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MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy - Italian great Valentino Rossi led a Yamaha 1-2 to claim his first win of 2014 at the San Marino Moto GP and to launch his bid for a 10th title on Sunday (Sept 14).
Rossi, a nine-times MotoGP champion in all categories, finished the 28-lap race ahead of Spanish team mate Jorge Lorenzo with Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, in third.
Championship leader Marquez finished 15th after sliding his Honda on the early laps and trailing at the back of the field for most of the contest.
FORM ECLIPSED
Lorenzo on Saturday had earned the 30th pole position of his career but first of 2014 to top the grid just ahead of Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Rossi but the Spaniard's bid for a fourth consecutive win in San Marino was kept in check by a rampant Rossi who eclipsed his mercurial form so far this season with a composed and determined performance which he admitted was helped by Marquez's misfortune.
"I'm very happy. It was a great race," an ecstatic Rossi told Sky Sports. "Obviously incidents such as the one affecting Marquez don't happen very often but today we knew we had a great chance to win.
"I really enjoyed the race, so many people, so many fans. It was a perfect day."
It was Rossi's 81st win in the sport's elite class, allowing the 35-year-old Italian to become the first rider to reach 5000 career points.
Lorenzo, Rossi, and Marquez - who had a great start from fourth - exploded off the grid and opened up a small gap as early as the first lap, with Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso and Pedrosa leading the chasing pack.
VIRTUALLY UNCHALLENGED
Rossi, however, soon had the thousands of local fans in the stands on their feet with a deft overtake on Lorenzo. By lap six Lorenzo's gap to Rossi began to grow and three laps later the Italian was given a further boost when Marquez lost control on a bend and had to be given help by marshals to get going again.
As Rossi pushed on solo, Marquez slipped down the field and virtually out of contention.
The Italian was left virtually unchallenged for most of the remainder but had to fend off Lorenzo in the closing stages before crossing the line 1.57sec ahead of the Spaniard, with Pedrosa completing the podium 4.2sec back.
With five championship races remaining Marquez remains leader on 289 points but has seen Pedrosa (215) and Rossi (214) close the gap to 74 and 75 points respectively.
2014 San Marino MotoGP result
1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 44min14.586
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 44min16.164
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 44min18.862
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 44min20.096
5 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 44min26.357
6 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 44min33.585
7 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 44min37.686
8 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 44min51.044
9 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Ducati - 44min53.066
10 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati - 45min00.464
11 Karel Abraham (Czech Republic) Honda - 45min09.351
12 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda - 45min11.361
13 Scott Redding (Britain) Honda - 45min17.320
14 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Yamaha - 45min28.132
15 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 45min30.534
2014 MotoGP points after San Marino GP
1 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 289
2 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 215
3 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 214
4 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 177
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 142
6 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 98
7 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 92
8 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 92
9 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda - 74
10 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 74
11 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda - 64
12 Scott Redding (Britain) Honda - 54
13 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Ducati - 47
14 Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda - 43
15 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati - 38
San Marino Moto2 result
1 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex - 42:48.724
2 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex - 42:50.995
3 Johann Zarco (France) Caterham Suter - 42:52.992
4 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Kalex - 42:56.172
5 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter - 42:58.403
6 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter - 43:00.311
7 Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex - 43:10.623
8 Julian Simon (Spain) Kalex - 43:11.127
9 Axel Pons (Spain) Kalex - 43:11.468
10 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex - 43:12.768
11 Marcel Schroetter (Germany) Tech 3 - 43:14.435
12 Sandro Cortese (Germany) Kalex - 43:18.197
13 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Kalex - 43:20.653
14 Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) Suter - 43:23.791
15 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex - 43:24.018
Moto2 points after the San Marino Moto2 race
1 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex - 258
2 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex - 236
3 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Kalex - 179
4 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter - 133
5 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Suter 103
6 Simone Corsi (Italy) Kalex - 100
7 Johann Zarco (France) Caterham Suter - 88
8 Anthony West (Australia) Speed up - 65
9 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex - 63
10 Sandro Cortese (Germany) Kalex - 62
11 Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex - 52
12 Marcel Schroetter (Germany) Tech 3 - 51
13 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex - 48
14 Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up - 42
15 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Suter - 39
2014 San Marino Moto3 result
1 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda 39min50.694
2 Alex Marquez (Spain) Honda 39min50.736
3 Jack Miller (Australia) KTM 39min54.097
4 Isaac Vinales (Spain) KTM 39min55.153
5 Enea Bastianini (Italy) KTM 39min55.179
6 BRAD BINDER (South Africa) Mahindra 39min55.365
7 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda 40min00.100
8 Andrea Migno (Italy) Mahindra 40min00.237
9 Juanfran Guevara (Spain) Kalex 40min00.400
10 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda 40min00.737
11 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM 40min00.802
12 Danny Kent (Britain) Husqvarna 40min03.246
13 John McPhee (Britain) Honda 40min05.108
14 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) Honda 40min06.179
15 Jorge Navarro (Spain) Kalex 40min06.869
Moto3 points after 2014 San Marino Moto3
1 Jack Miller (Australia) KTM - 195
2 Alex Marquez (Spain) Honda - 186
3 Alex Rins (Spain) Honda - 175
4 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda - 151
5 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM - 140
6 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda - 134
7 Isaac Vinales (Spain) KTM 112
8 Enea Bastianini (Italy) KTM - 98
9 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Mahindra - 84
10 BRAD BINDER (South Africa) Mahindra - 77
11 Danny Kent (Britain) Husqvarna - 77
12 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) KTM - 67
13 John McPhee (Britain) Honda - 53
14 Niklas Ajo (Finland) Husqvarna - 45
15 Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) KTM - 42
