Dovizioso delivers for Ducati at wild Austrian MotoGP

SPIELBERG, Austria: Andrea Dovizioso won an eventful Austrian MotoGP for Ducati on Sunday just 24 hours after revealing he would leave the Italian team at the end of the season.

Spain’s Joan Mir on a Suzuki robbed Ducati of a one-two by clinching second spot from Australian Jack Miller with a single corner to spare.

“That was really strange,” said the world championship runner up in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

“For a whole load of reasons,” added ‘Dovi’, who avoided a string of crashes and narrow escapes notably for Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and Frenchman Johann Zarco.

In a two way tangle on lap eight at the empty Speilberg circuit Yamaha’s Morbidelli and Zarco hit the deck at high speed.

Zarco’s Ducati carried on without him, cut a corner and narrowly missed the veteran Valentino Rossi, who was clearly shaken by the close shave and who went on to take fifth.

The riderless bike exploded into pieces at a safety barrier scattering debris through the air as the race was red flagged.

Morbidelli was taken away on a stretcher but was later able to walk to an ambulance as Zarco appeared unhurt.

Pol Espargaro of KTM then slid spectacularly into Portugal’s Miguel de Oliveira, who pursued the limping Spaniard to remonstrate beside the wreckage of their bikes.