Lorenzo imperious, Stoner tired

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo claimed his third MotoGP win of the season at Misano, San Marino on September 4, ahead of Repsol Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.

Stoner looked poised to take the lead in turn one at the start of the Misano race, but defending world champion Lorenzo fought back and moved to the front in the first corner, holding onto the top position until crossing the finish line and reducing the gap to Stoner to 35pts.

“Today has been an incredible day for us. I have delivered a good race; it was a very tough and long one,” said Lorenzo. “Most importantly we have won again and also reduced a little bit our gap to Casey. I want to dedicate this victory to Wayne (Rainey) who returned to Misano this weekend and I want to say thanks to all my team for their hard work.

“Now we have two weeks before Aragon (Spain); I hope to continue in this shape in my country.”

Pedrosa was third off the start -- a deviation from his usual hole shot into the first corner -- with the Spaniard gradually gaining ground on his teammate until he over took the Australian on lap 22 to cross the line second. In an unusual bout of fatigue, 25-year-old Stoner was unable to retaliate.

“At the beginning of the race I was cautious as there were a few spots of rain, once this cleared up I was pretty comfortable behind Jorge, I didn't feel the need to push and then tiredness suddenly hit me,” said Stoner.

“It was hard to find the braking points and change direction on the bike, there was nothing wrong with the tyres, nothing wrong with the bike, the team did a great job and gave me a fantastic package, I'm just worn out.

“I had to put in a lot more effort into Laguna and Brno, riding a lot harder than I normally would. This together with the neck injury from Assen has finally caught up with me. For the second half of the race I was just too tired, simple as that, I'm very grateful to have finished on the podium. All credit to Jorge, he had a fantastic race, hopefully by Aragon I’ll be fully fit and recovered.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) fell back to seventh on the start, then made his way back through the pack up to fourth, where he then engaged in a tussle with his rival Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), emerging ahead of his fellow countryman on the last lap to take fourth.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), whose poor start saw the American drop to seventh on the second lap, caught the duelling Italians and looked capable and prepared to make the pass into fourth, but instead got baulked in the final corner to finish sixth behind Dovizioso.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) had a terrific start from his 11th place on the grid, moving up into fifth by lap two, until Simoncelli got ahead of him on lap four and Spies passed him on lap 15. The seven-time premier class champion completed the race in seventh, ahead of Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) who fulfilled his fourth top 10 finish of the season.

Mapfre Aspar rider Héctor Barberá achieved his sixth top 10 finish of the season with ninth place, ahead of Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who ended his challenging weekend the final finisher in the top 10, just over two seconds in front of Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini).

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) crashed out of the race on lap three, an unfortunate end to an already difficult weekend for the American, while Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) retired to the pits early in the race.

Meanwhile, Anthony West (MZ) was 27th in the Moto2 race won by 18-year-old wunderkind Marc Marquez, and Lorenzo Baldassarri, the 15-year-old Italian, won the 2011 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup with a perfectly judged third place in the final event of the season at Misano.

Race victory at the San Marino Grand Prix went to Florian Alt, who passed German Philipp Oettl on the line after an intense 17-lap battle.

Only Australian Arthur Sissis could challenge Baldassarri for the Cup going into the final event and for most of the race the 16-year-old Australian was in the midst of the four-rider battle for the lead. He might well have taken overall victory in the race and the Cup but for running off the track on lap 14 when battling shoulder to shoulder with Baldassarri for the lead through the flat out right kink down the back straight.