It was brilliant watching the sprint race of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix for the first time at Phillip Island with Jorge Martin too good all along in the No.89 Ducati bike for Pramac Racing. Not only that we’ve also saw a series of disappointments including that late Turn 1 crash between Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi while battling for 5th with three laps to go (big debate there) while our Aussie own Jack Miller unfortunately ended his race early a little after he was spun off into the gravel.
If Jorge’s sprint race win wasn’t enough, here’s another Ducati rider who absolutely had a great ride this late – it’s Marc Marquez in the No.93 bike for Gresini Racing. He may have started m poorly from 2nd to 8th but he made up plenty of lost time though despite time running out against him to chase down Martin.
He had excellent long-form pace to pull himself back up front including that excellent pass on Ducati factory rider and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia for 2nd at the halfway mark with Bagnaia eventually being pushed out of the Top 3 podium spots by team-mate Erea Bastianini in the sister No. 23 bike.
There’s always another day and another great battle to come tomorrow afternoon (2-3pm) to try & unseat Jorge Martin when it comes to trying to win that 27-lap feature race with lead-in support races like Moto3 & Moto2 earlier during the day.