Crutchlow tops Down Under

PHILIP ISLAND (Australia): Britain’s Cal Crutchlow (pic) held off an extraordinary ride from Valentino Rossi to win the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday as newlycrowned world champion Marc Marquez crashed out with 18 laps to go.

Marquez, who clinched his third world title last weekend in Japan, led the race from pole position and was well clear of Crutchlow when he crashed due to a braking error at Turn Four of the Philip Island circuit.

That handed the lead to Crutchlow who showed steady nerves to hold out the hardcharging Rossi who climbed through the field from 15th place on the grid after his worst qualifying performance in five years.

Maverick Vinales was third after starting in 13th place.

The win gave the 30yearold Honda rider Crutchlow his second MotoGP victory after his win in the Czech Republic earlier this year, making him the first Briton since Barry Sheen to win two races in the premier class in the same season.

He completed the race in 40:48.5, holding out Rossi by 4.2 seconds.

The rainy conditions which made practice and qualifying tricky on Friday and Saturday gave way to fine but cold weather yesterday. The cool track surface made tire choice critical and Crutchlow, starting from second place on the grid, followed Marquez in choosing a hard compound for the front tire.

It was a risky strategy given that partly cloudy conditions made it difficult to keep heat in the tire. When Marquez went down it was thought that tire choice might have played a part and Crutchlow admitted to a moment of concern.

“I was terrified,” Crutchlow said. “I went really weak into that corner for the whole race.

“I knew it was critical towards the end of the race. I crashed there two years ago when I had 10 seconds behind me also. I was quite scared to be honest and I didn’t want to make the same mistake but I knew I had to keep pushing or we’d lose the heat in the front tire.”

Rossi’s extradinary ride to claim second allowed him to extend his lead over Jorge Lorenzo in second place in the overall championship standings with two rounds remaining. Riders head to Malaysia for the penultimate round of the season next weekend.

“This morning we discovered that we had a good pace in the conditions and step by step I came back,” Rossi said.

“At the beginning of the race the first lap was very funny and I tried to get to Cal but today he was too fast, he was too strong.” — AP