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MotoGP Australian GP: Arbolino takes Moto2 win amid crash carnage

Moto2 (Organization) Ayumu Sasaki Deniz Oncu Honda Adrian Fernandez Fermin Aldeguer Joel Kelso Jaume Masia Pedro Acosta Red Bull

Forecast rain and high winds turned the middleweight race at the Australian Grand Prix venue into a crapshoot, with no fewer than 10 riders falling before the race was called after just nine laps of the scheduled 23.

The drama began before the race even got underway as championship leader Pedro Acosta crashed his Ajo Kalex on the sighting lap, consigning himself to a back-of-the-grid start.

Speed Up rider Fermin Aldeguer led initially from pole as team-mate Alonso Lopez became the first casualty of the leading group, crashing out of second on the very first lap.

Sergio Garcia (Pons) assumed the lead at the end of the opening lap from Filip Salac, (Gresini) but both riders would hit the deck on the fourth lap of the race just moments apart.

That promoted Marc VDS Kalex man Arbolino into a lead he wouldn't lose, and when Jake Dixon (Aspar) became the latest victim of the awful conditions on lap five, Arbolino found himself with a massive 12s advantage over Aldeguer.

The Italian had stretched that out to 15s when the red flags came out just after the leaders had completed the ninth lap, and shortly after it was announced the race would not be restarted and half-points awarded due to two-thirds distance not being reached.

Arbolino, who amusingly suggested in parc ferme that double points should be awarded due to the awful conditions, closes to 56 points behind Acosta, who recovered from his sighting lap tumble to finish ninth, helped by the high attrition rate.

Aron Canet (Pons) managed to pass Aldeguer on what turned out to be the final lap to grab second, with Jeremy Alcoba (Gresini) and Joe Roberts (Italtrans) completing the top five.

Moto2 Phillip Island - race results:

         
Driver Info
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy T. Arbolino Elf Marc VDS Racing Team 14 Kalex 9

-

13
2 Spain A. Canet Pons Wegow Los40 40 Kalex 9

+15.088

15.088

15.088 10
3 Spain F. Aldeguer Beta Tools - Speed Up Racing 54 Boscoscuro B-21 9

+15.614

15.614

0.526 8
4 Spain J. Alcoba QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 52 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

15.714

1 Lap 7
5 United States J. Roberts Italtrans Racing Team 16 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

16.435

0.721 6
6 Spain I. Guevara Inde GASGAS Aspar Team 28 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

16.437

0.002 5
7 Thailand S. Chantra Honda Team Asia 35 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

17.221

0.784 5
8 Netherlands B. Bendsneyder Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team 64 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

20.972

3.751 4
9 Spain P. Acosta Ajo Motorsport 37 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

25.380

4.408 4
10 Spain M. Ramirez American Racing 24 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

26.423

1.043 3
11
T. Hada Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team
23 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

26.576

0.153 3
12 United Kingdom R. Skinner American Racing 33 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

32.287

5.711 2
13 Spain M. Gonzalez Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp 18 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

34.605

2.318 2
14 Spain A. Arenas Ajo Motorsport 75 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

34.692

0.087 1
15 Japan A. Ogura Honda Team Asia 79 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

36.213

1.521 1
16 Japan K. Nozane Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp 5 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

46.912

10.699
17 Italy D. Foggia Italtrans Racing Team 71 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

55.903

8.991
18 Italy A. Surra Forward Team 67 Forward F2 8

+1 Lap

59.960

4.057
19
Á. Escrig Forward Team
17 Forward F2 8

+1 Lap

1'00.258

0.298
20 Germany L. Tulovic Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP 3 Kalex 8

+1 Lap

1'20.562

20.304
21 Spain A. López Beta Tools - Speed Up Racing 21 Boscoscuro B-21 5

+4 Laps

1'58.616

3 Laps
dnf Italy C. Vietti Ramus Fantic Racing 13 Kalex 8

Accident
dnf Italy M. Casadei Fantic Racing 9 Kalex 4

Accident
dnf United Kingdom J. Dixon Inde GASGAS Aspar Team 96 Kalex 4

Accident
dnf United Kingdom S. Lowes Elf Marc VDS Racing Team 22 Kalex 3

Accident
dnf Spain S. García Pons Wegow Los40 11 Kalex 3

Accident
dnf Czech Republic F. Salač QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 12 Kalex 3

Accident
dnf Belgium B. Baltus Fieten Olie Racing GP 7 Kalex 2

Accident
dnf Netherlands Z. van den Goorbergh Fieten Olie Racing GP 84 Kalex 2

Accident
dnf South Africa D. Binder Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP 15 Kalex 2

Accident
View full results

In the earlier Moto3 race, held in wet but less treacherous conditions, Deniz Oncu executed a perfectly-judged last lap pass on Ayumu Sasaki to score his third victory of the season.

