PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia (Reuters) – Jorge Martin of Prima Pramac Racing led from lap one to the chequered flag to win the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix sprint on Saturday, stretching his world championship lead over two-times MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Chasing a first MotoGP title, the Phillip Island pole-sitter continued his flawless Saturday to extend his advantage in the championship standings over reigning champion Bagnaia to 16 points. Martin will have the opportunity to stretch it even further in Sunday’s race.
“Another victory in a sprint, I’m really happy,” Martin said. “I thought today was going to be much more difficult with Marc (Marquez) really close but I don’t know what happened in the first few laps.
“I was trying to increase the gap and go really fast pace, and when I saw I had a big gap already I managed to make it to the end.
“It wasn’t easy with the wind, it was a lot, and it wasn’t constant it was coming and going. Finally winning again, I’m super happy and we have to be focused on tomorrow.”
Six-times MotoGP champion Marquez dropped several places before riding his Gresini Racing bike with purpose to come second. Italian Enea Bastianini finished third to complete an all-Ducati podium and secure his fourth successive sprint podium.
“The pace was there and let’s see if tomorrow we can avoid the mistake of the first corner. The feeling of the bike was good, the pace was also very similar to Jorge,” Marquez said.
Marquez and Bastianini are now level on 320 points, only behind leader Martin and second-placed Bagnaia.
Having qualified fifth, Bagnaia made up a place to secure a fourth spot ahead of fellow Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio.
While the front grid was mostly quiet during the 13-lap sprint with Martin never looking in trouble after a terrific launch, there was plenty of action behind.
Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi went down after a huge crash into turn one. Red Bull GasGas Tech3’s 20-year-old rookie Pedro Acosta also crashed out.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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