Martin masters Misano Sprint

The San Marino Sprint was dominated by Jorge Martin, while the gritty Francesco Bagnaia held off veteran wildcard Dani Pedrosa for a heroic podium place.

Martin’s Pramac Ducati was a dominant figure, taking a breathtaking pole, leading every lap of the race with Marco Bezzecchi settling for second.

Bezzecchi was the only rider to keep up with the #89 but the gap always hovered over half a second and the VR46 rider could never mount a challenge.

The biggest battle was the one for third where an injured Bagnaia had to dig deep to keep the returning Pedrosa at bay.

The #26 made a significant challenge during the final laps, but could not do enough to overcome the reigning champion.

However, fourth place was still an impressive effort for 37-year-old Pedrosa with teammate Brad Binder right behind him, while Jack Miller could only manage 15th after starting 18th

Martin got a strong start and held the advantage into turn one where Bagnaia flew around the outside of Bezzecchi.

The top two opened a sizeable gap as early as the first straight while Pedrosa settled into fourth and KTM teammate Miller was down in 20th.

Binder lost ground off the start but quickly mounted a counterattack highlighted by a double overtake on Marini and Alien Espargaro at the Tramonto.

But by turns 5 and 6 Binder was then rubbing shoulders with Maverick Viñales, but could not get by the Aprilia for fifth. Three spots behind Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro got close for company.

On lap six Binder finally accounted for Vinales at the fast turn seven kink.

Whilst there were tight battles in the mid pack, Martin and Bezzecchi had opened up a sizeable 2s advantage over Bagnaia.

With four laps to go the gritty Ducati rider had Pedrosa on his tail and on lap 11 the KTM was alongside the Ducati when the #1 ran wide at the Quercia corner.

But despite being all over the back of Bagnaia, Pedrosa could not quite make a serious lunge.

However, the 37-year-old still received a warm reception from the KTM team.

Although Martin cleaned up the sprint, the biggest cheers were saved for the heroic Bagnaia, who bounced back from his horrific Catalan crash to hobble his way to a Sprint podium.

The Grand Prix begins at 22.00 AEST.

Photo by Gold and Goose / LAT Images

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