He finished 16th, just 0.2sec off the points, in round 18 of the Moto3 world championship at the Mandalika International Circuit.
After a “messy" qualifying left him starting from P23, Buchanan’s determination was obvious from the outset, and a strong race ensued as he battled for points.
However, an incident that caused David Munoz to crash heavily brought out the red flag with just two laps remaining.
“I got a great start from P23 and was up to P18 on the first lap,’’ Buchanan said.
"I felt I could keep moving forward but the group I was in kept making unnecessary battles.
“I made a big effort to stay at the front of the group which was a strong point I’m happy about as it’s something I’ve struggled with at times.
“I arrived to the last laps fighting for 14th place. I got really unlucky with the red flag because that last sector I fell briefly back to 16th and by the end of the first sector I was back up into 14th again.
"Unfortunately, with a red flag it goes back to the last completed lap, not the last completed sector. Rightly I should have been 14th, but with the red flag and the way the rule book is written I was classified as 16th.
“It’s really frustrating to miss out on points because I think we deserve them for the performance and the comeback we did. From 23rd to 14th that’s nine places and I‘m just really gutted to miss the points again by nothing you know."
Buchanan will spend the next week at home in Invercargill before heading to the Australian GP at Phillip Island on October 17-19.
— Ducati MotoGP champion Marc Marquez injured his collarbone in a collision with Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi on the opening lap of the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Bezzecchi collided with the rear of Marquez’s Ducati and the pair both hurtled into the gravel at high speed, with Marquez appearing to be in significant discomfort after tumbling head over heels.
The Spaniard, who won his seventh MotoGP championship at the previous week’s Japanese Grand Prix, was
later seen with his arm in a sling, members of Ducati team saying on the race’s broadcast that there was evidence of a fracture after initial scans.
The injury was on the shoulder of the arm Marquez fractured in the 2020 July season-opening Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, which ruled him out for an extended period and required several surgeries.
Marquez’s Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, Joan Mir (Honda HRC) and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) also crashed out of the race, won by Gresini Racing rookie Fermin Aldeguer.
Bezzecchi still has the opportunity to finish third overall ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and possibly fight with Alex Marquez for second.
Alex sits on 362 points, while Bagnaia (274) is third, just 20 points ahead of Bezzecchi in the standings.
— Allied Media/Reuters
