Misano Moto2: Marc Marquez defeats Pol Espargaro in interrupted race

Espargaro (Pons Kalex) had led into the final lap, but Marquez (Monlau Suter) made his move at Quercia to seize the initiative.

Espargaro responded instantly, only to see Marquez come back again through Tremonto.

Still the pair were not done, with Espargaro attacking once more down the back straight. He stole ahead, but Marquez kept his cool, moved to the inside through Carro and forced Espargaro slightly wide, earning enough momentum to cross the line 0.3s ahead of his title rival.

As a result, Marquez now leads the championship by 53 points.

The last-lap fight came after a relatively quiet opening to a race which was interrupted when, three laps in, Gino Rea's engine blew and laid down a film of oil in the final turns, leading to a lengthy red flag period.

Speed Master Speed Up's Andrea Iannone - bidding to win both his home soil races - had already passed Marquez for the lead and therefore inherited pole for the restart, an advantage he held for the majority of the 14 remaining laps.

He was unable to respond once Marquez and Espargaro upped their pace however, and had to settle for the final step of the podium.

Marc VDS duo Mika Kallio and Scott Redding finished fourth and seventh, sandwiching Esteve Rabat (Pons Kalex) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter).

Results - 14 laps:

Pos  Rider                 Team/Bike                 Time/Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez          Monlau Suter            23m11.278s
 2.  Pol Espargaro         Pons Kalex                + 0.359s
 3.  Andrea Iannone        Speed Master Speed Up     + 1.634s
 4.  Mika Kallio           Marc VDS Kalex            + 5.078s
 5.  Esteve Rabat          Pons Kalex                + 5.246s
 6.  Dominique Aegerter    Technomag-CIP Suter       + 5.570s
 7.  Scott Redding         Marc VDS Kalex            + 6.364s
 8.  Bradley Smith         Tech 3                    + 6.853s
 9.  Thomas Luthi          Paddock Suter             + 7.480s
10.  Johann Zarco          JIR Motobi                + 7.989s
11.  Takaaki Nakagami      Italtrans Kalex           + 8.560s
12.  Julian Simon          Avintia Suter            + 11.509s
13.  Alex de Angelis       Forward FTR              + 18.329s
14.  Claudio Corti         Italtrans Kalex          + 18.342s
15.  Nicolas Terol         Aspar Suter              + 18.568s
16.  Jordi Torres          Aspar Suter              + 18.687s
17.  Axel Pons             Pons Kalex               + 18.862s
18.  Mike di Meglio        Kiefer Kalex             + 25.645s
19.  Ratthapark Wilairot   Gresini Suter            + 30.003s
20.  Anthony West          QMMF Speed Up            + 32.439s
21.  Tomoyoshi Koyama      Technomag-CIP Suter      + 33.121s
22.  Marcel Schrotter      SAG Bimota               + 33.258s
23.  Alessandro Andreozzi  Speed Master Speed Up    + 33.532s
24.  Marco Colandrea       SAG FTR                  + 47.303s

Retirements:

     Yuki Takahashi        Forward FTR                 8 laps
     Simone Corsi          Ioda FTR                    8 laps
     Xavier Simeon         Tech 3                      6 laps
     Elena Rosell          QMMF Speed Up               1 lap
     Gino Rea              Gresini Suter               0 laps
     Steven Odendaal       Arguinano AJR               0 laps
     Randy Krummenacher    Switzerland Kalex           0 laps