By Matt Roberts BBC Sport at Misano

Rossi proved to be less of a donkey than San Marino's Alex de Angelis

Following his crash at Indianapolis a week ago Valentino Rossi gamely stood himself up as the Donkey from Shrek at Misano - but by the end of the race he was back in his more familiar role as Prince Charming.

The Italian Stallion can do no wrong in this part of the world - even though it's called the San Marino Grand Prix, the circuit is actually located on Italian soil just five miles from Rossi's hometown of Tavulia.

And as he cantered to victory the only donkey on show ironically proved to be San Marino's only MotoGP representative, Alex de Angelis.

For Colin Edwards the finer details of the tiny republic's citizenship criteria were an irrelevance after he and Nicky Hayden were taken out by De Angelis' banzai move in the second corner.

"We're in Italy and you have to deal with dumb Italians," he moaned. "He just took his brain out."

Hayden, who had to be restrained from throwing a punch at his much-maligned rival in the gravel trap, added: "To be honest I had a feeling De Angelis might create some drama here.

"He's racing at home and fighting for a job and when I saw him in the corner of my eye I just tried to gas it and get out of his way.

"I know in racing people can make mistakes and I have done plenty in my life but I'm not happy with Alex because this wasn't racing - it was just stupid to try and pull a move like that on cold tyres, in the second corner on the first lap."

Hopefully it will increase James Toseland's chances of picking up the Pramac ride

The thinking behind De Angelis' kamikazee move is even more illogical when you consider that one of the only available jobs for next season is on the satellite Pramac Ducati, with the Italian factory unlikely to be impressed at seeing Hayden taken out at their home race.

Hopefully it will increase James Toseland's chances of picking up the Pramac ride, with Toni Elias confirming to us on Sunday that he now expects to end up in Moto2.

Aleix Espargaró is also a strong contender for the seat after his excellent 11th place at Misano and the Spaniard could even replace Niccolo Canepa as the team's second rider for the rest of the season when Mika Kallio returns from his stint as stand-in for Casey Stoner.

Aleix's little brother Pol almost celebrated victory in the 125cc race, which saw another have-a-go home hero handed the D hat - Andrea Iannone wiped out the youngster in the final bend of a heart-stopping battle.

Smith (right) benefitted from Espargar�'s moment of madness

This time the pair did come to blows in the gravel trap, with Iannone demonstrating that he is not burdened with logic either when head-butting Espargaró, even though they were both still wearing their helmets, earning himself a €5,000 fine (£4,385).

Espargaró's loss was Bradley Smith's gain as the Brit scooped third place after struggling to adapt to the windy conditions, although there was no such reprieve for Scott Redding, whose bike broke down mid-race for the second time in a week.

F1 driver Mark Webber was a keen spectator from trackside, as was the footballer Marco Materazzi, who refused to do a quick interview with us underneath the podium at the end of the race, and former Argentina and Italy rugby union fly-half Diego Dominguez, who I did have the pleasure to speak to, albeit very briefly.

Steve Parrish called me from the Pramac Ducati hospitality on Sunday morning and told me there was somebody there who wanted to speak to me, before passing the phone on.

Cue a very confusing conversation with Dominguez, who thought he was speaking to Matt Griffiths, our director - a former Wasps and England sevens player.

Hee-haw!

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