Motegi, Japan Moto3 - Race Results
Danny Kent has taken his first ever grand prix win after a dramatic final lap at Motegi, Japan.
Six riders were in victory contention at the start of the last lap, until Luis Salom collided with leader Jonas Folger after attempting to dive from fourth to first at turn one.
The collision, which left Folger fuming, is likely to be investigated by Race Direction.
The incident put Sandro Cortese into the race lead and, with Salom out and Maverick Vinales fourth, suddenly on target to win the world title!
But he couldn't escape, prompting Kent and Alessandro Tonucci to both outbraked Cortese at the end of the back straight, with just a few corners to go.
Pole sitter Kent got by cleanly, but Tonucci and Cortese tangled on the exit when the German tried to cut back under the Italian.
Cortese fell, but hung onto his sliding KTM - despite being clipped by Tonucci again - and finished sixth, while Kent won from Vinales and debut podium finisher Tonucci.
There were ugly scenes on the slowdown lap when a furious Cortese inexplicably took his anger out on team-mate Kent - shaking his fist and literally jumping up and down on his bike in rage.
Cortese then had a further tantrum in the Ajo pitbox, before discipline was finally restored by the factory KTM team and Cortese made to give a thumbs-up gesture towards Kent.
Cortese now holds a 56 point lead over Vinales and can wrap up the title if he leaves next weekend's Malaysian round with an advantage of at least 51 points.
UPDATE: MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has posted the following message on his official Twitter page (@Official_CS27):
"Hearing some things around the paddock that only a few of @DannyKent52 team were at the podium. They should be ashamed of themselves if they think Danny had anything to do with Sandro's crash. Disappointed to hear that kind of team behaviour. Well done again Danny!"
1.Danny KentGBR (KTM)40m 2.775s
2.Maverick Vi?alesSPA (FTR Honda)40m 3.035s
3.Alessandro TonucciITA (FTR Honda)40m 5.127s
4.Alex RinsSPA (Suter Honda)40m 6.179s
5.Zulfahmi KhairuddinMAL (KTM)40m 6.420s
6.Sandro CorteseGER (KTM)40m 16.169s
7.Miguel OliveiraPOR (Suter Honda)40m 18.298s
8.Louis RossiFRA (FTR Honda)40m 18.514s
9.Efren VazquezSPA (FTR Honda)40m 18.721s
10.Romano FenatiITA (FTR Honda)40m 18.904s
11.Arthur SissisAUS (KTM)40m 18.998s
12.Niccol? AntonelliITA (FTR Honda)40m 19.146s
13.Niklas AjoFIN (KTM)40m 31.143s
14.Alex MarquezSPA (Suter Honda)40m 31.150s
15.Jakub KornfeilCZE (FTR Honda)40m 31.284s
16.Hyuga WatanabeJPN (Honda)40m 33.846s
17.Adrian MartinSPA (FTR Honda)40m 43.067s
18.Kenta FujiiJPN (TSR Honda)40m 45.597s
19.Jack MillerAUS (Honda)40m 45.671s
20.Alan TecherFRA (TSR Honda)40m 50.226s
21.John McPheeGBR (KRP Honda)40m 51.020s
22.Luca AmatoGER (Kalex KTM)40m 51.134s
23.Isaac Vi?alesSPA (FTR Honda)40m 51.214s
24.Josep RodriguezSPA (FGR Honda)41m 6.537s
25.Giulian PedoneSWI (Suter Honda)41m 13.065s
26.Danny WebbGBR (Mahindra)41m 13.259s
27.Yuudai KameiJPN (Honda)1 lap
