PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia : Jorge Martin of Prima Pramac Racing led from lap one to the chequered flag to win the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix sprint on Saturday, stretching his world championship lead over two-times MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Chasing a first MotoGP title, the Phillip Island pole-sitter continued his flawless Saturday to extend his advantage in the championship standings over reigning champion Bagnaia to 16 points.
Martin will have the opportunity to stretch it even further in Sunday's race. "Another victory in a sprint, I'm really happy," Martin said. "I thought today was going to be much more difficult with Marc (Marquez) really close but I don't know what happened in the first few laps. "I was trying to increase the gap and go really fast pace, and when I saw I had a big gap already I managed to make it to the end. "It wasn't easy with the wind, it was a lot, and it wasn't constant it was coming and going.
Finally winning again, I'm super happy and we have to be focused on tomorrow." Six-times MotoGP champion Marquez dropped several places before riding his Gresini Racing bike with purpose to come second.