Here are the highlights of the Moto 3 race from the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain.
The weather is perfect. The fans are ready for a great Moto 3 race. Spaniards lock out the front row for this race. Alex Rins has pole for this 23 lap race. Livio Loi makes his debut as a Grand Prix motorcycle rider this season. Alex Rins has his second career pole, and is also in the points lead.
At the start, Maverick Vinales challenges but can't get the lead over Alex Rins who heads the field. Jack Miller, Jonas Folger, and Niccolo Antonelli all got good starts, going through Sito Pons corner and into Dry Sac for the first time. Rins leads Vinales and Salom at the present time. Rins tries to break away. It is difficult to break away at Jerez, into a lead. The bikes run liner stern as Alex Marquez dumps his bike, and then continues. He probably hit Jasper Iwema, and that's what caused the collision.
Everyone is being cautious, but Jack Miller slides through Aspar corner. Luis Salom runs fast lap at 1:46.2 as John McPhee moves to 17th place. Vinales takes the lead through Dry Sac, starting another lap. Brad Binder is being hounded by Jack Miller at the moment. Vinales still leads over Rins at this moment. Miller is running smoother through the corners, than Binder is. Could he be losing grip with the tires? Zulfammi Khairuddin and Miguel Oliviera battle, and Jakub Kornfeil is also in this scrum.
Salom and Folger battle through the Jorge Lorenzo corner. Niklas Ajo and Niccolo Antonelli are into this battle with Jack Miller and Brad Binder now. Miller passes Binder going into Dry Sac again. Jorge Navarro has dropped his bike. He is the wildcard rider in Moto 3 at Jerez. Ana Carrasco and Florian Alt battle for 23rd and 24th. Alessandro Tonucci is also in this dice for the lower places. Eric Granado is also being prssed. Speaking of pressed, it looks like Alrx Rins is right up behind Maverick Vinales into the Sito Pons curve.
There are four bikes battling for the lead with sixteen laps remaining. Livio Loi is running well in his first Moto 3 race. The front few bikes are running single file, very similar to how Moto 3 went down at Circuit of the Americas a few weeks ago. Antonelli has passed Jack Miller, and the battle won't quit. Miguel Oliviera is going well. Vinales continues to lead Rins and Luis Salom back through Dry Sac again. Rins is slower than Vinales through the final corner. Binder, Miller, and Ajo, run fifth, sixth, and seventh. Folger still wants a podium this season.
Niccolo Antonelli gets squeezed by Zulhfammi Khairuddin. The bikes run through the Criville and Ferrari corners. This race is near it's halfway mark. Tony Finsterbusch pits, and has had a fraught weekend here in Spain. Alex Rins has crashed! He does the same thing as a year ago, wrecking inthis race. He wants to get back on the bike. He came into this race with the championship lead! He will rejoin, but he's not going to be a winner today.
Miguel Oliviera is slowing and Jack Miller has crashed, too. The safety crews try shaking the gravel out of his bike, lifting it up. Maverick Vinales is now in the race lead ahead of Luis Salom. Jonas Folger could get a podium place. Niccolo Antonelli crashes, and he's also a retirement. Australian Arthur Sissis is now twelfth. Brad Binder is now up to fourth position. Ten laps remain now. It's Vinales, Salom, and Folger, the top three. Niklas Ajo, Efren Vazquez, and others, are now battling for position in the middle of the pack. Khairuddin passes Vazquez.
Romano Fenati is running well. Last year of course, he won this race, in the wet, by over half a minute. Ana Carasco has crashed out of the race. Nine laps left as Maverick Vinales tries his best to hold off Luis Salom. He's got to book it to stay ahead. Florian Alt is now out of this race. He ditches his bike. Jonas Folger will finish on the podium, albeit, alone, in third. Luis Salom could have the pace to match Maverick Vinales. But, he's hanging right in there at this point. Folger continues to hang on with seven laps left. Arthur Sissis is trying to hang with Alexis Masbou.
Wait. There's a red flag. Alan Techer has had a hard crash. We'll revert to lap 16 for scoring. No, wait. Fifteen. This race is now over. Maverick Vinales is the winner!
#25 Maverick Vinales ESP KTM Figueres
Let's hope Alan Techer will be OK. But Luis Salom, meanwhile, is NOT a happy camper about finishing in second place. Up next on the Moto 3 calendar along with Moto 2 and MotoGP is at Le Mans in France, at the Bugatti motorcycle circuit. The race is in two weeks.
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