MotoGP: Rossi takes dominant win at Jerez

    A day after taking his first pole position in 10 months, the Yamaha rider ended a winless run that went back to last August's British GP.

    Published On Apr 25, 2016 01:34:00 PM

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    MotoGP: Rossi takes dominant win at Jerez

    Valentino Rossi claimed the 87th premier class victory of his career to ignite his quest for an eighth MotoGP title, with a masterclass to win the Spanish Grand Prix.

    A day after taking his first pole position in 10 months, the Yamaha rider ended a winless run that went back to last August's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

    Rossi kept the lead off the start and while team-mate Jorge Lorenzo challenged him early, he was able to resist that threat and edge away, leading by just under three seconds halfway through the 27-lap Jerez race.

    With tyre wear at the forefront of discussions all weekend, Lorenzo then started to make a move.

    The gap came down to 2.1 seconds with nine laps to go, but Rossi responded, putting two tenths and then half-a-second back onto it on the following two laps.

    With five remaining, the margin was out to more than three seconds for the first time all afternoon, and got up to more than four-and-a-half, before Rossi cruised home on the final lap for an eventual margin of 2.386s.

    Rossi's start to the campaign had been mixed, with fourth in Qatar and a fortunate podium in Argentina followed by a fall at Austin a fortnight ago, but he started the European season in the best-possible fashion.

    Lorenzo had to withstand pressure from Marc Marquez for the first half of the race, but the Honda rider fell away over the remainder to finish nearly 5s behind the world champion.

    With the results, Marquez keeps the championship lead on 82 points, 17 ahead of Lorenzo and 24 clear or Rossi.

    Dani Pedrosa ran ahead of his team-mate briefly early in the race and eventually finished fourth, ahead of Suzuki pair Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales.

    Andrea Iannone salvaged seventh from 11th on the grid, ending a torrid weekend as Ducati struggled with power delivery.

    For the third race in a row, his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was forced out through no fault of his own.

    Dovizioso opted to race on the softer front tyre and ran as high as fifth, but retired from seventh on lap 10 with a technical problem at the rear end of his Ducati.

    Pol Espargaro was the leading satellite rider in eighth, ahead of Eugene Laverty and Hector Barbera.

    RACE RESULT

    PosRiderTeamLapsGap
    1Valentino RossiYamaha2745m28.834s
    2Jorge LorenzoYamaha272.386s
    3Marc MarquezHonda277.087s
    4Daniel PedrosaHonda2710.351s
    5Aleix EspargaroSuzuki2714.143s
    6Maverick VinalesSuzuki2716.772s
    7Andrea IannoneDucati2726.277s
    8Pol EspargaroTech3 Yamaha2730.750s
    9Eugene LavertyAspar Ducati2732.325s
    10Hector BarberaAvintia Ducati2732.624s
    11Cal CrutchlowLCR Honda2738.497s
    12Bradley SmithTech3 Yamaha2739.669s
    13Loris BazAvintia Ducati2745.227s
    14Stefan BradlAprilia2747.886s
    15Yonny HernandezAspar Ducati2747.988s
    16Michele PirroPramac Ducati2749.414s
    17Jack MillerMarc VDS Honda2749.513s
    18Tito RabatMarc VDS Honda2753.334s
    19Scott ReddingPramac Ducati271m05.555s
    -Andrea DoviziosoDucati9Retirement
    -Alvaro BautistaAprilia5Retirement

    STANDINGS

    PosRiderPoints
    1Marc Marquez82
    2Jorge Lorenzo65
    3Valentino Rossi58
    4Daniel Pedrosa40
    5Pol Espargaro36
    6Maverick Vinales33
    7Aleix Espargaro32
    8Hector Barbera31
    9Eugene Laverty28
    10Andrea Iannone25
    11Andrea Dovizioso23
    12Bradley Smith20
    13Stefan Bradl17
    14Scott Redding16
    15Alvaro Bautista14
    16Michele Pirro12
    17Tito Rabat11
    18Cal Crutchlow5
    19Loris Baz4
    20Yonny Hernandez3
    21Jack Miller2

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