Marco Bezzecchi “scared”, “didn’t know what to do” after MotoGP sprint bird strike

Australian MotoGP sprint winner Marco Bezzecchi admits he was “pretty scared” when he hit a flock of seagulls on the warm-up lap and “didn’t know what to do”.

The factory Aprilia rider rallied from a mistake midway through Saturday’s sprint at Phillip Island, which cost him a second to the race leader, to win by over three seconds.

Marco Bezzecchi did so with a dead seagull stuck to the front of his Aprilia, after he hit a flock as he set off for the warm-up lap before the start of the sprint.

Though the bird strike did no damage to himself or his bike, Bezzecchi admits he was “scared” in the moment as he was wary of causing a bigger incident behind him if he reacted incorrectly.

“Yeah, when we started the warm-up lap, they also started their warm-up lap, and unfortunately, I hit one, for sure, because it was on my bike,” he said.

“But I think I also hit one on my head.

“I realised that they are big only when I was very close! Luckily, nothing was broken on the bike.

“But I was pretty scared because I didn’t really know what to do.

“I didn’t want to brake because I was in front of the group, and maybe I could be hit by someone. So, I just tried to protect myself and, fortunately, it was all ok.”

Bezzecchi didn’t realise he had a dead bird stuck to his bike, but wondered if the strike had broken a wing on his RS-GP because he “felt something” in the early laps.

“I realised at the end, because I felt something on the first laps,” he added.

“I was struggling a lot with the front tyre, and in my head, many thoughts were passing.

“One of them was that maybe I broke a wing in this episode. So, when I crossed the finish line, I checked and saw I had one more instead of a broken one.”

Seagull strikes are a common problem at Phillip Island, with perhaps the most famous example coming 10 years ago in 2015 when Andrea Iannone hit one while leading the Australian Grand Prix.

Bezzecchi’s sprint victory was his third of the season and pushes him to just eight points behind a struggling Pecco Bagnaia in the battle for third in the standings.

However, the Aprilia rider will have to serve a double long lap penalty on Sunday for a collision with Marc Marquez in Indonesia.