Moto3 Americas: Martin pulls the pin for Texas win
Jorge Martin timed his move to the front to perfection, then put in a succession of fast laps to break up the pack and win the Moto3 Grand Prix of the Americas at COTA.
The Del Conca Gresini rider scored his second win from pole with a breakaway with five laps to go, putting Honda back on the top spot on the Podium after a KTM win last time out in Argentina. Martin’s win sees him now lead the Moto3 championship by seven points from rival Aron Canet.
The tight racing of the first few laps saw the lead change hands repeatedly before a group of five emerged at the front as the tricky track conditions caused by the surface grinding to remove the bumps around the circuit continued to play a part, though the weather had improved.
The only rider to go with the classy Spaniard was Enea Bastianini, who too racked up a flurry of fast laps as he tried to stay in contention for the win. The Leopard Honda rider could not quite bridge the gap, leaving him second, 1.451s behind at the chequered flag.
The race for the final podium spot was fierce, with Argentina race winner Marco Bezzecchi the rider to time his lunge to the front of the pack to lead the way over the line and return to the podium for Redox PruestelGP as the top KTM once again, putting him in title contention as he is also third in the overall standings.
Andrea Migno hustled his was past for fourth, though he had been in with a shout of the rostrum places, it still completes a huge turnaround for the Sky Racing VR46 man, who qualified down in 16th.
Fabio Di Giannanntonio was the rider who lost the most places in the final corners, going into the last lap third he was forced to settle for fifth after being pipped on the line on the second Gresini entry.
Philipp Oettl completed a strong weekend with sixth for his Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing team.
Behind him was another great qualifying turnaround, with Jakub Kornfeil battling up the field all the way to seventh after starting from 21st on the grid for Redox PruestelG, giving them two riders inside the top ten.
Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) had started in the lead group but faded over the course of the race, falling as low as twelfth before rallying for eighth at the end of the race, to limit the damage to his championship hopes.
Tatsuki Suzuki finished ninth for SIC58 Squadra Corse with Livio Loi also making the top ten, another strong comeback from 26th on the grid at the start with Reale Avintia Academy.
Petronas rider Ayumu Sasaki took eleventh, ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo who recovered from his involvement in the first corner crash to pick off the opposition rapidly, having shown his pace by topping warm-up, to finish twelfth for RBA.
The remaining points went to Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 13th, John McPhee(CIP-Green Power), who despite landing a front row start spent much of the race outside the points before finally finishing 14th and Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team) in 15th.
Dennis Foggia was the top rookie in 15th, but briefly lead during an impressive few early laps for Sky Racing Team VR46 before fading towards the end.
A huge pile up at the first corner ended the chances of all involved bar Rodrigo with Jaume Masia, Marco Ramirez, Kaito Toba, Adam Norrodin all falling out of contention.
Niccolo Antonelli crashed out the end of the same lap after contact with Alonso Lopez.
Nicolo Bulega also ended his day with a fall, with eleven laps remaining.
