Pedrosa goes back-to-back

From motogp.com

Dani Pedrosa took his fourth MotoGP win of the season and achieved his first back-to-back premier class victories on Sunday, finishing first at Misano ahead of Championship leader and rival Jorge Lorenzo and home favourite Valentino Rossi.

Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa set a stunning pace from the start and was almost 1.5 secs. clear of Lorenzo by only the third lap, as he set a lap record early on in the 28-lap contest.

"I want to say thank you again to my team for doing a great job," Pedrosa said. "The whole weekend has been perfect: good practices, a very high pace during the race, and the second win in a row and the fourth of the season. I want to keep my feet on the ground though and just concentrate on one race at a time. The feeling on the bike is very good now and my goal is to continue in this way."

"I made a good start but I couldn't keep close to Pedrosa," Lorenzo admitted. "Second is good, we weren't fast enough but for the championship it's another very important result and that is our target. The podium is our goal in all races, although we hope we can still improve our M1 a bit more."

With Pedrosa pulling away and Lorenzo riding a relatively lonely race in second position the real battle was for the final podium spot, with Rossi attacking Casey Stoner. The pair swapped positions a couple of times before the Italian made a move stick, with Andrea Dovizioso also passing the Australian shortly after.

Rossi and Dovizioso pulled away as they contended for the honour of highest placing Italian rider, and it was a battle the reigning World Champion eventually won comfortably.

"This was a great result for us, more than just for the podium but for the way that the result arrived," Rossi said. "I was very fast at the end of the race and this shows how much we're improving because I was able to keep pushing right to the end. I think we did a good job this weekend."

Following Dovizioso and Stoner were Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Ben Spies and Colin Edwards in sixth and seventh respectively, with Álvaro Bautista, Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completing the top 10.

Melandri’s team-mate Marco Simoncelli crashed but rejoined the race to finish 14th, while Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) was forced to retire late on.

Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) went down together just off the start. The American rejoined the race but later had to retire with the Italian suffering the disappointment of a DNF on his 200th premier class start.

Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the standings is now 63 points over Pedrosa, with Rossi moving into fourth overall at nine points behind Dovizioso.

Toni Elías won from pole position at Misano on Sunday in the Moto2 Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini to extend his Championship lead to 83 points, achieving his sixth victory of the season and his fourth in a row.

Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) moved into second place in the standings with second position in the race, while Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki) made a return to the podium.

However, the day was overshadowed by the tragic death of Shoya Tomizawa who passed away due to injuries sustained in a crash during the race.

Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) took his sixth win of the season – his first since Sachsenring – at Misano on Sunday as he opened up a nine-point advantage over Nico Terol in the 125cc title race, with the Bancaja Aspar rider crossing the line in second position.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 44:22.059
2. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +1.900
3. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +3.183
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +6.454
5. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati +18.479
6. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +28.385
7. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +34.934
8. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +38.157
9. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +40.943
10. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +42.377
11. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +45.906
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda +46.394
13. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +50.481
14. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +1:23.143
Not Classified
Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 11 Laps
Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 25 Laps
Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 0 Laps

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 271
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 208
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 139
4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 130
5. Casey STONER (Ducati) 130
6. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 120
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 109
8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 81
9. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 67
10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 66
11. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 65
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 61
13. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 44
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 41
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 41
16. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 31
17. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 26
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1