Mugello Moto3: Salom takes win in close Italian race

By Lisa Lewis

Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Luis Salom took his second win of the season at Mugello on Sunday, leading five riders covered by one-second at the finish.

Salom fought pain in his wrist to time his move to the front to perfection.

The Spaniard was inadvertently helped to a small lead by an overenthusiastic move by Estrella Galicia's Alex Marquez which he took maximum advantage of.

He cuts Maverick Vinales championship lead down to just four points, both riders have been on the podium at every round so far this season, with Vinales finishing third in Italy- and again causing an all Spanish rostrum.

Alex Rins also looked like a potential winner after playing catch-up from a poor start but the Estrella Galicia rider had to settle for the second on the podium, with his slipstreaming attempts not quite able to make up the difference to Salom.

Mahindra were given their best finish to date by their Portuguese rider Miguel Oilveira in fourth. The Mahindra was the only non-KTM powered bike to make the top six.

Rins team-mate Marquez went on to finish fifth after working to claw back the gap to Salom.

For most of the race the lead was contested by a group of six with Salom, Marquez, Vinales, Rins, Oliveira and Folger all in the hunt for the win.

After a dream start Jonas Folger was joined at the front by Vinales at the end of the first lap. The Mapfre Aspar man found himself dropped with four laps to go, leaving him to finish sixth.

Niccolo Antonelli secured his first finish of the season for the Go & Fun Gresini team in seventh. He held on to seventh after running solo for most of the race.

He was also the highest placed Honda rider and top finishing home rider.

The battles in the huge chasing group were immense, covering eighth down to 19th and riders worked hard to pull back through the field from low grid positions.

Niklas Ajo was the best of the rest in eighth for Avant Tenco after being 23rd on the grid, followed across the line by Brazilian Eric Granado who secured his best finish for the Aspar team in ninth.

Jack Miller completed the top ten finishers for the Caretta Technology- RTG team.

Zulfahmi Khairuddin powered thrugh the pack, putting the second of the Red Bull machines in eleventh after qualifying down in 18th.

Alexis Masbou took points on his 26th birthday for the Ongetta-Rivacold outfit in twelfth. His Ongetta team-mate Isaac Vinales was next across the stripe in 13th, Brad Binder secured 14th for Ambrogio Racing and the final point went to RW racing rider Jasper Iwema after a photo finish.

That meant Caretta Technology's British rider John McPhee was relegated to 16th position.

Ambrogio Racings Danny Webb was enjoying some mid-pack battling when his Suter was clipped by Jasper Iwema with 15 laps to go, leading to him running off track to stay upright and in the race. The Brit fought back to finish17th.

There was a crash in the final corner on the final lap for Jakub Kronfeil and Matteo Ferrari. After complaining of balance issues during the weekend and being treated by doctors the Czech rider walked away unharmed, the Italian however was taken from the track on a stretcher.

Last years second place finisher Romano Fenati had made his way through the pack when his San Carlo Team Italia bike was caught by behind by Binder, ending his race.