MotoGP is at Misano, Italy today for the San Marino GP, where Jorge Lorenzo is looking to close in on his points deficit to leader Valentino Rossi. The week at San Marino has been a busy one, seeing the formal singing of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso to another year with Honda Racing. We also saw the announcement that Ben Spies would remain in WSBK for 2010, and that Colin Edwards will more than likely remain at Tech3 Yamaha. Then of course, there is the race itself.
With Championship points on the line, all eyes were on Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. But, wedged in-between the Fiat-Yamaha pair on the starting grid was Dani Pedrosa, who could showed at the Indianapolis GP that he is more than capable of throwing a wrench in Lorenzo’s bid to claw points away from Rossi.
The start of the race was greeted by another famous Pedrosa rabbit start, and also a lightning run by Toni Elias. Lorenzo followed the pair in third place, but all parties would fall to The Donkey by the first 1/3 of the race.
Like at the start, Lorenzo found Pedrosa between himself and Rossi, who if left unattended has on more than occasion shown himself capable of pulling out a commanding lead. This proved to be the case at San Marino, as Rossi pulled away from the battle for second, and set up a comfortable lead during the 7 laps it took Lorenzo to get past Pedrosa.
Lorenzo couldn’t touch Rossi’s gap, and The Doctor proved himself capable of defending that gap at will. Lorenzo would have to settle for second place on this outing, making another Fiat-Yamaha 1-2. Dani Pedrosa finished third , with a large gap both in front, separating him from Lorenzo, and in back from the rest of the field.
The battle for forth, between Loris Capirossi and Andrea Dovizioso, was the real action of the race, with the recently singed Dovi just eking out the Rizla Suzuki for fourth place at the line.
Americans Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden would be no-shows at the finish line though. Both riders were taken out in a massive crash caused by San Marino local, Alex de Angelis.
Race Results from MotoGP at the San Marino GP at Misano, Italy:
| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | YAMAHA | 44’32.882 | – |
| 2 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 44’35.298 | 2.416 |
| 3 | 3 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 44’45.282 | 12.400 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 44’59.212 | 26.330 |
| 5 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | SUZUKI | 44’59.421 | 26.539 |
| 6 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | HONDA | 45’01.168 | 28.286 |
| 7 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | DUCATI | 45’03.066 | 30.184 |
| 8 | 33 | Marco MELANDRI | KAWASAKI | 45’04.639 | 31.757 |
| 9 | 7 | Chris VERMEULEN | SUZUKI | 45’04.791 | 31.909 |
| 10 | 52 | James TOSELAND | YAMAHA | 45’11.229 | 38.347 |
| 11 | 44 | Aleix ESPARGARO | DUCATI | 45’19.555 | 46.673 |
| 12 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | HONDA | 45’24.923 | 52.041 |
| 13 | 88 | Niccolo CANEPA | DUCATI | 45’36.080 | 1’03.198 |
| 14 | 41 | Gabor TALMACSI | HONDA | 45’55.229 | 1’22.347 |
| Not finished first lap | |||||
| 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | HONDA | |||
| 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | |||
| 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | |||
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