We are back, for the second time in as many weeks, on Italy's Adriatic coast at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, for the eighth race of the 2020 MotoGP campaign. This is officially titled as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Are we set for more magic here at Misano? Odds are, yes. We will see how this race turns out. Across the front row, it is Yamaha with Maverick Vinales on pole, Ducati with Jack Miller in second spot, and third, Fabio Quartararo. It's the clash of the titans once again, as MotoGP lines up on the grid. All five lights are on, and when they extinguish, we will be racing another time, here at Misano Adriatico for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Red lights, on. Red lights, out! Away we go! Jack Miller is the one who gets a flyer of a start on the Ducati, zooming past Maverick Vinales' Yamaha. Maverick Vinales, second, and Fabio Quartararo third, on the opening lap of 27 scheduled here at Misano. Jack Miller, the Australian, leads this motorcycle race. Francesco Bagnaia has made a pass on Pol Espargaro as well. Francesco Bagnaia, team mates at Pramac Ducati with Jack Miller, and Pol Espargaro of course, on the factory Red Bull KTM RC16. Vinales and Miller rub handlebars between turns two and three, headed through Variante del Parco for the first time. Vinales makes his move on Miller into the next corner at Rio, the fourth turn on the circuit.
Maverick Vinales and Yamaha lead from pole. Valentino Rossi, "The Doctor", is up ahead of Brad Binder and now just behind Pol Espargaro. Joan Mir on the #36 Ecstar Suzuki runs wide at turn five as he is trying to move up after starting 11th on the grid. Vinales is where he wants to be. Now, there's a scrap here, look, for the fourth position on the road. Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia is making his move on Fabio Quartararo. It's tight stuff through there, and oh dear! Someone has sailed off the road and off the bike! Who just went down? That is, from the look of it, last weekend's winner here at Misano, Franco Morbidelli. He will not do the double at Misano in today's race.
One of the Aprilia's could have also been involved there, and Morbidelli goes from first last week, to this weekend, being caboose on the field. Brad Binder makes his move on Pol Espargaro, meanwhile, into turn ten at Tramonto. It's a battle there, look, between the KTM factory riders. Binder wants to make a move on Fabio Quartararo, but there's a crash! Valentino Rossi is down and maybe out! Nope. It's game over. Rossi wanted his 200th career podium in MotoGP, but that will not happen today. Rossi today, is running his 250th race for the factory Yamaha team, but this one at Misano, in Emilio Romagna will be one to forget.
Rossi is back in the saddle but surely he's out of contention. This also means Rossi will not break into the top three in points before the 2020 season ends. Wow! Brad Binder shoots to the inside of Jack Miller! It's KTM and Ducati scrapping for position. Binder is into the podium places, but it is game over and heartbreak for Aleix Espargaro. His factory Gresini Team Aprilia is out of this motorcycle race with mechanical trouble. He can't believe it. Game over. Brad Binder, the standout South African for the factory Red Bull KTM squad is making his move on Jack Miller.
He's nipped past Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia will be the next rider, the next motorcycle, on his shopping list. "Pecco" Bagnaia is a second away from Maverick Vinales. Jack Miller runs wide, and Pol Espargaro will move back around him. Fabio Quartararo also goes by him. Oh! Brad Binder has hit the deck! The KTM rider is down and maybe out. What a disaster! Binder, the standout South African was on the podium, and he ditches the motorcycle at turn 15, the next to last corner before the end of the lap. Disaster for one of the factory KTM riders!
Does anyone want to win the 2020 MotoGP World Championship? Or, should we just keep the trophy on a shelf and let it collect dust? Is Binder back in the fight? Not sure yet. Close lap times at the front of the field, as Vinales uncorks a 1:32.8 and "Pecco" Bagnaia goes one better at a 1:32.7. Fabio Quartararo is running fourth and also in the top six, quietly moving his way up, is Danilo Petrucci on the #9 factory Ducati. Seventh spot is Joan Mir on the Suzuki, and next up in eighth and ninth are two riders we never thought we'd see. Eighth place is Iker Lecuona on the Tech3 KTM and behind the Spaniard is his countryman, Alex Marquez on the Repsol Honda.
Alex Marquez's brother, multiple world champion Marc Marquez continues to recover from a broken leg he suffered at round two of the championship. Germany's Stefan Bradl, is filling in for Marc Marquez, running motorcycle #6. But as of late, Bradl has not been a major factor in any of the races. Anyhow, Alex Marquez is ninth, directly behind Iker Lecuona. Wow. That's amazing! We ride onboard with Andrea Dovizioso only to watch Aleix Espargaro slide his way off the bike. He lost control and Franco Morbidelli had nowhere to go, as we also watch again, in replay, Rossi's crash. Rossi had the front end wash out on his bike while on a full fuel load.
We also see the replay of Brad Binder's incident with the bike spinning like a top, fortunately separate from it's rider. Petrucci, Miller, Lecuona, and Marquez are all battling for sixth spot. Francesco Bagnaia is taking time out of Maverick Vinales hand over fist, going for the lead of the motorcycle race. Oh good grief! Brad Binder has crashed, again! Two wrecks in only a few laps for the KTM rider, and this will be race to forget for him and his team. Brad, it is time to park the bike, forget about this race and rebuild for next weekend's race in Spain. Details of that event are coming your way, after this one ends.
