ROUND 13/SEPTEMBER 15, 2013
MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI/MISANO, ITALY
MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
least able to fight back, reversing
the positions four laps later, only
to be blitzed straight back before
the lap was finished. Chase as
he might, there was nothing he
could do.
None of this had anything to do
with race victory. That was a fine
one, second in a row, for Lorenzo
RINS WINS
P42
The first race of the day was run
in bright sunshine, and high tension – though without the usual four
Spaniards up front. Instead just three
KTMs took off up front, with Alex Rins
and Maverick Vinales accompanied
by pole starter and early leader Jonas
Folger. The German was third when
he had a thumping highside on lap
four.
and his Yamaha, now with a new
seamless-shift gearbox. It was
enough to regain him second
place overall, equal with Pedrosa. They now tail the youngster
Marquez by 34 points. With five
races to go, Marquez can finish
second every time and still win by
nine points.
The GP of San Marino and the
Rimini Riviera was round 13 of 18
in a year that remains fascinating and often spellbinding. All of
it thanks to Marquez, who has
become if anything more Merciless while cleaving to a new and
smiling role as The Joker. He had
three crashes over the weekend,
This left two of them already almost
two seconds in the lead, and though
Alex Marquez managed to break free
from the pack and have a good crack
at catching them, setting a new record
in the process.
The front two kept the battle going
to the end, with Vinales leading over
the line every lap for the second half
of the race except the last one, after
they'd changed places three times on
the final tour. The margin of victory
was .050 of a second.
A pack of five were locked in combat more than 10 seconds behind,
the issue in doubt until a final lunge
took Luis Salom into fourth by half
a second. The remaining four were
covered by the same time gap, with
Australian Jack Miller unleashing his
all-action style in the closing stages
to head the gang over the line, from
