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Marquez Beats Bradl In Frantic San Marino GP

4 Mins read

Marc Marquez continued his relentless chase of championship leader Stefan Bradl by winning a frenetic San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. No fewer than six riders were involved in the fight for victory but the Catalunya Caixa rider prevailed to take his fifth victory in six races, closing Bradl's lead in the standings to 23 points.

Both contenders made nervous starts to the race with Bradl almost highsiding his Kalex on the exit of turn 14, releasing Marquez into the lead ahead of Scott Redding. The British teenager was on fire in the early stages and dived past Marquez at the start of lap two before the Spaniard made an error coming onto the back straight, falling behind Bradl and Andrea Iannone to fourth.

As Redding tried to gap the chasing pack, Bradl started to go backwards. Iannone deprived him of second on lap four before Marquez took third two laps later. The Kalex rider was even under pressure to hang on to fourth as Bradley Smith and Alex De Angelis closed in on the leading group.

A period of calm followed as the top six closed together but in Moto2, chaos is never too far away and it was “Crazy Joe” that sparked the race into life at half distance. Iannone dived up the inside of Redding for the lead into turn nine but only succeeded in slowing them both, allowing Marquez to sneak past on the back straight. Redding's lack of momentum proved costly as Bradl sneaked back onto third.

Iannone triggered more madness two laps later with a typically aggressive move on Marquez. Once again, the manoeuvre forced both riders wide and opened the door for Bradl and the German took second.

The polesitter took the lead for the first time on lap 17 but now had the hard-charging Iannone to deal with. Turn eight was his overtaking place again while Bradl came dangerously close to hitting the back of the Suter, falling to fourth.

Iannone was given a taste of his own medicine a lap later with Marquez hitting the front once again. The 18 year old kept his head superbly and was clearly in no mood for a dogfight as he stormed into a one second lead.

Bradl eventually made it back past Iannone for third on the penultimate lap, this time for keeps, but ran out of time in his attempts to reel in Marquez, taking the chequered flag 0.619s adrift and a tenth ahead of Iannone. Alex De Angelis got the better of the British duo to take fourth while Redding was forced to resist a final lap attack from Smith to secure fifth place.

Scott Redding put in one of his strongest performances of the year to take fifth

After starting from the front row, Yuki Takahashi's race never recovered from a mistake at turn two which cost him several places. The Japanese rider held off Thomas Luthi for seventh while Pol Espargaro snatched ninth from Simone Corsi on the line. The all-Spanish fight for 11th also went down to the wire with Esteve Rabat pipping Julian Simon.

One year on from the tragic death of Shoya Tomizawa, the Technomag-CIP team had some points to celebrate after Dominique Aegerter stormed through from 29th on the grid to 13th while Michele Pirro and Mika Kallio claimed the final points.

 

Race Result (26 Laps):

Pos Rider Nat Bike Team Time/Gap
1 Marc Marquez SPA Suter Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol 43:08.197
2 Stefan Bradl GER Kalex Viessman Kiefer Racing +0.619
3 Andrea Iannone ITA Suter Speed Master +0.713
4 Alex de Angelis RSM Motobi JIR Moto2 +1.634
5 Scott Redding GBR Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +3.275
6 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +3.436
7 Yuki Takahashi JAP Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +5.255
8 Thomas Luthi SWI Suter Interwetten Paddock Moto2 +8.739
9 Pol Espargaro SPA FTR HP Tuenti Speed Up +13.224
10 Simone Corsi ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +13.551
11 Esteve Rabat SPA FTR Blusens-STX +17.533
12 Julian Simon SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +18.163
13 Dominique Aegerter SWI Suter Technomag-CIP +18.254
14 Michele Pirro ITA Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +19.180
15 Mika Kallio FIN Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +24.454
16 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +24.858
17 Mattia Pasini ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +24.992
18 Claudio Corti ITA Suter Italtrans Racing Team +35.358
19 Randy Krummenacher SWI Kalex GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing +35.800
20 Tomoyoshi Koyama JAP Suter Technomag-CIP +37.371
21 Ricard Cardus SPA Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +37.484
22 Raffaele de Rosa ITA Suter NGM Forward Racing +47.904
23 Kenny Noyes USA FTR Avintia-STX +48.833
24 Santiago Hernandez COL FTR SAG Team +56.858
25 Valentin Debise FRA FTR Speed Up +1:06.771
26 Joan Olive SPA FTR Blusens-STX +1:07.053
27 Anthony West AUS MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +1:13.378
28 Jacob Gagne USA FTR Aeroport de Castello +1:21.741
29 Alessandro Andreozzi (WC) ITA FTR Andreozzi Reparto Corse +1:30.644
30 Mashel Al Naimi QAT Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +1 Lap
Not Classified
Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +13 Laps
Max Neukirchner GER MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +13 Laps
Carmelo Morales SPA Suter Desguaces La Torre G22 +14 Laps
Jules Cluzel FRA Suter NGM Forward Racing +20 Laps
Alex Baldolini ITA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +26 Laps
Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 Tech 3 B +26 Laps
Robertino Pietri VEN Suter Italtrans Racing Team +26 Laps
Ratthapark Wilairot THA FTR Thai Honda Singha SAG +26 Laps
Jordi Torres SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +26 Laps

 

Lap Leaders: Marquez (1, 13-15, 21-26), Redding (2-12), Iannone (16, 18, 20), Bradl (17, 19)

 

Riders' Championship (After Round 12: San Marino)

Pos Rider Nat Bike Team Wins Pts
1 Stefan Bradl GER Kalex Viessman Kiefer Racing 4 213
2 Marc Marquez SPA Suter Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol 6 190
3 Andrea Iannone ITA Suter Speed Master 2 112
4 Alex de Angelis RSM Motobi JIR Moto2 109
5 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 102
6 Simone Corsi ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project 99
7 Thomas Luthi SWI Suter Interwetten Paddock Moto2 96
8 Yuki Takahashi JAP Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 71
9 Esteve Rabat SPA FTR Blusens-STX 67
10 Julian Simon SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 62
11 Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 54
12 Randy Krummenacher SWI Kalex GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing 52
13 Dominique Aegerter SWI Suter Technomag-CIP 48
14 Scott Redding GBR Suter Marc VDS Racing Team 47
15 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Suter Technomag-CIP 45
16 Michele Pirro ITA Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 45
17 Pol Espargaro SPA FTR HP Tuenti Speed Up 43
18 Jules Cluzel FRA Suter NGM Forward Racing 35
19 Yonny Hernandez COL FTR Blusens-STX 33
20 Max Neukirchner GER MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team 32
21 Mattia Pasini ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project 26
22 Mika Kallio FIN Suter Marc VDS Racing Team 19
23 Anthony West AUS MR-RE Honda MZ Racing Team 18
24 Alex Baldolini ITA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 18
25 Kev Coghlan GBR FTR Aeroport de Castello 11
26 Claudio Corti ITA Suter Italtrans Racing Team 9
27 Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 Tech 3 B 9
28 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 8
29 Ratthapark Wilairot THA FTR Thai Honda Singha SAG 4
30 Ricard Cardus SPA Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team 2
31 Axel Pons SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 1
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