Spaniard rider Dani Pedrosa fought his way from 8th on the grid to take the lead of the Misano Grand Prix in a dramatic series of solid passing maneuvers and pace. Initially he made his way to 6th position at the start of the race and then kept his cool behind Dovisiozo and Viñales while at the front of the race, poleman Lorenzo was beginning to take the heat from local hero Rossi. The Italian did make his move on his team mate and immediately pushed hard to try and make a difference to what Lorenzo could not respond. Marquez battled it out to catch Lorenzo but could not really make a move and apparently tried to keep the rhythm hoping for the Yamaha’s Medium Option tires to give up. Marquez chose the Hard option for the front and Medium Rear which did not pay off today while Pedrosa chose the Soft front and Medium rear which certainly gave him advantage in the third and tightest sector setting a new race lap record on the way to the line. Rossi had to settle for second place, he simply could not respond to Pedrosa’s lap times, third went to Lorenzo, Marquez faded away a bit in fourth place followed by Viñales in the Suzuki, Dovisiozo in 6th with the Ducati followed closely by Ducati’s test rider Michelle Pirro who came in to replace Andrea Iannone who had an accident in Friday Practice 1 and was ruled out due to a back injury. Cal Crutchlow finished 8th followed by Pol Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista completing the top 10.
Pedrosa played well to team mate Marquez’ favor by taking the lead of the race from Rossi, 43 points make his lead advantage in the Championship but if the Italian had won he would have taken 5 points more away. Pedrosa’s chances in the Championship regain momentum as well climbing to 4th in the standings 17 points behind Lorenzo as the riders head to Aragon for the next race.
