ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 16 / OCTOBER 23, 2016
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT / PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
P58
warm-up. That gave him enough
confidence and speed to hold
firm to beat closing Ecstar Su-
zuki rider Maverick Vinales (also
through from a lowly grid spot in
13th) by just over a second.
More importantly, with team-
mate Jorge Lorenzo a lackluster
sixth, it moved Rossi 24 points
clear in their fight for second
overall.
An extended morning warm-
up was a vital first chance for
riders to work on settings and
tire selection in dry conditions. It
still left many questions. While all
chose the same softer "medium"
rear and most the soft front,
Marquez and Crutchlow were
joined in a hard-front gamble by
into that corner, but I knew I had
to keep pushing to keep the heat
in the tire. When the sun was
out, okay, but when it went in I
pushed harder."
Two years ago he had
crashed out of a safe podium at
the same turn four when falling
temperatures undermined his
front tire.
The other star of the race was
Rossi. Starting from 15th on the
grid after being caught out by
muddled conditions in qualify-
ing, he had carved through in
the early laps, up to second by
lap 10. He couldn't quite match
Crutchlow's pace, but the Movi-
star Yamaha rider had been sec-
ond (to Marquez) in dry morning
MotoGP
MotoGP had looked as though
it belonged to new champion
Marc Marquez. Unleashed from
the responsibility of counting the
points, he dominated qualifying,
and took off convincingly in the
27-lap race to build a strong lead
over Cal Crutchlow (LCR Hon-
da), who, like him, had chosen
the hard front Michelin.
His control deserted him,
though, on lap 10. He locked
the front into the first hairpin and
was down and out. "It was my
mistake, not the tire," the Repsol
Honda rider said. But it gave
Crutchlow some worry.
"I was quite scared," he said.
"All race I braked really weakly
For Crutchlow, the
Australian GP win was
the second of the year
and his career.
