Tuesday 18 October: In front of a his home fans at Phillip Island, Casey Stoner rode a flawless race to claim his second MotoGP World Championship title at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix. Simoncelli and Dovizioso joined the newly crowned Champion on the podium.
With a strong breeze blowing and darkening skies, the MotoGP race
commenced with a rearranged grid following the withdraw of both Yamaha
Factory riders and Héctor Barberá’s replacement rider, Damian Cudlin on
the Mapfre Aspar team. Jorge Lorenzo withdrew after a high side in the
morning warm up left him with a severely injured finger that will
require surgery, while Ben Spies is still mildly concussed after a crash
in qualifying on Saturday. Cudlin withdrew due to injuries from a crash
in Saturday morning practice.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda
Gresini Team) followed Stoner into turn one, with the Italian making an
early move on Hayden to take second. Simoncelli then spent the remainder
of the race tussling with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), beating his
compatriot across the line for his best MotoGP finish of second.
Dani Pedrosa was ten seconds adrift of team mate Dovizioso to finish
fourth, giving Honda a 1-4 finish, while Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha
Tech 3) inherited fifth place after first Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team)
and then Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) crashed out of that position.
Rossi fell after making a pass on the Bautista, ending his 13 year
string of podium finishes at the Australian circuit, while the Suzuki
man slipped toward the end of the race as rain began to fall.
The white flag had been shown on lap ten as scattered rain drops
appeared, giving riders the option to swap bikes, though the rain didn’t
start in earnest until nearly the end, when it claimed not only
Bautista but then Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Hiroshi
Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini).
Hayden was the first to enter the pits to change bikes, followed by
Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing), though it did not help their finishing
positions as Hayden ended the race seventh behind Randy de Puniet
(Pramac Racing) despite the Frenchman having had an earlier offtrack
excursion, while Capirossi finished ninth behind Toni Elías (LCR Honda).
The final race finisher was Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing), who crossed the line tenth.
Following a windy and rainy morning, the Moto2
race began in sunny conditions on a dry track with the Championship
leader Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) starting from the back of
the grid when a one minute qualifying penalty was applied following his
collision with Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda Singha-SAG) at the end of
the Friday’s first free practice session.
De Angelis, who led all three practice sessions and started on pole,
took the early lead, with Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) assuming it at
the end of lap one followed by Pol Espargaró (HP Tuenti Speed Up).
Bradl assumed the lead on lap five, holding it until a final lap
showdown with de Angelis which saw the Sammarinese come out on top to
take his second victory of the season.
Márquez made up plenty of ground with an extraordinary start that
launched the Spanish star to midfield from his 38th position on the
grid. The Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol rider steamed full speed ahead,
making up ground until lap seventeen where, after passing Claudio Corti
(Italtrans Racing) for third, the Italian fought back and the two duked
it out to the finish, with the Spaniard making a move on the last lap to
put him across the line third. His third place finished combined with
the second place of Bradl rearranged the Championship standings, with
the German retaking the lead by three points over Márquez.
Pol Espargaró (HP Tuenti Speed Up) was fifth after going shoulder to
shoulder with for a lap, with Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) taking
sixth followed by Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) in seventh and Andrea
Iannone (Speed Master) in eighth. Front row starter Mike di Meglio (Tech
3 Racing) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) rounded out the top ten.
Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) dropped to 12th after a run in
with Pol Espargaró, but made up a spot to finish 11th, ahead of
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) and Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40).
Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing), Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar), Anthony
West (MZ Racing), Mattia Pasini (Ioda Racing Project), Esteve Rabat
(Blusens-STX), Jules Cluzel (NGM Forward Racing) and Xavier Simeon (Tech
3 B) all had falls in the race.
125: Cortese takes a red flagged Australian GP
Sandro Cortese took his second victory of the season after a
chaotic start at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix. The German rider
finished ahead of Luis Salom and Johann Zarco in difficult mixed
conditions, in a race that was halted three laps early due to a crash
from Niklas Ajo.
Chaos broke out at the start of the 125cc race as a rain shower
erupted on the grid, delaying the start by 8 minutes to give teams time
to change tires if they chose to do so. There were patches of clear
skies showing however, though it was anyone’s guess as to if it would
continue to rain. A few gamblers chose wets over slicks, but it quickly
became clear that the track was drying out.
In addition, when the flurry of activity cleared, the grid revealed
an empty third place on the grid - Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo
Motorsport) never made it out for the warm up lap to due to his engine
failing in the warm up session.
Alexis Masbou (Caretta Technology Forward Team) led off the start,
bumping his French compatriot and pole starter Johann Zarco
(Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) on his way out to the front. Adrián Martín (Bankia
Aspar) took over the lead, however shortly thereafter enter the pits to
change to slicks as the track dried out. Meanwhile Championship leader
Terol (Bankia Aspar) sliced his way through the field after dropping
back into 17th off the start.
Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) pulled out a 6 second
lead while Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) moved into second and Efrén Vázquez
(Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) raced his team mate for third, despite the fact
that Zarco is the only one who still has a chance to stop Terol in
taking the Championship title.
As Terol gained ground on the front runners, three laps from the end
the red flag was produced due to Niklas Ajo (TT Motion Events Racing)
crashing and requiring trackside attention. The final race results were
determined by rolling back the standings to the previous lap, which saw
Cortese the clear winner, Luis Salom in second, and a relieved Zarco the
final podium finisher.
In fourth was Vázquez, followed by Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucía
Banca Cívica) and Terol in sixth place, the Spaniard making a remarkable
recovery, though the finish has cut his Championship lead from Zarco to
25 points.
Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) finished seventh, ahead of Maverick
Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing), Louis Rossi (Matteoni Racing)
and Danny Webb (Mahindra Racing) who completed the top ten.
