Yonny’s rear suspension goes to hell

he Argentine MotoGP is famous for the Rossi/Marquez incident where the Spaniard came off worse and, “Learned some things which I will keep to myself.” But there was drama lower down the field too when the Pramac Ducati of Yonny Hernandez sprung an oil leak – onto the exhaust.

“I started very well and was inside the top ten, where I wanted to finish the race,” recalls the Colombian. “Then the problem happened. When I saw the bike was on fire I didn’t know what to do. It was scary. I tried to jump off the bike and leave it.” In fact, in an amazing display of skill, he stayed on until almost walking pace, despite the rear of the bike suddenly collapsing. A member of the team later told photographer Andrew Northcott that the fire had melted the rear suspension link.

“At the time I was disappointed to have retired,” says Hernandez. “But I was very lucky. I didn’t have any burns and I wasn’t hurt. It could have been very different.
“The fire started when an oil pipe broke. I didn’t realise, and kept riding until the temperature got so high that the shock broke, and then ‘boom!’ the bike broke. There were a lot of riders around me. Pol Espargaro, following behind, said his helmet was filled with smoke and he couldn’t see anything. It was something to forget. I don’t want it to happen again!”

Interview Steve English  Photo Andrew Northcott