Dukes dominate down under
Relative beginners, rookie Marco Bezzecchi and second-year sophomores Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini and Jorge Martin, were prominent in Sunday’s Phillip Island top-seven brawl, fourth to seventh, and all over the line inside nine tenths of winner Alex Rins.
Something else in common. They were all on Ducatis. The new guys comprised half of the six Desmos inside the second-closest top ten ever.
It could have been seven Dukes, had Jack Miller not been knocked off. Only second Desmo rookie Fabio di Giannantonio wasn’t there.
The wonderfully flowing Australian track (genius Stoner excepted) has never particularly favoured Ducati. The brute horsepower is handy down the straight, the old understeer a drawback everywhere else.
The understeer is history now, the speed remains. Desmos took seven of the top nine speed-trap figures on Sunday: Bastianini fastest at 221.4mph (the Aprilias were interlopers, sixth and eighth).
Importantly, the bike is now friendly in a way that previous rider “Desmo Dovi” Dovizioso could only dream about, just two or three years ago.
All the while, chief engineer Gigi Dall’Igna is pushing the boundaries and leading the way… Suzuki and Honda have already copied the “stegosaurus” tailfins first seen at Silverstone.
Precocious Rossi protégé Bezzecchi was best of the new boys on Sunday, at one point challenging for a firstseason win and finally fourth, barely two tenths off Bagnaia’s factory Ducati in third, hundredths ahead of late-race charger Bastianini.
But there were all so close it hardly makes a difference.