Photography by Gold & Goose
Valentino Rossi thrilled the partisan San Marino crowd when he won the MotoGP race at Misano, Italy, round 13 of the 18-race MotoGP World Championship. Rossi took the lead from Movistar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo early in the race and then held off a challenge by defending world champ Marc Marquez. Marquez crashed while giving chase, but was able to remount his machine and finish the race in 15th. Behind Rossi came Lorenzo, 1.578 seconds back. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa rounded out the podium finishers. It was the first victory for Yamaha in MotoGP this season.
For the 35-year-old Rossi, it marked his 81st-career MotoGP victory and his first since Assen last year. It was his first win at his home track in five years and the massive crowd was electrified by their hero’s win and mobbed the track after the race.
In spite of the crash Marquez did no major damage to his championship lead. He still leads by 74 points (289-215) over Pedrosa. Rossi drew to within a single point of Pedrosa in third with 214 points.
For Rossi the victory was one of the most emotional of his career.
“I’m very happy for sure, because this is special,” Rossi said. “Here in Misano, in front of all of the crowd, in front of my family, my friends. During practice it looked like our Yamaha was working very well. It was like we have more of an advantage here at Misano. So I tried the maximum. We did a very good job in practice with the team. Yesterday and this morning I was very strong, so that I can fight for the victory. I know for sure that I have to battle with Dani, especially with Jorge and with Marc. So I tried the maximum at the beginning. I had some pushing, but I know if I can resist I have a good pace. At the end it was great. To come back with a victory more than a year later and make this year in Misano great. I cannot want more for today.”
At the start Lorenzo got a great jump and led into turn one with Rossi slotting in behind him. Marquez came up from the second row to take third. Rossi and Marquez gave each other a few elbows before Rossi consolidated second place.
As the race settled in it was Lorenzo leading Rossi and Marquez. On lap five Rossi began attacking Lorenzo in earnest. After a couple of pass/repasses Rossi made it stick to take over the lead, much to the delight of the crowd. A couple of turns later Marquez came through past Lorenzo to second as the leading trio broke away from Andrea Iannone who headed up the rest of the field and was holding off Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso.
On lap eight Pedrosa and Dovizioso moved past Iannone in the battle for fourth. Meanwhile LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl crashed out of the race.
Unbelievably, 10 laps in, Marquez lowsided his Repsol Honda in the fairly slow Rio Corner right-hander. He slid it on his side and the bike suffered no damage, but the motor died and Marquez was unable to bump start it alone. Finally track marshals gave him a push to help him re-fire the machine. He resumed in 20th place.
That left Rossi out front by a little over two seconds ahead of teammate Lorenzo. Pedrosa was another three seconds back holding off the Ducatis of Dovi and Iannone.
Just past the halfway mark the first signs of problems showed for Rossi as he began sliding heavily in some corners. That had to be encouraging for Lorenzo, who was now about 2.5 seconds back. Yet in spite of seeming grip issues, Rossi continued to build on his lead at about a tenth of a second per lap.
With eight laps to go Cal Crutchlow was in a torrid battle with Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro when Crutchlow ran too hot into a turn and ran off, dropping from eight to 10th.
The closing laps were all about the anticipation of a special victory. Rossi held his lead steady at just around two-and-a-half seconds over Lorenzo. Pedrosa was third with Dovizioso hanging on in an excellent dry-weather performance on the Ducati, but not close enough to be a major threat. Iannone was a lonely fifth and then came Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith. The only shift in the results among the top runners was on the last lap when Aleix Espargaro crashed out. He still leads the Open Class riders in series points.
For Lorenzo it marked his seventh podium of the season and fifth in a row.
“I’m really disappointed with my race,” Lorenzo said. “I expected maybe not to win, but maybe to fight a little bit more. For the other side I’m happy for Yamaha with first and second. It has been a lot of time without this result. I knew after this morning warm-up and with yesterday that Valentino had a very good pace. At least I expected to be able to do 34.0 or 33.9. A little bit faster than last year, but it was the opposite, I was slower with the hardest tire on the front. We were the only one to use it because I tried it yesterday and liked it quite a lot. Today from the first lap I saw I didn’t have as much grip. Luckily it was constant, but in general worse than yesterday, so I couldn’t turn the same. I pushed hard for the win, but this time Valentino was strong and he got the win.”
Next up for the MotoGP circus is round 14 in Aragon on Sept. 28.
San Marino GP Results from Misano – Sept. 14, 2014
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 44m 14.586s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 44m 16.164s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 44m 18.862s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 44m 20.096s
5. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 44m 26.357s
6. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 44m 33.585s
7. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 44m 37.686s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 44m 51.044s
9. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 44m 53.066s
10. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 45m 0.464s
11. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 45m 9.351s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 45m 11.361s
13. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 45m 17.320s
14. Alex De Angelis RSM NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 45m 28.132s
15. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 45m 30.534s
16. Leon Camier GBR Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 45m 35.346s
17. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 45m 41.008s
18. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) +1 lap
19. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Avintia) +1 lap
Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) DNF
Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) DNF
Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) DNF
Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia) DNF
