It was supposed to be a tight race with Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa almost evenly paced which could have turned into a supremacy battle at Misano, but in turn Lorenzo was gifted with a comanding victory, while the unlucky Pedrosa was first demoted to last and then punted off track.
The Yamaha rider now has a very comfortable 38 point lead in the standings and is probably thanking his lucky star.
“It’s been a very tough weekend because Dani and I have been very close in the qualifying and the warm up.
Unfortunately today he had really bad luck, first with the lights at the beginning of the race and then Héctor [Barberá] took him out.
This was really unfortunate for him.
In Holland we were unlucky and today he was unlucky, anything can happen in these races.
We have to be happy with our result and the point advantage we now have, for sure we are much more calm now than before the race! The race was difficult for everyone, only having qualifying was not enough when you have to set up the chassis and electronics and everything for the race.
It was hotter during the race so there was less grip too.
I almost crashed in turn one but managed to save it too!” said Lorenzo.
After three consecutive DNFs, Ben Spies is hoping that the string of incredibly bad luck that he has been having is finally behind him as he took a safe fifth place.
“I know we didn’t get on the podium but I’m glad we were able to finally just have a normal race.
Some of the times weren’t quick enough for the podium but we put on a good charge in the end.
We struggled with a few things, especially some feeling with the front tyre.
It’s been a difficult weekend and we didn’t start the race with the perfect set up but luckily could still put together an ok race.
After what’s happened in the last eight weeks it almost feels like a podium for me!” said Spies.