Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez has one hand on the 2017 trophy after his sixth and most important victory of the season at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, it was a disastrous race for title rival Andrea Dovizioso who started a lowly 11th after a poor qualifying to ultimately lose two places and concede more points to his Spanish rival.
Marquez, who started from pole did not lead from start to finish, and was upstaged on the opening lap by a fast starting Jack Miller, who jumped from 5th on the grid to lead in front of his home crowd.
Maverick Vinales and Marquez made contact on lap three - the World Champion losing two places in the process as Valentino Rossi also made his way through.
By lap five, Miller dropped to fifth after Vinales, Rossi and Marquez left him in their wake on the Gardner straight.
The single retirement of the race came on lap seven with Aleix Espargaro crashing out at the Doohan corner - while Johann Zarco passed Marquez for second.
Miller showed some fight over laps nine and ten, passing Vinales and Rossi to jump back to third.
By lap 13, Rossi passed Miller for third, the Aussie then reclaimed the place on the following lap - however by lap 15, he started to drop backwards and would go on to finish the race in seventh after being passed by last year's winner in Carl Crutchlow on lap 18.
Marquez would cement his lead of the race on lap 21 - breaking away to finish 1.7 seconds ahead of crowd favourite Valentino Rossi in second - while Maverick Vinales claimed third on the Gardner straight with a last gasp effort on Johann Zarco.
Marquez now leaders the World Championship by 33 points and will likely be crowned the 2017 MotoGP World Champion next weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.