MotoGP 2013: Lorenzo wins Silverstone thriller

Injured shoulders really do seem to be quite commonplace in MotoGP this season. First it was Jorge Lorenzo, then Dani Pedrosa and at the Silverstone round of MotoGP, it was Marc Marquez's turn to ride with an injured shoulder. Let's take a look at what happened though.

Marc Marquez put up a stellar performance despite a collarbone injury

It appeared from the very beginning that Silverstone was going to be all about Marquez. The Spanish rider had come into the weekend at Britain with four back-to-back race wins, and it appeared that he was likely to make it five in a row at the British MotoGP. During qualifying, Marquez and title-rival Jorge Lorenzo had quite a duel for pole position. But it was Marquez who came out tops, demolishing Casey Stoner's lap record at the track by 1.329 seconds. It looked set to be a race that Marquez would dominate.

Then came the warm-up session before the races. Cal Crutchlow continued with his spate of crashes, going down in the warm up session. It was as marshals were helping the British rider up, and attempting to clear away his motorcycle, that rookie Marquez came flying right into them. The marshals and Crutchlow made it out of the way just in the nick of time, but Marquez wasn't quite so lucky. The Repsol Honda barreled right into the wrecked Tech 3 Yamaha, and Marquez looked injured right away. Soon the doctor's verdict came through - dislocated collarbone. As it turned out, he'd still compete in the race - a feat that would be declared as heroic, even if not quite as heroic (or foolhardy) as Lorenzo's ride at Assen.

An ecstatic Lorenzo thwarted challenge from Marquez and Pedrosa to win at Silverstone

When it was time for race start, Marquez was on pole, with Lorenzo lining up on the grid right behind him, Cal Crutchlow third, while Stefan Bradl, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were the next three riders. Once the race kicked off, there was little Marquez could do to keep Jorge behind. It was another one of those blindingly quick starts from the Yamaha rider, and off he went into the distance. Marquez, ailing shoulder and all, set off in pursuit and would spend the rest of the race close on Jorge's tail-pipes. Behind them, Crutchlow had a terrible start to his home Grand Prix and slipped down the order. Dani Pedrosa was running third, and it really did look like he might have the speed to get past the leading two and win the race. That didn't happen. Lorenzo and Marquez battled all through, with Marquez biding his time. On the 17th lap Marquez moved into the lead at Brooklands. He wasn't able to hold onto the lead, but followed close behind Lorenzo after that. He made another move for the lead on the very last lap, but Lorenzo wasn't having any of it and muscled his way back into the lead. For the Yamaha rider it was a hard earned and well-deserved win. Marquez finished second, while Pedrosa finished third. Behind them, in fourth, was Valentino Rossi after what appears to be a regular affair of battling with Alvaro Bautista.

The Moto2 Race was won by Scott Redding, who has already been confirmed for a MotoGP seat with Gresini Honda next year. While Luis Salom won the Moto3 race ahead of Alex Rins and Alex Marquez. Mahindra Racing's Miguel Oliveira finished fifth, while Efren Vazquez finished the race tenth.