Sterilgarda Husqvana Max Racing’s Ayumu Sasaki Takes His Maiden Victory After A Dramatic Final Lap At The Cathedral Of Speed at the Dutch TT.

Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max’s Ayumu Sasaki was on pole position for the Motul TT Assen Moto3 race with Leopard Racing’s Tatsuki Suzuki in second place and Izan Guevara in third place. The weather at the Dutch circuit was dry after Friday’s proceedings were hampered by torrential rain.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Daniel Holgado and CFMOTO Racing’s Carlos Tatay both had to take a long lap penalty in the race; Carlos Tatay was handed a double long lap penalty.

As the lights went out at the iconic cathedral of speed lead Tatsuki Suzuki the field of Moto3 riders into turn one. Suzuki was in first position from Ayumu Sasaki in second place, Dennis Foggia was in third place, Izan Guevara and David Munoz were on the back wheel of Foggia for third place.

Sasaki took the lead with 21 laps to go, Izan Guevara was in a close second place. Foggia was pushed back to seventh place. The front group of riders consisted of around 25 riders! Suzuki back into second place; the Japanese rider had such fast pace turning into the corners at the Dutch circuit.

Sergio Garcia was up to seventh place and put the fastest lap of the race in with 18 laps remaining to the race. Guevara was still leading the race, Suzuki was pushed back to eighth place, his team-mate was in front in fifth place.

VisionTrack’s Scott Ogden crashed out turn seven, the young British rider has had a difficult weekend. Foggia was handed a long lap penalty with 15 laps remaining to the race.

Suzuki was back on the move and into second place, Sasaki was in third place, the compatriot riders were having a great battle for third place, Suzuki was just stronger going into the corners.

Foggia took his long lap with 13 laps remaining in the race; the Italian was now down in 13^th place. John McPhee was on the charge in sixth place. With 12 laps to go there was a front group of five riders; Guevara to Suzuki who had dropped down to fifth place.

Jaume Masia was in second place, just waiting to make a move on Sasaki for second place. John McPhee joined the front group of riders and was in the mix in fifth place. Foggia set the fastest lap of the race in whilst in ninth place. The championship leader Garcia was in ninth place.

Nine laps remaining and McPhee was in third place and set a race lap record. The front group now consisted of nine riders: Guevara to Garcia. Quite a few of the riders were getting track limits warnings on their dash boards.

Dennis Foggia crashed out of the race with five laps to go at turn one, he got forced wide off the curb as he tried to re-join the racing line the curb was too high resulting in the Italian crashing out!

Sasaki finally managed to his move on Guevara at turn five with just three laps left to the race. Guevara took the first place back a few corners later, the two riders were exchanging positions through the next couple of corners, Suzuki took advantage of the battling and made a pass for second place, Guevara was now down in fifth place!

At turn nine disaster struck as Munoz tried to overtake Masia, Munoz lost the front end and took Masia down with him, McPhee who was in sixth place also lost the front end of his machinery and he too was out of the race.

Sasaki was leading the race with just two corners remaining, he crossed the line to take his first-time victory in the Moto3 championship, Guevara clung on to take second place with Garcia taking the final podium spot in third place, Suzuki just missed out on a podium finish in fourth place.

Sergio Garcia still leads the Moto3 championship by just three points from Izan Guevara, Dennis Foggia is in third place with 115 points, Ayumu Sasaki is in fourth place on 113 points, Jaume Masia is in fifth place on 107 points; it’s all very close at the top of the Moto3 championship standings.

Featured Images: MotoGP.com