Martin monsters crash-filled Sprint
There was no catching Jorge Martin as he flew to a crushing win in the maiden MotoGP Sprint at Phillip Island that few including Jack Miller could finish.
Martin was dominant from pole, leading all 13 laps in crushing style to take a 1.5s win over Marc Marquez, who was as low as eighth after a first corner mistake.
Enea Bastianini completed the podium as Francesco Bagnaia lost more ground in the championship with fourth extending Martin’s advantage to 18 points.
However, the big talking points will surround those who did not finish the 13-lap dash with seven riders involved in incidents.
One of those was Australia’s Miller, who impressively rose from 16th to eighth before having a fall.
But the controversial one involved Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales, who clashed at the fastest part of the track when fighting for fifth.
Vinales passed the VR46 rider before contact was made at the end of the Gardner Straight and the Aprilia rider was so furious he gave the Italian the bird.
Up front Martin was unstoppable, setting qualifying-like pace to build a gap beyond 3s before backing off to take the chequered flag waved by Mark Webber.
“I am really happy today,” Martin said.
“Thought it will be a bit more difficult with Marc close behind me but I don’t know what happened at the start.
“I was trying to keep a really fast pace and then when I had a gap managed it to the end.
“It was not easy with the wind a lot, coming and going but very happy.”
Martin led from pole Marquez tried to go around the outside of Doohan Corner, but it did not work as he slumped to eighth.
After a clean opening lap Martin grew a strong advantage over Bezzecchi, who had Bagnaia on his tail.
To the joy of the home crowd Miller made impressive early race ground to charge into the top 10 from 16th on the grid.
As Martin charged more than a second into the distance after three and a half laps, Bagnaia caught and passed Bezzecchi to secure a critical second.
From as low as eighth Marquez was on the comeback trail and secured fourth with a big dive-bomb at Siberia on Binder.
Now released in clean air the #93 was displaying qualifying like pace to reel in Bezzecchi.
Marquez first launched an attack on Bezzecchi around the outside of Miller Corner on Lap 5, but could not make it stick.
His next destination was the Gardner Straight and his Italian rival had no hope as the Gresini Ducati flew past.
Marquez then turned his attention to the reigning champion and after around two laps on Bagnaia’s back wheel, Marquez made a big lunge at the heavy braking Miller Corner.
The #93 went deep, but nailed the move and rode away to secure second.
Suddenly Bagnaia found himself in the clutches of teammate Bastianini and could not stop the #23 Ducati from also getting past at the end of the lap.
Behind them, the riders started dropping out of contention.
Last year’s winner Johann Zarco was the first to fall, crashing at Turn 9, while Alex Marquez joined him on the sidelines on the same lap.
Miller carried on his promise, gaining two more positions to rise to eighth.
However, that is as far as he would get as the #43 sadly fell.
The battles behind him allowed Martin to build his advantage to beyond 3s as his race pace showed no signs of letting up.
The Pramac Rider was producing some stunning 1m27s times before eventually settling down to cruise to the chequered flag.
However, there was nothing simple behind him and with Bagnaia vulnerable, the big battle was now for fourth with Bezzecchi and Vinales close for company.
But Bagnaia was relieved as the VR46 and Aprilia riders took each other out in horrific fashion.
After Vinales first dive at Doohan Corner did not work out, he used the slipstream to blaze past the #72 on the following lap down the Gardner Straight.
But Bezzecchi tried to fight back in the slipstream, only to get sucked in and strike the back wheel of Vinales under braking as they went under the bridge.
As a result both bikes and riders were sent flying into the gravel at the fastest part of the track.
Both riders emerged okay with Vinales getting up and giving Bezzecchi the bird, while the Italian needed a stretcher, but did make his way back to the paddock on a motorbike.
In further drama, Binder crashed after trying to go around the outside of Morbidelli, while Acosta had a big high side at Siberia.
After a wild first ever Sprint at Phillip Island, the possibilities are endless when the 2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at 14.00 AEDT Sunday.
2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix results
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Diff |
| 1 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | 19m 13.301s |
| 2 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +1.520s |
| 3 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +4.368s |
| 4 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +6.879s |
| 5 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +7.905s |
| 6 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +9.623s |
| 7 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +15.249s |
| 8 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +19.280s |
| 9 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) | +21.126s |
| 10 | Luca Marini | ITA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +21.194s |
| 11 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +21.379s |
| 12 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +21.483s |
| 13 | Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +23.528s |
| 14 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +34.055s |
| 15 | Lorenzo Savadori | ITA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +38.324s |
| Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | DNF | |
| Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | DNF | |
| Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | DNF | |
| Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16)* | DNF | |
| Jack Miller | AUS | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | DNF | |
| Alex Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | DNF | |
| Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | DNF |
Image: Gold and Goose
2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
Practice 1: Fri 10.45-11.30 (Fox Sports)
Practice: Fri 15.00-16.00 (Fox Sports)
Practice 2: Sat 10.10-10.40 (Fox Sports)
Qualifying: Sat 10.50-11.30 (Fox Sports)
Sprint: Sat 15.00 13 Laps (Channel 10/Fox Sports)
Warm up: Sun 9.40-9.50 (Fox Sports)
Grand Prix: Sun 14.00 27 laps (Channel 10/Fox Sports)
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