Day 1 coverage: 2014 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
NATIONAL SUPPORT CLASS RESULTS

The 25-year-old
eventually stopped the clock at 1:29.749 on his Forward Yamaha, with
only one other rider joining him in the sub 30-second bracket – last
week’s Motegi winner Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha, 1:29.909).

Newly
crowned world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) sat atop the
timesheets for most of the 45-minute session, but his best lap of
1:35.079 was eventually eclipsed by not only Espargaro and Lorenzo, but
also by Andrea Iannone (1:30.025) on the seriously fast Pramac Racing
Ducati and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha). Iannone was fastest along
Gardner Straight with a scorching 340.4km/h pass.

Marquez did
have one major scare in FP1 when he overcooked things at turn one, but
the 21-year-old remained upright and made his way back to the pits soon
after. Australia’s Broc Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport) wasn’t so
fortunate, and crashed at the same part of the circuit with only minutes
to go in the session. His best lap of 1:32.692 saw him complete the
session in 22nd.

Motegi pole man Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team,
1:30.383) was seventh in FP1, and also the first rider to go out on
Bridgestone’s new asymmetrical front tyre, manufactured by the Japanese
company after the tyre woes experienced by the riders in last year’s
grand prix.

Bradley Smith (1:30.645) completed the top eight on
his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda, 1:30.667)
getting off to a cautious start in ninth. Less than one second separated
the top 10 riders.

The second practice session will be held at 3:05pm this afternoon.

The Spaniard, competing in his 118th MotoGP™
round and looking to back up his maiden MotoGP™ victory here last year,
produced a quick-fire 1:29.602 at the nine-minute mark of the 45-minute
session, a time that wasn’t bettered by his adversaries.

World
Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda, 1:29.752) got closest to Lorenzo’s
mark, while Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:29.803), Andrea
Dovizioso (Ducati Team, 1:29.945) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha,
1:29.954) also pushed hard.

The current lap record is held by
Marquez with a 1:28.103, while the best-ever lap of 1:27.899 belongs to
Lorenzo, set in qualifying last year.

Lorenzo’s crash at Turn 4
with six minutes remaining in the session was inexplicable, with last
week’s Motegi winner caught out as he lost the front-end while hard on
the brakes.

It was a carbon-copy of Pol Espargaro’s spill from
his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha at the same spot 20 minutes earlier, while
Dovizioso and Iannone performed similar crash routines at turn 10, also
the result of front-end losses. All riders were uninjured.

FP1
pacesetter Aleix Espargaro (Forward Yamaha, 1:30.058) was sixth in FP2,
ahead of Briton Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team, 1:30.076), Pol Espargaro
(1:30.103), Columbian Yonny Hernandez (Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:30.281)
and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda, 1:30.289).

Australia’s Broc
Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport), stiff and sore after a big turn one crash
in FP1, gritted his teeth to set a best lap of 1:32.506 – his fastest
of the day, good enough for 21st spot.

On combined times after two practice sessions, Lorenzo leads from Aleix Espargaro, Marquez, Iannone, Dovizioso and Rossi.

FP3 will be held at 10:55am on Saturday, followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

Rabat, leading the
standings by 38 points, set a best time of 1 minute 33.417 in a 28-lap
session by the Marc VDS Racing Team rider – and the other star of the
session as far as home fans are concerned was his temporary teammate
Aiden Wagner.

Brisbane rider Wagner, 20, is guesting with the
Championship-chasing team this weekend and performed superbly to finish
the 45-minute session in 27th place after clocking a best lap in
1:35.210, comfortably within the 1:39.956 cut-off time.

The
session began in chaotic fashion with no fewer than six riders coming to
grief in the first 10 minutes. One of them was Australia’s regular
Moto2 rider Ant West, who parted company with his QMMF SpeedUp at the
super-quick Turn 11 and limped away in some distress.

Second in
the session was Jordi Torres, but the Mapfre Aspar rider, who also
topped the times early on, came off the #81 Suter with just a few
minutes remaining though he was happily unhurt.

The most
spectacular fall claimed the third Marc VDS rider, the man lying second
to Rabat, Mika Kallio. The veteran Finn ran wide at Turn 9, went clean
through the gravel trap, hit the barrier hard and somersaulted straight
between the horse’s ears.

Kallio got the bike back to pit lane,
resumed and finished the session in third place but it was a daunting
start to a weekend where he is already under pressure to prevent Rabat
from claiming the title.

