MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 12 / SEPTEMBER 7-9, 2018
MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI / RIMINI, SAN MARINO
P50
est corner on the circuit.
From there the front three were on their
own.
Dovi was surprised that Lorenzo wasn't
pushing harder in the early laps.
"Maybe he was saving his tire," said
Dovi. "I passed him [on lap six] because I
didn't want the heat from his bike."
He'd expected to have to fight at the
end, but instead he had gained an advan-
tage of a second by lap 11, after setting a
new lap record on the ninth, and better
than two seconds six laps later.
Marquez overtook Lorenzo on lap 14,
but later admitted that, with their accelera-
tion advantage and strong braking, "it was
because he made a mistake. I was just
able to follow the Ducatis." Six laps later,
after several close encounters between
beating. Even if Dovi was to win every one
of the remaining rounds, Marquez need
only finish third. It would take a disaster
for the Honda rider to stem the inexorable
tide.
The 13th round, two weeks after the de-
bacle of cancellation at Silverstone, ran in
hot weather after some evening rain in the
days before, in front of a crowd of almost
97,000.
They saw a dramatic Moto3 race and a
satisfying Moto2 race, before a MotoGP
race with battles all the way down the
points.
Lorenzo took off in the lead, with
Dovizioso taking second ahead of Miller
by the end of lap one. The Australian
would lose third to Marquez next time
around before he lost the front at the slow-
Lorenzo was pushing
like mad to close the gap
to Dovi, but threw the
Ducati on the ground on
the penultimate lap, and
with it, a potential Ducati
one-two in Italy.
