Emilia Romagna MotoGP victor Maverick Vinales said he was riding like “mad” trying to escape from the chasing Francesco Bagnaia in the early stages of the second Misano encounter.
Bagnaia eventually passed Vinales for the lead but the Yamaha rider went on to claim victory when his Pramac rival crashed out.
Bagnaia’s demise left the Spanaird with a 4.5-second cushion over the battling trio of Pol Espargaro, Joan Mir and Fabio Quartararo behind him, allowing him to cruise home to a 2.4-second win.
“In the beginning I was going mad, maybe if I was smoother I could have been faster,” said Vinales.
“I was going mad because I wanted to open a gap and I saw Pecco (Bagnaia) was coming so I needed to do something, and I pushed in sector one because I knew it was my best sector.
“I was pushing and pushing and I had a little high-side in the braking zone (for Turn 4) and I went wide and allowed Pecco to pass.
“Then he pushed really hard for the next ten laps, and later I was able to recover little by little by like one or two tenths.
“It was good because I was able to put on the pressure and the bike was working fantastic, I understood which maps I needed to use to go fast because in the beginning I was suffering a little with engine braking, but I’m happy as we prepared the race well and our hard work paid off.
“I saw him make a mistake at Turn 5 and he was very wide, so I was thinking I could close the gap a lot in sector two.
“Little by little I was closing in the first two sectors, particularly in the left-handed corners.”
Vinales’ victory thrust him into contention for the title, just a point behind leader Andrea Dovizioso, but he stressed the championship is not on his mind.
“When you ride with factory Yamaha you need to do these kind of races, so we need to work out how to do it every race,” continued the now eight-time premier class winner.
“We don’t need to win every race, but we need to be at least battling for the lead.
“I’m not thinking too much about the championship, I’m going to focus on enjoying myself riding the bike, as we also need to develop the bike more for next year and this year we are learning something every race.
“It is very important to be intelligent and learn for the next races, we understand a lot of things on this track so I’m very happy to get the lap record and secure the victory.”
