Marquez wins Australia MotoGP, Binder claims Moto2 race
Phillip Island – World champion Marc Marquez secured his 11th victory of the season at the Australian MotoGP after disaster struck fellow Spaniard Maverick Vinales, who crashed on the last lap.
The Monster Energy Yamaha rider had dominated at Phillip Island all weekend and was leading for most of the race until Honda’s Marquez darted past him in the dying stages after applying some serious pressure.
In desperate bid to retake the lead on the final lap, Vinales pushed too hard and skidded out to hand Marquez his fifth win in a row.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow came second with Australian Jack Miller third.
Italian veteran Valentino Rossi, racing in an incredible 400th Grand Prix, was eighth.
“Vinales was pushing a lot, very hard and fast,” said six-time MotoGP world champion Marquez.
“But I knew it would be possible to (pass him).
“The whole weekend has been crazy,” he added, after qualifying was called off on Saturday due to high winds and instead run on Sunday morning.
It was a crushing loss for Vinales, who won in Australia last year and started from pole, having reigned supreme through practice and qualifying.
He had a horror start, slipping to sixth as Rossi powered to the lead and there was disaster for exciting French rookie Fabio Quartararo in an incident-packed first lap.
Quartararo, who was second in Japan last weekend, and Danilo Petrucci collided and crashed out at turn two.
It was a disappointing end for the 20-year-old, who was second on the grid after having to go through preliminary qualifying (Q1) for the first time following a nasty spill in Friday practice.
By lap four Crutchlow had moved into the lead, but Vinales and Marquez were starting to apply pressure and by lap 10 Vinales was in front with his fellow Spaniard following in his slipstream.
They began to put the hammer down and pull clear of the field as it turned into a two-horse race, leaving the rest in a dog fight for third.
Marquez was riding on the limit, giving everything he had to stay in touch and finally edged past Vinales before the last lap drama.
Results
and standings after the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island, the 17th
of the 19-round world championship series, on Sunday:
1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 40min 43.729, 2. Cal Crutchlow
(Honda-LCR) at 11.413sec, 3. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) 14.499, 4.
Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati-Pramac) 14.554, 5. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki)
14.817, 6. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Aprilia) 15.280, 7. Andrea Dovizioso
(ITA/Ducati) 15.294, 8. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 15.841, 9. Alex
Rins (ESP/Suzuki)16.032, 10. Alex Espargaro (ESP/Aprilla) 16.590
Did not finish: Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha-SRT), Maverick Vinales,
Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati), Mika Kallio (FIN/KTM), Tito Rabat
(ESP/Avinta)
World championship standings:
1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 375pts, 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati)
240, 3. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 183, 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha)
176, 5. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 169, 6. Fabio Quartararo
(FRA/Yamaha-SRT) 163, 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 153, 8. Jack
Miller (AUS/Ducati) 141, 9. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 133, 10.
Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha) 105.
Moto2
1. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 38min 53.277, 2. Jorge Martin (ESP/KTM) at
1.968sec, 3. Thomas Luethi (SUI/Kalex) 6.021, 4. Jorge Navarro
(ESP/Speed Up) 8.151, 5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA/Kalex) 8.806
Overall standings
1. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex) 242 pts, 2. Thomas Luethi (SUI/Kalex)
214, 3. Brad Binder (AFS/KTM) 209, 4. Jorge Navarro (ESP/SpeedUp) 199,
5. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) 192
Moto3
1. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA/Honda) 37min 45.817sec, 2. Marcus Ramirez
(ESP/Honda) at 0.077sec, 3. Albert Arenas (ESP/KTM) 0.088, 4. Tatsuki
Suzuki (JPN/Honda) 0.126, 5. John McPhee (GBR/Honda) 0.330
Overall standings:
1. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA/Honda) 254 pts, 2. Aron Canet (ESP/KTM)
182, 3. Tony Arbolino (ITA/Honda) 168, 4. Marcos Ramirez (ESP/Honda)
164, 5 John McPhee (GBR/Honda) 147.
