San Marino GP: Dani Pedrosa Snatches Victory To Become The 8th Wonder Of MotoGP

Pedrosa is the eighth different race winner in the eighth consecutive race of the season, thereby creating a new record in the history of MotoGP

If MotoGP is not the most exciting type of motorsport in current times, when Formula 1 appears to be a bit black and white with similar podium finishers after each race, I don’t know what is. As the latest San Marino GP in Misano has seen yet another unique winner for the eighth consecutive time.

Dani Pedrosa, who won the MotoGP in Misano six years back in 2010, has emerged as the master of the Misano World Circuit by clinching the victory yet again. The Spaniard beat Rossi by passing him with seven laps remaining in a classic, clinical Pedrosa-way. Meanwhile, Pedrosa’s compatriot Jorge Lorenzo stood third after he was locked up in a steady gap from Rossi.

The race began with Lorenzo taking a quick lead with a good start. However, Rossi was prompt to act and was able to pass his teammate on the initial stage of the race and was able to maintain the lead for the rest of the race, until Pedrosa came into the picture.

Pedrosa was late to begin his charge, but a soft front tyre was letting him comfortably manage higher speeds on corners -- allowing him set even the fastest lap time of all. Halfway through the race, Pedrosa just went on to slice through the front order. He was able to pull off a passing manoeuvre on his teammate Marq Marquez at the tight turn 14 into the lap 12 to clinch third place. Further, he kept on pushing and took over Lorenzo who was almost a second behind Rossi. The latter did try to put up a fight, but since he was running on a medium front tyre -- like most of the racers on the hot track – he didn’t stand a chance against Pedrosa’s soft front -- which offered better cornering grip.

Further back in the grid, there was a lot going on as Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) was feeling the pressure from Ducati’s Dovizioso while maintaining his fifth position. Notably, Vinales had a hard day at the race with some early close calls with Marquez and then later in the race he was forced to drop a position to allow Dovizioso past him after he (Vinales) repeatedly exceeded the track limits. However, Vinales was able to regain the fifth position and finished at the same spot.

Eventually, Dovizioso had to settle with the sixth position followed by his teammate Pirro on seventh. Cal Crutchlow finished at the eighth position, but sustained a 1.5 seconds penalty for exceeding track limits, which, subsequently pushed him back to the ninth position behind Pol Espargaro.

Aleix Espargaro had a fateful weekend as he crashed out of the race on turn 10; notably, he ran into a spat with Valentino in the free practice a day before.

This 2016 MotoGP season has been very remarkable as we have seen eight different race winners in last eight races. One thing is for sure, with the next race slated to take place in Aragon in two week's time, the anticipation is going to reach a whole new level.