Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/860911
48 MARC Márquez captured his third successive pole position, and fifth of the season, as he controlled proceedings dur- ing qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Márquez set three rapid laps across the course of the 15-min- ute session, the fastest com- ing on his second effort, as he wound up with a 1:23.235. Márquez's pole position was his 70th across all categories, the first man to achieve the feat. Ducati posed the primary threat to Márquez's supremacy at the Red Bull Ring, though neither Andrea Dovizioso nor Jorge Lorenzo seriously chal- lenged for overall honours. Dovizioso finished 0.144s be- hind Márquez with a late ef- fort, with Lorenzo completing the front row of the grid, 0.386s down on his compatriot. Maverick Viñales' led Yama- ha's charge in fourth, over half a second slower than Márquez, with Valentino Rossi in seventh position. They were split by Pramac's Da- nilo Petrucci and Tech 3's Johann Zarco, while Dani Pedrosa was a low-key eighth for Repsol Honda, having had to negotiate his way through Q1. LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow claimed ninth with a late effort, after his initial lap was deleted due to exceeding track limits exiting Turn 1. Andrea Iannone suffered a me- chanical failure in the fourth prac- tice session and was left to round out the top 10 for Suzuki, ahead of Karel Abraham (Aspar) and Loris Baz (Avintia). Tech 3's Jonas Folger will start from 13th position, having nar- rowly missed out on a Q2 spot, in front of Avintia's Héctor Barberá and outgoing Pramac rider Scott Redding. Pol Espargaró fronted KTM's three-strong charge for its home event in 16th position, with tester Mika Kallio taking 18th for his second wildcard of the campaign, as Bradley Smith qualified in 22nd place. Espargaró and Kallio were split by Aspar's Álvaro Bautista, while Pramac-bound Marc VDS rider Jack Miller took 19th. Aprilia struggled for pace, with Aleix Espargaró running off-track en route to 20th spot, while Sam Lowes was a low-key 23rd, a day after it was confirmed that he will not be with the team in 2018. Suzuki's Álex Rins was 21st, with Tito Rabat (Marc VDS) qualifying as the slowest of the 24 riders. Sport maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 2017 BOXING MOTOGP Márquez controls session for Austria pole 2017 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix - Qualifying Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M. Marquez Repsol Honda 01:23.235 10 2. A. Dovizioso Ducati 01:23.379 10 3. J. Lorenzo Ducati 01:23.621 8 4. M. Viñales Yamaha 01:23.754 9 5. D. Petrucci Pramac 01:23.780 8 6. J. Zarco Tech 3 01:23.879 8 7. V. Rossi Yamaha 01:23.982 9 8. D. Pedrosa Repsol Honda 01:23.985 9 9. C. Crutchlow LCR Honda 01:24.024 10 10. A. Iannone Suzuki 01:24.185 10 11. K. Abraham Aspar 01:24.220 9 12. L. Baz R. Esponsorama 01:24.483 9 Fans pay big money for Mayweather-McGregor tickets FIGHT fans attending the much- hyped boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial artist Conor McGregor will have a chance to rub shoulders with the stars in Las Vegas -- but it won't come cheap. The least expensive ticket listed on reseller StubHub is going for an eye-watering $1675 with two weeks to go until the Aug. 26 fight which pits undefeated boxer Mayweath- er against the UFC's lightweight champion in a 12-round super wel- terweight matchup. "Usually for these large events it's comparable to a Super Bowl. There's going to be a lot of stars at these events, especially in the high- priced ticket range, the ringside seats," StubHub spokesman Cam- eron Papp said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list event, so the die-hard Mayweather and McGregor fans are usually going to find their way to the event." The fight has not yet sold out, with high face values and a lack of access seeming to have slowed down demand. Yet Leonard Ellebre, CEO of May- weather Promotions, dismissed concerns about the fight's popular- ity earlier in the week. "This isn't a damn Rolling Stones concert. They're the only thing that sells out in seconds, he told report- ers at Mayweather's media workout in Las Vegas on Thursday. "Right now we have over $60 mil- lion in ticket sales - what part of that remotely looks like ticket sales are slow? "We're talking about tickets that go form $500 to $10,000. That's an expensive ticket." The $60 million figure revealed by Ellebre dwarfs the UFC box of- fice record of $17 million set at Madison Square Garden in No- vember 2016 when McGregor de- feated Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title. That, however, is still a long way short of Mayweather's previous re- cord of $72 million in ticket sales, a figure achieved when he met Man- ny Pacquiao at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas in 2015. "Boxing is still number one, but we've seen more growth in MMA over the last two years, they've re- ally built up their brand and we're seeing the demand for it," Papp said. One reason for this growth is the enormous popularity of McGregor, and it was fan interest in the fight between the brash 29-year-old and the unbeaten Mayweather that led to it being arranged. One seller on the Vivid Seats website has listed a pair of ringside seats for the contest at a staggering $164,043 each, but Papp says that prices in secondary markets are likely to come down closer to the event. "You're going to set your price pretty high early as a seller to see what you can get, but once you get closer to the event, sellers are look- ing to unload those tickets," Papp explained. With fans hard-pressed to afford tickets, other venues in Las Vegas are jumping on the bandwagon, with the RiRa Irish pub, a popular bar among McGregor supporters, selling tickets for $150 just to watch the pay-per-view broadcast on TV. Floyd Mayweather