Moto3 heats up
Arbolino wins to make it a three-way title fight
Tony Arbolino has won his first Moto3 race of the year to launch himself into title contention with just one race remaining. Arbolino made his move at turn one on the penultimate lap after chasing down race-long leader Raul Fernandez. His victory leaves him 11 points behind Albert Arenas, who withstood immense pressure from Deniz Öncü and Darryn Binder to finish fourth.
The race winner must be thinking about what could have been had he not been forced to miss Aragon due to being on the same flight as somebody with Covid-19. Meanwhile, Ai Ogura remains in the title fight after securing a hardfought eighth. The Japanese rider is eight points behind Arenas after beating Jaume Masia to the line. Elsewhere, John McPhee’s difficult run of races continued on the Petronas Sprinta Racing bike. After qualifying 16th, the Scot wasn’t able to escape the hectic Moto3 midfield.
‘The win puts him 11 points behind Arenas’
“I made my way to the back of the front group, but another rider hit me on the straight and I nearly crashed,” McPhee explained. “I lost several positions and ended up at the back of the second group.
“My pace was faster than those around me, but it was difficult to defend on the start-finish straight. Lap-by-lap we were catching them, but the gap was just too big.
“It’s disappointing because my race pace was okay; we were just too far back.”
Sergio Garcia, winner last year and podium sitter at Valencia 1, was second, whilst Fernandez completed the podium.