Moto3: Title battle lives on as Oliveira wins, Kent 7th
The 2015 Moto3 World Championship will be decided at the Valencia season finale after an immaculate Sepang victory for Miguel Oliveira was combined with seventh place for title leader Danny Kent.
Kent was sat on the back of the lead group at the start of the final lap, moving into a championship winning fourth before being pushed back at the final corner - while Oliveira surged forwards.
It leaves the Leopard rider needing just two points even if Oliveira wins again in Valencia to take the Moto3 crown as the battle goes to the wire.
Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Oliveira had a perfect start but staying in front was an impossible task with everyone in the lead group bar Kent leading the pack at some point over the eighteen laps.
The Portuguese ran his own race and every time he was challenged he pulled back in front, including on the final crucial corner for the win, his fifth of the season having never won before the start of this year, now adding back-to-back wins to an impressive run of first and second places which has brought him into contention for the title.
An emotional Oliveira, who called his victory 'The most special win I ever had', was raced over the line by his team-mate Brad Binder, who blocked well enough to prevent Jorge Navarro from spoiling his best ever grand prix finish.
The Honda rider, in turn, continues his impressive late run of form in the second half of his rookie season, with a third podium in four races for Estrella Galicia 0,0's talented young Spaniard.
Pole sitter Niccolo Antonelli was on fire in the last lap after falling to the back of the group to storm back to fourth for Ongetta-Rivacold, with Romano Fenati, who was most in tune with the final tricky tight turn and used his skill there on many laps to shoot to the front, unable to capitalise when it mattered most, leaving the Sky Racing VR46 man in fifth.
Jakub Kornfeil piloted the local Drive M7 SIC team bike to sixth after drifting off the back of the lead eight briefly, pinning Britain's Kent into seventh.
Kent had picked off most of his places by benefiting from crashes, including his team-mates as he found passing tough on the long Sepang straights, but had improved greatly after being twelfth on the first lap and dropping as low as 16th. His final lunge saw him move into a title winning fourth before being swallowed again by the remainder of the feisty lead group.
His old rival Enea Bastianini lead the chasing group over the line for Gresini, with the SaxoPrint-RTG team-mates racing it out to complete the top ten. Alexis Masbou won their battle for ninth with the injured and sore John McPhee tenth.
Outside the top ten there were also points finishes for Antonelli's Ongetta team-mate Jules Danilo in eleventh and Mapfre Team Mahindra rider Jorge Martin in twelfth.
Stefano Manzi (San Carlo Team Italia) was just behind and crossed the line in 13th, he in turn held off RBA's Isaac Vinales who was 14th and Philipp Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) who claimed the final point after blocking off Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who was unlucky to miss out with the rest of the field nowhere near the points finishers.
Darryn Binder was the first to fall, with home rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin not lasting much longer. Andrea Migno was the next to crash out of contention, followed by Leopard pair of Hiroki Ono and Efren Vazquez, who took each other out. Karel Hanika and Manuel Pagliani also failed to go the distance.
