MISANO: Francesco Bag­naia insisted he was not thinking about winning the MotoGP championship des­pite triumphing at Misano Adriatico on Sunday to claim his fourth straight win and close in on leader Fabio Quartararo.

Ducati rider Bagnaia pipped Enea Bastianini by just 0.034 seconds in a thrilling San Marino Grand Prix victory which moved him above Aleix Espargaro into second and within 30 points of reigning world champion Quartararo, who finished fifth.

But the 25-year-old Italian said after claiming the honours he would only start thinking about snatching the crown from Yamaha’s Quartararo French­man Quartararo is looking over his shoulder and despite believing he did a “really great job” cut a disconsolate figure after finishing over five seconds behind Bagnaia.

Bagnaia’s victory was all the more impressive for him being forced to start from fifth after a three-place grid penalty imposed during practice on Friday.After taking the lead on lap three Bagnaia held off first Maverick Vinales and then Bastianini to claim his sixth win from the 14 GPs completed in the 20-race season.

Bastianini will be Bagnaia’s team-mate on the factory Ducati bike next season and he showed why he is moving up from the satellite Gresini team.

The 24-year-old, who had started second on the grid, pushed past Vinales and behind Bagnaia on lap 20 and then piled the pressure on his compatriot.

The pair were practically wheel-to-wheel for the final few laps and after trying to overtake with only a few turns remaining crossed the line almost alongside Bagnaia.Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller had started on pole for the second time in his MotoGP career but was one of five riders to crash in a chaotic opening to the race.

Johann Zarco, Michele Pirro and Pol Espargaro all crashed out on the very first corner, while Miller and Marco Bezzechi went down a lap later.

Alonso Lopez became the first non-Kalex rider to win a Moto2 race since 2019 with his first ever GP triumph.

The Boscoscuro rider, who started the day 12th in the championship, finished ahead of Spaniards Aron Canet and Augusto Fernandez who snatched the overall lead from Japan’s Ai Ogura by four points.

In Moto3 Dennis Foggia made it three Misano wins in a row when he pipped Jaume Masia to close the gap between him and new championship leader Izan Guevara to 35 points.

Foggia is the first rider to complete the Moto3 hat-trick at the track and is 24 points behind Gue­vara’s fellow Aspar rider Sergio Garcia, who dropped down to second in the standings after being disqualified from the race for irresponsible riding.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2022