Remy Gardner fended off Marco Bezzecchi to win the British Moto2 Grand Prix as main title rival Raul Fernandez crashed out in the closing laps.
Gardner was forced to recover positions early as he ran sixth on the opening tour, the Aussie soon working his way through to the top three by the end of the following lap as he aimed to not let leader Sam Lowes and Bezzecchi escape out in front.
Home hero Lowes soon was demoted to second as Bezzecchi looked to drive away in front, the Marc VDS man soon relegated another position by the charging Gardner as he hunted the leading VR46 machine.
He got his way only a couple circulations later as he dived past Bezzecchi, though the Italian would re-take the leadership just moments later at the Vale chicane.
The duo would continue to dispute the lead at several points throughout the remaining laps, closely followed by Lowes as well as the Speed Up of Jorge Navarro.
Gardner eventually managed to settle himself solidly in the lead, while a mistake from Bezzecchi on entry to Village with only a few laps remaining allowed the leader to extend his lead just enough to remain untouched until the end as he took the chequered flag just 0.481s ahead to secure his fourth win of the year to extend his series lead.
Team-mate Raul Fernandez meanwhile struggled for outright speed throughout the encounter, the Spaniard running seventh for the bulk of the race as he failed to match the performance of the riders ahead.
Things would take a turn for the worse with only a couple tours to go though as he dropped his Kalex mid-way through Farm, sliding out of the race as a result and therefore dropping to a distant 44 points adrift of Gardner with only six rounds left.
Navarro meanwhile managed to complete the rostrum for the first time this season after getting the better of Lowes in the latter stages, denying the Brit his first podium at home as he ended up fourth.
Fabio Di Gianantonio re-passed Augusto Fernandez on the final lap having lost the position moments earlier to take fifth, while Aron Canet was the first of the riders to take profit from Fernandez’s crash en-route to seventh for Aspar.
Xavi Vierge held off Austria star Ai Ogura for eighth, while Joe Roberts completed the top 10 for Italtrans.
