Spanish Yamaha Rider Maverick Vinales won the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP to move up to within one point of the championship lead on Sunday 20 September.
Joan Mir was second on a Suzuki and another Spaniard Pol Espargaro (KTM) promoted a place to third after Frenchman Fabio Quartararo of the Yamaha-SRT satellite team crossed the line behind Mir but was penalised for straying off the track.
Vinales wins Emilia-Romagna MotoGP
Andrea Dovizioso finished eighth to cling to the championship lead, one point ahead of Quartararo and Vinales.
Vinales started from pole but soon lost the lead to Francesco Bagnaia.
The young Italian led by a second and a half at one stage and was still on course for a first victory for himself and Ducati-Pramac when he leant a bit too far unto a corner with seven laps to go and slid off.
Vinales grabbed his chance to become the sixth winner in seven MotoGP races this season.
“After he made the mistake I tried not to make a mistake and take the points,” he said.
“We had prepared really well, I was very fast, I preserved my tyres well at the start and I was able to attack when I had to”, said Vinales. “We have a big potential for the rest of the season.”
Vinales was able to defend the lead comfortably, finishing more than four seconds clear, because Espargaro and Quartararo had tyre troubles which allowed Mir to pass both.
“I am really tired, because I had to give everything today, at each lap,” said Mir. “At the end, I saw that I could see a highway to the podium.”
Espargaro said that after racing on medium tyres the week before on the same track he had opted for softs because “I wanted to enjoy my race” adding that he expected problems near the end.
“It paid off, thanks also to the penalty of Fabio.”
Quartararo, battling Espargaro strayed onto the green out-of-bounds paint several times, and having a warning on his dashboard received a three-second penalty.
Furious, he returned to his pit without making any comments.
The big disappointment of the day at the Italian track was local hero Valentino Rossi who crashed at the beginning of the race and retired.
Results from the Emilia-Romagna motorcycling Grand Prix at Misano Adriatico on Sunday:
MotoGP
1. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 41 min 55.846sec, 2. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) at 2.425sec, 3. Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 4.528, 4. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/SRT Yamaha) 6.419, 5. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM Tech-3) 7.368, 6. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 11.139, 7. Alex Marquez (ESP/Honda) 11.929, 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 13.113, 9. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 15.880, 10. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 17.682
Championship standings
1. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 84, 2. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/SRT Yamaha) 83, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 83, 4. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 80, 5. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 64, 6. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) 64, 7. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR), 8. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM Tech-3) 59, 9. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 58, 10. Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 57
Moto2
1. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Kalex) 9min 50sec, 2. Luca Marini (ITA/Kalex) at 0.509sec, 3. Xavi Vierge (ESP/Kalex) 0.775, 4. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Kalex) à 0.798, 5. Fabio di Giannantonio (ITA/SpeedUp) 0.994, 6. Marcel Schroetter, (GER/Kalex), 7. Sam Lowes (GBR/Kalex) 1.417, 8. Jorge Navarro (ESP/SpeedUp) 1.716, 9. Jake Dixon (GBR/Kalex) 1.969, 10. Aaron Canet (ESP/SpeedUp) 2.029
Championship standings
1. Luca Marini (ITA) 132 points, 2. Enea Bastianini (ITA) 120, 3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) 98
Moto3
1. Romano Fenati (ITA/Husqvarna) 39min 30sec, 2. Celestino Vietti (ITA/KTM) at 0.036, 3. Ai Ogura (JPN/Honda) 0.121, 4. Albert Arenas (ESP/KTM) 0.199, 5. Jaume Masia (ESP/Honda) 0.280, 6. Raul Fernandez (ESP/KTM) 0.439
Championship standings:
1. Albert Arenas (ESP) 119 pts, 2. Ai Ogura (JPN/Honda) 117, 3. John McPhee (GBR) 98, 4. Celestino Vietti (ITA) 86
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