by Tracy Hagen

Jorge Lorenzo used his new seamless-shifting transmission to full-effect at Misano to score his fifth victory of the season and gain five precious points on championship leader Marc Marquez. Reigning MotoGP champion Lorenzo rode his Yamaha from the middle of the front row straight into the lead and was never challenged over the 28 lap distance.

While the last race at Silverstone was all about the fight for first, this race was all about the fight for second. Dani Pedrosa shot into second position on his Honda with a flyer start from the second row followed by teammate Marquez and Lorenzo’s teammate, Valentino Rossi. Marquez closed up on Pedrosa over the opening laps but the first attempt at a pass didn’t go to plan when Pedrosa sat up early going into Turn 8, forcing Marquez to run wide and off-course. Rossi gained third while Marquez re-entered the track in fourth.

Marquez caught up to Rossi on lap 13 and squirt past on the inside of the double right Turn 9 and 10 combo. Five laps later Marquez had caught Pedrosa and passed his teammate in Turn 2 after Pedrosa had taken the tight line through Turn 1 to block Marquez. Unlike the race in Brno, where Pedrosa quietly followed Marquez all the way to the end, this time Pedrosa decided that two can play this game and hung on to the back of Marquez. Four laps later Pedrosa did the same maneuver on Marquez that Marquez did on Rossi at T10 back on lap 13. However, the second-coming of Pedrosa lasted just four corners and Marquez was back in second place, for good.

For the fourth time in a row and sixth time this season, Valentino Rossi finished fourth.

Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) towed Stefan Bradl (Honda) for almost the entire race until the German passed the Englishman at Turn 8 on the last lap.

The Ducati inter-team race was won by Andrea Dovizioso after Nicky Hayden ran wide on the brakes at the end of the back straight on lap 20.

Texan Colin Edwards was top CRT superbike, a result due to improvements made to his FTR Kawasaki and CRT top dog Aleix Espargaro blatantly jumping the start.

With five rounds remaining Marquez leads the champion with 253 points while Pedrosa and Lorenzo are tied at 219.

Next race: Aragon, September 29