Jorge Lorenzo wins Australian MotoGP Grand Prix as Marc Marquez is black flagged

JORGE Lorenzo keeps his title hopes alive with a vital win at Phillip Island as rival Marc Marquez is controversially black flagged.

JORGE Lorenzo has won the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, after championship leader Marc Marquez was disqualified in a dramatic race at Phillip Island on Sunday.

Yamaha rider Lorenzo started on pole and crossed the line nearly seven seconds ahead of Dani Pedrosa, with Valentino Rossi finishing third, amid extraordinary scenes at the Victorian circuit.

Marquez was disqualified with five laps to go after he stayed on the track one lap longer than required before taking a mandatory pitstop.

That meant the 20-year-old rookie didn't take any points from the race, allowing Lorenzo to narrow the gap on the championship standings to just 18 points with just two rounds of the season left.

Marquez would have become the youngest ever MotoGP champion this weekend if he had managed to outscore Lorenzo by eight points.

Australians Bryan Staring and Damian Cudlin were also excluded from the race for disobeying the mandatory pitstop rules.

Lorenzo's victory was the 29th of his MotoGP career but first in the category in Australia.

He had twice qualified on pole in the 250cc class at Phillip Island and went on to win on both occasions.

Jorge wins

Honda rider Marquez had been hot on the heels of Lorenzo for most of the race, with a few bumps shared when the younger Spaniard re-joined the field from pit lane.

Officials were forced to shorten the race to just 19 laps - down from the original 27 - just hours before it was due to start over concerns about rider safety.

Tyre provider Bridgestone embarrassingly admitted it could not guarantee its rear slicks would be safe beyond 14 laps because of the temperatures being experienced on the circuit's new tarmac.

It later revised that down to just 10 laps.

As a result, organisers cut the race distance and ordered all riders to make a mandatory pitstop before the end of lap 10 to switch to a bike with fresh tyres.

Never before in MotoGP history has such a move been imposed in dry conditions.

Lorenzo had earlier expressed concerns about the change in format, worried about the danger of sending riders in and out of such a narrow pit lane mid-race.

Jorge Lorenzo

Marquez will have to wait until next week's penultimate round in Japan to have another crack at the world championship in his debut MotoGP season.

In the Moto2 race, Pol Espargaro snatched the championship lead from an absent and injured Scott Redding after winning the 13-lap race.

His job was made a lot easier after Redding was forced to withdraw after fracturing his wrist in a crash during qualifying on Saturday.

Redding was later taken to Epworth Hospital in Richmond to have surgery.

Up until this weekend, the Briton had held a nine-point buffer on Espargaro.

Thomas Luthi and Jordi Torres rounded out the podium at Phillip Island.

Australia's Anthony West finished 10th after an impressive climb from 19th on the starting grid.

No less than seven riders crashed out and five retired during the race, which had been halved because of tyre degradation issues on the circuit's new tarmac.

While in the Moto3 race, Queenslander Jack Miller narrowly missed out on his first podium finish in after Alex Rins stuck his neck out to win at the Australian Grand Prix.

Rins crossed the line just 0.003secs ahead of Maverick Vinales following a dramatic final few laps at Phillip Island.

The victory was the Spaniard's sixth of the season and brought him within arm's length of championship leader and third-place getter Luis Salom.