Marquez crashes out of the lead, Hayden slides off while battling for seventh
Marquez crashes out of the lead, Hayden slides off while battling for seventh
Pole starter Marc Marquez suffered his first DNF of the season, crashing out of the Australian GP unhurt on lap 10.
The Spaniard was leading the race ahead of fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, who took his second victory of the season. Crutchlow also gave Honda its seventh win in the last nine races and extended its advantage in the Constructors Championship to 33 points. Marc had gotten away well at the start, entering the first corner in second behind Pol Espargaro and wasting no time in attacking his countryman. He took the lead before the end of the first lap and was managing an advantage of over 2.5 seconds when he made a small mistake, braking slightly late into turn four and losing the front end on his RC213V. Nicky Hayden was in a great battle for seventh position with Scott Redding, Danilo Petrucci, Bradley Smith and Jack Miller when he touched with Jack at turn four on the penultimate lap and slid off the track. After packing up in Australia, World Champion Marc Marquez will make a stop in Indonesia on Tuesday to take part in a promotional tour before heading to Malaysia for the 17th and penultimate round of the season.