Another man who recovered well from an
early off was Motegi winner Tom Lüthi, who dropped the Interwetten Suter
up near the Hayshed and was lucky not to be collected by following
riders. The 28-year-old Swiss also had a moment down the escape road at
Turn 4 late in the session but came back strongly to finish fourth
overall.

Maverick Viñales, the only other rider in with a
mathematical chance of winning the title, was fifth on the Paginas
Amarillas HP40 Kalex and the last rider to break through the 1:34
barrier.

Australia’s other representative, 16-year-old Max Croker
from Newcastle, was 35th and last in the session on the Tasca Racing
Suter with a best time of 1:40.996. Croker was originally slated as a
wild card entry, withdrew when financial pressures told, but got a late
call-up to substitute for the absent Italian rider Riccardo Russo.

Leader Tito Rabat put in another metronomic session, ending up quickest with a lap in 1 minute 33.057 seconds, whereas his nearest rival and Marc VDS Racing teammate Mika Kallio had another spectacular fall to match his morning ‘off’.

While Rabat was busily firing in another 28 laps to match his morning session, the 31-year-old Finn came off his Kalex at Turn 10, almost doing a handstand on the handlebars and breaking the screen as he fell heavily with just five minutes of the session to go.

Second was Sandro Cortese on the Dynavolt Intact Kalex, just over half a second adrift of Rabat, with last week’s Japanese GP winner Tom Lüthi third on his Interwetten Suter just 0.026 behind the German rider.

Ant West recovered well from a morning fall that left the Australian badly winded to set the 13th-fastest time on his QMMF SpeedUp bike with a 1:34.244, while this weekend’s third Marc VDS entry, the #41 bike in the hands of Brisbane rider Aiden Wagner, finished in 32nd on 1:36.098.

That was around eight-tenths of a second slower than Wagner had managed in his maiden World Championship session but still easily inside the cut-off point of 1:39.570. Wagner also produced an impressive display of bike control when he survived a big moment a third of the way into the session without coming out of the saddle.

Not so for Australia’s other representative, 16-year-old Max Croker: the Newcastle teen managed only five laps on the Tasca Racing Suter with a best lap of 1:40.399 and faces an uphill task on Saturday if he is to make it into the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

Among other fallers were Robin Mulhauser, the 22-year-old Swiss rider suffering his own second heavy fall of the day, and Italy’s Lorenzo Baldassarri who high-sided violently off his Gresini Suter.

Kent, on his Husqvarna Ajo, clocked 1 minute 36.906 seconds on his 13th lap of the 4.448km Bass Strait track, 0.167 seconds better than the record set last year by Alex Marquez.

The 40-minute session saw Australia’s Jack Miller on the Red Bull KTM Ajo finish sixth on 1:37.370 while Marquez, currently 25 points ahead of him, was second on 1:37.142.

Miller insisted before the session that home advantage – apart from the vocal locals – was really a myth: “I haven’t ridden this track any more than any other in the world,” he said, “so home advantage doesn’t really mean anything.

“Alex has got a comfortable margin at the moment but that can quite quickly go away, as I’ve find out,” added Miller, who led from the opening round until Aragon two races ago where he and Marquez had a controversial coming-together.

Australia’s two other Moto3 riders this weekend had contrasting fortunes as they matched their skills against the best in the world.

Remy Gardner, the 16-year-old son of the 1987 World Champion and 1989-90 Phillip Island winner Wayne, did exceptionally well to finish the session in 25th place on the Team Laglisse Calvo KTM.

Wayne himself, watching intently, said: “I’m OK, I’m just making sure Remy doesn’t do anything silly. He just needs to circulate and hook on to some fast guys. It’ll take time but he needs to build up a bit of pace. He’s been told just to stay on the thing!”

Gardner is using race number 2, the one his father carried to win at Phillip Island for the first time in 1989.

Meanwhile Adelaide youngster Ollie Simpson, also 16, came off his own KTM midway through the session up at Lukey Heights but was unharmed and will be able to take part in the rest of the weekend.

“Hopefully there will be no more offs for the rest of the weekend,” said Simpson, currently going well in the Red Bull Rookies Cup. “I hit a few bumps which caused a bit of chatter but I’m OK, the bike’s OK, and the few laps I did felt really good.”

MOTO3 FP2
Australian Jack Miller moved his Red Bull KTM Ajo machine into top spot in the second free practice session for Sunday’s 2014 Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at a sun-drenched Phillip Island.

