Motegi Moto3: Bastianini stuns Binder with last-lap pass

Binder led the early stages, after poleman Andrea Migno went wide approaching the tunnel on the opening lap.

The South African, who clinched the title last time out at Aragon, then remained fairly unchallenged throughout the next 17 laps, until Bastianini closed up.

With two laps remaining, the Gresini rider was all over Binder, and finally on the last lap, with a few corners remaining, the Italian dived to the inside of his rival to take the lead.

Binder fought back, but Bastianini had just enough in hand to take his first win of the season by a mere 0.017s over the line, as Binder registered his 12th podium of the season in second.

Behind the top two, the battle for third was on with Migno tussling with local hero Hiroki Ono and Nicolo Bulega.

The Japanese rider, who lost his pole position to Migno due to a penalty, was leading the two Sky VR46 riders on the final lap.

Just as Migno tried to make a move on Ono, the pair made slight contact, enough to send the Italian into a highside crash. He remounted, but finished well out of the points in 25th.

Meanwhile, Ono registered his best finish and first world championship podium in his home grand prix, with Bulega came home a strong fourth just behind.

After fighting with the lead group, Aspar Mahindra's Francesco Bagnaia fell into the clutches of the second group, which was led by Philipp Ottl.

Ottl wasted no time to move past the VR46 academy rider to take fifth, with Bastianini's Gresini teammate Fabio di Giannantonio soon following suit.

Bagnaia eventually finished seventh, while Livio Loi and Leopard teammates Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir completed the top 10.

Meanwhile, erstwhile title contender Jorge Navarro dislocated his shoulder after a crash on Lap 1 going into the first corner, which also took out John McPhee and Gabriel Rodrigo.

The Estrella Galicia rider had made slight contact with Mir into the corner and lost control of his bike, right into the path of McPhee and Rodrigo.

UPDATE: Ono has been disqualified from the race for his bike being 'under the minimum weight'. This gives Bulega the final podium place.

Race results:

Pos	#	Driver	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	33	Enea Bastianini	Honda	20	39'24.273
2	41	Brad Binder	KTM	20	39'24.290	0.017
3	76	Hiroki Ono	Honda	20	39'26.927	2.654
4	8	Nicolo Bulega	KTM	20	39'28.275	4.002
5	65	Philipp Ottl	KTM	20	39'29.392	5.119
6	4	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	20	39'30.561	6.288
7	21	Francesco Bagnaia	Mahindra	20	39'32.012	7.739
8	11	Livio Loi	Honda	20	39'32.022	7.749
9	20	Fabio Quartararo	KTM	20	39'32.617	8.344
10	36	Joan Mir	KTM	20	39'33.153	8.880
11	23	Niccolo Antonelli	Honda	20	39'33.310	9.037
12	48	Lorenzo dalla Porta	KTM	20	39'36.605	12.332
13	7	Adam Norrodin	Honda	20	39'37.798	13.525
14	84	Jakub Kornfeil	Honda	20	39'43.091	18.818
15	12	Albert Arenas	Peugeot	20	39'45.536	21.263
16	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Mahindra	20	39'45.564	21.291
17	95	Jules Danilo	Honda	20	39'46.000	21.727
18	42	Marcos Ramirez	Mahindra	20	39'58.748	34.475
19	64	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	20	40'04.223	39.950
20	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda	20	40'04.450	40.177
21	3	Fabio Spiranelli	Mahindra	20	40'11.077	46.804
22	77	Lorenzo Petrarca	Mahindra	20	40'13.358	49.085
23	40	Darryn Binder	Mahindra	20	40'16.843	52.570
24	6	Maria Herrera	KTM	20	40'16.955	52.682
25	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	20	40'41.047	1'16.774
26	58	Juan Francisco Guevara	KTM	20	40'46.375	1'22.102
27	13	Shizuka Okazaki	Honda	20	41'15.896	1'51.623
	88	Jorge Martin	Mahindra	10	19'53.155	10 laps
	44	Aron Canet	Honda	9	19'31.438	11 laps
	55	Andrea Locatelli	KTM	4	8'08.049	16 laps
	43	Stefano Valtulini	Mahindra	3	6'11.042	17 laps
	9	Jorge Navarro	Honda	0
	17	John McPhee	Peugeot	0
	19	Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	0