San Marino MotoGP: Marquez tames tricky Misano

There was lots of excitement as the MotoGP bandwagon entered Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi had won a thrilling rain soaked race at Silverstone and was back again leading the championship entering his home race and Rossi fans were pumped up to say the least as the Grand Prix was sold out. It was Jorge Lorenzo that stole the limelight on Saturday by grabbing yet another pole with Marc Marquez in second and Rossi completing the front row. There was drama at the start of the race itself as few drops of rain could be spotted on camera lenses prior to race start but the grid proceeded with dry-spec machines. Lorenzo made an awesome start to maintain the race lead with Marquez second, Rossi was coming under serious pressure from Pedrosa as he tried to pass him on few occasions. The Italian rider somehow managed to fend off Pedrosa and etch a slight lead ahead of him by end of the first lap. At the same moment, white flags were out signalling to the riders that they can switch to wet-spec machines. 

But the leading pack of riders chose not to switch but it suddenly started pouring and the riders were struggling to ride the slick tyres on wet surface. The trio of riders entered the pits to switch their bikes with Marquez grabbing the race lead, Lorenzo second and Rossi a distant third as he trailed his team-mate by over seven seconds. The pecking order didn’t change for the following set of laps until Marquez ran wide at Turn 8 with 20 laps in the race remaining. Lorenzo utilized this to his benefit and reclaimed the race lead. While the Spaniards were fighting it out for the race lead, Rossi was on the charge.

The Rainmaster’s supremacy can be gauged from the fact that he was almost a second faster than both the riders and it soon turned into a three-way battle for the race lead. With 12 laps remaining in the race, Rossi passes Marquez and Lorenzo to grab the race lead to the delight of the hordes of the Italian fans. Rossi started posting some blisteringly hot laps as Lorenzo and Marquez were just blown off their socks by The Doctor’s pace in wet conditions. Sadly for Rossi track conditions started getting dry but he chose to stick to the track despite the Yamaha pit crew signalling both the riders to switch to dry-spec motorcycles.  

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In the following lap, Marquez switched his bike and was almost 10 seconds faster than Rossi’s pace. The Italian rider was playing mind games with Lorenzo as both the riders continued to ride with their tyres degrading at an alarming rate. The Spanish rider entered pits while Rossi stayed out and many felt it was a wrong move by Rossi. The MotoGP legend entered pits to switch bike while Lorenzo was out on track on the dry-spec bike. Rossi’s mind games seemed to have worked as Lorenzo pushed the bike too hard before the tyres could get to optimum temperature which resulted in a high speed crash. With Lorenzo out, Rossi eased his pace and was running in a distant fifth place. Marquez benefitted by switching early as he cruised his way to his first win at Misano.

He was joined by British duo of Bradley Smith and Scott Redding on the podium in second and third place respectively. It was Redding’s first MotoGP class podium and what makes it more special is the fact that he was in the gravel trap on the sixth lap after crashing. Despite the fifth place finish, Rossi would be happy with the outcome as he now leads the championship by 23 points ahead of Lorenzo. The Spaniard was taken for X-rays post the crash and gladly he didn’t sustain any serious injuries.