MotoGP: Fantastic Victory by Andrea Dovizioso in the San Marino Grand Prix.

USPA NEWS - Andrea Dovizioso dominated the San Marino GP, round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship, which was held today at the Misano circuit in Italy. At his home race, the rider from Forlì started from row 2, then overtook his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to move into the lead on the sixth lap. He held the position right until the end of the race, taking the chequered flag 2.8 seconds ahead of Marquez.
Thanks to today´s win, Andrea Dovizioso moves up to second place in the Riders´ standings with 154 points, 67 from Marquez, while Lorenzo drops to fourth with 130 points. Ducati remain second in the Manufacturers´ standings with 233 points, cutting the gap to Honda to 23 points.

Andrea Dovizioso “First“ #04 Ducati Factory Racing “I wanted this win so badly, because here at Misano Ducati and I have always struggled in recent years. In the test in August however we realized that we had made an important step forward and we could be competitive in the race. We worked really well during the weekend, in very different conditions, but both Jorge and Marc are very strong here so to win I had to do a perfect race. I started off in the right frame of mind, fully focussed on the race strategy, and when I took the lead, I pulled out a small advantage and then managed the situation until the finish. I´m really pleased, because winning here at Misano was very important for Ducati but also for me. Years ago it seemed like an impossible dream, but now we´ve done it and it fills me with so much satisfaction.“

Marc Marquez “Second“ #93 Honda Repsol HRC “We´re very happy with this podium because we knew that at this track Ducati would be very fast and actually they were! They´d tested here and we hadn´t, but we fought hard and we got very close. I had a good start and then it took some time to bring the tyres up to temperature. I closed the little gap to the front but then I saw that Dovi was so strong today, so I set second place as the target. I was behind Jorge but he was faster than me. I kept pushing and pushing to see if I was able to make a move in the last lap and then he crashed. We took second meaning that we leave here with a 67-point advantage in the Championship which is very important. I´m happy, I feel comfortable on the bike, and I´m ready to prepare for Aragon, which is a track that I like very much.“

Cal Crutchlow “Third“ #35 Honda Castrol LCR “The Team did a fantastic job this weekend, this is a very important round for them, I was disappointed not to race at mine two weeks ago, so we put everything into this one. We tried our best, sure we got lucky with the crash of Lorenzo at the end, but as I said, I don´t really care because we did a good job. I´m proud of my Team and we now go to Aragon in good shape“. “I lost one second (behind Maverick Vinales and Alex Rins) and that just stopped me being there with Marc (Marquez) and Jorge (Lorenzo), but that´s the way it goes. I wasn´t willing to push at the start of the race as much as I could and I got passed by Rins. But overall we have to be very pleased for the Team and we head into the rest of the year in good shape.“

Results Session
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 25 Ducati Team Ducati 42'05.426
2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 20 Repsol Honda Team Honda 2.822
3 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 16 LCR Honda Honda 7.269
4 RINS Alex 42 SPA 13 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 14.687
5 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 11 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 16.016
6 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 10 Repsol Honda Team Honda 17.408
7 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 9 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 19.086
8 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 8 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 21.804
9 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 7 Angel Nieto Team Ducati 23.919
10 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 6 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 27.559
11 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 5 Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 30.698
12 MORBIDELLI Franco 21 ITA 4 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 32.941
13 NAKAGAMI Takaaki 30 JPN 3 LCR Honda Honda 33.461
14 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 2 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 35.686
15 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 1 Ducati Team Ducati 35.812
16 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 46.500
17 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 0 Ducati Team Ducati 46.614
18 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 0 Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 50.593

19 SYAHRIN Hafizh 55 MAL 0 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 55.168
20 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 0 Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1'02.255
21 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'09.475
22 LUTHI Tom 12 SWI 0 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'12.608
23 PONSSON Christophe 23 FRA 0 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1 lap
24 BRADL Stefan 6 GER 0 Team HRC Honda 10 laps
25 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 10 laps
26 SIMEON Xavier 10 BEL 0 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 25 laps