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      Five winners in six: the 2020 title race is wide open

      motogp.com
      https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2020/09/13/five-winners-in-six-the-2020-title-race-is-wide-open/162135

      Morbidelli’s win, Bagnaia’s first podium, Quartararo’s DNF and everything else that happened at Misano sees 2020 take yet another huge twist

      Thanks to another mesmerising MotoGP™ race in 2020, the title race – if it wasn’t already – has been blown wide open. The Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was another example of just how unpredictable the premier class is this season, with the top nine riders separated by just 23 points in the Championship – it’s anyone’s game.

       

      It was contrasting fortunes in the Petronas Yamaha SRT ranks on Sunday afternoon. Fabio Quartararo lost his lead in the overall standings for the first time since the opening race of the season with not one, but two crashes at Misano. On the other side of the box, complete elation for Franco Morbidelli. His maiden MotoGP™ victory – made all that sweeter to do it on home soil – was nothing short of perfection, seeing the fourth maiden winner stand on the top step in the opening six races in 2020. Amazingly, that’s the first time that has happened since 1949 – the very first motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship season.

      Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Joan Mir, Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini

      Taking over the title race baton is Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), despite a very quiet weekend in San Marino. It’s a six-point advantage at the top for the Italian who will be hoping for more when the paddock revisits the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in less than seven days time. Talking of Ducati, the injured Francesco Bagnaia’s (Pramac Racing) sublime return from injury sees him take his first MotoGP™ podium. This means we’ve now seen 12 different podium finishers in six races – unthinkable at the start of the campaign.

      2020 is the most unpredictable campaign we’ve ever seen. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) again proved he’s right in the title chase with a podium at Misano, the Spaniard is now ahead of Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi in the standings. The latter two are 18 adrift of Dovizioso, with Mir 16 – all three a slender ahead of Morbidelli. As we know, that can change in the blink of an eye.

       

      MotoGP™ in 2020 is simply breathtaking. You can make a strong case for anyone of 14 riders to claim the crown. It really is that competitive. Misano, what have you got in store for us next weekend?

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