“Utter chaos” was reportedly the scene at the Moto2 and MotoGP Austrian Grands Prix on Sunday, where major back-to-back crashes left race watchers stunned. Fortunately, all riders escaped major injuries, according to news reports.
The first crash happened on the third lap of Moto2 Austria Grand Prix when Enea Bastianini, the championship leader, lost control of his bike going into turn one. As Bastianini slid off to the side, his bike was left stranded in the middle of the track. Other competitors darted left and right to avoid Bastianini and his bike when Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin came and crashed directly into the stranded motorcycle.
Both machines exploded on impact, launching Syahrin into the air and scattering motorcycle parts down the straightaway. In total, five riders were involved in the shocking incident causing a red flag. According to Fox Sports, all five riders were announced as medically okay and conscious, and Syahrin was taken for a CT scan over concerns of possible fractures
The Moto2 race restarted with a reduced number of laps.
Less than an hour later, during the MotoGP race, Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli clipped the rear wheel of Johann Zarco’s Ducati at nearly 200 mph while charging towards turn three. Both riders were thrown off and into the gravel as their bikes carried forward momentum towards a ninety-degree right turn section of the track.
Morbidelli’s and Zarco’s bikes tumbled across the track, missing unsuspecting riders as they made the right turn. Video footage shows one of the unmanned motorcycles threading the needle between riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.
The bike narrowingly missed Rossi’s helmet as it flew by in a hurricane of broken parts. It was so close that Rossi’s bike was soaked in oil from the crashed motorcycle when it darted in front of him.
The race was red-flagged, but all riders escaped severe injury. Zarco was able to walk away, and Morbidelli, while put on a stretcher at the scene, later walked to a nearby ambulance.
As horrifying as these crashes looked, it’s nothing short of a miracle that they didn’t end worse than they did.
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