In Moto3, who else but David
Alonso? The World Champion
cleared away from the usual
Moto3 gaggle to take a comfort-
able win over Daniel Holgado
(Red Bull GasGas Tech3) with
Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Rac
-
ing) less than a tenth of a second
behind in third.
MOTOGP
SPRINT RACE
Starting from pole, Martin's
perfect start allowed him to pull
ahead from Marquez and Fran
-
cesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo
Team). Marquez ran wide at
turn one and dropped to eighth,
fought back strongly, overtak
-
ing several riders and eventually
passing Bagnaia for second
place on lap eight.
Bagnaia couldn't maintain this
pace, slipping to fourth behind
teammate Bastianini, who was
putting in a strong ride from
10th on the grid.
Behind them, Marco Bezzec
-
chi (VR46 Racing) and Maverick
Vinales (Aprilia Racing) were
locked in a battle for fifth, but
their race ended in disaster
when both riders collided on lap
12 in a horrifying crash at the
daunting Doohan Corner
(turn one).
Vinales drafted Bezzecchi, but
when he pulled in front for the
run to turn one, the Aprilia took
away all the downforce on Bez
-
zecchi's Ducati, sucking him into
the draft and causing Bezzecchi
to lock the front wheel and col
-
lect Vinales at over 150 mph.
Miraculously, both riders es-
caped serious injury. Meanwhile,
BEZZECCHI –
VINALES SMASH
Maverick Vinales and Marco
Bezzecchi were involved in an
ugly collision at 150 mph enter-
ing Doohan Corner in the Sprint.
Despite a sickening roll through
the gravel, the Italian suffered no
fractures but was still taken to the
hospital in Melbourne for further
checks. Marc Marquez, who
endured a similar collision at the
same spot in 2018 with Johann
Zarco, felt it was a racing incident
and the heavy gusts of wind at
Doohan Corner were a factor.
"It's a racing incident," he said.
"Because in that point, I remem-
ber the same situation. I overtook
Zarco with the slipstream and, in
that moment, the wind pushed
me out, and you don't want to go
in the middle because you know
if you go in front of the guy you
are overtaking, the slipstream
is sucking him in. Today, when
the wind was pushing laterally,
Vinales could avoid that move-
ment, and Bezzecchi could have
avoided getting sucked in."
DIGGIA'S CHANGE
OF PLAN
Fabio Di Giannantonio will curtail
his season two races early to
address the nagging left shoulder
injury sustained in mid-August.
The Italian will undergo surgery
as he seeks a compromise
between competing in as many
races as possible this year while
returning fully fit for the start of
next season in early March. "It's
not fantastic for me because it's
never good to miss races," he
said. "It's never good to finish the
season a bit earlier than the oth-
Briefly...
(Above) It
was a damage
limitation
weekend for
Francesco
Bagnaia as
he sees the
championship
gap blow back
out to 20 points
to Martin. (Left)
Martin's Sprint
race win looked
almost easy.
It wasn't, but it
looked it.
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P69
