Moto3 Jerez: Arenas at the double for back-to-back wins
The first class to run in Jerez got racing underway before temperatures peaked, but they rose on track instead with some hard moves in the final laps seeing Albert Arenas take the top spot on the podium again in the Moto3 Jerez Grand Prix.
The Gaviota Aspar rider took his fair share of knocks before hitting the front on the very last lap and holding on to bring the KTM home first. He had qualified down in seventh.
Intelligent racing and good timing from the championship leader sees him with a maximum of 50 points to his name after two races.
The chaos claimed the then frontrunner as they started that final lap -John McPhee had worked his way back to the front heading into the rush to the line. The Petronas man then was passed by Arenas and went out wide to keep in contention before the domino effect started by Tony Arbolino saw Celestino Vietti clip him and send the Briton into the gravel.
That left the way clear for Ai Ogura to slip into the rostrum places. The Honda Team Asia rider had started down in 15th on the grid but patiently worked his way through the field to claim second, a slim 0.340s behind. The Japanese rider also moves to second in the title hunt on 36 points.
Third went to Tony Arbolino, who spent a good deal of time leading the pack along for the Rivacold Snipers team, doing well to keep his Honda in contention.
The Sky Racing VR46 riders were among the early leaders before getting shuffled back and staging a late comeback together. Andrea Migno crossed the line in fourth just ahead of Celestino Vietti.
Taking the chequered flag sixth was Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez. He finished just ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo, who never re-found his Friday form where he set the new lap record of Jerez for Kommerling Gresini.
SIC58 Squadra Corse man Tatsuki Suzuki faded after initially leading for the first few laps from pole to end his race in eighth. He held off teammate Niccolo Antonelli and Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) who completed the top ten.
Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) came through late in the race for eleventh, bringing Stefano Nepa (Gaviota Aspar) along behind him and into twelfth.
Romano Fenati couldn’t make all his Jerez experience translate to anything better than a 13th place finish for Sterilgarda Max Racing. He finished ahead of top rookie Jeremy Alcoba. The Gresini rider had been flying high before an in-race penalty dropped him to 14th.
Alonso Lopez also received the long lap penalty but still managed to snatch up the final point on the second Max Racing entry.
Sergio Garcia was less lucky as his weekend to forget continued. After putting his penalty for illegal training behind him he set no time in Q1. He made up places in race to flaunt with a top ten finish before he too had to take the long lap, ending his hopes of yet another recovery and leaving him 17th.
Darryn Binder had been a podium contender before falling on the penultimate lap.
Carlos Tatay and Dennis Foggia clashed and didn’t make it past turn one of the very first lap.
Riccardo Rossi lasted until lap seven, when he became the latest victim of turn two. Kaito Toba fell at the same turn on lap ten but remounted for 19th, with Filip Salac down in the same place one lap later. He retired to the pits. Yuki Kunii and Deniz Oncu were also among the fallers.
