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Motorcycling: Jorge Lorenzo stays in title hunt with smooth fifth victory

 

Steve Hardcastle
Monday 16 September 2013 11:22 BST
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Jorge Lorenzo heads for victory in the San Marino GP
Jorge Lorenzo heads for victory in the San Marino GP

Jorge Lorenzo continued his fightback in the MotoGP title race after securing back-to-back wins with victory in Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. The Yamaha rider lined up second on the grid but overtook leader Marc Marquez on the opening lap and went on to a comprehensive win.

A fifth victory of the year moves Lorenzo onto 219 points, level with Honda’s Dani Pedrosa but still 34 behind the second factory Honda of Marquez, who was second. “Five victories is a lot to still be in second place but I made a mistake at Assen and also Sachsenring. It was my own fault and now I’m paying a little bit for it,” Lorenzo said.

“The past is the past, we cannot change it and have to look to the  future. Improve the bike more and try to win the remaining grands prix.

“If we want to win the championship we have to win races,” he added. “Marc is really strong. He’s always first or second. So he’s a really hard rival to beat but we have to keep trying and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Lorenzo and Marquez served up a thriller at Silverstone last time out as they diced for a victory that ultimately went the way of the Yamaha man, although yesterday’s race failed to scale similar heights.

Once he had taken the lead in San Marino Lorenzo never looked in any danger and was more than three seconds clear of the chasing pack when he took the chequered flag.

The battle between Marquez and Pedrosa for second did provide plenty of excitement, with the rookie coming out on top after the pair had swapped places over the closing laps.

Valentino Rossi was unable to live with the pace of the Spanish trio and came fourth on the second factory Yamaha. Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow was pipped to fifth place on the final lap by LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl following a race-long duel.

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