Francesco Bagnaia has turned the fastest lap of this race so far, on lap six, putting in a 1:32.319. "Pecco" is on rails and flies through to take the lead away from Maverick Vinales. Wide on exit is the Italian, and it's a drag race as Maverick Vinales is fighting back on the outside! It's get your own back time for Bagnaia through Quercia, turn eight. Vinales got in a little too hot. Fabio Quartararo just needs to be consistent. He is fourth, behind Pol Espargaro. Takaaki Nakagami, also, has been trapped behind Andrea Dovizioso, and is on his way to another top ten finish with six laps left on the board before the finish.
Dovizioso is steadily running mid-1:33 laps. He is just not on song today at all. Oh no! Oh no! Francesco Bagnaia has crashed out of the lead of this motorcycle race! Bagnaia, the race leader, has dumped it! Another monumental twist in the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, and we just saw it with our own eyes! He had a second advantage over his rivals, whistling off into the distance. Who is writing this script for MotoGP 2020? There's a ghostwriter somewhere who is putting this stuff on paper. I can guarantee that. Bagnaia's pace was really hot throughout the weekend, and we wondered if he could maintain it. Apparently not, now that he's crashed out of the race.
He was in strife in the same corner earlier this weekend in practice and qualifying. That's a hard one to call. He turned left, the engine revved up, and Bagnaia slid off the motorcycle in turn six before the long backstretch. The wind has been taken from Bagnaia's sails. That crash will take a long time to get over and a lot of personal reflection. Maverick Vinales is leading this motorcycle race over Pol Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo in the other podium places. The points championship as they run, shows Fabio Quartararo now in the lead on 86 points. Second place is Maverick Vinales with 83. Andrea Dovizioso is shown as tied for second with Vinales on 83 points, and Joan Mir is ten markers further back, in fourth, on 73 points.
Maverick Vinales has a four second lead. Joan Mir is closing up on Quartararo and Pol Espargaro. Quartararo wants by Espargaro and is looking, but he has no edge grip right now. Fabio Quartararo tries the inside at the final turn, Misano corner, but it's not going to work as the KTM rider slams the door in his face. That was a close one! VR46 are not having a good day either. Some top contenders have fallen by the wayside. Rossi, out. Bagnaia, out. Mir is coming, and fast. Poor Pecco Bagnaia. He must be in tears. He must be asking, "what do I have to do to get a better result? What do I have to do to win?"
Mir and Quartararo are ganging up on Pol Espargaro. He isn't the smoothest rider in the world. Just three laps remain in the second MotoGP race at Misano Adriatico in two weekends. Espargaro can't get drive off the corner, but Joan Mir surely can get drive, and he attacks Fabio Quartararo! The shark has bitten the surfer here. He's got Quartararo. He made the move! Wow. That's something to see! "No Mercy" Mir is fighting hard once again. Holy cow! With two laps to go, we have ourselves a points standings update before the checkered flag. Here's the situation as they run now. Right now, it shows a three way tie between Quartararo, Vinales, and Dovizioso, with 83 points apiece. Fourth spot would be Joan Mir, seven points behind, with 76.
Mir made a brilliant move on Quartararo last time by. Will he try to go for it on Pol Espargaro this time? Just two laps to go. Pol holds on, but on the brakes and up the inside, Mir is going to attack. Bish, bash, bosh, and Mir makes it stick for second spot into turn one. The Suzuki team are going wild right now, cheering on their man Mir. Fabio Quartararo has just spoiled Pol Espargaro's podium chances. Iker Lecuona has dropped like a stone. But we don't know if he's crashed or if his bike is not working right. Darn. Iker Lecuona has indeed crashed out. Game over. With Lecuona's misfortune, Andrea Dovizioso has moved up a place.
Pol Espargaro could just reach out and grab a podium place, but now he will have to settle for fourth right in front of Miguel Oliveira, his other KTM stablemate. In the blink of an eye, Mir has said arriva derci to both Pol Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo basically in one fell swoop. Maverick Vinales leads and surely his pit crew for the factory Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team have chewed their collective fingernails to the quick, wondering what is going to happen, and if their man can hold on. Maverick Vinales will have a real shot in the arm, a confidence boost, should he win this motorcycle race.
Going into the next event, Fabio Quartararo would lead the championship standings. Franco Morbidelli has been ill all weekend and should be in bed, resting, instead of racing. But he's pushing on, hard. He's gone past Danilo Petrucci. He is up to ninth. Oh no! Long lap penalty for Fabio Quartararo! He has to take the long lap! He won't take it now becausre he wants a podium. He has been given a track limits warning. He will lose an podium spot! Goodness gracious. Can Quartararo get back after he takes the penalty loopp? Has he seen seen the message on his dashboard? Nope. He will have to incur a time penalty after the race. In incurring the time penalty, the marshals from the FIM will add the time for going through the long lap, onto his overall race time, which will still cost him a podium place.
Last lap. Maverick Vinales has been through the ringer, mentally, and critiqued a lot. But he is going to be another new MotoGP race winner! Maverick Vinales wins at Misano! Mir in second. Quartararo takes a three second penalty so he gives up third to Pol Espargaro. What's next in MotoGP? We have now seen six different race winners in seven races in MotoGP 2020! Unbelievable!
#12 Maverick Vinales ESP. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1
Still more MotoGP action coming your way. Next weekend, we are headed to Spain, to Catalunya, actually. It's the Barcelona Catalunya circuit and the Catalunya Motorcycle Grand Prix. Looking forward to bringing it to you. See you next weekend, for more racing MotoGP style. So long, for now.
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