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MotoGP Mugello race

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Dovizioso got involved there too, storming into the lead fight down the straight, holding a twitch and emerging with third ahead of team-mate Lorenzo.
Vinales takes a look at Rossi. That doesn't work but he slipstreams ahead on the straight, only to lose the lead to Rossi again under braking for the first corner.
Rossi again dives inside Lorenzo under braking and Lorenzo has to sit up for a second. That lets Vinales through too.
Marquez grabbed third from Vinales at the end of that lap, but then gets outmuscled at the first corner as the Ducatis surge forward. The Honda drops to sixth behind Vinales, Dovizioso and Petrucci.
Back onto the main straight and Lorenzo blasts down the outside of Rossi's Yamaha and into the lead.
Aleix Espargaro has jumped the start, the Aprilia rider has been handed a ride-through penalty.
Rossi steams back down the inside of Lorenzo under braking and retakes the lead.
So it's Lorenzo leading from Rossi, Vinales, Dovizioso, Marquez, Petrucci, Pedrosa, Iannone and Zarco.
Lorenzo runs wide and Rossi is back through, but at the next corner Lorenzo brakes later again and is back into first place.
Lorenzo sweeps past Vinales on the long pits straight, outbrakes Rossi into the first corner and leads.
Vinales is taking a look at Rossi for the lead, but the home hero stays ahead for now.
It's Rossi leading from Vinales, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Marquez, Pedrosa, Petrucci, Bautista, Iannone and Zarco, then Aleix Espargaro, Pirro, Crutchlow, Rabat and Miller.
Rossi turns into San Donato for the first time in the lead ahead of Vinales, with Lorenzo launching up to third.
The smoke from those yellow flares is pretty dense across parts of the circuit even on this formation lap.
The atmosphere pre-race is something else. It's a full house, most of the fans have been camping since Friday, revving two-stroke engines from whatever, blowing horns, partying up a storm and letting off yellow flares. That tells you who they're all here to support.
Over 100,000 fans are expected to cram into Mugello today, the largest crowd ever at the Italian circuit. They will be willing on home hero Valentino Rossi, who starts from second. The last time he won at Mugello was 2008.
There are a couple of poorly Italians on the grid today.

Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, who qualified down in 16th, has been suffering with a nasty stomach bug all week. He actually said earlier this weekend that he has lost three kilos in weight because of it. Poor guy.

Third-placed Dovizioso also picked up a nasty bout of food poisoning overnight. Feeling so under the weather, the Ducati rider opted to only do an out-lap and a practice start in warm-up.
Looking ahead to the main feature, the MotoGP race, this is your grid:
Row 1 - Vinales - Rosss - Dovizioso
Row 2 - Pirro - Pedrosa - Marquez
Row 3 - Lorenzo - Bautista - Petrucci
Row 4 - Rabat - Zarco - A.Espargaro
Row 5 - Crutchlow - Barbera - Folger
Row 6 - Iannone - Baz - P.Espargaro
Row 7 - Miller - Redding - Abraham
Row 8 - Lowes - Smith - Guintoli
In Moto2, Mattia Pasini made it two Italian winners to start the Mugello race day, repassing Thomas Luthi and Alex Marquez to take out Moto2 after being shuffled down to third at the start of the last lap. Pasini, whose career has been ravaged by injury, last won in 250cc at Sepang in 2009.

Further back, championship leader Franco Morbidelli sipped to fourth, which has seen Luthi cut his lead down to 13 points heading into next weekend's Barcelona race.

Britain's Danny Kent made a welcome return to Moto2 as Iker Lecuona's injury replacement at the Garage Plus Interwetten team. However, after qualifying a strong 12th, Kent dropped out of the race.
All of the riders have been carrying tributes to Hayden. Valentino Rossi incorporated Hayden's famous 69 on his special Mugello helmet design.

All of the riders have been carrying tributes to Hayden. Valentino Rossi incorporated Hayden's famous 69 on his special Mugello helmet design.

This morning, before racing got underway, the paddock observed 69 seconds of silence in memory of the Kentucky Kid.

This morning, before racing got underway, the paddock observed 69 seconds of silence in memory of the Kentucky Kid.

This weekend, the MotoGP paddock has been paying tribute to 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden, who tragically passed away two weeks ago from injuries he sustained in a cycling accident in Italy.

This weekend, the MotoGP paddock has been paying tribute to 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden, who tragically passed away two weeks ago from injuries he sustained in a cycling accident in Italy.

Good afternoon! There are just 20 minutes between now and the sixth round of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship from Mugello, and we are very much fired up for this one.

By: Mitchell Adam

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