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  Sports   In Other sports  09 Sep 2017  Dovizioso set to rev up at home

Dovizioso set to rev up at home

AFP
Published : Sep 9, 2017, 1:14 am IST
Updated : Sep 9, 2017, 1:14 am IST

Dovizioso has hit back with successive victories of his own, although has five riders within 35 points of him in a close championship.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso during free practice at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit ahead of the San Marino MotoGP race in Misano on Friday. (Photo: AFP)
 Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso during free practice at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit ahead of the San Marino MotoGP race in Misano on Friday. (Photo: AFP)

Misano Adriatico (Italy): New MotoGP championship leader Andrea Dovizioso heads into this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix with a slender nine-point advantage to defend over reigning world champion Marc Marquez. The Italian, who overtook Marquez at the top of the riders’ standings last time out with victory at Silverstone, is a native of Forlimpopoli, a town just 65km from the Misano circuit in Rimini.

The Ducati man will be looking to make good use of home comforts, especially with his legendary compatriot Valentino Rossi missing after breaking his leg in training. “Coming to Misano as leader of the championship is fantastic, even though I’m really sorry that Rossi will not be there, as it have been great to battle against him,” Dovizioso said.

“In the past the Misano circuit hasn’t been too favourable for Ducati, but a couple of weeks back we did a very positive test at this circuit, so we’ll be trying to take home the best possible result.”

He was losing ground in the title race a month ago, when he was 21 points adrift of Marquez after the Spaniard’s back-to-back wins in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Dovizioso has hit back with successive victories of his own, although has five riders within 35 points of him in a close championship.

Tags: andrea dovizioso, san marino grand prix