Yamaha ended a long drought when Maverick Viñales won the Phillip Island MotoGP race earlier today. A bright, sunny day in Australia contained some interesting circumstances, including a near 200 mph crash involving Johann Zarco (Yamaha) and Marc Marquez (Honda).
At the end of the front straight, during the first half of the race, Zarco’s front wheel collided with Marquez’ rear wheel sending Zarco onto the ground where he commenced a 200 yard slide that, remarkably, left him unhurt. Meanwhile, Marquez was nearly forced into a high-side himself, but managed to stay on his bike and ride it back to the pits – where his race ended.
Viñales charged from a very poor start that left him outside the top 10. His pace proved significantly faster than the competition, and he pulled a nice gap at the front after taking the lead in the latter half of the race.
Behind Viñales, a battle ensued over the remaining podium spots, and Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) eventually took second place just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati). Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
See more of MD’s great photography:
… and why does the picture show purple instead of Yamaha blue?
Good for Vinales. I doubt he’d had won with MM, Zarco and Lorenzo there, but whatever… it’s good Yamaha caught a break. Now go back and work on building a competitive bike.
The Suzukis have been fast enough and done well enough to lose their concessions for next year. Considering they haven’t had Marquez, or Dovi, or Rossi or Lorenzo riding them, I’d say they’ve done real well and are now competitive. Do they have Ducati’s top end? NO, but neither does Honda, Yamaha, Aprilia or KTM, so I guess everyone needs a little more motor. Those that dont have the motor need to make it up with handling, braking, or rider skill. All in all I’d say Sizuki has caught up.
Oops this was supposed to be under Jeremy’s response below.
That Zarco MM incident. Was fortunate that both were’nt injured.
Anyway, I was impressed that MM’s carbonfibre swing arm didn’t shear off with the nasty impact. Nice engineering that.
Lets see, Crutchlow DNS because of injury, Lorenzo DNS because of injury, Marquez and Zarco out because of same accident, those 4 not in the results, who could have been up front. Yay! Yamaha wins… where are all the wig people? 6th for Rossi, could have been 10th. Maybe Ducati will hire him back next year, and it could again be a marriage made in heaven… or not.
So 4 guys who made such dire errors that they couldn’t contest the race (or even start) are better than the guy who put it all together to win? Is that what you’re saying?
Dave: How many championships do Lorenzo and Marc have combined? And how many does Vinales have? Of course Vinales has a better chance to win without Lorenzo and Marc. Lorenzo and Marc were up front the entire season. Where was Vinales the entire season? Behind Rossi. Case closed.
Congratulations to Vinales for taking advantage of the situation.
Note to Lorenzo: MM and Zarco just put on a clinic on how to professionally handle a racing incident, you little cry baby.
You have to admit, it was easier to be calm about this because one of the participants has already clinched the title and the other is nowhere in the points and has already inked a solid contract for the upcoming season.
Hahaha! Yep.
“The Suzuki’s are finally there it seems”
Yay! more competition, go ahead Suzi!
I thought Vinales was the next big thing for Yamaha. Maybe he will be when the bike improves. I also thought Rossi could ride around any problems the bike had but maybe he had more of a perfect bike in the past than we thought.
Or, as much as we fans were hoping otherwise, he’s finally dropping just a bit off. And these days “a bit” equates to nowhere vs somewhere; the margins are so tight now.
Rossi out finishes Maveric 9 out of 10 times and the one time he don’t you bitches start with the BS that he’s done. Rossi will be done when Rossi says he’s done, not before.
It is good for Yamaha that Vinales won instead of Rossi. Like it or not, Rossi is done, so far as the possibility of being champion goes. Unless Marquez were to miss a significant portion of a season, it is now a reach too far.
