Local favourite Valentino Rossi managed only a distant seventh for Yamaha and lost second place overall to Dovizioso who now has 154 points to Spaniard Marquez’s 221 with six races remaining. Rossi has 151. Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo, who had started on pole position at the Marco Simoncelli circuit on Italy’s Adriatic coast, crashed out on the penultimate lap while heading for a Ducati one-two finish.
That lifted Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, whose home race at Silverstone last month was cancelled due to heavy rain and drainage problems, to third as the leading non-factory finisher on an LCR-Honda.
“We did everything perfectly,” said Dovizioso, who had started in fourth place and was leading after six laps. His winning margin was 2.822 seconds. “That was the only way to win today because Jorge was very strong and beating Marc was very difficult,” added the Italian.
The win was Dovizioso’s first at Misano and third of the season as well as his team’s third in a row. Lorenzo had won in Austria while his team mate triumphed in the Czech Republic before that. Lorenzo and Marquez had a lively battle for second place while closing in on Dovizioso but that ended when the polesitter slid out at turn eight.
“It was so difficult,” said Marquez, who made the point that Ducati had tested at Misano while Honda had not. “When I saw that Dovi was so strong today my target was to finish second and to lose only five points. I’m disappointed that Jorge crashed but we were both pushing a lot because Dovi was there in front.”
Australian Jack Miller, who had lined up in second place at the start on a non-factory Pramac Ducati, also crashed out early on while fourth.
Fenati gets two-race ban for grabbing rival’s brake
Italian Moto2 rider Romano Fenati was banned for two races after leaning over on the straight and grabbing the brake lever on rival Stefano Manzi’s bike following an earlier clash.
Both were competing at high-speed around the Misano track when 22-year-old Kalex rider Fenati leaned over and pressed Manzi’s brake lever. Manzi briefly lost his balance before regaining control of his Suter bike.
Fenati’s actions followed Manzi’s attempt to overtake his compatriot a few laps earlier. The pair had made contact as Manzi overtook on the inside, with both riders running off the track, losing several positions and dropping out of the points. Fenati – a Moto2 rookie this year aboard a Marinelli Snipers-run Kalex bike – was black-flagged and disqualified after 23 laps for “irresponsible riding”.
The FIM motogp stewards panel later announced that Fenati would miss the next two races in Aragon, Spain on September 23 and Thailand on October 7 for having “deliberately attempted to cause danger to another rider”.
Crutchlow felt the rider had got off lightly. “I think he should never race a motorcycle again,” Crutchlow told reporters. “He should have walked back to the garage and his team should have just kicked him straight out the back.”
It is not the first time the Italian rider has been embroiled in controversy. He was forced to apologise for kicking out at Finnish rider Niklas Ajo during the Moto3 warm-up at the 2015 Argentinian Grand Prix. He was dropped for disciplinary reasons during the 2016 season by the Sky Racing Team VR46, owned by Italian motorcycling star Valentino Rossi.
“We had a contact two turns before, but nothing to justify such a reaction, his gesture speaks for itself,” said Manzi. Fenati, who can appeal the ban, is 19th in the Moto2 standings with 14 points.
Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia, of Kalex, won the Moto2 category race in Misano ahead of Miguel Oliveira of KTM yesterday, to extend his lead on the Portuguese rider to eight points in the overall standings.
Leading results
MotoGP: 1. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 42min 05.106sec, 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 2.822sec, 3. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/LCR Honda) 7.269, 4. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 14.687, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 16.016, 6. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 17.408, 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 19.086, 8. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 21.804, 9. Alvaro Bautista (SPA/Ducati Angel Nieto Team) 23.919, 10. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 27.559
Overall standings: 1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 221pts, 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 154, 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 151, 4. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) 130, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 124, 6. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/LCR Honda) 119, 7. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 110, 8. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati Pramac) 110, 9. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 92, 10. Alex Rins (SPA/Suzuki) 79
Moto2 (selected): 1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Kalex) 41min 02.106sec, 2. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) at 3.108sec, 3. Marcel Schroetter (GER/Kalex) 4.094, 4. Mattia Pasini (ITA/Kalex) 6.320, 5. Joan Mir (ESP/Kalex) at 6.728
Overall standings: 1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Kalex) 214, 2. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 206, 3. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 119, 4. Lorenzo Baldassari (ITA/Kalex) 116, 5. Joan Mir (ESP/Kalex) 114