VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P65
PHILLIP ISLAND
CANCELATION
EXPLAINED
Not for the first time, the weather on
Phillip Island impacted the running
of the Australian Grand Prix. With
high winds forecasted for Sunday,
the feature race was switched to
Saturday, with the Sprint to be held
on the following day, and the Moto2
and 3 races brought forward one
hour. Only the Sprint was canceled
as conditions deteriorated during the
Moto2 outing. "We had no choice,"
explained Race Director Mike Webb
of the cancelation. "We knew from
the forecast this was going to hap-
pen, so we changed the days of the
race. The conditions turned out to
be as predicted. Just to be clear, the
rain was never an issue; it was the
wind. We know from past experienc-
es with the wind in that direction that
turns one, seven and eight are very
trying. We had this experience in
2019 when we red-flagged MotoGP
qualifying. The wind was below
the level of 2019 at the start of the
day. The Moto2 was red flagged
because of the gusts of the wind,
obviously. All the way through the
day, we monitored the steady wind
speeds and the gusts. That number
slowly went up during the day. Hav-
ing red-flagged a race because of
the windy conditions, there was no
way we could start another unless it
got better. And it got worse."
Briefly...
In the usual battle to conserve the rear tire around
the track's punishing long lefts in the race's first half,
Zarco was the smartest of the lot as he first used
Bagnaia as a gauge, as they nursed their medium-com-
pound Michelin tires before reeling long-time leader
Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), who had risked it all on
the soft, on the final lap.
For long spells, this contest was drifting toward a
usual snoozy conclusion. Having grabbed the initiative
from the race's first turn, Martin was streaking out front
while his four chief pursuers—Binder, Di Giannantonio,
Bagnaia and Zarco—gradually edged clear of one anoth
-
er. Yet the reality was each of those four was waiting for
(Above) Zarco made his move to the front on the last
lap, passing points leader Francesco Bagnaia. (Below)
Bagnaia (1) stretched out his championship points
lead over Jorge Martin to 27.
