Pedrosa coasts to back-to-back wins

Honda factory rider Dani Pedrosa claimed his fourth win of the season and achieved his first back-to-back MotoGP class victories at Misano on September 5, finishing ahead of Yamaha duo Jorge Lorenzo and home favourite Valentino Rossi. Australia's Casey Stoner (Ducati) was fifth.

But the day will go down as a tragedy, with 19-year-old Shoya Tomizawa passing away after a crash in the preceding Moto2 race.

The rider was taken by ambulance to a local hospital accompanied by two doctors -- a helicopter was not used in order to allow for the proper respiratory support to be administered - and despite various attempts to resuscitate him, Shoya sadly succumbed to his injuries at 2.20pm local time.

He had suffered severe cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma.

He made his Grand Prix debut at Motegi in the 125 class in 2006. In 2008 he took the runner-up spot in the 250 All-Japan Championship. He became a full-time GP rider last season, taking 17th place in the 250 GP title. This year he moved into the new Moto2 series and made history by winning the opening round.

Tomizawa led the Moto2 title after the opening two rounds, which included a win under lights in Qatar.

For the record, Toni Elias (Moriwaki) won the Moto2 race and Aussie Anthony West (MZ) was 17th.

In MotoGP, Pedrosa set a stunning pace from the start and was almost 1.5secs clear of Lorenzo by only the third lap, as he set a lap record early on in the 28-lap contest.

Before the action had even begun to unfold however there were two fallers at turn one as Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) went down together. The American rejoined the race but later had to retire with the Italian suffering the disappointment of a DNF on his 200th premier class start.

With Pedrosa pulling away and Lorenzo riding a relatively lonely race in second position the real battle was for the final podium spot, with Rossi attacking Stoner as he sought a result that would please the home crowd. The pair swapped positions a couple of times before the Italian made a move stick, with Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) also passing the Australian shortly after.

Rossi and Dovizioso pulled away as they contended for the honour of highest placing Italian rider, and it was a battle the reigning world champion eventually won comfortably. Pedrosa by that stage had crossed the finish line in first position and exactly 1.9secs clear of Lorenzo, with Rossi just over a second behind his team-mate.

Following Dovizioso and Stoner were Ben Spies and Colin Edwards in sixth and seventh respectively, with Álvaro Bautista (Suzuki), Héctor Barberá (Ducati) and Marco Melandri (Honda) completing the top 10.

Melandri's team-mate Marco Simoncelli crashed but rejoined the race to finish 14th, whilst Mika Kallio (Ducati) was forced to retire late on.

Lorenzo's lead at the top of the standings is now 63pts over Pedrosa, with Rossi moving into fourth overall at 9pts behind Dovizioso.

And a reminder that tickets are now on sale for the IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, to be held from October 15-17.