Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP

File: A cold front is moving over the country. eNCA
Hijacked building in Cape Town
Fugitive fraud-accused Michael Lomas is back in SA.
Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa poster
Michael Lomas back in South Africa. 
File: Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town Mayor. (RODGER BOSCH / AFP)
Fugitive fraud-accused Michael Lomas is back in SA.
Francesco Bagnaia will be gunning for MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin in the Italian’s 100th Grand Prix appearance, at his home Misano Adriatico circuit this weekend.
Defending champion Bagnaia is seven points behind Martin ahead of the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP, which replaced the cancelled race in Kazakhstan.
Ducati’s Bagnaia shaved 19 points off Martin’s lead in the riders’ standings at the San Marino MotoGP two weeks ago as his Pramac rival made a wrong call to pit, believing that a downpour was on its way.
Instead the rain never arrived and Martin finished that race 15th, allowing Bagnaia to close in on his Spanish rival despite conceding victory to Marc Marquez.
“On Sunday honestly when I saw Jorge was entering in the pit box I understood that I was taking a lot of points,” Bagnaia told reporters on Thursday.
“I tried everything to win but as soon as I understood that it was difficult to beat Marc I just tried to finish the race with the maximum possible points.”
Martin is looking over his shoulder at not just Bagnaia but also a revitalised Marquez and Enea Bastianini as the season heads towards its home straight. 
“I feel more focused when Pecco is a bit closer,” joked Martin.
“The important thing is to learn from mistakes, learn from these bad moments.”
Motorcycling icon Marquez in with a shout of a seventh world title following two straight GP wins which have put him 53 points behind Martin in third.
His stunning win last time out, when he burst through from ninth on the grid, suggests a hat-trick of wins, and a sixth career victory in Misano, is a real possibility.
“When I was winning in the second half of the race I felt very comfortable and this gave me a very good confidence,” said Marquez.
Playing in Bagnaia’s favour is his improved condition from when he chopped Martin’s lead a fortnight ago, having shaken off the injuries suffered at the Aragon MotoGP at the start of the month.
The 27-year-old also benefits from a second straight GP at his home track, where he regularly comes to train. 
But he hasn’t won at Misano since 2022 and Marquez has been in rare form in the last two race weekends, ending a three-year wait for a GP win and looking a happier rider than he has since breaking his right arm at the start of the 2020 season.
Marquez rides for Ducati’s satellite team Gresini and will join Bagnaia at the factory team next year, an interesting prospect given mentor Valentino Rossi’s difficult history with the Spaniard.
Bagnaia decided to say nothing about Rossi’s podcast interview with former rider Andrea Migno in which he called Marquez a “dirty” rider who actively worked to stop him from winning the 2015 title.
Ducati meanwhile can claim their fifth consecutive constructor’s title with five GPs remaining if they finish the weekend at least 222 points ahead of closest rival KTM.
That shouldnt be two difficult a task as Ducati have eight bikes in the championship — two with the factory team and then three satellite outfits — and are already 229 points in the lead.
 
By Terry Daley