Sky Racing Team VR46 rider Romano Fenati won comfortably at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, in the third round of the Moto3.
The start of the Moto3 race at the Circuit of the Americas was delayed due to a strip of oil that was left down the back straight. It was a clean start by the whole field and four fought as for the lead as they led into the first corner.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Jorge Navarro took the lead ahead of pole position holder Schedl GP Racing team rider Philipp Oetll and Sky Racing Team VR46 rider Romano Fenati. However by the end of the first lap Fenati’s fantastic start from fifth on the grid, due to a wet qualifying that saw him retire early, allowed him to overtake Oettl claiming second.
As they entered the second lap Honda Team Asia rider Hiroki Ono overtook Drive M7 SIC Racing Team rider Adam Norrodin on the inside of turn one, he crashed into the Malaysian catching the front end of his 250cc causing him to fall off. Word come through after lap six that Ono was to be penalised for ‘irresponsible riding’ and he had to complete a ride-through penalty.
Behind the three leaders was a group of four riders led by Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Brad Binder who was now in pursuit of Oetll and Fenati. After just two laps, Navarro had extended his lead of almost two seconds as he managed to set the fastest lap. Fenati was the only one able to claim this achievement from Navarro as the two continued to lap improve their pace.
After three laps, Navarro still led ahead of three pairs who battled for second (Fenati and Oetll), fourth (Quartararo and Brad Binder) and sixth (Kornfeil and Bastianini). Soon Fenati broke away from Oetll and began to chip away at the lead Navarro now had on him. However, Navarro reacted to this news given to him on his pit board and responded by reclaiming the fastest lap.
As Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) and Darryn Binder (Platinum Bay Real Estate) entered turn one of lap five, Mir crashed into Binder bringing the two of the riders off. Binder’s bike almost went in front of oncoming traffic as it slid along the track; Binder was seen waving at Mir in anger, he was able to return to the track but Mir struggled to re-join the race.
During lap five leader Navarro made a mistake allowing Fenati to gain 0.4 seconds on him; this plus Fenati now setting the fastest lap time brought the Italian to within half a second of the Spaniard. Again on lap seven, Navarro made another mistake at turn one and went wide again, this time allowing Fenati to go through and take the lead.
A great battle was taking place for sixth position which included Andrea Locatelli (Leopard Racing), rookie Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) and Kornfeil. They were soon caught by Ongetta-Rivacold rider Niccolo Antonelli; he had a great start from his poor qualifying position of thirtieth position on the grid due to a crash in qualifying. Antonelli managed to gain seven places on the first lap, four on the second and third lap, three laps by lap eight, and was in eleventh position by lap nine.
Bulega who is huge in comparison to the size of his 250cc KTM had to adjust himself in order to be streamlined by lifting his buttocks in the air; when doing this he touched the outside of the rumble strips and had a huge wobble. He managed to stabilize himself but had to re-adjust himself in his unique way.
With eight laps to go Quartararo had caught Oettl and was able to glide past him to gain third position; Oettl fought back but Quartararo out-braked him securing third position. Brad Binder was lapping faster than the pair and was in pursuit of the duo. Navarro made another mistake at turn one of lap eleven and this meant that Fenati was able to extend his lead.
Lap eleven also saw a crash from Hanika on turn sixteen after he lost the front end; he was unhurt. All of Antonelli’s hard work was undone when he crashed out with two laps to go; the rear end of his Honda slid throwing him off. His bike spun across the track narrowly missing Quartararo who had gone backwards down the field following a technical fault with his bike that took him out of contention. Antonelli could not do anything as his bike ended up on the other side of the track to him.
Brad Binder was soon in pursuit of third position; he had Oettl in his sights however the German rider seemed more content on the track. Binder was able to overtake Oettl at the end of the back straight after he sat in his slipstream; he was able to gain enough time at the end of the straight to avoid being out-braked by Oettl in retaliation.
Fenati won comfortably six seconds ahead of Navarro in second. Brad Binder claimed third ahead of Oetll, Locatelli won the battle behind finishing in fifth ahead of Bastianini, Canet and Livio Loi who finished just ahead of Jules Danilo and Bulega. Kornfeil followed ahead of Juanfran Guevara (RBA Racing Team), Quartararo and the fastest Mahindra rider Francesco Bagnaia (Aspar Mahindra Team Moto3).
Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46) finished ahead of the fastest Peugeot of Alexis Masbou (Peugeot MC Saxoprint) who finished in sixteenth just outside of the points. The only Brit in the class John McPhee finished in twenty-first and the only female Maria Herrera finished in twenty-third aboard her MH6 Laglisse.
Brad Binder still leads the championship with fifty-two points, three points ahead of Navarro and Fenati’s win leaves him in third with thirty-eight points.
