Photography by Gold & Goose
Valentino Rossi scored a popular victory in the Australian Grand Prix in front of 32,000 fans at Phillips Island. Rossi had a long and fierce battle with his MoviStar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, which turned into a battle for the lead when newly-crowned World Champion Marc Marquez crashed out of the race with a four-second lead about three-quarters of the way through. In the end Rossi pulled away to a convincing 10.836-second victory over Lorenzo.
Bradley Smith broke through to earn his first-career MotoGP podium after Cal Crutchlow crashed out of second on the final lap. Smith’s all-time best result made it a one-two-three finish for Yamaha.
The race was one of tremendous attrition, with only 14 riders finishing the race. Many riders seemed caught out by losing the front end on the brakes with the new harder compound tires, designed to last race distance on the track that is so tough on tires.
Lorenzo and Smith ran side by side through the first turn, but it was Marquez moving up from third to take over the lead. At the completion of the first lap it was Marquez, Lorenzo and Smith running first through third. Pol Espargaro and Valentino Rossi made it four Yamahas in the top five.
Starting the third lap it was Rossi, making his 250th premier class start, who was the rider on the move. He broke through underneath Espargaro going into turn one to take over third.
Meanwhile Marquez was already pulling away, holding an 8-10ths of a second lead on Lorenzo three laps in. On lap four there was a major traffic jam building up behind Pol Espargaro in a battle for fourth with Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Smith and the Ducatis of Crutchlow and Dovizioso right there crowding in a spirited fight.
On lap five Karel Abraham and crashed out and then it was Andrea Iannone hitting the back of Dani Pedrosa’s bike and going down as well. It looked like the impact might have broken something on Pedrosa’s Honda as he slowed dramatically. He pitted, the team went to work on the bike to get him back on track, but they ultimately decide not to go.
Up front Marquez pushed his lead to 1.3 seconds ahead of a great battle between teammates Lorenzo and Rossi. Having closed the gap Rossi made his move to second on lap 10. He was now 1.9 seconds behind the leader. Lorenzo came back on his teammate the next lap to take back second, then Rossi again and a terrific battle between the Yamahas. That was perfect for Marquez, who was suddenly over two seconds up the road with 15 laps to go.
Crutchlow broke free from that multi-rider battle for fourth and was now alone in that position. Dovizioso held off four other riders in a very close battle for fifth. There was another long train of riders running wheel to wheel with Redding leading five others riders closely in tow.
On laps 13 and 14 Rossi and Lorenzo continued to swap second.
With ten laps to go it was a four-second lead for Marquez. Rossi once again in front of Lorenzo, Rossi having seemingly tried to work with his teammate to close in on the leading Honda to no avail. Crutchlow was five seconds back from Yamaha pair.
Suddenly on lap 19 Marquez was down!
The champ had just touched the brakes for a right hander and was down before he could react. Both Repsol Honda bikes were now out. That battle between the Yamaha factory bikes was now the fight for the win. Rossi pushed and built a 1.5 seconds lead with eight to go.
On lap 20 Stefan Bradl crashed out of that intense battle for fourth, having slammed into the back of Aleix Espargaro’s bike entered a turn. The impact did damage to Espargaro’s bike and he was sidelined a half-lap later.
With five laps to go the top three looked set. Rossi was now nearly four seconds ahead of Lorenzo and Crutchlow was safe in third and actually closing in on second. Then it happened – Crutchlow quickly closed and then easily slipped past a slowing Lorenz o and quickly pulled a gap. At that point there was 6.2 seconds between Rossi and Crutchlow.
Pol Espargaro seemed to have a chance at a podium, closing at two-seconds a lap on Lorenzo, when he lost the front end when he hit the brakes, a crash that caught so many out this weekend.
On the final lap Crutchlow crashed out of a certain second on the front end. He stood stunned, looking at his downed bike in disbelief.
That left Rossi out front with the win by 10.836 seconds over Lorenzo. Smith the benefactor of Crutchlow’s crash found himself on the podium in third. Rossi’s win, from eighth on the grid, was his first at Phillip Island since 2005 and his 82nd-career premier class win. It also gives him a good hold on second in the championship standings, now eight points ahead of Lorenzo.
Dovizioso came home fourth, while Hector Barbera edged out Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding in a battle for fifth that came down to the line. Hiroshi Aoyama held off Alex De Angelis in eighth and American Nicky Hayden rounded out the top 10.
Only 14 riders finished the race, so everyone scored points.
Rossi was all smiles in the post-race press-conference.
“It is fantastic,” Rossi beamed. “coming (here) after a great race. Unfortunately I had to start behind, but I know that I had a quite good pace, and quite good settings. On the second corner when I saw already Marc and Jorge in front and I was still sixth I say, ‘Wow, it will be hard.’ But anyway after I was able to overtake I was fast, I was there behind Jorge, but it was very difficult. I tried to focus a lot on him, I tried to gain a little bit, but one moment I started to gain, I was a little bit faster. And when I arrive it was a great battle because we overtake a lot of time.
“Today I was a little bit faster, so I was able to stay in front. Marc was not too far, but was already like two seconds. So I tried to stay focused for second place because it is very important for the championship. But then I saw Marc crash. Afterwards it was great because I come back on first position here on the island, which is one of the best, most important and beautiful tracks on the season. After 10 years from my last victory, it’s a great achievement.”
Lorenzo said he felt lucky with second.
“This probably is the luckiest second place in my life,” Lorenzo admitted. “Because a lot of riders crash who could finish in front of me. You struggle so much to get the best setup and everything is good all the weekend, but on the race we got the wrong tire and then it is impossible to fight for our position. Probably with normal tire I could stay with Marc and try to win the race, but it was impossible.”
Smith too was surprised by his final result.
“It’s a crazy result really for me,” Smith admitted. “At one point in the race I was going backwards pretty fast. I got a good start and felt pretty good at the front, but I made some massive mistakes at the beginning of the race, I think just getting a little too excited. Then slowly I started to calm down. I was nearly in the incident with Stefan and Aleix, that was really close. Then obviously I just put my head down and was trying to put a good pace together. Both my teammate and Cal ended up crashing in the same spot right in front of me. I came across the line and didn’t even realize I was third. I went around the first corner and it was only Valentino and Jorge there, so I looked on the big screen and realized I was third. It’s an incredible feeling. A big thanks to my team for believing in me and keeping me not only for this year, but also for next year as well and also Yamaha for all their help and support.”
The series moves to the penultimate round in Malaysia next weekend.
Tissot Australian GP results – Oct. 19, 2014
1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 176.7 40’46.405
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 175.9 +10.836
3 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 175.8 +12.294
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 175.6 +14.893
5 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 174.5 +30.089
6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 174.5 +30.154
7 45 Scott REDDING GBR GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 174.5 +30.158
8 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 174.3 +33.166
9 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 174.3 +33.577
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Drive M7 Aspar Honda 174.2 +34.144
11 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 173.9 +39.468
12 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo IodaRacing Team ART 172.7 +56.684
13 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 171.6 +1’12.813
14 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Avintia 170.5 +1’28.050
Not Classified
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 176.4 1 Lap
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 175.9 3 Laps
41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 175.7 7 Laps
6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 175.7 8 Laps
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 177.4 10 Laps
23 Broc PARKES AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 170.2 14 Laps
26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 171.5 21 Laps
29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 173.9 22 Laps
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 170.6 23 Laps
