Marquez wins a thrilling 4 way battle in Australia

The MotoGP world championship landed in Australia with a tight title fight between Yamaha team mates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo with the former having an 18 points lead with 3 races to go.

Marquez (Honda) started from pole with Iannone (Ducati) and Lorenzo in the front row and championship leader Rossi in 6th.

At the start, the Ducati of Iannone rocketed into the lead beating the usual sling shot master. Lorenzo, into turn 1 with Marquez, Pedrosa, Crutchlow and Rossi following, but the championship contender Jorge Lorenzo didn't wait too long to attack and take the lead from Iannone after few corners. 

The young Italian Iannone on the Ducati which was performing well in the Australian track, fought back and both the riders exchanged the top spot between themselves. Meanwhile championship leader Rossi joined the back of Marquez after overcoming Pedrosa and Crutchlow. 

On lap 3 Iannone who was on the lead got hit by sea gull causing momentary distraction, Lorenzo grabbed the opportunity to retake the lead and pulled away gaining a slight cushion. Soon Marquez got ahead of Iannone and so did Rossi and Crutchlow.

Rossi, Marquez and Iannone had superb battle trading places which saw Lorenzo's lead chopped off. By lap 17 Marquez made the move on Lorenzo to take the lead and slightly pull away but within 3 laps the world champion slowed down and Lorenzo caught up retaking the lead.

Marquez dropped to 4th suddenly with the battle intensifying with a 4 way fight for the victory. 

While Lorenzo was on the lead marginally ahead, the following trio of Marquez, Rossi and Iannone were showcasing an classic battle of the decade with Iannone making an extra ordinary double overtaking move on Marquez and Rossi. 

Mean while Marquez held his belts together and got passed Iannone at the start of the final lap and rode an unbelievable qualifying like lap to close in on Lorenzo's 1 second lead overtaking him on the penultimate corner. Meanwhile compatriots Rossi and Iannone had an iconic battle of their own in the last lap with Iannone almost nudging Rossi and overtaking in the exit of next corner.

As Marquez made the move for victory over Lorenzo on the penultimate corner, Rossi too dived on the inside going too deep on Iannone hoping to salvage a podium position for the championship points, but Iannone got the drive at the exit and took the final podium spot much to the dismay of Rossi losing points to Lorenzo. Pedrosa came in 5th ahead of Maverik Vinales on the Suzuki and Cal Crutchlow. Pol Espargaro riding the Tech 3 Yamaha finished 8th ahead of elder brother Aleix Espargaro on the Suzuki with Bradley Smith rounding off the top 10. 

Marquez claimed his 50th Grand Prix victory and set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. 

With just 2 races to go (Malaysia & Valencia) the championship fight has gone even hotter with just 11 points between the season long championship leader Rossi and the super strong Lorenzo. 

MotoGP 2015 Australian Grand Prix - Race Results