Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo brought his 2012 MotoGP race win tally to six today, leading from the start grid to take victory in the Grand Prix of San Marino.

The race itself started in dramatic fashion after Czech Republic rider Karel Abraham stalled on the grid causing yellow flags to come out and the start lights to remain on.

Confusion followed with some riders false starting. In the chaos arch rival Dani Pedrosa (Honda) suffered some technical issues and was then relegated to the back of the grid.

The fellow Spaniard was soon to crash out of the race, giving championship leader Lorenzo the opportunity to wrap up Misano having secured a 38-point advantage and a total of 270 points from his six wins and six second place finishes.

Italy’s Valentino Rossi (Ducati), Spain’s Alvaro Bautista (Honda), Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha) and American Ben Spies (Yamaha) rounded out the top five.

Spies was pleased to finally complete a race weekend without major incident, the Texan starting well from his third row start to jump to sixth on the first lap.

A lack of feeling with the less than perfect set up resulted in a little loss of speed mid-race but Spies was soon to step up the pace again, eventually passing Germany’s Stephan Bradl (Honda) to take fifth at the line just seven seconds behind his team-mate in first. The 11 points taken puts him on 77 and he remains in 10th place in the standings.

“It’s been a very tough weekend because Dani and I have been very close in the qualifying and the warm up,” said Lorenzo afterwards.

“Unfortunately today he had really bad luck, first with the lights at the beginning of the race and then Hector took him out. This was really unfortunate for him.

“In Holland we were unlucky and today he was unlucky, anything can happen in these races. We have to be happy with our result and the point advantage we now have, for sure we are much more calm now than before the race! The race was difficult for everyone, only having qualifying was not enough when you have to set up the chassis and electronics and everything for the race.

“It was hotter during the race so there was less grip too. I almost crashed in turn one but managed to save it too!”

Misano results:

1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 42m 49.836s
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Team (GP12) 42m 54.234s
3. Alvaro Bautista ESP San Carlo Honda Gresini (RC213V) 42m 55.891s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 55.894s
5. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 42m 57.379s
6. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 43m 3.108s
7. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP12) 43m 30.743s
8. Jonathan Rea GBR Repsol Honda (RC213V) 43m 32.998s
9. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 43m 59.463s
10. Michele Pirro ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 44m 3.441s
11. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (Suter-BMW CRT) 44m 6.531s
12. Yonny Hernandez COL Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 44m 8.909s
13. James Ellison GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 44m 9.244s
14. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing (Suter-BMW CRT) +1 lap
15. David Salom ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) +1 lap

DNF:
Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT)
Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)
Mattia Pasini ITA Speed Master (ART CRT)
Hector Barbera ESP Pramac Racing (GP12)
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V)
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing