Jorge Lorenzo held out Marc Marquez in one of the most entertaining MotoGP battles in many years. Image: MotoGP.com.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo has emerged victorious ahead of Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez as the MotoGP frontrunners slogged it out in what will be recalled as one of the sport’s classic battles at Silverstone.

Marquez qualified his Honda on pole, but not before a heart-stopping moment in the morning warm-up when he crashed heavily, dislocating his shoulder in the process.

Medical officials cleared the rookie to ride, though it was unclear as to what level he would be capable of reaching.

That question was answered almost immediately as the British Grand Prix went green. It was Lorenzo who nailed the start, sweeping across on Marquez in his customary, aggressive style, but the young gun held his nerve and slotted straight into second.

As Lorenzo began to reel the laps off,  a handful of similar battles began to segregate the field. One man on the move was Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa, bouncing back from a slow start to climb to third and buy right into the battle of the top two.

The Lorenzo versus Marquez scrap was intriguing, and highly-entertaining. Both riders exploited the strengths of their respective machinery, resulting in an extremely even fight.

Two laps from home, Marquez made the first decisive move, putting a quick pass on Lorenzo. The Yamaha rider reacted instantly, re-taking the lead in a strong out-breaking move.

On the final lap Marquez struck again, but this time, Lorenzo would not be denied. He pushed his way back past the Honda, with slight contact between the pairing, and made a beeline for the finish, climbing the inside kerb in the process and winning by an 0.0081-second margin.

The victory snaps Marquez’ win streak at four, and is the first for the recovering Yamaha rider since Catalunya in mid-June.

Pedrosa was a close third, but had pushed his tyres to their limit early in the race and was unable to challenge for the win.

Lorenzo’s victory sees him recover five points on the top two, but Marquez’ stellar second means he moves 30 points clear of Pedrosa in the race towards a rookie title.

Fourth place went to the second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi, who had made a strong start to the race but eventually dropped back into a familiar fight with GO&FUN Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista claimed fifth, with LCR MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl running a lonely race in sixth. Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow was seventh after his confidence took a battering earlier in the weekend with two massive crashes.

Nicky Hayden claimed eighth on his Ducati, with Crutchlow’s teammate Bradley Smith in ninth. Aleix Espargaro was the top CRT rider once again, managing injury to grab the final place in the outright top 10.

Bryan Staring had another tough run, with his progress hindered by numbness in his hand after a crash earlier in the weekend. He was the final finisher of the grand prix, in 21st position.

Scott Redding gave British crowds something to cheer about as he took a wildly-popular victory in the Moto2 race, extending his points lead in the process.

Redding came up trumps in a race-long, four-rider battle with Takaaki Nakagami, Thom Luthi and Esteve Rabat, who claimed positions two through four respectively.

With title rival Pol Espargaro languishing in eighth, Redding’s win was even sweeter. His consistency at each race weekend is affording him a handy points buffer that is growing as the season continues.

Anthony West finished in 20th place on the QMMF Racing Team machine, not making the level of progress in the race that he is accustomed to.

Fellow Aussie Jason O’Halloran completed a solid wildcard debut in the Moto2 class, bringing his JiR Moto2 bike home for 25th place.

As it regularly does, the Moto3 class saw multiple riders battling for the lead over the race duration, with Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport’s Luis Salom timing his move to perfection to take another win.

Salom beat home the Estrella Galicia pairing of Alex Rins and Alex Marquez, with Maverick Vinales fourth on the Team Calvo mount. All four riders took turns at leading the grand prix in another highly-entertaining battle.

Positions five to eight were locked together, with Miguel Oliveria taking fifth, Jonas Folger sixth, Aussie Jack Miller a solid seventh and Aleix Masbou eighth.

Arthur Sissis endured a tough finish to his race, moving forward from a mid-pack qualifying position to battle inside the top 10 before dropping back and crashing in the closing stages. He was able to remount for 24th, though his bike was damaged from the incident.

After three grands prix over three consecutive weeks, the paddock is finally afforded room to breathe with a week’s break before the next outing at Misano.

