MotoGP: Misano Part Une - A Weekend Of Two Halves

Well,

Once again it seems the record break kid, Marc Marquez has done it and made it into first position for the MotoGP in Misano, San Marino.

I'm gonna cut to the chase (for the first time!) and just run down the top six, with any interesting outsiders for this one, so let's see what happened...
QUALIFYING

For this one it has to be said that the lap record standing since 2011 from Casey Stoner had to be broken at some point, didn't it? So what were the bets on Marquez being the one to do the record breaking? HIGH!!!

But to do it by 0.223 of a second, bro's?! He really is on fire at the moment!

At the minute he seems unrideable (another new word for ya!) as his thirty point advantage is proving much harder to overturn than people like Jorge Lorenzo or Dani Pedrosa fans might have anticipated. But the riders themselves had the common sense to know that it wouldn't be that easy!

He clocked in at a scintillating pace of 1'32.915 and eclipsed Lorenzo's time by over half a second, proving he still is the man to beat in Misano. Next up was Valentino Rossi who managed to get ahead of Pedrosa by .153 of a second; margins bro's, it's all about margins!

My favourite Brit came next, Cal Crutchlow and even though this is his last season for now in the colours of the Monster Tech III Yamaha, he's by no means off the pace by too much. Let's just hope the race itself is kinder after recent mishaps have cost him quite dearly in a personal sense!

Finally, the second row was completed by an impressive Aleix Espargaro, proving that once again, Spain does reign on the MotoGP plane...

THE RACE

Talk about a race weekend of two styles!

On the one hand, you have Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo (complete with new seamless gearbox fitted to his bike, the Yamaha YZR-M1) looking to get his title bid back on track and then of course you've got the young pretender to the throne Marquez. Chosen to replace Casey Stoner, the man has certainly elevated himself to be the cream of the bottle and you could argue now that the season is two thirds over, he is probably odds on favourite to win the title.

But then who bets against a champion, right? ;)

Not me, that's for sure because though he was eclipsed by the Repsol Honda Team rider, Lorenzo is out to prove that the student does not always succeed the master. This was proven true from the word go as the moment the lights went out both he and Dani Pedrosa set off like bolt of lightning, beating Marquez into the first corner and if this was anything to go by it would be a rather special race.

It looked as if even Valentino Rossi had beaten Marquez to the punch, but it was not to be and the Honda rider broke through into third looking to chase down his team-mate and championship rival who by now only had eyes for Lorenzo's progress.

With 28 laps of the race still to go, Lorenzo was determined to ensure that this was no fluke a start like this and already he'd opened out a 1.2 second gap on Pedrosa and it was beginning to look like so many of his other commanding wins; like he was going to run away with this one and just be too supreme to be stopped!

Unfortunately another rider was not so lucky, Aleix Espargaro, who after qualifying in an impressive 6th (his second best ever position!) actually jumped the start quite noticeably and was punished with a ride through penalty. This effectively ended his hopes of gaining a significant haul of points and further increas his grip on the CRT championship battle... gutting! :(

Cal Crutchlow at this point had been starting pretty much where he qualified, in 5th, though it was beginning to look like all the crashing he'd done recently was beginning to wear thin on his emotions as he never really looked on the game in terms of catching the front three and would instead have to make do with a battle with LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl.

By now, at the business end of the grid again, Marquez was beginning to lose out even more so to Pedrosa who by now was pulling away from his quite effectively. Not as effectively as Lorenzo though, as he was now over two seconds ahead!

In rather quick succession saw two unfortunate riders whose races were ended prematurely; first to go was Lukáš Pešek, again, who was spotted pulling into the pits for an unforeseen reason later revealed to be wrist trouble suffered in a crash at Silverstone and then Andrea Iannone was out of the race.

The Doctor managed to pull a move on Marquez and was hopefully going to prove that in his home race he truly was king, but unfortunately that would not be the case and eventually Marquez would get past him in due course.

Next came another retirement and it was the dishevelled and quite frankly shaken Karel Abraham who crashed in fairly spectacular style a few races back, so was forced to end this race early because of the grief he was getting from his previously injured shoulder.

After the race, it was revealed that he did not know when he'd be returning to the grid and the decision was effectively in the doctors hands as to whether he would be able to make the next round at Aragon, or whether his season would be over (ED - It's now confirmed that he'll miss the rest of the season!).

Get well soon, bro'!

With eight laps on the counter, two riders who were consistently battling with each other were the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso & Nicky Hayden and it was reminiscent of action earlier this season in the USA when the two of them were competing that hard, their bikes came to blows on track right on the final corner of the final lap. Talk about a competitive spirit and if this continues then Cal has something to look forward to next year!

By now Lorenzo was still extending his lead, gapping both Pedrosa and Rossi, though that soon changed as Marquez got him near the lap end with 16 to go. The manoeuvre he pulled was reminiscent of his earlier racing action this season when he showed sublime form to outbrake some of his other rivals and further put the screw to them as he sought to upset the apple cart some more!

A further four laps later and Marquez would now be trying to put the screw on Pedrosa's performance in a bid to reel him in so that he could get after Lorenzo, to further prove that he was about to eclipse the master having broken numerous records already in the process this season. All it took was a further lap for him to get the job done at the first left-hander of the lap allowing him to begin the hunt for first, having already proven this season that he was no man's runner-up!

Further down the grid, Espargaro's dip in fortune had allowed Colin Edwards to really ramp up his chances in the CRT championship and he was leading fairly effortlessly (though as I've already mentioned before, riding a bike as hard and as well as they do CANNOT be that easy!).

Rossi's performance here was by no means a poor one, it just appeared as we entered the final third of the race that he was unable to cope with the pace of the Hondas & the lead Yamaha (even though he was in a factory Yamaha himself!). His drop off in pace allowed the two Honda's to close up and begin to squabble amongst themselves, which naturally played into the hands of Lorenzo who needed this win to further close the gap on those two riders.

Having now clocked in at 4.3 seconds ahead of his rival, Lorenzo must have just been telling himself to keep it together so that he could bring home the maximum haul of points whilst simultaneously hoping either Honda behind would tip off their bikes and further press home his advantage in the closing part of the season.

A rather lonely fight (if two people CAN fight in a lonely way, that is!) for fifth and sixth positions saw Crutchlow and Bradl battling away and the former would be the one to lose out to Bradl who still was consistent in his points haul so far this year.

Marquez had got Pedrosa during their squabble and this allowed the rookie well on course to win my 'Rookie of the Year' title a chance to further close down Lorenzo, but there was only one problem... he was just too damn quick to catch!

What I will say though, at this point, is that it's supposed to be Pedrosa who was Lorenzo's main title rival this year as now that Casey Stoner has left for pastures new, HE was supposed to be the one to gain a title at the expense of the rookie, not the other way around, bro's!

Would this really be another year for the nearly's for Pedrosa? One could hope not, but you cannot see how it could play out any other way,  not with Marquez right at the party!

More to follow after the jump ===>