Rounding out the podium at Phillip Island was Bradley Smith racing to his first ever MotoGp podium on the back to his Luckless British counterpart Crutchlow.
"For sure it is a fantastic feeling to clinch my debut podium in the MotoGP class and I am so pleased to reach this milestone." Smith said. "Honestly, I wasn‰Ûªt too happy with how I was riding at the beginning of the race, I made several mistakes and lost a few positions.
"It‰Ûªs a bit unexpected to be on the podium in all honesty, but after having great pace all weekend, it is the dream way to complete all of the good work we have done recently. I passed the chequered flag and saw the team on the wall, so I thought that I was in 4th or 5th, but then I saw my name in 3rd on the board as I came around the corner, which was an amazing feeling.
"Now we have closed the gap in the championship to 6th quite considerably, so we need to focus on this for the next two races. There is only a small gap between myself, Pol and Aleix in the standings, so we will aim to continue this great run in Malaysia and try to climb two more positions in the final standings.
"I must say a big thanks to the team who did a great job this weekend as well as to my sponsors for their support. Moreover, it's a fantastic experience to complete an entire Yamaha podium and I can't be anything other than grateful for their assistance!"
In a race of high attrition only 14 of the 23 starters finished the race, Factory Ducati Andrea Dovizioso finishing in fourth and Avintia Racing's Hector Barbera rounding out the top five.
Unfortunately the sole Australian in the race, Brock Parkes was one of the 9 riders to finish the race with a DNF by his name with the list also including Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa who has now slipped to fourth in the championship standings behind the Factory Yamaha duo of Rossi and Lorenzo.
