Wind became the unwitting protagonist at the Australian MotoGPs Phillip Island circuit on Saturday, with the top MotoGP class qualifying session getting postponed on a day when Spaniards were running riot on the track.
The leaders were Spain’s Marcos Ramirez in Moto3 qualifier 2, Jorge Navarro in Moto2 of the same round, while Marc Marquez was looking to win the MotoGP free practice 4, Efe news reported.
Spain’s Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) had been the fastest in all the free practice sessions so far, but Marc Marquez (Honda) was on top on Saturday until the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM) suffered a high-speed crash, raising alarm among the the organisers.
Oliveira was examined at the medical centre and although he did not suffer serious injuries, the Safety Commission called a meeting and decided to cancel the qualifying round and postpone free practice 4 to Sunday as the weather conditions were deemed too unsafe to ride.
Vinales later said that although he had been “prepared to continue,” safety was the priority and it was the right decision to postpone the race as “it would have been too risky”.
Despite the poor weather, other categories had been able to hold their qualifying races, in which Ramirez was the fastest in Moto3, and will be part of a starting line-up on Sunday along with compatriots Aron Canet (KTM), who came in second, and Albert Arenas (KTM) who came third.