced on Dovizioso a further five tours after at Turn 9 to lead for the first time.
However, Marquez ran wide exiting Turn 10 and touched the dirt, compromising his run into Turn 11 and allowing Dovizioso to reclaim the lead.
This moment allowed the chasing Suzuki duo of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins to close in, though the former would crash out of contention at Turn 10 next time around.
Crutchlow's charge for victory began to fade with eight laps remaining, a gap of half a second opening up between himself and Marquez ahead, while Rins began to pull in the LCR rider.
With five laps remaining, Dovizioso and Marquez pulled the pin, with the pair lapping in near-identical 1:46.6s, though the Ducati rider continued to hold the Marquez at bay.
Marquez took the lead at Turn 9 again with four laps remaining, with Dovizioso stopping him from breaking away.
However, on the penultimate lap, Dovizioso crashed at Turn 10, giving Marquez a free run to the chequered flag to secure his seventh title across all three classes and to become just the fourth rider in history to win five premier class crowns.
Crutchlow fended off Rins to take second, while Yamaha's Valentino Rossi faded from the podium battle early on to finish fourth ahead of Nieto's Alvaro Bautista, who finished top Ducati rider after Dovizioso's demise.
Johann Zarco was unable to capitalise on his front row starts and was sixth in the end, from Yamaha stablemate Maverick Vinales, Honda's Dani Pedrosa, Danilo Petrucci on the Pramac GP18 and Zarco's Tech3 teammate Hafizh Syahrin.
Marc VDS' Franco Morbidelli, KTM duo Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, Yamaha wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga and his fellow Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami [LCR] took the final points.
Dovizioso remounted after his crash to get across the line in 18th, while Ducati stablemate's Miller and Karel Abraham [Nieto] fell off. Aleix Espargaro retired with a mechanical issue on his Aprilia.
