MotoGP Jerez - Pedrosa wins as Marquez takes title lead

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa took victory in a somewhat processional MotoGP round at Jerez this lunchtime but team-mate Marc Marquez nicked the championship lead with a controversial move on fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo.

The Repsol Honda rookie had been looking for a way past Lorenzo on the final lap, trying on the brakes into Dry Sack corner but running wide on the brakes. 

He then lined up a moved into the final turn, appropriately-named Lorenzo's after a ceremony this weekend, the pair touched and the Yamaha man was pushed wide, leaving Marquez to take second and the series lead.

Pedrosa, meanwhile, cruised over the line for the win after building a four-second gap from lap four to throttle off in the closing stages and win by two and a half seconds from his team-mate.

Lorenzo will be spitting at the move, which was reminiscent of Valentino Rossi's famous nerfing of Sete Gibernau at the same place, but he is now third in the title stakes, four points behind Marquez.

Valentino Rossi mounted an early challenge, pushing past Britain's Cal Crutchlow for fourth on the exit of turn one at the first time of asking. He then went under Marquez for third at the last corner but the youngster was having none of it and re-passed him and put a gap into the nine-time world champion.

Crutchlow, who is sporting sore kidneys after two big crashes yesterday, looked to have the measure of Rossi but dropped back into a battle with Alvaro Bautista for fifth. The Spaniard got past Crutchlow mid-race but it didn't last long, with the Isle of Man resident going back in front.

Nicky Hayden had a lonely race for seventh place while Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso had his hands full with Aspar CRT man Aleix Espargaro. With eight laps left, the Spaniard passed Dovi but the Italian used the superior power of the full prototype to bag eighth.

Bradley Smith took his first top-ten finish of the season, just ahead of Ducati test rider Michele Pirro and CRT man Hector Barbera. 

Michael Laverty was also in the points, grabbing 13th place in front of Danilo Petrucci. Stefan Bradl and Andrea Iannone were both fallers.

By MotoGP desk

Image by Bonnie Lane