Lorenzo crossed the finish line almost two and a half seconds behind the 5-time MotoGP champion, while Pedrosa had to settle for 3rd place overall, almost 10 seconds off the pace.
The Spaniard was, in fact, the first to set the pace on Sunday afternoon, as he led the field for the opening laps ahead of the Yamaha duo. However, he was quickly overtaken by Rossi and then had to put a serious fight against countryman Lorenzo for the runner-up spot, which he eventually lost after a few more laps.
As hard as Lorenzo pushed in the remaining laps, his effort was not enough to deny his teammate of his 6th win of the season. Rossi therefore extended his lead in the overall classification to 30 points from Lorenzo, with only 4 rounds left to play in 2009. Quite a comeback after his foolish mistake at Indianapolis, which saw him recording his first DNF of the season!
With Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards out of the equation in the early stages of the race due to Alex de Angelis' wrong approach of a corner - which saw all three riders crash out - Honda's Andrea Dovizioso had only Suzuki's Loris Capirossi to fight with for the 4th place. Eventually, the former secured that position only two tenths of a second ahead of his countryman.
"I am so happy because this victory is more important than normal, coming after a bad mistake in Indianapolis just seven days ago and especially because my team and I did a great job, from Friday afternoon. It was a perfect weekend, we were always very fast in all the practices and we are always proud of all the fans here in Misano. Thanks to them for all their support," said an enthusiastic Rossi after the race.
Toni Elias, Mika Kallio, Marco Melandri, Chris Vermeulen and James Toseland completed the Top 10.
Google News