Lorenzo edges closer to MotoGP title with Misano win

Sunday 16th September, 2012 10:55pm
Author: SpeedCafe ©

Jorge Lorenzo

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has begun the turn the screws on this year’s MotoGP, dominating the 13th round at Misano.

Lorenzo led home Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and San Carlo Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista.

The start of the race was delayed due to a stalled bike, almost causing an accident as riders launched off the line.

The delay saw Lorenzo’s championship rival Dani Pedrosa suffer a problem and was forced to start from the tail of the field.

He raced his way through the CRT bikes on the opening lap before being collected by Hector Barbera, throwing them both from their bikes.

With just five rounds to go, the title is alive with 38 points now separating teh pair, but the odds are beginning to be stacked against Pedrosa’s title chances.

Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium place after a late challenge to Bautista.

While the crowd enjoyed the late dice between Dovizioso and Bautista, nothing could match the celebrations for Rossi’s second place. The Italian’s celebrations were reminiscent of his winning ways over the past decade. It was Rossi’s first podium in the dry for Ducati.

Ben Spies was fifth ahead of Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden, rookie Honda MotoGP rider Jonathan Rea, Randy de Puniet and Michele Pirro rounding out the top 10.

Race results, MotoGP, Misano

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	159.8	42’49.836
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	159.6	+4.398
3	16	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	159.5	+6.055
4	13	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	159.5	+6.058
5	11	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	159.4	+7.543
6	10	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	159.0	+13.272
7	9	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	157.3	+40.907
8	8	56	Jonathan REA	GBR	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	157.2	+43.162
9	7	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	155.6	+1’09.627
10	6	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	155.4	+1’13.605
11	5	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	155.2	+1’16.695
12	4	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR	155.1	+1’19.073
13	3	77	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	155.1	+1’19.408
14	2	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda-Suter	152.0	1 Lap
15	1	44	David SALOM	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	150.7	1 Lap
Not Classified
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	155.8	4 Laps
		35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	157.7	23 Laps
		54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART	145.5	26 Laps
		8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati		0 Lap
		26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda		0 Lap
		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati		0 Lap

Championship points

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	270
2	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	232
3	Casey STONER	Honda	AUS	186
4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Yamaha	ITA	163
5	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Yamaha	GBR	122
6	Valentino ROSSI	Ducati	ITA	120
7	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	SPA	118
8	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	115
9	Nicky HAYDEN	Ducati	USA	93
10	Ben SPIES	Yamaha	USA	77
11	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	60
12	Randy DE PUNIET	ART	FRA	48
13	Aleix ESPARGARO	ART	SPA	45
14	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	25
15	Yonny HERNANDEZ	BQR	COL	25
16	Michele PIRRO	FTR	ITA	24
17	Colin EDWARDS	Suter	USA	22
18	James ELLISON	ART	GBR	17
19	Mattia PASINI	ART	ITA	13
20	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ioda-Suter	ITA	11
21	Ivan SILVA	BQR	SPA	11
22	Toni ELIAS	Ducati	SPA	10
23	Jonathan REA	Honda	GBR	8
24	Steve RAPP	APR	USA	2
25	David SALOM	BQR	SPA	1