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Spielberg (Austria), Aug 16 (IANS) Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) kept Ducati's 100 per cent Red Bull Ring record on Sunday at the my World Austrian Grand Prix, but that doesn't even tell half the story.
After a huge crash involving Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) that brought out the red flags on Lap 9, the Championship tale took another crazy twist in a Spielberg epic.
Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) completed the podium, with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) encountering problems that saw them finishing outside the top seven.
Miller got a wonderful launch from P2 and it was the Ducati rider who grabbed the holeshot, with Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) also getting away well to slot into P2 from pole position.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was a fast starter from P4 with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) dropping back. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) chipped away and got himself to the front of the race, with Quartararo running off track at Turn 4 to drop to the back of the pack Lap 6.
Espargaro, Dovizioso, Mir, Miller and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) were leaving the rest behind before an utterly terrifying crash unfolded into the 200mph Turn 3 braking zone, bringing out the red flags. Morbidelli and Zarco were side by side on the straight and as they got on the anchors into Turn 3, the duo came into contact and both went down.
What unfolded next was both horrendously scary, but unbelievably lucky at the same time. Zarco and Morbidelli's bikes careered towards Turn 4 at an unreal rate of knots. Both bikes hit the air-fence, thankfully slowing them down. But because of the speed the Ducati and Yamaha were travelling at, the bikes came barrelling over the fence and into the path of the riders that were coming into and out of Turn 3.
Vinales and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) were the two in the firing line and somehow, the Ducati and Yamaha bikes missed the two factory Yamaha riders.
Morbidelli's bike arrowed through the gap between Vinales and Rossi, missing the nine-time World Champion by a matter of inches, with Zarco's bike narrowly avoiding Vinales.
--IANS
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