Aspar’s David Alonso took a stunning Moto3 victory in Misano over Leopard’s Angel Piqueras to extend his championship lead to 79 points.
Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato got away well from pole position, leading championship leader Alonso and MT Helmets’ Ivan Ortola down into the first corner.
Boe Motorsport’s David Munoz, who crashed out on Lap 1 last weekend, dropped out of contention on the first lap again after contact with Stefano Nepa.
Championship leader Alonso looked to take charge of the race and break away from the chasing group after overtaking race leader Furusato, but was being followed closely by last weekend’s winner Piqueras.
Daniel Holgado looked to get back into championship contention and pulled two aggressive moves on Furusato and Piqueras to take second.
Holgado set the fastest lap of the race as he looked to take control from Alonso out front, and overtook the Colombian to lead and was followed through by Leopard’s Adrian Fernandez.
Piqueras took the lead a short while later and wanted to break the group, but made a mistake going into Turn 15 and was re-passed by Alonso and Holgado.
Furusato was showing strong pace as he looked to take third from Fernandez, but contact sent both riders wide and pushed them back down the order.
Piqueras once again looked to have the pace to challenge for the lead and set a new race lap record while chasing Holgado for second.
The battle for victory looked to be between leading the group of Alonso, Holgado, Piqueras and the Husqvarna of Collin Veijer, and the championship leader seemed to have the advantage despite holding a track limits warning.
Holgado pulled a late move on Alonso to take the lead with a lap go, which also allowed Piqueras to follow through into second.
Alonso responded and pulled a stunning double overtake on the leading pair to retake the lead of the race and took the chequered flag in first ahead of Piqueras in second.
Holgado crossed the line in third but was demoted a position on the final lap and dropped to fourth, while Veijer inherited the final podium position.
Ortola came home in fifth, ahead of Sic58’s Luca Lunetta who was sixth, ahead of Boe Motorsport’s Joel Kelso in seventh and Fernandez in eighth.
Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle showed last race pace to come home in 9th, ahead of KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda in 10th.
Husqvarna’s Tatsuki Suzuki was 11th, ahead of Sic58’s Filippo Farioli in 12th and Furusato, who fell out of contention after receiving a long lap penalty for track limits, crossed the line in 13th.
Nepa finished 14th despite first lap contact while MT Helmets’ Ryusei Yamanaka rounded out the points finishers in 15th.
