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SAN MARINO, Italy - MotoGP World champion Jorge Lorenzo won the San Marino MotoGP for Yamaha on Sunday but Honda's Marc Marquez extended his overall lead to 34 points after finishing second.
Lorenzo's second win in a row left the Spaniard level on points - but ahead on race wins - with Honda compatriot Dani Pedrosa on 219. Marquez, the 20-year-old Spanish rookie who had taken the season by storm, has 253.
Pedrosa finished third at the Misano Marco Simoncelli circuit in eastern Italy with local hero Valentino Rossi ending up fourth for Yamaha for the fourth race in a row.
'WE HAVE A CHANCE'
"I started really convinced, really motivated, and tried to push from the first corner to the last" said Lorenzo, who passed pole-starter Marquez at the start and streaked away to a comfortable 28th win in the top class. "It is important to win because we don't lose points but we have only recovered five... it doesn't make a big difference to the championship."
With five races remaining, Marquez does not need to win again and can clinch the title by finishing second in all of the remaining races. Yamaha team boss Lin Jarvis said: "Marc is very consistent. We've got five races to go and 34 deficit so if we keep going, we have a chance."
Marquez, who crashed in the morning warm-up, had to fight back from fourth after losing ground to Pedrosa and Rossi and the scrap between him and Pedrosa for second provided most of the afternoon's thrills. Pedrosa passed Marquez again with six laps to go but the move was short-lived, with the championship leader taking back the position within seconds.
FIFTH ON LAST LAP
"That second place is so important," said Marquez. "In the beginning I was struggling a lot... I went wide two times but anyway we did a good race and took 20 more points for the championship."
Germany's Stefan Bradl (Honda) took fifth on the last lap from Britain's Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) who said later: "At the end of the day I'm pleased. We came here and were 13th and 14th, 10th in practice, useless all weekend, I was borderline crashing a lot and had no confidence during the race."
In the Moto2 class, Spain's Pol Espargaro won to deny Japan's Takaaki Nakagami the first victory of his career after passing him on the penultimate lap. Britain's Scott Redding finished sixth and saw his overall lead slashed to 23 points.
The next race will be at Aragon in Spain in two weeks.
Results from the 2013 San Marino MotoGP
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 44min05.522
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 44min08.901
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 44min12.890
4 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 44min20.584
5 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 44min27.877
6 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 44min28.121
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 44min36.581
8 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 44min48.224
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 44min50.380
10 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati 44min53.340
11 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 44min53.533
12 Colin Edwards (US) FTR 45min08.676
13 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 45min13.122
14 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) FTR 45min21.050
15 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda 45min23.429
Points standings
1 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 253
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 219
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 219
4 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 169
5 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 146
6 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda - 124
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 112
8 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 104
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 95
10 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 71
11 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia - 71
12 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati - 50
13 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 41
14 Colin Edwards (US) FTR - 31
15 Hector Barbera (Spain) FTR - 27
Lorenzo's second win in a row left the Spaniard level on points - but ahead on race wins - with Honda compatriot Dani Pedrosa on 219. Marquez, the 20-year-old Spanish rookie who had taken the season by storm, has 253.
Pedrosa finished third at the Misano Marco Simoncelli circuit in eastern Italy with local hero Valentino Rossi ending up fourth for Yamaha for the fourth race in a row.
'WE HAVE A CHANCE'
"I started really convinced, really motivated, and tried to push from the first corner to the last" said Lorenzo, who passed pole-starter Marquez at the start and streaked away to a comfortable 28th win in the top class. "It is important to win because we don't lose points but we have only recovered five... it doesn't make a big difference to the championship."
With five races remaining, Marquez does not need to win again and can clinch the title by finishing second in all of the remaining races. Yamaha team boss Lin Jarvis said: "Marc is very consistent. We've got five races to go and 34 deficit so if we keep going, we have a chance."
Marquez, who crashed in the morning warm-up, had to fight back from fourth after losing ground to Pedrosa and Rossi and the scrap between him and Pedrosa for second provided most of the afternoon's thrills. Pedrosa passed Marquez again with six laps to go but the move was short-lived, with the championship leader taking back the position within seconds.
FIFTH ON LAST LAP
"That second place is so important," said Marquez. "In the beginning I was struggling a lot... I went wide two times but anyway we did a good race and took 20 more points for the championship."
Germany's Stefan Bradl (Honda) took fifth on the last lap from Britain's Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) who said later: "At the end of the day I'm pleased. We came here and were 13th and 14th, 10th in practice, useless all weekend, I was borderline crashing a lot and had no confidence during the race."
In the Moto2 class, Spain's Pol Espargaro won to deny Japan's Takaaki Nakagami the first victory of his career after passing him on the penultimate lap. Britain's Scott Redding finished sixth and saw his overall lead slashed to 23 points.
The next race will be at Aragon in Spain in two weeks.
Results from the 2013 San Marino MotoGP
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 44min05.522
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 44min08.901
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 44min12.890
4 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 44min20.584
5 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda 44min27.877
6 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha 44min28.121
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda 44min36.581
8 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 44min48.224
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 44min50.380
10 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati 44min53.340
11 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 44min53.533
12 Colin Edwards (US) FTR 45min08.676
13 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 45min13.122
14 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) FTR 45min21.050
15 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ioda 45min23.429
Points standings
1 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 253
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 219
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 219
4 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 169
5 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 146
6 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda - 124
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 112
8 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 104
9 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 95
10 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 71
11 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia - 71
12 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati - 50
13 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 41
14 Colin Edwards (US) FTR - 31
15 Hector Barbera (Spain) FTR - 27
