Honda’s Marc MarquezJust six miles from Valentino Rossi’s hometown of Tavullia in Italy, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli hosted Sunday round 13 of 18 in the 2015 MotoGP Championship. Rossi entered Misano with a 12-point lead over his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate Jorge Lorenzo, and was hoping for a repeat performance of last season’s Misano MotoGP when he beat Lorenzo to the line.Riders experienced dry conditions during practice and qualifying at the resurfaced 2.63-mile circuit containing 16 turns, and no rain was predicted for the race. Lorenzo capitalized on these conditions, dominating free practice and earning a record pole at the technical Misano MotoGP circuit.
But after the first lap of 28, the white flag was waved, meaning some rain was falling and riders could switch to their rain prototypes. By lap six, the rain flag was out, and the race came down to pure strategy and rider talent.There’s no denying the 36-year-old Rossi’s talent in the rain, especially after his performance two weeks ago at Silverstone where he dominated the British Grand Prix. Now he had rain, and a roaring home crowd donning florescent yellow VR46 apparel. But after going from dry setup to wet setup and back to dry setup, Rossi’s timing was a bit off, and he wouldn’t earn the win.Yamaha’s Valentino RossiLuckily for him, neither would Lorenzo. The two-time MotoGP Champion of Spain was in position to earn a sixth win of 2015, but suffered a nasty crash at turn 15. He was unable to remount, and suffered his first DNF of 2015 MotoGP.The winner? Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who claimed victory number four of the season. This was his first MotoGP win at Misano, and the 23rd of his short MotoGP career as he chases a third-straight title.Joining Marquez on the podium were two non-factory British riders, each also making wise decisions regarding bike setup – Monster Energy Yamaha’s Bradley Smith and Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding.As for Rossi, he finished fifth, bringing his 16-consecutive podium finishes to an end. Regardless, he was able to extend his lead in the point standings from 12 to 23 over Lorenzo with five rounds remaining.
MotoGP Misano 2015 Results – Recap
Starting from pole, Lorenzo got to turn one first, followed by Marquez, Rossi, Smith, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone and Team ECSTAR Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro. By mid lap, Smith dropped back to sixth behind Iannone. Lorenzo was stalked closely by Marquez, as Pedrosa put much pressure on Rossi. At the start of lap two the white flag came out, meaning riders were able to pit and switch to their rain bikes.With 22 laps to go, all the riders but the top three – Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi, respectively – began switching to their rain setups. The three leaders remained out for one more lap before jumping on their prototypes shod with Bridgestone rain tires.Marquez came out strong with 20 laps to go, leading Lorenzo and Rossi. But the 22-year-old Spaniard ran wide at turn eight, giving the lead to Lorenzo. Behind the lead group, Pramac Racing Ducati’s Yonny Hernandez lost the front at the quick turn six, taking out E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART’s Alex de Angelis during the crash.At the halfway point, Marquez passed Lorenzo at turn 10, but Lorenzo quickly countered, regaining first. Rossi aslo assed Marquez for second place. All riders were going in for slick tires, but Lorenzo, Rossi and Marquez remained out. With a dry line exposed, the rain tires were shredding quickly.Yamaha’s Bradley SmithNow it came down to pure strategy. Marquez was the first to pit with 10 laps remaining, getting back on his RC213V with slick Bridgestone tires. Lorenzo pitted on the next lap, giving Marquez the lead. As for Rossi, he remained out for another lap, the nine-time World Champion in the lead but 10 seconds slower than Marquez.When Rossi finally pitted, the unfortunate – and unusual – happened to Lorenzo. The Spaniard crashed at turn 15, high-siding his Yamaha YZR-M1. Rossi rejoined the grid in fifth, knowing he can run at a comfortable pass because Lorenzo was out.Out front, Marquez had a substantial lead over Smith, who remained on slicks throughout the entire race and was in a comfortable second place. Forward Racing’s Loris Baz was third, stalked closely by Redding. With four laps to go, Redding took over second from Baz, and immediately began opening a gap.Marquez wheelied past the checkered flag 7.288 seconds ahead of Smith, with Redding earning his first MotoGP podium 18.793 seconds behind. Baz finished fourth, over 26 seconds off the pace, followed by Rossi.Rounding out the top 10 were Octo Pramac Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, who earned his first-ever MotoGP podium with third at Silverstone, Iannone, Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, Pedrosa and Aleix Espargaro. As for the sole American in all of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Apsar MotoGP’s Nicky Hayden finished 17th, over a minute off the pace.Marc VDS Racing’s Scott ReddingBesides, Lorenzo, Hernandez and de Angelis, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro and Ducati Team’s Michele Pirro also suffered DNFs.After 13 of 18 rounds, Rossi now has 247 points, 23 ahead of Lorenzo. Marquez is in third, 63 points behind Rossi. In fourth with 159 points is Iannone.The 2015 MotoGP Championship now breaks for two weeks ahead of the Grand Prix of Aragon September 27.
