Phillip Island, Australia – Now 35 years old and in the twilight of his racing career, Valentino Rossi celebrated his 250th premier-class start with an emphatic 10-second victory after a hard-fought, crash-strewn Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
It was The Doctor’s 108th career Grand Prix win, second only to the 122 achieved by the legendary Giacomo Agostini, and an all-time record 82nd in the top class of motorcycle racing, although its lustre was somewhat diminished by the fact that neither newly-crowned double world champion Marc Marquez nor his works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa finished.
Krugersdorp teenager Brad Binder (Mahindra) ran with the leading group throughout the Moto3 race, only to crash out of second with just two laps to go – and even then he refused to give up, remounting to finish 15th for a solitary, hard-earned point.
MOTOGP
Rossi, factory team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and satellite Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith gave Yamaha its first 1-2-3 finish since the 2008 French Grand Prix at Le Mans, after an incident-packed race that saw Marquez crash out of the lead and Pedrosa forced into the pits after being clipped by Andrea Iannone’s Ducati.
With his second consecutive world title sealed in Japan the previous weekend and the pressure off, Marquez fired away from pole into the lead in an attempt to equal Mick Doohan’s 1997 record of 12 premier-class wins in a single season.
Rossi, who’d qualified way down in eighth, made up three places on lap one and soon moved into third behind Lorenzo; the two Yamaha team-mates swopped places three times but Lorenzo was beginning to fade when Marquez, who was leading by four seconds at the time, lost the front end coming out of Lukey Heights on lap 17.
Rossi immediately consolidated his new lead by pulling away from Lorenzo; five laps later the Mallorcan was relegated to third by a late charge from Cal Crutchlow – only for the Ducati Team rider to crash out of an almost certain second with just half a lap to go.
Tech 3 Yamaha rider Pol Espargaro also came a cropper in the closing stages while rapidly closing on Lorenzo, who trailed home second, two seconds ahead of Bradley Smith, in the latter’s first premier-class podium finish, with Ducati Team’s Andrea Doviziososo fourth, another two seconds in arrears.
Ducati privateer Hector Barbera was fifth in his 200th Grand Prix appearance, just ahead of Honda privateers Alvaro Bautista, Scott Redding and Hiroshi Aoyama, Alex de Angelis (Forward Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Honda) completing the top 10.
MOTO2
An intriguing battle at the front was won by Maverick Vinales (Kalex), with Tom Luthi (Suter) and Tito Rabat (Kalex) sharing the podium – but the championship fight would go on to Sepang with Mika Kallio (Kalex) finishing fourth to deny Rabat the title for at least one more round.
It was another brilliant performance from Viñales who took his third win of an excellent rookie season in the intermediate class.
Rabat took the holeshot from pole but an early mistake saw him drop to seventh with a five way battle for the lead involving Rabat, Vinales, Luthi, Kallio and Sam Lowes (Speed Up) emerging at the front.
Vinales managed the final stages of the race better than his rivals, crossing the line 1.329sec ahead of Luthi, with Rabat 0.175sec further back – but Kallio’s fourth place held Rabat’s lead in the standings to 41 points with two races to go.
Lowes eventually crossed the line fifth, less than two seconds off the podium, with Sandro Cortese (Kalex) more than eight seconds further back in sixth.
Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3) and Suter riders Dominique Aegerter, Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres completed the top 10.
MOTO3
KTM’s Jack Miller rode brilliantly from eighth on the grid to cross the line 0.029s ahead of championship rival Alex Marquez, with Alex Rins just 0.003s behind his Honda team-mate in third.
Miller’s popular home win reduced Marquez’ lead in the standings to 20 points with two races remaining, at Sepang and Valencia.
Australian fans were treated to another tense Moto3 contest with Miller, Marquez and Rins running in a large front group of nine and the race lead changing constantly throughout the 23-lap battle.
Efren Vazquez was part of that front group and he was unlucky to miss the podium, finishing just 0.012sec behind Rins, with his Honda team-mate John McPhee less than a tenth behind in fifth and Alexis Masbou, also on a Honda just 0.108sec further down; the top six were covered by less than a quarter of a second.
All the riders except Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) ran on medium tyres front and rear; Oliveira opted for a hard front finished seventh, with Jakub Kornfeil (KTM), Niklas Ajo (Husqvarna) and Niccolo Antonelli (KTM) completed the top ten.
RESULTS