Pol Espargaro has a sixteen point lead over Scott Redding, coming into this penultimate race of the Moto 2 championship. This race will be 23 laps. Scott Redding will ride today, and had his wrist on his left hand operated on over a week ago. How will he do with the pressure? Johann Zarco, Xavier Simeon, and for the first time, Mika Kallio, on pole. Danny Kent broke his collarbone in the morning warmup, and he won't start this race.
23 laps scheduled for this race. Will Pol Espargaro be the new Moto 2 world champion? The bikes are on their warmup lap. This is the most important race for Pol Espargaro in his career. His broter Aleix looks on. Here we go. At the start, Mika Kallio gets the jump with Pol Espargaro coming to third. Scott Redding and Tito Rabat have crashed! Redding is taken out by Rabat! The race is red flagged. We'll need to restart this race. Rabat brought another rider down, too. Redding hit Rabat's bike. Dominik Aegerter also was involved.
He has had many finishes, but not in this race. Redding hit Rabat. That was a vicious looking wreck. Lets hope everybody is OK. The bikes come down pit lane. Pol Espargaro will have to finish sixth or better. We wait. The race has been stopped. Tito Rabat is being attended to. This race will be restarted, and shortened to 15 laps. Alex Marinelarena was also in that wreck. All riders involved are OK. Scott Redding will be fine. But, he's had a horrible eight days leading up to and in this race.
Dominik Aegerter has his bike repaired. The bikes reconvene on track for another warmup lap. Pol Espargaro has to finish in the top seven and the championship might go to the season finale. Matteo Pasini will start behind Tito Rabat. Dominik Aegerter won't start. Here we go. On the restart, Mika Kallio and Pol Espargaro both get good starts. They're bunching up as Espargaro comes to second, down owards turn three. Espargaro is indeed second as Johann Zarco is fighting. Mika Kallio leads. Simone Corsi wants to pas Xavier Simeon and Johann Zarco.
Rafid Topan Sucipto drops a spot and Gino Rea is behind him. He passes Sucipto. Kallio leads Espargaro. They race to the 90 degree corner. Pol Espargaro passes Mika Kallio for the lead. If Espargaro wins, he's champ. Zarco drops back but Tom Luthi is running well. He won the 125cc championship here a few years ago. Simone Corsi crashes out of third spot. Game over. Johann Zarco is third with Tom Luthi fourth.
Luthi wants by Johann Zarco. Alex de Angelis is running well, ahead of Gino Rea. Rea wants to be back on the Moto 2 grid next year. Mika Kallio is going to do all he can to ruffle Espargaro. But it remains to be seen what he'll do. Kallio runs fastest lap with ten laps left. Not sure of the time. Kallio is going to push Espargaro. There's no question of that. A scooter on the sid of the track, is smoking. Fortunately, it's not a racing bike. Espargaro passes for the lead in replay, over Kallio.
Tpm Luthi is third. Dominik Aegerter is up to eleventh place, passing Gino Rea. Nico Terol was way down in 24th and has moved all the way to tenth. Takaaki Nakagami is fourteenth, in the points, passing Anthony West. Richard Cardus has slid off his bike. Pol Espargaro is likely going to take the Moto 2 world championship, looking for his sixth race win. The race is 1/3rd over. Zarco and Simeon still battle. Nico Terol is tenth with Dominik Aegerter in eleventh spot.
There are now eight laps left. Xavier Simeon passes Johann Zarco for fourth place. Six laps left in this race. If Pol Espargaro remains where he is, he'll be the 2013 Moto 2 World Champion. Espargaro muscled his way forward at the start, passing by Johann Zarco. Louis Rossi and Azlan Shah both crashed together. But both have rejoined this race. Takaaki Nakagami is picking up points. He's 12th. Shah hits the gravel in the 90 degree curve. Pol Espargaro continues to lead. He's checking out, and is in the zone.
Xavier Simeon passes Johann Zarco. Jordi Torres is out of this race, too. He's crashed. He'll run with Aspar in Moto 2 next year but also, Johann Zarco is done, too. Mechanical problems with the gearshift. Game over. The gearshift lever is broken on his bike. Zarco won at Motegi in the 125cc class a few years ago. Five laps left in this race. Espargaro will cruise to a race win and a world championship. Keep the t shirts wrapped up for now. Anything can still happen.
Tom Luthi and Mika Kallio have both run in Grand Prix motorcycle racing for a long time. Takaaki Nakagami has done well, but, he hasn't had the success in his home race that he would have wanted. Sandro Cortese runs behind Axel Pons. All three world championships might go to the finale in Spain. Espargaro will get his sixth race win of the season. Five of them have been from pole. But, not in this race.
Two laps remain now. Tom Luthi will get on the podium. He wants the championship, and will get another chance to run for it next year. Aleix Espargaro signals his younger brother through. Espargaro is cruising. Tom Luthi remains third. One lap left. Takaaki Nakagami, and others, are passing for position as there's now a half a lap to go as Pol Espargaro makes it through the S curve. Pol Espargaro is going to win the race, and more importantly, he's 2013 Moto 2 World Champion!
#40 Pol Espargaro ESP Kalex Granollers
Espargaro is world champion. One more race, at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain, coming up in two weeks.
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