Phillip Island MotoGP: Valentino Rossi wins, Marc Marquez crashes
Valentino Rossi claimed victory in his 250th premier class race as he won MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix after Marc Marquez crashed out of the lead
Marquez had taken charge of the Phillip Island event from pole and was four seconds clear of the field when he lost the front end of his Honda, which was running Bridgestone's new asymmetric tyre, under braking for the Turn 10 hairpin with nine laps to go.
By that time, Rossi had finally won a huge battle for what had been second place with his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi burst through from eighth on the grid to start chasing Lorenzo, who had managed to stay within a second of Marquez early on before his pace faded.
The two Yamahas swapped position repeatedly in the middle of the race, but Rossi successfully moved clear of Lorenzo by the time Marquez's error handed him the lead.
Lorenzo's lap times continued to get slower as his tyre grip vanished and he was caught and passed by Cal Crutchlow's Ducati.
The second-place qualifier had dropped to eighth on the first lap, then carved his way back through the field to reclaim second.
But Crutchlow then crashed out on the final lap of the race, allowing Lorenzo to complete a Yamaha one-two after all.
Crutchlow's fall gave a maiden podium position to fellow Briton Bradley Smith, who was stunned to find himself in the top three for the first time in MotoGP, giving Yamaha a podium sweep.
Smith had run third for a while after an assertive first lap, then became embroiled in a huge group of bikes battling for top six places.
Several crashes split this pack - first when Andrea Iannone ran into the back of Dani Pedrosa, taking himself out instantly and damaging Pedrosa's Honda sufficiently to force it out.
Stefan Bradl then triggered a near-identical incident with Aleix Espargaro, with Espargaro smashing his Forward Yamaha's screen in frustration as he parked.
With Pol Espargaro crashing from this group by himself late on, Smith and Andrea Dovizioso were the only ones still standing in what became third and fourth.
That spate of crashes allowed Hector Barbera to emerge with an amazing fifth on Avintia's recently-acquired Ducati, narrowly squeezing ahead of Gresini pair Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding in a photo finish at the line.
RESULTS - 27 LAPS:
Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 40m46.405s |
2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | Yamaha | 10.836s |
3 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 12.294s |
4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 14.893s |
5 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 30.089s |
6 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Racing | Honda | 30.154s |
7 | Scott Redding | Gresini Racing | Honda | 30.158s |
8 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar | Honda | 33.166s |
9 | Alex de Angelis | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | 33.577s |
10 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar | Honda | 34.144s |
11 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 39.468s |
12 | Danilo Petrucci | IodaRacing Project | ART/Aprilia | 56.684s |
13 | Michael Laverty | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | 1m12.813s |
14 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing | Avintia/Kawasaki | 1m28.050s |
- | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | Ducati | Retirement |
- | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 | Yamaha | Retirement |
- | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | Retirement |
- | Stefan Bradl | LCR | Honda | Retirement |
- | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | Retirement |
- | Broc Parkes | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | Retirement |
- | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | Honda | Retirement |
- | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Racing | Ducati | Retirement |
- | Karel Abraham | Cardion AB Motoracing | Honda | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER 16 OF 18 ROUNDS:
Pos | Rider | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Marc Marquez | 312 |
2 | Valentino Rossi | 255 |
3 | Jorge Lorenzo | 247 |
4 | Dani Pedrosa | 230 |
5 | Andrea Dovizioso | 166 |
6 | Aleix Espargaro | 117 |
7 | Pol Espargaro | 116 |
8 | Bradley Smith | 108 |
9 | Andrea Iannone | 102 |
10 | Stefan Bradl | 96 |
11 | Alvaro Bautista | 89 |
12 | Scott Redding | 69 |
13 | Cal Crutchlow | 63 |
14 | Hiroshi Aoyama | 62 |
15 | Nicky Hayden | 44 |
16 | Yonny Hernandez | 44 |
17 | Karel Abraham | 33 |
18 | Hector Barbera | 14 |
19 | Alex de Angelis | 14 |
20 | Danilo Petrucci | 13 |
21 | Colin Edwards | 11 |
22 | Michele Pirro | 11 |
23 | Broc Parkes | 7 |
24 | Mike Di Meglio | 6 |
25 | Michael Laverty | 5 |
26 | Katsuyuki Nakasuga | 4 |
27 | Leon Camier | 1 |
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