MotoGP 2023: Jorge Martin wins big in Misano but wild card Pedrosa steals the show

Jorge Martin stole all the glory in Misano as he converted his pole into victory once again. The Italian ride had been on the top step of the podium in the Sprint and it was a similar scene on race day. In fact, the top four positions in the race were the same as the Sprint. With this win, Martin has closed the gap between himself and current championship leader Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, the gap between the two dwindling down to 36 points.

Having suffered a horrible crash last week in Catalunya, Pecco just about made it to the final podium position. While he did put pressure on Martin initially, the pace did not last long and he was overtaken by Marco Bezzecchi. Pecco had to fight to keep his third-place finish as biting on his heels was the Little Samurai, Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa was a wild card entry from KTM this week and managed to impress the fans with his performance, grabbing P4 in both the Sprint and the full-distance race.
KTM’s Brad Binder was mounting another impressive charge through the pack from P7. However, it all came undone on Lap 8 at Turn 14 when the South African rider crashed. Thankfully, he was able to get back on his bike and managed to grab two points for his P14 finish. He was sandwiched between the two Yamaha riders who had a rather quiet weekend. Despite Honda’s continuing woes, Marc Marquez managed to finish the race in seventh place. The tow he got from Pedrosa got him into Q2 and made life much easier for the seven-time world champion.
A double winner last week, Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia found himself with just four points as the flag fell while his teammate Maverick Vinales had a much better outing. Vinales managed to stay in fifth place and grabbed a decent chunk of points for himself. The other two Aprilia riders on the grid, Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez also had a decent afternoon, finishing the race in P6 & P8, respectively.
A collision between Jack Miller and Michele Pirro on Lap 10 ended both riders’ race. Others who crashed out during the race were Pol Espargaro and Joan Mir. The move to Honda has not been a sweet one for Mir as he continues his crash streak on race days.