Matt Barton scores 20th in Moto3 Phillip Island wildcard appearance
Phillip Island put on great weather today as four Australian riders took to Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit under the sun across three World Championship Classes at the 2016 Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Moto 3 Wild Card Matt Barton has finished what can be described as an unbelievable race finish in his second ever Moto GP, Moto 3 ride at the 2016 Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Barton today got a taste of what the road show was all about, with still 18 laps to go the Moto 3 race was red flagged after a multiple person crash at MG corner, with all riders returning to the pits.
Barton who was sitting in 25th position at the time in front of Aron Canet and Binder entered the pits preparing to once again suit up for the second leg of the race, reduced to only 10 laps.
When the race restarted Barton had increased his position on the grid due to the enforcement of a progressive grid. As he launched off the grid for the second leg of the race Barton got a great start.
Staying consistent throughout the remainder of the race and pushing to drive down his times, he bought his machine home crossing the finish line with the wave of the chequered flag on the lead lap.
A vast improvement from last year’s DNF, Barton finished in 20th position after a grueling and much anticipated race.
The race finish marking the end to Barton’s weekend, the young hopeful can walk away smiling battling through engine problems and some horrible conditions in the lead up to today’s events.
Barton shared today that he is proud of his finish and that he found comfort in knowing he had similar corner speed to World Champion Brad Binder through warm up.
Matt Barton
“I would like to think that we lost speed to due to just straight line speed, because we found in this morning’s warm up we had the corner speed on them, we were with them when we were with the pack. It was pretty comforting to be able to stick to the rear wheel of riders, it gave me good confidence. In the re-start it was just the speed in the initial first part of the straight. I managed to catch up to them a little bit in turn one and two, and then along the back straight they pulled to much of a bike length. It was a good race and I finished 20th which is always good. I was the second wild card to ever finish on the lead lap. It was a pretty awesome weekend and I am really proud,” he finished.
