Cal Crutchlow’s patience paid off in a dramatic end to the San Marino MotoGP at Misano on Sunday, writes Peter Callister.

Having qualified sixth he eventually got past Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) and Alex Rins (Suzuki) to fourth place, vacated by close friend Jack Miller when he came off on lap three. The factory Ducatis of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso were at the front of the field with the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez.

Crutchlow reduced the deficit on Marquez to 2.4 seconds, and was then elevated to third when Lorenzo lost the front end of his bike and crashed with less than two laps remaining. Dovizioso won from Marquez.

Crutchlow has moved up two places in the championship to sixth and leads the Independent Championship by nine points after leap-frogging Petruchi and Zarco .

l One of the main talking points of the day was an incident during the Moto2 race in which Romano Fenati lent across and pulled the brake lever of Stefan Manzi’s machine on a fast straight. At the press conference, Crutchlow said that Fenati should be banned from racing. Ultimately the rider received a two-race ban.

l The next MotoGP is on September 23 at Aragó* in Spain.