Yamaha has to look to the future, and building a bike that new talents can win with. We know how good Vinales can be so here’s hoping that he gets back to where he was when he begain with Yamaha. That would make the series more interesting to watch.
and neither rider being a drama queen… that is what made it the best. MM & Z understand that a slipstream at 200MPH can severely change your plans. Z apologized as he did hit MM no matter the cause… good on him. MM called it a racing accident and showing class.
What a race and finish… Finally, YAMAHA!!!
You must not have been paying attention during the replays because it was Marquez who moved over to the left and cut Zarco off not the other way around. Zarco was remarkably calm about it and lucky the airbag suit saved him from serious injury.
you ought to have a look at the replays yourself.
you , me, and everyone on the track that day knew there was a corner at the end of that fast straight which would require hard braking as per usual.
the rider in the front does not have eyes on the back of his/her head and therefor can not see the riders behind him/herself.
the rider behind does have eyes on the front of his/her head and CAN SEE the rider(s) in front of him/herself.
does any of this make any sense to you yet or how should it be explained better so that you can understand it?
Zarco knew the rider in front of him was going to brake hard.
Zarco was careless and ran into the back of the rider in front of him. period.
that’s why Zarco apologized to MM.
the rider in front of Zarco moved to the outside of the track to place himself on the EXACT same line as the ducati rider two positions ahead of him.
nobody cut Zarco off.
also…since when did MM ever have to worry about Zarco that MM should cut Z off risking crash/injuries to himself?
So you’re saying MM should’ve looked in his rear view mirror before setting himself up for the corner? Or maybe looked over his shoulder (at 200 mph) to see if it’s ok? MM and Z showed class by no foot stomping, pouting or hissy fits.
Here’s what Zarco had to say about it:
“I had a great exit out of the last corner, and I was next to Marc, and then I got the slipstream of Jack,” the Frenchman said. “He also got his slipstream, but when we have to brake it was so close, and I touched his rear wheel. So at this speed touching the rear wheel of somebody else means I totally flew away.”
He, too, viewed it as a racing incident. “For sure it was an accident as we are going so fast and there was not a lot of space on the left side,” Zarco said. “He was close to Jack and he came back on to the racing line at corner one, but I was also there. So I crashed.”
He had gone and spoken to Márquez about the incident, Zarco said. “I went to him to say sorry because I totally destroyed the back of his bike, and he told to me the most important thing was that I didn’t injure myself. As two racers and sportsmen we totally understood each other.”
Yay for Yamaha! That long slide speaks well for modern gear as well as the “techniques” necessary for their best utilization. As well as having enough room to burn leather for that distance. ya’ learn to spread the burn around as you butt-surf down the road!
Most I ever did was maybe 60/70 yards from about 95 mph after a lowside. Was the first time I wore a back protector, and I used it! Took air over the curb of the next turn, came out OK.
But tank slappers at 165+ through turn one at Pacific Raceways got me thinking I don’t wanna do that here!
Looking forward to next season races.
And the Yamaha drought is broken. Good for Vinales. Been a hard season for him. For a while it looked like it could have been Yamaha 1-2. The Suzuki’s are finally there it seems.I thought it was a great race. Very tight, very competitive. Zarco’s slide was unbelievably long, and then he gets up and walks away. Amazing.
I wish Zarco and Marquez could have stayed in the race.
The Suzuki is close. They still need a little more engine, but they seem to have it figured out chassis wise. Too bad they are losing Iannone after this season, but Rins has proven himself to be quite capable at least.
The grass saved Zarco’s ass,… literally. Like the announcers mentioned on the live feed, if he’d hit that gravel trap it would have been like being put in a dryer on the tumble cycle. That boy should have played the lottery!
Z’s slide reminded me of Kevin Schwantz’s fall at the end of Brainard’s front straight in the 80’s. As lore goes, when the corner worker came up to Schwantz to see if he was ok, one of the questions he asked him was what day it was, to which Schwantz replied, “Hell it must be Tuesday cuz I was sliding so long!”.
It was interesting to see Z tuck his arms against his body as he slid 200+ yards. Amazing!