2013 MotoGP World Championship

Round 12 – Silverstone, United Kingdom
MotoGP race:
1. Jorge LORENZO
2. Marc MARQUEZ +0.081
3. Dani PEDROSA +1.551
4. Valentino ROSSI +13.233
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA +13.298
6. Stefan BRADL +20.227
7. Cal CRUTCHLOW +26.299
8. Nicky HAYDEN +35.993
9. Bradley SMITH +36.119
10. Aleix ESPARGARO +53.196
11. Andrea IANNONE +59.058
12. Michele PIRRO +1m00.710
13. Hector BARBERA +1m01.690
14. Colin EDWARDS +1m01.843
15. Danilo PETRUCCI +1m08.833
16. Randy DE PUNIET +1m09.063
17. Claudio CORTI +1m16.474
18. Hiroshi AOYAMA +1m16.535
19. Michael LAVERTY +1m32.057
20. Yonny HERNANDEZ +1m36.224
21. Bryan STARING (AUS) +2m00.635

MotoGP championship standings (after 12 of 18 rounds):
1. Marc MARQUEZ 231* (two-point penalty applied for warm-up incident)
2. Dani PEDROSA 203
3. Jorge LORENZO 194
4. Valentino ROSSI 156
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW 136
6. Stefan BRADL 113
7. Alvaro BAUTISTA 103
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 96
9. Nicky HAYDEN 88
10. Aleix ESPARGARO 68
11. Bradley SMITH 66
12. Michele PIRRO 44
13. Andrea IANNONE 41
14. Colin EDWARDS 27
15. Hector BARBERA 27
16. Danilo PETRUCCI 22
17. Randy DE PUNIET 20
18. Ben SPIES 9
19. Claudio CORTI 7
20. Yonny HERNANDEZ 7
25. Bryan STARING (AUS) 2

Moto2 race:
1. Scott REDDING
2. Takaaki NAKAGAMI +1.066
3. Thomas LUTHI +1.170
4. Esteve RABAT +1.427
5. Dominique AEGERTER +2.226
6. Mika KALLIO +8.142
7. Johann ZARCO +12.146
8. Pol ESPARGARO +13.228
9. Simone CORSI +15.162
10. Mattia PASINI +15.225
11. Nicolas TEROL +20.734
12. Julian SIMON +22.353
13. Jordi TORRES +25.657
14. Alex DE ANGELIS +25.994
15. Toni ELIAS +28.900
16. Marcel SCHROTTER +32.012
17. Ricard CARDUS +32.730
18. Danny KENT +32.800
19. Randy KRUMMENACHER +40.942
20. Anthony WEST +50.214
25. Jason O’HALLORAN (AUS) +51.856

Moto2 championship standings (after 11 of 17 rounds):
1. Scott REDDING 192
2. Pol ESPARGARO 154
3. Esteve RABAT 135
4. Mika KALLIO 125
5. Dominique AEGERTER 108
6. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 105
7. Johann ZARCO 95
8. Thomas LUTHI 81
9. Nicolas TEROL 77
10. Simone CORSI 74
11. Jordi TORRES 73
12. Xavier SIMEON 63
13. Julian SIMON 46
14. Alex DE ANGELIS 45
15. Anthony WEST 34
16. Mattia PASINI 31
17. Marcel SCHROTTER 22
18. Toni ELIAS 21
19. Randy KRUMMENACHER 20
20. Mike DI MEGLIO 18

Moto3 race:
1. Luis SALOM
2. Alex RINS +0.049
3. Alex MARQUEZ +0.698
4. Maverick VIÑALES +0.849
5. Miguel OLIVEIRA +20.561
6. Jonas FOLGER +20.625
7. Jack MILLER +20.631
8. Alexis MASBOU +20.882
9. Jakub KORNFEIL +24.970
10. Efren VAZQUEZ +25.288
11. Isaac VIÑALES +25.601
12. Romano FENATI +25.684
13. Niccolò ANTONELLI +26.612
14. John MCPHEE +28.602
15. Niklas AJO +34.145
16. Philipp OETTL +34.187
17. Matteo FERRARI +34.824
18. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI +42.427
19. Livio LOI +48.640
20. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN +48.952

Moto3 championship standings (after 11 of 17 rounds):
1. Luis SALOM 233
2. Maverick VIÑALES 207
3. Alex RINS 200
4. Jonas FOLGER 120
5. Alex MARQUEZ 117
6. Miguel OLIVEIRA 95
7. Jack MILLER 65
8. Alexis MASBOU 64
9. Jakub KORNFEIL 53
10. Efren VAZQUEZ 52
11. Arthur SISSIS 51
12. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 50
13. Brad BINDER 46
14. Niklas AJO 38
15. Romano FENATI 34
16. Isaac VIÑALES 31
17. Niccolò ANTONELLI 22
18. John MCPHEE 15
19. Danny WEBB 15
20. Jasper IWEMA 8

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