MotoGP Misano updates | Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing News

Unlike a fortnight ago, the weather in San Marino was far less temperamental.

There was, on the other hand, an insane influx of bugs across Italian soil. And it wasn’t just the MotoGP lot having to pick goggas from their teeth. It was the same for the Superbike guys over at Cremona.

By The Karr report.

Moto E:

Gutierrez closes the season with victory and prevents Casadei’s dream double…

It was the perfect way to end the FIM Enel MotoE World Championship, with a three-way fight to end the season at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) came out victorious. The #99 battled until the final sector, with Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team), finishing Race 2 in second position, as well as claiming second place in the Moto World Championship.

Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) took the final spot on the podium after another strong ride from the Brazilian.

Meanwhile, newly crowned Champion Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) was seventh at the flag, finishing just two seconds adrift from the win.

Points wise for the end of the season, Garzo took the title with a 15-point advantage from Casadei as Gutierrez took the final win of the year and third place in the World Championship.

Moto3:

We wouldn’t be seeing Pérez in the race this weekend; his crash on Friday beat him up too much.

‘…I like him a lot… he has my number… He’s a very funny guy…’ Bezzecchi, when asked of his opinion on maiden-poler Furusato.

Muñoz started the race with two Long Lap Penalties to his name, for his antics at Misano two weeks ago. Alas, his second go at Misano went no better than the first, crashing at Turn Two again. After clipping Nepa’s rear, his motorcycle flipped him off – in more ways than one.

Muñoz did rejoin the race, only to suffer a second crash during Lap Eleven, this time at Turn Fifteen. This time, his bike kicked him off in order to demonstrate its solo ballet skills, remaining on its wheels (in reverse) for a decent few seconds before joining its rider in the dust…

Also crashing-and-rejoining on Lap One was Buasri, at Turn Ten.

Rossi decided to follow suit a lap later, but five turns earlier.

Misfortune plagued our poleman Furusato throughout the race. After a stellar launch off the line, he was beaten up to the point of no return – when he’d fallen to tenth, he was informed that he’d touched the Forbidden Green one too many times, and thus had to do a Long Lap.

The majority of the field ended the race with Track Limits Warnings (again), though, apart from Furusato, very few others made those evolve into penalties.

All this was eclipsed by the tooth, nail, elbows, and knees battle that was unfolding for the top spoils. On the penultimate lap, Holgado, who’d been on the warpath all race long, forced his way through on Alonso to take the lead.

What this did was piss Alonso off enough for him to fight back with more than he had, reclaiming the lead on the final lap amidst a bundle of chaotic overtakes and attempted maneuvers that had us wringing the sweat from our ears while wondering how all three weren’t dug into the scenery yet.

The victory, ultimately went to Alonso, with Piqueras taking second, and Holgado third.

But wait! Holgado was soon informed that he was, in fact, NOT third, since he’d touched the green paint going through Turn Fifteen on that fateful final lap.

Thus, he was demoted to fourth, which meant Veijer inherited third.

Alonso’s post-race celebrations involved him showing off his unicycle prowess, and doing very well until he veered into the gravel. Whoever’s in charge of the graphics has a splendid sense of humour, quickly adding a crash notification to our screens during the replay of Alonso’s little spill.

T’was a fine touch.

Having completed his unicycle antics, Alonso returned to his bike, only to find it refused to start. It continued to refuse until it’d been marshal-powered around half the track.

Then, it abruptly came to life. Whatever Alonso had promised it if it didn’t start, it must’ve been gruesome…

Moto2:

Moreira withdrew from the race on Sunday, due to post-Saturday-crash abdominal pains.

First to retire from the race was Van den Goorbergh, his weekend having been rather ‘goor’ all the way through. He suffered an anonymous crash during the second lap, at Turn Fourteen.

A sick Öncü fell out on Lap Four, succeeding in covering every inch of himself in a thick coat of Misano dust.

We lost Masià to Turn Four a lap later. Rookies were falling like flies.

