VOL. 56 ISSUE 10 MARCH 12, 2019 P67
had qualified on pole but was los-
ing places steadily, then closed
on the front gang. His last victim,
with three laps to go, was Danilo
Petrucci's factory Ducati, and he
was almost two seconds ahead
of him at the finish, and sniffing at
Rins' back wheel.
Fears of cold conditions and a
slippery track at the start time of
8:00 p.m., an hour later than last
year, came to naught, with Aprilia
test rider Bradley Smith the only
rider to crash.
Dovizioso led away from Miller
and Marquez, with Crutchlow and
the rest in hot pursuit. By lap two
Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki) was up
to fourth ahead of the fading Vina-
les, and the rookie got ahead of
And while Rins and the Suzuki
squad could be proud of their
evening's work and close fourth
place, it was Crutchlow who got
the hero's welcome, after fighting
back to fitness following his se-
vere right leg injuries at last year's
Australian GP.
Heroism went down the field—
singling out Valentino Rossi for
special praise. The Monster
Yamaha rider had struggled in
qualifying, starting from 14th on
the grid. He was soon picking
his way forward, and at the back
of the nine-strong group at half
distance. But the 40-year-old's
never-say-die tactics were in over-
drive. On lap 16, he got by his
teammate Maverick Vinales, who
of the swingarm. Questioned
about aerodynamics after the
race, as well as use of the much-
discussed holeshot system, he
followed company policy, saying
as little as possible.
But all major rival teams except
Yamaha protested the use of the
under swingarm device; at the
time of writing, the protests had
been denied by race direction,
but teams have appealed the
decision—so the result still stands
as of now.
In a bout of extra bitchiness,
Alex Rins also protested that
Crutchlow had passed him under
a yellow flag—disallowed be-
cause the slipstream meant that
Crutchlow couldn't help doing it.
