Pini takes the victory after a tense last lap battle, a well deserved first victory for the Leopard Racing rider

The Circuit of the Americas was the host for round three of the Moto3 championship. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Alvaro Carpe was on pole position, Irish rookie Casey O’Gorman qualified in second place with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Valentin Perrone rounding out the front row of the grid.

Carpe got the holeshot into the steep turn one. Max Quiles got a great start running in third place, a few riders had a few moments in the first few corners.

After one lap the Moto3 field was still pretty much bunched up. O’Gorman was fighting through the pack after losing a few places. Valentin Perrone was challenging Carpe for the lead, followed by Quiles and Adrian Fernandez.

Marco Morelli was handed a Long Lap penalty. With 11 laps to go rookie Veda Pratama was the fastest rider on track. Casey O’Gorman was running off track at quite a few parts of the circuit, the rookie was in ninth place.

Quiles was now in charge of the race, Fernandez was in second place coming under pressure from Carpe. The leading group consisted of seven riders until Joel Esteban and Pratama crashed out, Esteban had no where to go as Pratama highsided in front of him.

Quiles was running a nice pace at the front of the field, Guido Pini was in second place with Perrone for company. Joel Kelso was in the second group of riders making progress in sixth place.

Britain’s Scott Ogden was in tenth place, just behind his team-mate Adrian cruces. By lap nine Quiles Fernandez and Perrone broke away from Carpe. Kelso crashed out at turn 11, the Australian rider was up and ok.

With three laps to go Quiles was leading but not by much, it was a three-way battle for the victory! Disaster for O’Gorman he crashed out in sector one. Pini took a turn to lead the race as Carpe joined the party in fourth place.

Last lap time, Perrone was leading, Quiles was pushed back down to fourth place. Pini had a moment at turn eight which let Quiles through.

Pini battled it out to take the victory, Quiles was second, Carpe was third, Perrone was fourth with Fernandez finishing in fifth place.

Featured Image: Leopard Racing