Ayumu Sasaki streaked to a first ever Moto3 victory after passing Izan Guevara late on in the Dutch TT at Assen.
Pole-man Sasaki ran within the rostrum spots across the 22-lap encounter, the MAX Racing man electing to remain tucked in behind long-time leader Guevara as the Spaniard set a blistering pace in clean air.
The lead group had shrunk to just eight in the final laps such was the ferocity of Guevara’s speed, Sasaki picking his moment to strike towards the end of the penultimate tour as he moved into the lead – Leopard Racing’s Tatsuki Suzuki following his countryman through to second.
Suzuki looked set to attack Sasaki as the leaders navigated the final few corners, though his challenge was thwarted by a recovering Guevara who went back through on him at Turn 14, a move that afforded Sasaki the gap he needed to fly through the final chicane and across the line to score a maiden win by just 0.314s over Guevara.
Sergio Garcia meanwhile managed to recover well from a lowly 18th on the grid to steal the final rostrum spot at the final bend, Suzuki forced to settle for fourth as a result ahead of CFMoto rider Xavier Artigas.
Daniel Holgado ended up a distant sixth having had to serve a long-lap penalty early on for crashing under yellows during practice, the Ajo racer beating Stefano Nepa to lead the second group.
Ryusei Yamanaka bagged eighth ahead of Deniz Oncu, while Kaito Toba completed the top ten runners.
Dennis Foggia and Jaume Masia saw their title hopes take another hit after the duo both crashed out at the behest of rookie David Munoz, the former going down after hitting the outside kerb at Turn 2 while battling with the Spaniard while the latter was hit after Munoz tried to dive-bomb him on the final lap while battling for a top five finish, both retiring as a result.
John McPhee was also an unlucky victim of the smash, the Scot going down in sympathy as he tried to avoid the carnage while running well inside the front eight.
Garcia’s series lead has been further narrowed as a result of losing out to team-mate Guevara once again, the more experienced GasGas pilot now just three markers clear of Guevara with nine races remaining – Foggia remaining third overall though now a distant 67 points adrift of the leader.
