The Albany Gazette - Bezzecchi tops Australian MotoGP practice as wallaby hops onto track

The Italian Aprilia rider clocked a blistering lap of 1min 26.775sec at the death around the waterfront Phillip Island circuit -- which is hosting its final MotoGP -- in warm but windy conditions.

Rain is forecast for the weekend.

Ducati world champion Marc Marquez was third and Ai Ogura on his Aprilia fourth.

Championship leader Jorge Martin, who is two points clear of Marquez with five rounds of the season left, was fifth fastest.

Bezzecchi, who won last week in Indonesia and is third in the standings, finished 0.072 ahead of last year's Australian grand prix winner Fernandez, with Marquez 0.054 further adrift.

The top 10 are exempt from Q1 qualifying on Saturday and guaranteed a top 12 grid placing in both the afternoon sprint race and Sunday's MotoGP.

Among those missing out on the top 10 were Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo.

Bezzecchi fell at Turn 4 early in the session after clipping the back of Alex Marquez which sent him sliding off with his bike landing on his right leg.

A second red flag came out soon after the resumption when a wallaby was spotted on the track.

Martin was leading at the time and when they got underway again the Spaniard was surpassed by a recovered Bezzecchi and then Marc Marquez.

Marquez was the first to go under 1:27 with eight minutes left before Bezzecchi and Fernandez stormed past him as the clock ticked down.

There was plenty of carnage in morning practice which was topped by Marc Marquez with Fernandez, Iker Lecuona, and Jack Miller all suffering nasty falls while Brad Binder had a big engine failure.

Pramac Yamaha pair Miller and Augusto Fernandez, and Alex Marquez, came off in the afternoon run.

Phillip Island has been a staple on the calendar since 1997 but the Australian race is moving next year to a street circuit in Adelaide.

(E.Taylor--TAG)