Jorge Martin put on a brave face after crashing out of the Race and MotoGP championship lead in Indonesia.
The Pramac rider had won his fourth successive Sprint race on Saturday at Mandalika to move ahead of factory Ducati counterpart Francesco Bagnaia in the standings by seven points.
Martin had triumphed in six of the last seven races and was on a roll, but an unforced error brought him crashing back down to earth when he slid out at Turn 11 on Lap 13 of 27.
However, the Spaniard – now 18 points down on 2022 champion Bagnaia – says there is still a long way to go with five rounds and 10 races remaining.
“It was a great race until that point,” he said.
“I was a bit wide into corner 10 and I thought maybe it was a bit dirty and I was right, and then the next corner I crashed. It’s a pity because it was the only mistake I did in the whole 12 or 13 laps.
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“I was in full control of the race, full control of my bike, the tyres, feeling confident; but this is racing and it can happen.
“We still have 10 races so it’s still a long way to go. If it was the second last race or something like this, maybe I would think it was a disaster, but there’s still a long way to go so I’m happy we still have 10 races to go,” he added.
“I was committed and focused, and everything was going well, so I’m happy that I was the fastest.
“Today, nobody was even close to my pace so I’m happy we have great speed and I hope we can demonstrate [this] in Phillip Island.”
Martin was almost three seconds ahead of Maverick Viñales and Bagnaia when he crashed out, and admitted that he can learn from the incident if he finds himself in a similar situation in the future.
“We had time to manage but there was still 14 laps to go and it was a long race,” he said.
“For sure, maybe I will learn from my mistake and next time I have three seconds, I will stop a bit.
“It was the circuit, the conditions; it wasn’t about pushing too much, it was just because I touched the dirt and then I crashed.
“So, hopefully Phillip Island is a bit more clean and I can save those mistakes.”
Practice at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix starts this Friday at Phillip Island.
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