Sorry folks. Yours truly never saw any highlights for the fourth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship at Brno Autodrom in the Czech Republic. As much as I'd like to bring that race to you, I am afraid it may be slight to impossible to get a report done on it. So, with that said, we move on now, to the fifth round of the championship. We're off yodeling in the mountains of Austria at the Red Bull Ring, for the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix. Maverick Vinales has pole with Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo alongside. All eyes on the light gantry as we are ready to race.
Red lights, on. Red lights, out! Away we go! We're racing, in Austria! Jack Miller on the #43 Pramac Racing Ducati gets away well and Maverick Vinales also gets a flyer. Franco Morbidelli, if my eyes are correct, is moving up already. No. It's someone else who is making an early move. Joan Mir is the one moving ahead, however, Miller is the man with the hole shot as we get this motorcycle race underway. Andrea Dovizioso got a good start but Fabio Quartararo runs wide into the first turn and onto the paint on the outside of the circuit. He's lost six, maybe seven spots, and this won't bode well for keeping his points lead in the World Championship.
Alex Rins on the Suzuki is also moving up, going from eighth to sixth place. Joan Mir also got a blinding start. So, the two Spanish team mates for Team Suzuki Ecstar are in a good position at the moment. Two of the Ducati's have gone around Maverick Vinales on the Yamaha. Ducati are making early and bold moves as they fly down the back straight here at the Red Bull Ring for the first time of asking. 28 laps scheduled for this motorcycle race. Pol Espargaro also gets a decent start moving up one spot from fifth to fourth, and he is pressing Maverick Vinales and he makes the pass. It was Yamaha vs. KTM there.
Into turn four, Pol Espargaro is now third. He's on the podium for the moment. Poor old Johann Zarco absolutely got swamped at the start. What on earth happened to the Frenchman aboard the #5 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati? I wonder, too, where is his team mate on the #53 satellite bike? That's Spaniard Tito Rabat who has been a MotoGP regular for some years now. He is on the Hublot watches sponsored Ducati for the same team. They make really, really expensive Swiss watches.
Meanwhile, Joan Mir has gained a place over Maverick Vinales. Could the Yamaha rider be dropping like a stone? We'll have to find out. Vinales is applying the blowtorch here, look, to Quartararo. In the not too distant future, these two will be team mates. Next year it should be a Vinales/Quartararo lineup for the factory Yamaha squad in 2021. Quartararo is the meat in the sandwich. He's the bratwurst that is about to fly out of the bun, getting squeezed between Miguel Oliveira, and Maverick Vinales. Yikes! Oliveira took advantage of that small space to squeeze through on both Vinales and Quartararo and said, "thanks a bunch lads, I'll see you later! Eat my dust!"
Andrea Dovizioso meanwhile, is scrapping with Joan Mir and Mir goes through on the Italian. Oh my! They make contact, and fortunately stay in the saddle! Two KTM motorcycles are in the top five in their home Grand Prix. KTM is based right here in Austria. Now, has Fabio Quartararo got trouble? Or, has the sound engineer made a mistake and faded out the individual engine noise of his bike? Is he cruising or is he racing? We're trying to determine that right now, ladies and gentlemen. We will keep you updated on the goings on of Fabio Quartararo. We look at the championship points as of now, with five laps gone in the race out of 28 scheduled.
Fabio Quartararo leads the points with 59 points but is only seven markers clear of second place Maverick Vinales on 52. Jack Miller is up six places from where he was before, third in points on 45, 14 points out of the lead, and in fourth place, Andrea Dovizioso is 15 points away from the lead with a total of 44. Quartararo meanwhile, is way down in 22nd spot. He's dropped like a stone as well. He is running right behind Ducati test and reserve rider, Italian Michele Pirro on bike #51 who is actually filling in for Francesco Bagnaia who must be injured and cannot ride this weekend on his usual #63 motorcycle.
Meantime, the pressure is on at the front as Pol Espargaro moves into the race lead ahead of Jack Miller, Joan Mir, and Dovizioso. The top three has a variety of brands represented. KTM followed by Ducati followed by Suzuki. On lap eight, we see Pol Espargaro turn the fastest lap of this motorcycle race run so far at a 1:23.827. Honda have had a humbling race. They are nowhere near where they could be. Alex Marquez on the #73 bike is languishing along with German MotoGP veteran, Stefan Bradl, who is filling in for the injured Marc Marquez, Alex's older brother, and the multiple MotoGP World Champion, for the second consecutive race weekend as Marquez is still dealing with his injured arm.
