Monday 14th September 2015

MotoGP Misano: PH2

Could Rossi take advantage of hometown support?

---

The Misano round is Rossi's home race and sure enough, a new lid design emerged with a Lorenzo shark chasing a small Rossi fish. Would this image reflect the race? And had Rossi overlooked the potential spoiler Marc Marquez?

With the weather starting to play its part as the track temperature dropped, the race looked like it was playing into Rossi hands. Could he make it past the first notoriously tricky corner? Or would the weather help decide the championship...

Lights out and with Lorenzo in the lead the rain started to fall on the first lap! But only on one corner. The rest of the track was dry, but it was Lorenzo who would find the first damp patches while in third Rossi had a far better view.

With the clouds gathering, the first few laps were more than a little tense as Marc stalked Lorenzo and Rossi looked on. Jorge isn't usually a wet weather man, but he was certainly digging deep in an effort to ruin the Rossi fan club's party. Then, with 22 laps to go, the bike swaps started...

At the front it was a case of who would blink first as Rossi and Marquez caught up with Lorenzo. Surely they would all swap bikes on the next lap. As the trio exited the pits, it was Jorge and Marc side by side with Rossi the big loser. Could it get any more exciting? Of course, Rossi was starting to close down the 3.5 second gap and Marc ran wide, handing the lead to Jorge.

With 16 laps to go Rossi had caught them, what would happen now? And what was going on with Bradley Smith, the only rider who hadn't swapped to wets. Had the Brit pulled out a blinder?

With 12 laps left Rossi barged through to take the lead and instantly pulled out an advantage as Jorge slipped into Marc's clutches. Could his wet tyres last the distance? The crowd certainly hoped so but the riders on slick tyres were now going quicker than the leaders. Would the rain come again or would the leaders pit?

With Marc taking the plunge and pulling in first, had the two Yamaha riders blown it in a case of championship blindness? With ten laps to go it was going to be close but it looked like Rossi choice to sticking it out on wets when Lorenzo had opted for slicks had blown a potential win. Then the championship took another twist.

Unbelievably, Lorenzo hit the dirt, leaving Marc in first, Bradley in second, Redding fourth and Rossi fifth! An amazing race saw Marc take the win Bradley second and Scott third - even after crashing earlier in the race! The Rossi fans got to see him extend his championship lead and Lorenzo hit the dirt, which almost made up for the lack of a Rossi podium. That said, Rossi threw away a certain win by not coming in sooner but there again, he did force Lorenzo to push harder than he wanted to...

Moto2 and a good start saw Lowes well in the mix but far enough back to avoid the elbow bashing between the two leaders. Sadly for Lowes, a technical issue ruled him out of a top ten finish while at the front Zarco took a clear win.

Moto3 and after avoiding any first lap disasters, Danny Kent settled down into a top ten position while all about him were getting a touch excitable on the opening few laps. Sitting on the tail of the leading pack, Kent demonstrated a cool head once again but a penalty for running off the track's limits ruined his race. Ten laps to make up the three second gap to the leaders was simply too large and he finished sixth, well behind a terrific scrap between the five leaders.

---

Results:

MotoGP:
1st: Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
2nd: Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3)
3rd: Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS)

Moto2:
1st: Zarco (Ajo Motorsport)
2nd: Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS)
3rd: Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia)

Moto3:
1st: Bastianini (Junior Team Gresini Moto3)
2nd: Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
3rd: Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold)

Brit watch:
Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) - 11
Bradley Smith (MotoGP) - 2
Scott Redding (MotoGP) - 3
Eugene Laverty (MotoGP) - 19
Sam Lowes (Moto2) - DNF
John McPhee (Moto3) - 19
Danny Kent (Moto3) - 6

Previous rounds:
MotoGP USA
MotoGP Qatar
MotoGP Argentina
MotoGP Jerez
MotoGP France
MotoGP Italy
MotoGP Spain
MotoGP Assen
MotoGP Germany
MotoGP Indianapolis
MotoGP Czech Republic
MotoGP Silverstone

[jason61c]

2 brits on the podium and not one comment, great racing.

Borefest f1 would have loads of post by now dispute the fact there's only one car that can win in a maybe two horse race.

[Yazza54]

We tend to do the Moto GP races to death in their own thread, then this pops up 2 days later and recaps what we've been talking about, hence lack of comments. Great race, 2 Brits up there and Rossi's lead extended. Will do for me.

[peterg1955]

^ like he says... 7 pages of discussion already here

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[StuB]

A bit lacking in the Moto2 and Moto3 coverage?

3/10, need to do better