By Dhruv George, Last Word on Motor Sport
MotoGP headed to Misano this weekend where fans were treated to an exciting spectacle of a race. Going into the race, Mahindra were going for their 100th race start, Brad Binder was aiming to get both hands on the Rider’s Championship, while Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez were trying to achieve the same thing. In the MotoGP race, it was Dani Pedrosa who secured victory.
Unstoppable Dani Pedrosa Secures Shock Victory over Rossi at Misano
Moto 3: Binder Moves Within Touching Distance of the Moto3 Title
Brad Binder started on pole, with Enea Bastianini starting in second and Nicolo Bulega starting in third.
As the lights went out Bulega was bogged down. The home favourites were Bastianini, Bulega, Locatelli, Di Giannantonio, Antonelli, Migno, Manzi, Dalla Porta, Bagnaia, Spiranelli, Petrarca, Valtulini and wildcard rider Alex Fabbri.
This weekend was a straight fight between Honda and KTM. Mahindra’s 100th race start turned into a nightmare with Aspar rider Jorge Martin pulling out due to injury and the other Mahindra riders being unable to match the pace of the other more powerful bikes, the highest placed Mahindra was last week’s feisty rookie Stefano Manzi who only managed 16th.
After a fiercely fought battle, Binder held off a spirited challenge by “The Beast” Bastianini and in the meantime, Joan Mir quietly sneaked up from 16th place and stole the final spot on the podium.
Jorge Navarro’s hopes of catching the South African rider became even bleaker when the bike was pitched into a high side. Although he avoided landing on the bad leg, the Spaniard was still in excruciating pain as he limped off. The other point scorers were Bulega, Kornfeil, Locatelli, Canet, Oettl, Ono, Di Giannantonio, Antonelli, Guevara, Loi, Danilo and Migno. Binder now leads the championship by nearly 100 points. Bagnaia was the biggest loser in the title fight after he dropped to 5th in the standings.
Moto2: Baldassari Scores a Maiden Moto2 Win
Championship leader Johann Zarco qualified on pole with Takaaki Nakagami and Lorenzo Baldassari starting in second and third respectively. The local heroes competing in the Moto2 race were Baldassari, Morbidelli, Marini, Pasini, Fuligni and Corsi.
Zarco could not make up for a bad start and slipped back down the field in the early stages of the race. Baldassari fended off Alex Rins to snatch a maiden victory. Briton Sam Lowes also saw his title chances run away when he crashed out midway. Baldassari, Rins and Nakagami occupied the top 3 honors; behind them were Zarco, Morbidelli, Luthi, Syahrin, Folger, Cortese, Alex Marquez, Schrotter, Vierge, Marini, Wilairot and Raffin, who completed the point scorers.
Rins has now closed the gap to Zarco to 3 points while Lowes and Luthi are locked in their own championship battle
MotoGP: Pedrosa Secures Shock Victory
Jorge Lorenzo shrugged off his poor form and scored a sensational pole with Rossi, Vinales and Marquez hot on his tail.
Going into the race, the home heroes were Rossi, Dovizioso, Petrucci and Pirro. Iannone sustained an injury and was forced to withdraw, also joining him on the injury list were Jack Miller, Loris Baz and Bradley Smith. Sam Lowes’ twin brother Alex Lowes replaced Smith and Javier Fores stood in for Baz, Pirro was initially a third rider but stood in for Iannone instead.
At the race start, the top 3 got away well with Marquez, Dovizioso and Pedrosa shadowing their every move. The duel between the Yamaha teammates was no less than fierce, even coming to blows when Rossi barged his way past Lorenzo and streaked away to the delight of the San Marino crowd. But there would soon be a twist to the tale with Pedrosa scything past Dovizioso and Marquez in quick succession and started looking very interested in his teammates’ rear wheel.
It soon shaped into the classic Honda versus Yamaha battle that was a long time coming. Then Pedrosa dive-bombed Marquez and later on, Lorenzo and began to hunt down race leader Rossi. Pedrosa had fitted a Soft and Medium set of tyres to give him an advantage. A titanic battle raged between Rossi and an inspired Pedrosa, with the Spaniard coming out on top.
As soon as he hit the front, he never looked back and Rossi had no answer. Pedrosa held on to cross the line and create history by being the eighth different winner in a single season; Rossi and Lorenzo joined him on the podium in second and third. The remaining point scorers were Marquez, Vinales, Dovizioso, Pirro, Crutchlow, Pol Espargaro, Bautista, Petrucci, Bradl, Barbera, Laverty and Redding.
Marquez’ lead has been cut to 43 points as we head to Aragon in two weeks time.
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