Oh my God! Oh my God! A massive accident has just happened with two motorcycles cartwheeling through the air! This is absolute carnage! Two motorcycles have been absolutely obliterated! This is a red flag situation, without a doubt! Franco Morbidelli, the Italian on the #21 Petronas Yamaha SRT bike is one involved (the team mate to Fabio Quartararo). Trying to decipher who the second bike is that cartwheeled through the air. This is as big a crash as we've seen in MotoGP for a long time as these two motorcycles and their riders were catapulted into orbit!
Johann Zarco, the Frenchman is the other rider involved here, on the #5 Reale Avintia Ducati. What has happened here? This crash is like an explosion, like a bomb detonating on this motorcycle race. This happened on the fastest part of the circuit here at the Red Bull Ring, with two bikes absolutely destroyed. These motorcycles went from high speed, high performing racing bikes, to worthless heaps of junk in mere seconds! Let's hope these chaps are OK. Morbidelli's motorcycle went flying through the air causing this commentator to wince and recoil in agony.
This is a petrifying accident. There's no question the marshals had to bring out the red flag. We look to the top center of the TV screen, or whatever mobile device you might be watching this on. Look at the top center of your screen. The two bikes have made contact. Zarco tried to take a defensive line into the corner and fell, and then, Morbidelli's motorcycle catapulted through the air, like it had a fuse attached and was shot from a cannon! To make matters even worse, Morbidelli's flying projectile that was once a motorcycle, flies like a terrifying weapon, a missile, right in front of the king of MotoGP, Valentino Rossi!
Valentino Rossi is a lucky chap, who had to be saying his prayers as he nearly gets annihilated by the flying motorcycle! Dear God alive, will you look at that. Have you ever? No I've never! I kept my eyes open while writing the report on this accident, but oh my Lord, if you're squeamish, look away from your screen on that replay. You will be absolutely sickened if you don't. Morbidelli's motorcycle shot straight through the gap between it and Maverick Vinales' bike, like a missile. This race has been stopped for obvious reasons. My heart rate is through the roof just watching this carnage! Oh my God! That's enough to give anyone the creeps and put a lump in your throat.
OK, everyone. You may want to get some headache medicine, a glass of water, a cup of tea, something to soothe your frazzled nerves after that crash. Let's hope that both Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli will be OK and I think they will be. That was a bad, bad one. Alright. It's time for the restart. Lights out, and away we go again. Pol Espargaro gets the jump on the restart. Joan Mir also gets shot from a cannon on the restart. Jack Miller goes for the lead into turn one but he runs wide and has to regroup.
Joan Mir was electric on that restart and he's into the top three. Miller runs wide again, look. It's a tough corner on that uphill left hand turn at turn three. Blimey! This is close! It is hard to watch that corner as we're only 15-20 minutes removed from that mammoth crash we saw earlier. Everyone, if you took something for a headache or an upset stomach after seeing that crash, the medicine should hold. Meanwhile, Pol Espargaro leads Jack Miller, followed by Andrea Dovizioso. Those are the current top three spots.
Thank you tothe marshals for cleaning up the carnage from earlier. They are heroes and without them, there'd be no motorsports at all, on two or four wheels. We owe those chaps in either white or orange clothing at the side of the track, a major debt of gratitude for what they do. Alex Rins has moved past Joan Mir up into fourth place. Folks, he was down in 11th place when the red flag came out, and so he has been bish bash boshing his way up the race order. Alex Marquez and Bradley Smith have also moved up and are completing the top ten. Marquez is ninth and Smith is tenth. Meanwhile, Jack Miller makes the pass and goes through to the lead of this motorcycle race.
Jack Miller makes a pass on Pol Espargaro and makes it stick. In the background, look, a battle for seventh and eighth spot, between Brad Binder and Valentino Rossi. The South African and the Italian motorcycling legend, truly going for it. Further behind those two, between ninth and 12th spot, we see riders like Takaaki Nakagami, Aleix Espargaro (Pol Espargaro's older brother), Cal Crutchlow, and Danilo Petrucci. Could there be issues for Maverick Vinales? His lap times have been all over the shop, fluctuating between 1:24, 1:25, and 1:27 brackets.
Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo, our points leader, is 13th just behind Danilo Petrucci. Jack Miller leads, but will the Australian rider for Pramac Ducati be able to make this gamble pay off? Alex Rins is really pushing. He's right behind Andrea Dovizioso and challenging the Italian factory Ducati rider for second place. Rins of course is on the sister Ecstar Suzuki to Joan Mir. Dovizioso is a wise man. He said the day before this race, Saturday, "I believe Alex Rins is a sure dark horse for the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix." Dovizioso may be being proven correct on that assertion.
