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Valentino Rossi wins San Marino MotoGP at Misano
First win of season for Italian legend
Rossi passes 5,000 points in world championship classes
Championship leader Marc Marquez crashes and finishes 15th
Misano is home from home for Italian legend Valentino Rossi so it was fitting he would secure his first win of the 2014 season at the circuit on the Adriatic Riviera Sunday and reach another milestone in his remarkable career.
The nine-time world motorcycling champion took his 107th victory and surpassed 5,000 grand prix points, over 4,000 in the premier MotoGP class.
Rossi took the lead early from pole sitter and Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo but was being chased by Marc Marquez when the dominant title leader went down on the Rio corner on the 10th lap.
Marquez was able to restart his Yamaha but his chances of victory were over and and he finished 15th.
Rossi, whose last win came at Assen in 2013, went on to claim the San Marino GP with Lorenzo and Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa completing the podium.
Rossi’s home town of Tavullia is a few kilometers from Misano and his win was greeted with delight by his supporters.
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“I had a good start to the race and battled with Marc and Jorge, I knew Marc wanted to stay in front. After I saw the board and understood that he had crashed or something it was a little easier as I already had a small advantage over Jorge,” he told the official MotoGP website.
“It has been five years since my last victory here, a similar race too, it’s like a time machine,” he added.
Marquez said he was pleased to be able to recover after his tumble. “I saw the possibility of fighting with Valentino for the victory, but that was not possible in the end because of the mistake, I was riding over the inside of the rumble strip and that meant that I lost the front,” he said.
“Luckily I was able to rejoin the race, continue with a good pace and score a point that could always come in handy in the future.”
Marquez remains firmly in command in search of his second straight title with 289 points, but Rossi has closed to within a point of Pedrosa, 214 to 215, in the battle for second place.
Pedrosa was taking his ninth podium of the season, edging out another home hope, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) impressed in fifth place ahead of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 pair of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith.