Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) did the tyre gamble so perfectly that it has helped him to clinch his second win in the Premier class by 4 seconds at the Australian GP in Phillip Island circuit. Starting from 15th on the grid, Valentino Rossi rode a perfect race to take P2 while his future teammate Maverick Viñales finished on the podium at P3.
Pol Espargaro starting from P3 got his Yamaha YZR-M1 to a great start to take the lead, and was soon overtaken by pole man Marquez around the Doohan corner. Marquez soon made it look all easy as he took the lead by 3 seconds from Cal and Espargaro. Lorenzo got off to a good start as well moving to P9 from P12. Cal Crutchlow and Aleix Espargaro then had a cat fight in the beginning stages of the race to grab P2, after Pol dropped back.
Meanwhile Rossi from the back of the grid made steady progress, and soon was the fastest man on track. He then picked up a few spots from Lorenzo, Hayden, Pol Espargaro and Dovizioso to name a few and was seen in podium contention. In lap 10 the Honda of Marquez washed away leading him to end his race on the gravel, where he later complained that there wasn't enough temperature on his hard compound Michelin front rubber. Watching all these Crutchlow knew he needed to push till the end in order to complete the race.
Now Cal found him at the front and began to open up a gap, as Rossi charged to the front at P2 aiming to catch Crutchlow. The battle at the behind for P3 was fierce enough between the two factory Suzuki riders and Andrea Dovizioso, which ended up at Turn 4 as Aleix Espargaro lost his front while braking. Maverick Viñales then took a tough fought P3 from Dovizioso to make his way to the chequered flag.
Cal Crutchlow finally finished the race in P1 with an advantage of over 4 seconds, while Rossi and Viñales completed the podium. Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro were inside the top 5 and Jorge Lorenzo finished at a slow paced P6. Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Danilo Petrucci and home boy Jack Miller completed the top 10. Nicky Hayden, the replacement for injured Pedrosa had an incident in the final stages of the race and finished last at P17. We are now only two races short to the end of the 2016 World Championship. The MotoGP grid now moves to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in Malaysia in a weeks time. Stay tuned to BikesIndia for further updates on the MotoGP World Championship.
By: Aravind Rb
Pol Espargaro starting from P3 got his Yamaha YZR-M1 to a great start to take the lead, and was soon overtaken by pole man Marquez around the Doohan corner. Marquez soon made it look all easy as he took the lead by 3 seconds from Cal and Espargaro. Lorenzo got off to a good start as well moving to P9 from P12. Cal Crutchlow and Aleix Espargaro then had a cat fight in the beginning stages of the race to grab P2, after Pol dropped back.Meanwhile Rossi from the back of the grid made steady progress, and soon was the fastest man on track. He then picked up a few spots from Lorenzo, Hayden, Pol Espargaro and Dovizioso to name a few and was seen in podium contention. In lap 10 the Honda of Marquez washed away leading him to end his race on the gravel, where he later complained that there wasn't enough temperature on his hard compound Michelin front rubber. Watching all these Crutchlow knew he needed to push till the end in order to complete the race.
*** Marquez's RC213V breaking into pieces
Now Cal found him at the front and began to open up a gap, as Rossi charged to the front at P2 aiming to catch Crutchlow. The battle at the behind for P3 was fierce enough between the two factory Suzuki riders and Andrea Dovizioso, which ended up at Turn 4 as Aleix Espargaro lost his front while braking. Maverick Viñales then took a tough fought P3 from Dovizioso to make his way to the chequered flag.
Cal Crutchlow finally finished the race in P1 with an advantage of over 4 seconds, while Rossi and Viñales completed the podium. Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro were inside the top 5 and Jorge Lorenzo finished at a slow paced P6. Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Danilo Petrucci and home boy Jack Miller completed the top 10. Nicky Hayden, the replacement for injured Pedrosa had an incident in the final stages of the race and finished last at P17. We are now only two races short to the end of the 2016 World Championship. The MotoGP grid now moves to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in Malaysia in a weeks time. Stay tuned to BikesIndia for further updates on the MotoGP World Championship.
By: Aravind Rb