 

The 21-lap race boiled down to a straight fight between Ajo KTM rider Oncu and Sasaki, who had started from pole aboard the Intact GP Husqvarna, with local hero Joel Kelso also staying in the mix until late on.

Oncu passed Kelso's CFMoto machine on lap 18, and went about chasing after Sasaki, who regained the top spot when Adrian Fernandez crashed out of the lead at the last corner on lap 16.

Sasaki narrowly led Oncu starting the final lap and held firm through Miller Corner, but Oncu was irresistible through Lukey Heights and set up a textbook inside pass at MG corner to seal the win by 0.407s.

Kelso meanwhile held on for his first grand prix podium in third place and only the second for unfancied Chinese marque CFMoto.

Fernandez had been the real star of the race, the Leopard Honda rider - who only took over the seat from Tatsuki Suzuki at Mandalika - passing Sasaki to lead on lap two and maintaining his position until his crash.

Such was the advantage of the leading group that Fernandez was able to remount and finish fifth behind Colin Veijer on the second Intact bike.

Points leader Jaume Masia had a subdued run to eighth on his Leopard machine, with his advantage over Sasaki being cut to just four points with four weekends remaining.

Tech3 KTM rider Denis Holgado has slipped 22 points behind Masia after finishing 13th, which followed a nasty crash on the sighting lap that appeared to leave him with minor facial injuries.

Moto3 Phillip Island - race results:

         
Driver Info
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Turkey D. Öncü Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 53 KTM 21

39'57.919

140.2 25
2 Japan A. Sasaki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP 71 Husqvarna 21

+0.407

39'58.326

0.407 140.2 20
3
J. Kelso CFMoto Racing PruestelGP
66 CF MOTO 21

+4.392

40'02.311

3.985 139.9 16
4
C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP
95 Husqvarna 21

+23.062

40'20.981

18.670 138.8 13
5 Mexico A. Fernandez Leopard Racing 31 Honda 21

+31.661

40'29.580

8.599 138.4 11
6 Italy R. Rossi SIC58 Squadra Corse 54 Honda 21

+31.702

40'29.621

0.041 138.4 10
7 Japan T. Furusato Honda Team Asia 72 Honda 21

+32.236

40'30.155

0.534 138.3 9
8 Spain J. Masia Leopard Racing 5 Honda 21

+32.923

40'30.842

0.687 138.3 8
9
M. Bertelle Rivacold Snipers Team
18 Honda 21

+33.379

40'31.298

0.456 138.3 7
10 France L. Fellon CIP 20 KTM 21

+35.375

40'33.294

1.996 138.1 6
11
N. Fabio Rivacold Snipers Team
9 Honda 21

+46.470

40'44.389

11.095 137.5 5
12 Italy S. Nepa Angeluss MTA Team 82 KTM 21

+53.566

40'51.485

7.096 137.1 4
13 Spain D. Holgado Red Bull KTM Tech 3 96 KTM 21

+1'02.607

41'00.526

9.041 136.6 3
14 United Kingdom J. Whatley VisionTrack Racing Team 70 Honda 21

+1'02.880

41'00.799

0.273 136.6 2
15 Japan R. Yamanaka GAVIOTA GASGAS Aspar Team 6 GASGAS 21

+1'16.638

41'14.557

13.758 135.8 1
16 Spain X. Artigas CFMoto Racing PruestelGP 43 CF MOTO 21

+1'30.027

41'27.946

13.389 135.1
17 Japan K. Toba SIC58 Squadra Corse 27 Honda 21

+1'52.035

41'49.954

22.008 133.9
18
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
99 KTM 20

+1 Lap

40'02.865

1 Lap 133.2
dnf Spain V. Pérez BOE Motorsports 21 KTM 18

+3 Laps

34'54.027

2 Laps 137.6 Accident
dnf
S. Azman MT Helmets - MSI
63 KTM 14

+7 Laps

27'22.888

4 Laps 136.4 Accident
dnf
D. Salvador CIP
38 KTM 12

+9 Laps

23'28.214

2 Laps 136.4 Accident
dnf Indonesia M. Aji Honda Team Asia 64 Honda 11

+10 Laps

21'19.541

1 Lap 137.6 Accident
dnf
D. Alonso GAVIOTA GASGAS Aspar Team
80 GASGAS 10

+11 Laps

22'41.670

1 Lap 117.5 Retirement
dnf
D. Muñoz BOE Motorsports
44 KTM 9

+12 Laps

17'40.812

1 Lap 135.8 Accident
dnf
I. Ortola Angeluss MTA Team
48 KTM 8

+13 Laps

15'45.763

1 Lap 135.4 Accident
dnf
F. Farioli Red Bull KTM Tech 3
7 KTM 8

+13 Laps

15'51.249

5.486 134.6 Accident
dnf Brazil D. Moreira MT Helmets - MSI 10 KTM 5

+16 Laps

10'53.953

3 Laps 122.4 Retirement
View full results
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