Spain’s Dani Pedrosa closed the gap at the top of the championship table after winning the San Marino MotoGP for Honda, beating the Yamahas of fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo and Italian Valentino Rossi.
Pedrosa started from pole position and never relinquished his grip on the race to score his fourth victory of the campaign and keep up pressure on overall leader Lorenzo.
The race, however, was overshadowed by the earlier death of Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa in the Moto2 event.
Tomizawa, who rides for Technomag-CIP, was travelling at full speed when he was hit by the bikes of Alex De Angelis and British rider Scott Redding. The race continued and was eventually won by Spain’s Toni Elias.
San Marino Moto GP – full results
1. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha
3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda
5. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati
6. Ben Spies (U.S.) Yamaha
7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha
8. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki
9. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati
10. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda
11. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Ducati
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Honda
13. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda
14. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda