Enea Bastianini celebrated a 'beautiful' home win at Misano after a rain-hit Moto2 race resulted in a 10-lap sprint at the Italian circuit.
Marco Bezzecchi and a delighted Sam Lowes completed the podium while celebrations continued as Jake Dixon scored another career-best to finish sixth.
Warm-up crashes for both SKY riders didn’t seem to dent their pace as the eighth Moto2 race of 2020 got going this afternoon, Luca Marini taking the early lead before Xavi Vierge took charge on his Petronas machine.
Bastianini looked to capitalise from early mistakes from the front runners to take second with Dixon capitalising on a spectacular start up to fourth. A dramatic moment for Lowes at turn 14 on the opening lap, as Canet looked to make a move, relegating him down the pack to eighth.
Three laps in and Vierge looked to be settling in at the front but the championship-leader was hard on his wheel and looking for any opportunity. It finally came two laps later but was instantly scuppered again by Bastianini, who shot through as rain began to make its presence felt.
Lowes made a move for fourth on the next lap before the red flags came out due to track conditions, much to the British rider’s confusion.
While the new Dunlop soft was expected to fully come into its own as the heavy cloud cover created even cooler track conditions, many of the front-runners, including both SKY riders, initially chose to retain the use of their hard-rear but as the grid set out for their warm-up lap, the rain returned - halting proceedings yet again.
The race finally restarted as a 10-lap dash saw Bastianini launch from pole, Marini and Vierge starting alongside on the front row with Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marcel Schrotter on row two. Lowes and Dixon separated by Jorge Navarro on row three with Joe Roberts out of proceedings after a nasty highside at turn 10 in the earlier action.
The sprint began with Marini grabbing the lead, Bastianini striking back before again Vierge took charge, a despondent Marini sent wide and relegated to fifth but ‘the beast’ was on a mission as he regained control and looked to check out leaving Vierge to fight with Schrotter for second place.
Further back the Brits began to battle as a hard-charging Dixon got the better of Lowes for seventh before the experience of the Lincolnshire rider gave him the upper hand on the next lap, hunting down Navarro for sixth.
An inter-team battle between Marini and Bezzecchi for fourth provided the perfect opportunity for Lowes to continue his momentum, taking fifth from Marini at the halfway stage before a three-way tussle saw Bezzecchi take second as Vierge and Schrotter came to blows, the Spaniard sent to the gravel as Lowes seized his chance at the podium position.
Bastianini maintained his advantage as the pack crossed the line with four-to-go but Bezzecchi was doubling down in his attempt to reel in the leader, Lowes matching the impressive pace to stay within 0.3seconds of the challenge while keeping over a second from Marini.
The Italtrans rider, however, was not to be beaten, taking the flag to reignite his championship challenge to within five points, Bezzecchi and Lowes joining him for the podium celebrations. Marini crossed the line ahead of Schrotter with a delighted Dixon scoring his highest Moto2 finish in sixth.
Navarro, Di Giannantonio, Luthi and Hector Garzo concluded the top-10 with local man Bulega - demoted after the flag for exceeding track limits - Simone Corsi, Aron Canet, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Stefano Manzi rounding out the points finishers.
