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Motorsport world up in arms over 'horrendous' moment at Australian GP

Moto2 rider Jorge Navarro and a track marshal are seen circled as the rest of the field continues past them at full race pace.
A horror crash in the Moto2 race at Phillip Island last week has raised serious questions about the response of officials in the sport, after warning flags were not waved in the area. Picture: MotoGP

Motorsport officials have come under serious scrutiny after neither yellow or red flags were waved while an injured rider was attended to on course during last weekend's Moto2 race at Philip Island.

The sub-category for the main MotoGP series bore witness to a horror crash involving two riders, Jorge Navarro and Simone Corsi, in which the latter inadvertently ran over the former after he lost control just metres in front of him.

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The painful collision left Navarro stranded on the inside of the corner - a situation that would otherwise be an automatic yellow flag, slowing the field down in that section of the track at a minimum.

Considering Navarro eventually needed to be stretchered off the Phillip Island circuit, MotoGP observers were left baffled as to why yellow flags were only showed on the entry to the corner in question, but not in the actual area where the rider and marshals were.

Footage shows the field passing at full speed, just metres from where Navarro was being attended to.

MotoGP journalist Simon Patterson speculated that one of the marshals may have been signalling that they had a faulty radio, perhaps explaining the lack of flags being waved or the race being stopped, however race officials should have been able to deduce the seriousness of the situation from seeing replays alone.

Instead, two full laps at race speed went by before Navarro was able to be taken from the circuit and to the medical centre.

“There is an injured rider lying on the inside of a corner, with no helmet on, AND NO RED FLAG. Are race control asleep????” Patterson wrote.

“Jorge Navarro had been lying there for TWO LAPS and somehow THAT’S OK???? What on earth are the clowns doing?

“A horrendous crash where he got run over by another bike. The sort that can cause internal bleeding, collapsed lungs, all sorts of horrible internal injuries. He clearly needed a stretcher.

“Looking back at the incident, I might be wrong but it seems like one of the marshals is signalling that his radio isn’t working and another is calling for the race to be stopped.”

MotoGP carnage ruins race for Aussie hopeful Jack Miller

The feeder series wasn't the only race that was marred by chaos, with Australian rider Jack Miller taken out of the Phillip Island GP at the corner that was named after him earlier in the weekend.

Miller came flying off his Ducati when Alex Marquez smashed into him from behind, with the incident immediately ending the race for both riders.

Before Miller's post-race press briefing, Marquez came into the media centre to say sorry to the luckless 27-year-old.

For causing the crash, Marquez was penalised with a long lap penalty to be served during next week's race in Malaysia.

"We're all out there trying to do our best, I understand he might have got a little bit carried away trying to get past (Luca) Marini," Miller said.

"We've all made mistakes; I think he's as devastated as I am not to be finishing the race.

"First home grand prix after three years is definitely not the way I wanted to finish it."

Jack Miller and Alex Marquez are pictured sliding across the track after colliding at the Australian GP.
Australian rider Jack Miller's return to Phillip Island didn't go as planned after being taken out of the race by Alex Marquez. (Photo by JOHN MORRIS/AFP via Getty Images)

After qualifying eighth, Miller made a blistering start to move through the pack to be as high as third place.

But the Townsville product's hopes of a first home MotoGP win, and any slim title aspirations, came to an abrupt end not even a third of the way through the race.

In a cruel twist of irony, Miller was taken out on turn four, 24 hours after the corner was named after him during a special ceremony.

"I was at Miller Corner, mid-corner, just about to release the brakes and get on the gas and I got a front-wheel to the middle of my spine," Miller said.

"Not much I could really do about that. One minute I'm looking at the back of (Marco) Bezzecchi's bike and the next minute I was seeing stars.

"I got pretty winded, felt alright, just a bit bruised."

With AAP

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