Moto GP 2015: Marc Marquez wins while Jorge Lorenzo crashes out as two British riders seal podium places at the San Marino Grand Prix

At the Misano Marco Simoncelli circuit, just eight miles down the road from Valentino Rossi’s home town of Tavullia, the 28-lap thriller of a race went from dry to wet to dry again conditions causing mayhem with two pitstops but leading to two British riders, Bradley Smith and Scott Redding to stand next to the defending world champion on the podium.

With the two Yamaha factory riders leading the Championship just 12 points apart, the man on pole Jorge Lorenzo, stormed to the first corner to lead the race from Marquez and close rival Rossi. Race Direction quickly showed the white flags as rain drops began to fall, indicating to riders they can pit to change to their wet-tyred bikes.

The top trio of Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi continued at a reduced pace on slicks whilst the rest of the pack piled into the pitlane to quickly change and the hestitant front runners following suit two laps later. Resuming the race with everyone on wet tyres, Lorenzo was first out of pitlane with Marquez hot on his heels whilst Rossi had the Ducati GP15 of Andrea Iannone to pass before he could hunt down the front pair. Marquez briefly took the lead whilst Rossi closed in on Lorenzo by 3.5 seconds but with 20 laps still to go, Marquez made a mistake running wide and Lorenzo regained the lead. The Repsol Honda rider whose chances of retaining the world title have been slimmer with each round, dived towards Lorenzo to take the lead once more, but looking over his shoulder lost his position to both Yamaha riders and Rossi made his move on Lorenzo.

The home crowd were on their feet as a sea of yellow cheered but as the tarmac dried out and most riders pitted for the second time including Marquez, whilst the Yamaha duo tried to battle it out between themselves with ten laps to go. Two laps later however, Lorenzo pitted from second place to go back out on his slicks but then suffered a fast crash at turn 15 from sixth place leaving him with zero points to gain in the championship standings. Taking too long to make the decision, Rossi pitted a lap later leaving Marquez to take the lead and when he returned to the track he was in fifth place and almost half a lap behind the leader.

While the Yamaha riders were so focused on each other, this pushed the Brits further up the pack. Proving racing is more than just about going fast, Bradley Smith who had qualified in sixth place, leapt to fourth briefly but was down in 19th place by halfway through the race, now raced seven seconds behind Marquez comfortably in second place. Marc VDS Honda rider Scott Redding who had crashed out earlier in the race managed to rejoin and then faced a battle with Frenchman Loris Baz for the final step of the podium, winning the position with three laps to go and taking his first podium in the premier class.

For Smith’s second podium in the GP class, he overtakes Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso on the overall standings for fifth place, whilst Rossi managed to take valuable points from his home round and further his lead by 23 points to Lorenzo. Marquez’s win puts him 40 points behind Lorenzo in the standings, with four races left of the season.