Motorcycle racing, especially at the speeds MotoGP bikes regularly hit, is inherently dangerous. This fact was once again proven over the weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria as Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales narrowly avoided hitting the runaway motorcycle of Franco Morbidelli after he collided with fellow rider Johann Zarco while slowing down dramatically from around 200 miles per hour into Turn 3. If you haven’t yet seen the crash and subsequent narrow escape, you really need to watch the video up above before you continue reading.
Whew. That’s truly terrifying. Just ask Rossi, who had a much closer view of the broken underside of Morbidelli’s Yamaha than he surely ever wanted. “I was with Maverick when we entered Turn 3 and I felt something coming towards me. I thought it was the shadow of the helicopter because sometimes it crosses the race track,” said the 41-year-old racing legend to ABC News in Australia. “But then Franco’s bike passed me at an incredible speed and also the bike of Zarco jumped over Maverick. We were very lucky, but we hope this type of incident is a lesson for riders to improve their behavior in the future.”
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso went on to win the race after a restart following a red flag to clear the track of debris following the crash. Rossi went on to finish in fifth place after starting in 12th while Viñales came in 10th. Both Morbidelli and Zarco were evaluated by medical staff before being released.
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