Rookie Ogura Achieves Ninth Moto2 Top Ten
MotorLand AragónAt Aragon today Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex) scored his ninth top-ten result as a Moto2 rookie.
The 20-year-old always knew this would be a challenging circuit first time on a Moto2 bike, just as Silverstone was two weeks previously. He showed his true potential at the back-to-back Red Bull Ring races, when he scored his first podiums in the class.
Ogura fought well this afternoon, showing both speed, determination and a tactical mind as he fought his way to eighth at the finish. This time he wasn’t able to race the lead group due to some issues with the front end of his motorcycle and he had to fight hard for position in the second pack.
Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex) also had a challenging day after starting the race from far down the grid. The 22-year-old Thai rider rode brilliantly from the start, fighting his way through to 17th, but was given a long-lap penalty for a minor rules infraction. While trying to regain positions he slid off with four laps remaining.
The race was won by title-contender Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex) who shrugged off injury to escape his pursuers and ride to victory all alone. At the finish he was an impressive 5.4 seconds ahead of World Championship leader Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex), who this time out had no answer for his team-mate.
The 23-year-old Australian still leads the title fight by 39 points from Fernandez with five races remaining. And considering the nature of the Moto2 class, the championship is still wide open.
The only rider who managed to stay somewhat close to Fernandez today was pole-position-man Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) who was over one second behind the 20-year-Spaniard when he tumbled out of the race.
The podium was completed by Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) who continued his impressive form with his fourth podium from the last five races.
Jorge Navarro (+EGO Speed Up Boscoscuro) finished fifth, ahead of Aron Canet (Kipin Energy Aspar Team Boscoscuro).
Gardner and Fernandez will resume their championship battle next weekend at the San Marino GP at Misano.
At the beginning, I started quite well – the feeling and the lap time was quite good. But after four or five laps I started to have some problems in the front. I could not find the reason, and I was unable to adapt to this situation. One part of the problem is my Moto2 experience, and the other is my skill to adapt to this problem. It's easy to finish the race and to say that I learned a lot, but this time I can assure you that I learned a lot.
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My big problem today was to start the race from 27th position. From the very first moment I tried to push as much as possible to overtake riders. But when I was around 17th, I was penalized with a long lap. After that, I tried to catch up the group again, but with four laps to go I made a mistake, losing the front and crashing. I want to say sorry to my team. Clearly, at Misano, I need to start more in front.
