Jose Antonio Rueda pulled off an impressive move on Máximo Quiles in the final corner to win a dramatic Moto3 race at Misano.
The championship leader controlled the tyres best and timed the race-winning move to absolute perfection.
Valentin Perrone took the holeshot into Turn 1 after starting on pole, but Joel Kelso seized the lead at Turn 4.
David Munoz made an aggressive move at the fast Turn 11 to demote Perrone to third, closely followed by championship leader Jose Antonio Reuda.
Perrone slotted himself back up to second as the lead four started to break away from the rest of the pack.
On Lap 4, Munoz showed his usual aggression as he clipped the back of polesitter Perrone, causing him to drop down to 19th after rejoining. Perrone rejoined in eighth place.
This incident allowed Kelso and Rueda to form a 0.7s advantage over Quiles and Adrian Fernandez.
Rueda grabbed the lead on Lap 6, before establishing a 0.2s advantage at the end of the lap.
Perrone forged his way through the field to join the lead duo by Lap 13, before rising further to second on Lap 14.
His overtakes brought Quiles into contention, with the lead four now separated by under half a second.
Further back, Luca Lunetta suffered a crash at Turn 11, but was fortunate not to take David Almansa out.
Drama ensued on Lap 17 as Rueda, Perrone, Quiles and Kelso all changed and shuffled positions at the fast Turn 11 and 12.
Polesitter raced around the outside of Quiles at Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, before taking the lead at Turn 11 which allowed Quiles to scrape through on the inside.
Quiles defended extremely well on the final lap until Rueda lunged his way through on the final corner to win in Misano.
Rueda secured his eighth win of the season, ahead of CFMoto’s Quiles who maintained consistent form.
Fernandez secured the final podium spot, edging out Level Up’s Kelso at the line.
Angel Piqueras had a quiet race as he secured fifth spot ahead of Perrone, followed by Munoz, who could only finish seventh after his early race mistake.
Ryusei Yamanaka and Gudio Pini crossed the line only a few tenths behind Munoz, while rookie Alvaro Carpe rounded off the top 10.
Jacob Roulstone started third but finished 11th in front of Japanese star Taiyo Furusato and CFMoto’s Denis Foggia.
David Almansa narrowly escaped a retirement from early on, but finished six seconds clear of Scott Ogden.
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