Rossi wins at home while Marquez crashes

Monday, 15 September 2014 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Italian MotoGP great Valentino Rossi won the San Marino Grand Prix for Yamaha on Sunday while Honda’s runaway championship leader Marc Marquez suffered a rare spill and finished 15th.

The victory at Misano, the circuit nearest to his home, was the first in 15 months for the 35-year-old nine times world champion and ended Honda’s 100% winning record for the season. Spaniard Marquez, who started on the second row and was chasing a record-equalling 12th victory in 13 races so far this year, lost control of his bike with 19 laps to go with the machine slipping out from beneath him under braking. The 21-year-old then struggled to get the Honda started again with marshals pushing him along. Yamaha celebrated a one-two finish with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, winner at Misano for the last three years, second for the fourth race in a row after starting on pole position. Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa was third. Rossi’s last win was at Assen in the Netherlands in June last year and Sunday’s was his 81st in the top category and 107 in all classes. Marquez saw his championship lead over Pedrosa cut to 74 points from 89.