Austin Moto3: Guevara declared winner as huge crash ends race early

The race was initially red-flagged on lap eight after a heavy crash for Prustel GP rider Filip Salac, who was launched from his KTM exiting the Turn 11 hairpin onto the back straight.

Aspar rookie Guevara led the field at this point on his GasGas having taken over at the front of the pack with a daring move on Xavi Artigas at Turn 3 on the second lap.

Artigas led off the line at the original start but was deemed to have gone before the lights went out and was hit with a double long-lap penalty.

When the red flag was flown, Guevara headed Leopard’s Dennis Foggia, Petronas Sprinta’s John McPhee and poleman Jaume Masia on the Ajo KTM.

Championship leader Pedro Acosta found himself in eight and would start there for the restart, putting him much closer to main title rival Foggia.

A five-lap sprint race was scheduled for the restart, with Guevara leading Foggia and McPhee forming the front row.

But the race was stopped again on the third lap when Tech 3 rider Deniz Oncu clipped the front wheel of Jeremy Alcoba’s Gresini Honda on the back straight.

The Spaniard crashed in front of the chasing pack, with Snipers rider Andrea Migno and Acosta left with nowhere to go – both hitting Alcoba’s stricken machine.

Both riders were launched into the air in a terrifying accident, with Acosta coming down heavily and tumbling heavy across the track.

However, all riders involved miraculously walked away from the incident unscathed.

Confusion followed as to what would happen next as no result could be declared based on two laps of a five-lap sprint.

Following a meeting between the Moto3 team bosses and representatives from the International Race Teams Association and the FIM, it was decided to declare a result based on the finishing order of the red-flagged first race.

This meant Guevara secured his maiden win in the class despite being forced to retire from the five-lap dash on the second lap with a mechanical issue while he was leading.

Foggia was handed his fifth-straight podium and has cut eighth-placed Acosta’s championship lead down to 30, after full points were awarded for the result.

McPhee completed the podium for his first rostrum since winning at Misano last year, with poleman Masia fourth ahead of Oncu and Alcoba.

Darryn Binder on the sister Petronas Sprinta bike headed Acosta, with Tatsuki Suzuki on the SIC58 Honda and Migno completing the top 10.

Sergio Garcia’s championship hopes took a knock when he was forced to withdraw from the race after suffering bruising to his kidney in a crash on Friday. 

The Aspar rider is now 50 points adrift of Acosta in third in the standings with just 75 left up for grabs in 2021. 

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	28	Izan Guevara	GASGAS
2	7	Dennis Foggia	Honda	0.385
3	17	John McPhee	Honda	0.499
4	5	Jaume Masia	KTM	0.706
5	53	Deniz Öncü	KTM	1.266
6	52	Jeremy Alcoba	Honda	1.271
7	40	Darryn Binder	Honda	1.391
8	37	Pedro Acosta	KTM	1.543
9	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	1.820
10	16	Andrea Migno	Honda	2.480
11	82	Stefano Nepa	KTM	2.683
12	55	Romano Fenati	Husqvarna	3.257
13	71	Ayumu Sasaki	KTM	3.492
14	43	Xavier Artigas	Honda	3.652
15	23	Niccolo Antonelli	KTM	6.086
16	20	Lorenzo Fellon	Honda	8.944
17	73	Maximilian Kofler	KTM	9.529
18	99	Carlos Tatay	KTM	9.977
19	67	Alberto Surra	Honda	10.130
20	54	Riccardo Rossi	KTM	10.536
21	31	Adrian Fernandez	Husqvarna	14.107
22	6	Ryusei Yamanaka	KTM	14.228
23	27	Kaito Toba	KTM	14.637
24	19	Andi Gilang	Honda	14.794
25	92	Yuki Kunii	Honda	14.968
	12	Filip Salač	KTM	1 Lap
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