Starting the sixth lap, both Dixon and García suffered near-identical fates. Both washed out their front-ends (that sounds terribly perverse) their motorcycles carving spirals into the tarmac of Turns Two (Dixon) and One (García), in that order.

Both also tried to rejoin the race, but their efforts seemed hopeless.

The Middleweights ended with a three-way final lap brawl, which saw all three front-runners having multiple ‘moments’ that rightfully should’ve ended in a mouthful of pebbles.

None of them did, not even Vietti with his out-of-seat ones.

Possibly the costliest moment of the race came for Arbolino, two corners from the checkered flag. He’d just managed to regain his lead when he ran wide at Turn Fourteen, allowing Canet and Vietti to breeze on through.

We would later confirm suspicions of a gearbox-issue when Arbolino noted he was struggling to get it into gear.

Canet was defending a victory for those last few corners, perhaps a little too defensively; in a drag to the line, Vietti managed to pip him to the win.

Harsh, Canet, so harsh.

It was a home win for Vietti and he was pumped.

Canet, in second was not so pumped. In fact, in his words: ‘I am angry.’

Arbolino, taking third, had his own commentary: ‘…was quite disappoint bro…’

An ecstatic Vietti dedicated his win to the late Luca Salvadori. May he Ride in Peace.

Binder ran in thirteenth for some time and finished the race in sixteenth.

MotoGP:

Before we dive into the weekend’s MotoGP action, we would like to send out our condolences to Pit Beirer with the loss of his father.

Sprint Race:

After what was a lightning getaway when the lights blinked off, Brad dropped back and managed to defend sixth place.

The Sprint Race ended up being a Bagnaia Versus Martín match. Very little else mattered, or even happened, that justifies coverage.

Bagnaia had a ‘moment’ going through Turn Five during the seventh lap, but very soon after this, he reeled in Martín like he was pulling in a trophy carp, slipping into the lead the moment Martín ran a little bit wide.

The majority of the field ended the race with a Track Limits Warning. At least two of them upgraded to Long Lappers, but neither took their penalty laps, translating into time penalties post-race.

They weren’t of much importance. Moving on.

Bagnaia, having struggled to pass Martín for half the race, ended up taking the victory – much to the delight of his home crowd.

This left Martín in second place, while the Ducati Lenovo sandwich was completed with Bastianini in third.

Main Race:

Haven’t had enough plot-twists in the last few rounds?

Fear not! Misano 2.0 has you sorted!

Binder got another decent launch off the line, only to lay down his KTM in the gentlest crash we’ve seen, going through Turn Four on just the second lap. He did manage to rejoin the race, albeit right at the back.

Near the end of Lap Nine, Acosta’s GasGas deserted him at Turn Fifteen, opting to skip over the gravel and rather go rest on the soft, green grass near the barriers.

One could say it’d gone vegan, now identifying as a GrassGrass. We’ll see ourselves out…

What was Bagnaia’s one-hundredth MotoGP race for Ducati was meant to be a glorious, win-crowned affair. Unfortunately for Pecco, fate had other plans.

After struggling for most of the race, Bagnaia suddenly picked up the slack, setting a few Best Race Laps in succession. ‘Finally!’ everyone thought. Oh no. No no no.

It happened on the twenty-first lap. As Bagnaia entered Turn Eight, he locked up the front end violently, he was thrown off the track as well as his Ducati. He sat at the edge of the gravel, stunned, trying to process what’d happened that he was now staring at pebbles and not a racetrack.

The race turned into a duel for top honours between Martín and Bastianini. It was a glorious battle, culminating in one excessively nerve-wracking last lap overtaking maneuvre which saw both Bastianini – as the assailant – and Martín – as the victim – run off the track at Turn Four.

Bastianini’s move was deemed fair, and he had the lead. This did not mean Martín had to be happy with it.

Bastianini having taken the victory by force, Martín came over the line in second, making his dissatisfaction known via a very clear gesture that would get him community service penalties in Formula One.