Miller, 19, clocked 1 minute 37.033 seconds to top a 40-minute session in which many riders failed to improve on their Friday morning times. That was three-tenths of a second faster than Miller’s own morning effort – and he fired it in right at the end of the session to take the psychological advantage into his Saturday work.

"We can be really happy with the work done today. It has been a very productive day. We changed different things with our KTM and I think we are going in the right direction. In the afternoon, when it was windier and we were using new tyres, we were able to go faster and set a good time. We are where we should be, but we still have to work hard to be ready for the race. Improvements can still be made with myself and the bike," Miller side.

There was good news for Australia’s other two riders, 16-year-olds Remy Gardner and Ollie Simpson, as both carved chunks of time off their opening efforts.

Gardner, son of 500cc legend Wayne, improved by half a second to finish the session on the Team Laglisse Calvo KTM in 23rd, while Simpson took almost a full two seconds off the time he set in a crash-curtailed morning session to move up to 28th overall on his own Ollie Simpson Racing KTM.

Second in the session was Indianapolis race-winner Efren Vazquez, the hugely experienced Spaniard on his SaxoPrint-RTG Honda just 0.032s slower than Miller and 0.044s ahead of compatriot Juanfran Guevara on the Mapfre Aspar Kalex.

England’s Danny Kent, quickest in the first session on 1:36.906, also led the second session for much of the time but slipped back to fifth on the Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo, one position behind Motegi podium finisher Brad Binder’s Ambrogio Racing Mahindra.

Championship leader Alex Marquez was one of those who failed to improve, his Estrella Galicia Honda ending up 10th overall.

There were two early fallers, Scotland’s John McPhee on the other SaxoPrint entry and Matteo Ferrari of Italy on the San Carlo Team Italia Mahindra. Both riders were later cleared of injury although the Mahindra was distinctly second-hand.

Later the Brno race-winner Alexis Masbou also came off his Ongetta-Rivacold Honda and missed the bulk of the session.

Last year’s Phillip Island winner Alex Rins, currently third in the standings behind teammate Marquez and Miller, finished sixth.

PHILLIP ISLAND CHAMPIONSHIP
Superbike
Josh Hook has continued his blemish-free Superbike campaign in the 2014 Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, claiming an easy win in today’s race one.

Hook won the eight-lapper by over eight seconds, but his cause was assisted when Honda teammate Wayne Maxwell crashed out of second spot on lap six, which also forced another Honda pilot, Jamie Stauffer, to take evasive action.

At that stage, the trio were separated by less than a second, but even if Maxwell and Stauffer had stayed out of trouble Hook would have still been a hard man to beat.

Hook’s pace was underscored by his fastest lap of the race – a 1:32.863, just short of Maxwell’s 1:32.316 circuit benchmark.

Stauffer was shuffled back to fourth after the lap six shenanigans, but he soon clawed his way back behind Glenn Allerton (BMW) and Troy Herfoss (Honda), with a battle raging until the chequered flag.

Allerton made good use of his BMW’s exceptional top speed to finish in second, from Herfoss, Stauffer, top Prostock finisher Sean Condon (Kawasaki) and Mike Jones (Kawasaki). Maxwell resumed after his crash, but limped straight back to the pits.

This weekend’s Superbike races are counting towards the inaugural Phillip Island Championship, which began in February as an undercard to the World Superbike round. Stauffer still leads the Phillip Island title, even though Hook has now won two of the three races.

Supersport
South Australian Daniel Falzon has weathered some fierce competition to win the opening eight-lap Supersport race at the 2014 Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Falzon led from the start, but his great rivals Callum Spriggs and Aaron Morris immediately latched onto his tail and wouldn’t let go – at least in the first half of the race.

Spriggs was the first one to ‘break’ on lap five, while Morris kept at it as the leading pair consistently dropped their lap times until Spriggs dipped into the 1min35-second bracket – which we haven’t seen at Phillip Island in a number of years.

Falzon held his nerve throughout, and his 0.419-second victory was the culmination of a brilliant offensive and defensive performance.

Spriggs was six seconds off the pace at the end as he finished in a lonely third, while Ryan Taylor was similarly untroubled in locking away fourth position. Mitch Levy was fifth ahead of Hudson Pitt, with all the top six riding Yamaha YZF-R6s.

Race two is an early report for duty – at 8:15am on Saturday – as the battle to crown the 2014 Phillip Island Supersport champion continues.

Falzon currently leads the standings from Morris and Spriggs, but it’s still anyone’s title with two races remaining