MotoGP Misano 2015 Results:
1. 25 points, #93, Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 146.6 48’23.819 2. 20, #38, Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 146.3 +7.288 3. 16, #45, Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 145.7 +18.793 4. 13, #76, Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 145.3 +26.427 5. 11, #46, Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 145.0 +33.196 6. 10, #9, Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 144.9 +35.087 7. 9, #29, Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 144.8 +36.527 8. 8, #4, Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 144.8 +37.434 9. 7, #26, Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 144.7 +39.516 10. 6, #41, Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 144.7 +39.692 11. 5, #35, Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 144.6 +41.995 12. 4, #43, Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 144.4 +46.075 13. 3, #63, Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 144.2 +48.381 14. 2, #25, Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 144.1 +52.325 15. 1, #19, Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 144.0 +53.348 16. #6, Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 143.7 +58.828 17. #69, Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 143.5 +1’02.649 18. #8, Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 143.4 +1’04.768 19. #50, Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 143.4 +1’05.677 20. #71, Claudio CORTI ITA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 138.8 1 Lap 21. #17, Karel ABRAHAM CZE AB Motoracing Honda 137.4 1 LapNot Classified44, Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 142.4 2 Laps 99, Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 141.5 8 Laps 68, Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 142.7 19 Laps 15, Alex DE ANGELIS RSM E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 142.6 19 Laps 51, Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 98.7 19 Laps
2015 MotoGP Point Standings (after 13 of 18 rounds):
1. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 247 2. Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 224 3. Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 184 4. Andrea IANNONE Ducati ITA 159 5. Bradley SMITH Yamaha GBR 135 6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 128 7. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 109 8. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 93 9. Pol ESPARGARO Yamaha SPA 81 10. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 79 11. Maverick VIÑALES Suzuki SPA 69 12. Aleix ESPARGARO Suzuki SPA 66 13. Scott REDDING Honda GBR 63 14. Yonny HERNANDEZ Ducati COL 41 15. Loris BAZ Yamaha Forward FRA 28 16. Alvaro BAUTISTA Aprilia SPA 23 17. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 23 18. Jack MILLER Honda AUS 16 19. Nicky HAYDEN Honda USA 12 20. Stefan BRADL Aprilia GER 11 21. Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 8 22. Eugene LAVERTY Honda IRL 7 23. Mike DI MEGLIO Ducati FRA 7 24. Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN 5 25. Alex DE ANGELIS ART RSM 2
This week, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the all new Ducati Monster. Big changes have been made by Ducati–has the company ruined the considerable heritage of the iconic Monster–or are the changes worth it? In the second part of the show, we chat with Nick Ienatsch, Founder and Head Instructor at the Yamaha Champions Riding School. He says: “We aim to change your riding life by introducing you to Champions Habits: The techniques, approaches, skills, and the mindsets of the best riders in the world. These Champions Habits are the foundation of safety and consistency to whatever speed you ride, in any venue on any bike. Street riders, this is just as much for you as track riders. The best way to make safe riders is to make good riders.“ We hope you enjoy this episode!
