Crutchlow cruises to second win as Marquez crashes
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow took his second win of the season after an early fall from Marc Marquez allowed the British rider to cruise off into the distance, marking the first dry weather win for a satellite rider since 2006.
With very little dry track time this weekend, the 27-lap Australian Grand Prix from Phillip Island was a voyage into the unknown for the entire grid. Marquez started from pole, briefly losing the lead to a fast-starting Pol Espargaro before scything back past into Turn 4.
Once in the lead, the Spaniard was unstoppable. By the end of the second lap he was already a second clear of the chasing Espargaro and steadily extending that advantage. The Honda rider was lapping a second quicker than anyone else and victory, barring disaster, with his main rivals out of position, looked assured.
But, as was the case two years ago when he was comfortably leading at Phillip Island, the Spaniard crashed at Turn 4. This promoted Crutchlow into the lead, the LCR rider having retaken second from Espargaro six laps earlier having dropped to fifth at the start.
Twitter: #MM93 IS DOWN!
The leader of the #AustralianGP has crashed out!!
#CC35 LEADS! https://t.co/sv8ka5A1w6 (@MotoGP)
The Briton’s lead looked as if it would come under threat pretty rapidly from Valentino Rossi, the Yamaha rider setting the timing screens alight having blitzed his way through the pack from 15th on the grid. However, Crutchlow wasn’t going without a fight and upped his pace to extend his gap over the Italian to two seconds.
Still lapping in the high 1m29s, low 1m30s bracket, Crutchlow continued to put daylight between himself and Rossi, his gap nearing three seconds by lap 15. Rossi’s challenge for the victory faded completely when he made a mistake at Turn 4 three laps later, the Italian now coming under fire from the chasing Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales.
Rossi recovered his composure and re-established his advantage over third place, helped greatly by the fact that the trio behind were chopping and changing repeatedly. With just five laps to go, Espargaro held Dovizioso at bay having successfully repelled an advance from Vinales several laps prior. But the Spaniard’s hard work was all in vane when he crashed at Turn 4.
Twitter: #AE41 goes down at turn 4!
#RiderOK but he’s out of podium contention! #AustralianGP https://t.co/CpsMnQ0Cvr (@MotoGP)
Back at the front, there were no such dramas and Cal Crutchlow cruised across the line to become the first British rider to win two premier class races in a season since Barry Sheene took three victories in 1979. Rossi put the woes of Saturday behind him for a superb second, whilst Vinales completed the podium having started from 12th.
Dovizioso settled for a decent fourth for Ducati, whilst Pol Espargaro will be a little disappointed with fifth after starting from the front row. The second factory Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo completed the top six, capping off another difficult weekend for the Spaniard.
Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding won a heated battle for seventh ahead of Bradley Smith, who put in a gritty rider for eighth in his 100th Grand Prix. Danilo Petrucci was ninth with home hero Jack Miller rounding out the top 10, though that result may come under scrutiny from Race Direction after he punted Nicky Hayden off at Turn 4 on the penultimate lap.
Stefan Bradl was a fixture in that scrap for seventh, though ended up 11th ahead of Aprilia teammate Alvaro Bautista. Yonny Hernandez, Eugene Laverty and Mike Jones were the last of the points scorers, whilst Tito Rabat and Hayden just missed out in 16th and 17th.
Ducati’s Hector Barbera ended, what could be his last GP16 outing this year, in the gravel after crashing at Turn 6 in the closing stages. His Avintia teammate Loris Baz retired on lap two with an electrical problem.