Dovizioso must be bang on the money, because Rins, he's just cut the fastest lap of the motorcycle race. 1:24 dead. 1:24.007! He's flying! Twelve laps to go now, and we've passed the halfway mark. But the contenders are placing themselves in line to challenge Jack Miller. He's gone for soft compound tires from Michelin on both front and rear on his motorcycle. Miller will have to pour on the steam to keep himself ahead of Dovizioso and Rins. The factory Suzuki as a motorcycle, is set up to manage it's tires really well and Alex Rins is an effective rider at making that happen.
But, Rins almsot wipes out! He had the front end of the bike nearly wash away, and could have had a low side accident there, very easily. He's a lucky bloke to stay in the saddle. Oh dear! Pol Espargaro has crashed out! So, KTM will be down to three bikes out of the four they have. It's very likely game over for Espargaro here. Uh oh. This could be worse for the KTM factory squad than they'd hoped! Two KTM factory riders appears to have gone down! It's Espargaro but it's also Miguel Oliveira on the #88 Tech3 KTM. One of the satellite bikes has also wiped out. So, this means that only Brad Binder and Iker Lecuona are still out there.
Pol Espargaro went wide and it looks like Oliveira went wide, and didn't see him, before... crunch! He's down in the gravel trap as well. Oliveira and Espargaro have indeed crashed out at turn four. We'll have to pick the bones out of that shemozzle and see what the heck went wrong. Andrea Dovizioso has the power on the front straight, and in bringing more power, he moves around Jack Miller for the race lead up the hill into turn one. He moves to the lead on lap ten, going for a hat trick of victories here at the Red Bull Ring.
Alex Rins, too, is closing in on second place and wants by Jack Miller, putting Brad Binder into fifth spot, just behind Joan Mir. It's a race now between two Ducati's and two Suzuki's. Oh no! Alex Rins is down. He's fallen off the Suzuki! This is a low side accident as he's skittered into the gravel trap. But is this game over for the Spaniard? This race is turning into yet another MotoGP demolition derby. A two wheeled demolition derby! Unreal! Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio cannot believe what he is seeing. He's absolutely gutted. He just loses the front of the motorcycle and rotates right off the bike. It spins like a top and leaves him in the gravel along with the bike.
Dovizioso leads, and we see that Maverick Vinales has had trouble with his Yamaha as now, Jack Miller and Joan Mir are the other two podium contenders. Maverick Vinales may have had a tech problem with his Yamaha as he languishes down in 13th spot. He had trouble at the most recent round of the championship last weekend at Brno in the Czech Republic. Now, once again, yours truly hopes to cover the action from Brno, but is not sure. So stay tuned. Meanwhile, Dovizioso leads Miller by 9/10ths of a second and Joan Mir is pressurizing Jack Miller for second spot. Mir is looking for his first podium. He can't afford to do anything rash or silly at this point.
Poor old Brad Binder is losing steam and losing ground to the top three. Ducati wants to go 1-2. Dovizioso is a second clear of his pursuers. Should "Dovi" hold on, it will be his third win in five races in Austria, and will be the fifth successive Austrian triumph for Ducati. They will also score a landmark, as they'll earn their 50th world championship win in MotoGP. It's the final lap before the finish. Checkers will wave next time by. Mir wants to make a move but he knows the risk. He knows he can't make his move too soon or he'll wipe out. Miller takes a tighter line going into the corner.
Thus, he is still able to slam the door in Joan Mir's face. I think Miller has Joan Mir covered. The Suzuki has good cornering speed and good braking, but will that be enough to beat the Ducati? Now, Andrea Dovizioso is in the clear. He's going to win here in Austria. Miller tries to run the defensive line. Now, he thinks he's got it. He thinks he has Mir beat. Not on your life! Miller runs wide! Boom! Mir goes by for second place as the checkered flag waves! Andrea Dovizioso is going to win the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix!
Dovizioso wins over Mir and Miller. Binder is fourth coming from 17th. Valentino Rossi fifth, followed by Takaaki Nakagami and Valkentino Rossi. What a great race!
#04 Andrea Dovizioso ITA. Ducati Team Ducati Desmosedici GP20
The next race is also at Red Bull ring, next weekend. Excited to bring that one to you, and still hoping to cover the race at Brno in the Czech Republic, too. This one was wild! What will the next one have to offer? Stay tuned here on 2 Wheelin' and we'll find out together, fans. So long, for now. See you next week for more MotoGP!
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