Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda earned a fifth victory of the campaign by taking victory in the red-flagged Assen Moto3 race.
Rueda led in the closing laps of the race before a red flag was thrown on the last lap due to a final corner incident, which saw the Spanish rider awarded victory despite crossing the line in third
It was a strong start from Alvaro Carpe, who managed to overtake team-mate Rueda in Turn 1 to take an early lead.
Ryusei Yamanaka also made a good start from the second row and passed the championship leader, before Rueda responded almost immediately.
At the chicane, Rueda threaded his way passed team-mate Carpe to lead over the line to start the second lap of the race.
David Almansa made his way up into second by passing Yamanaka and Carpe on the straight as the entire field remained bunched together.
The Spanish riders continued to fight over second, but contact demoted both riders down the order, with Carpe forced wide, which saw him rejoin in 16th.
Rueda continued to lead on lap three, as the riders behind continued to battle for position, with Maximo Quiles taking the initiative to move into second.
Despite the earlier contact, Almansa continued to have strong pace and fought his way back into second as the group of 17 riders exchanged positions throughout the early laps.
At the front, Rueda continued to lead despite pressure from behind, but the Spanish rider was unable to break away from the group behind.
Quiles saw an opportunity to pass the long-time race leader on lap nine, and pulled an aggressive move to go first, with Yamanaka and Almansa also finding their way past Rueda.
The Italian Grand Prix winner led for four laps, before a compromised exit from the final corner allowed Yamanaka the chance to take control at the front of the race momentarily.
Quiles responded and retook the lead, bringing Almansa and Lunetta back into the podium positions.
Almansa tried to force a move through for the lead of the race, but Quiles responded instantly to affirm his control at the front.
The top two continued fighting, with the pair making contact and demoting themselves out of the podium positions, with Carpe returning to the front with four laps remaining.
Almansa momentarily returned to the lead, before the KTM Ajo pair of Carpe and Rueda found themselves returning to the head of the pack.
With two laps to go, former race leaders Quiles and Almansa both dropped out of contention, as the Aspar rider crashed out of eighth before Almansa ran wide and down to 12th.
Going onto the final lap, a massive crash between Taiyo Furusato, Luca Lunetta and Adrian Fernandez happened at the final corner bringing out a yellow flag.
Replays showed that Carpe was forced to sit up through the final chicane, which saw Furusato run into the back of the Spaniard and start the chain of events.
Rueda continued to lead throughout the final lap, but would have been pressured by the charging Valentin Perrone and David Munoz had the yellow flags not halted proceedings.
Munoz failed to see the yellow flags for the incident and overtook both Perrone and Rueda on the final lap, but the red flag was thrown as the riders crossed the line.
The red flag meant that the results from Lap 19 counted as the final classification, with championship leader Rueda taking the victory.
Munoz completed the race in second while Perrone earned his first-ever Moto3 podium in third.
Carpe finished the race in fourth ahead of Angel Piqueras, who stormed from 16th on the grid to fifth.
Almansa was confirmed in sixth despite track limits excursions, while Scott Ogden scored a season’s best result of seventh.
Dennis Foggia finished eighth despite being awarded a long lap penalty for track limits, with Joel Kelso taking ninth before Marcos Uriarte completed the top 10.
Yamanaka crossed the line in 11th ahead of Jacob Roulstone in 12th, as Stefano Nepa finished four seconds behind the pair in 13th.
Riccardo Rossi took the flag in 14th as Quiles completed the points finishers in 15th despite his crash with three laps to go.
