Dovizioso powers to his third victory

– Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso (left) won the San Marino MotoGP yesterday. It was the Ducati rider’s third success of the season and he held off world championship leader Marc Marquez of Honda.

Dovizioso, 32, finished 2.822 sec ahead of the Spaniard on the Misano track on Italy’s Adriatic coast with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow third for Honda after pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo of Ducati crashed with two laps to go.

Four-time world champion Marquez extends his overall world championship lead to 67 ahead of Dovizioso, who moves up two places to take second from Italian Valentino Rossi, who drops to third overall, with Lorenzo now in fourth.

“I’m happy to have beaten Marquez and to win here where I had never managed before,” said Dovizioso, who was born 60km up the road from the Misano track.

Runner-up last season to Marquez, Dovizioso set the early pace after starting from the second row on the grid. He overtook his team-mate Lorenzo on the sixth lap and never looked back.

Lorenzo and Marquez closed the gap until the pole starter fell, leaving the way open for Dovizioso to follow on from his wins in Qatar and the Czech MotoGP last month.

Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia, of Kalex, won the Moto2 category ahead of Miguel Oliveira of KTM, to extend his lead to eight points in the overall standings. –