Ayumu Sasaki finally broke his 2023 Moto3 victory duck by fending off David Alonso on the final lap of the Valencia Grand Prix to win by just 0.082s.
The Japanese ace, who lost any chance of fighting for the Moto3 title this year after Jaume Masia won in controversial circumstances in Qatar to secure the crown with a round to spare, shadowed Husqvarna team-mate Collin Veijer for the majority of the encounter as the Dutchman ran a hot pace.
Pole-man Veijer managed to create a leading group of just seven riders in the early stages as the rest, including champion Masia, fell away.
By the time the race had reached two-thirds distance, the group had been reduced to five as CFMoto’s Joel Kelso and Jose Antonio Rueda had fallen away, allowing the leaders to scrap it out between them.
A mistake from Veijer with just a few laps remaining dropped him from the lead back to fourth, Sasaki moving to the head of the pack with MTA Angeluss’ Ivan Ortola in close pursuit.
Alonso moved into contention as he snatched away the spot just before the final lap began, the GasGas pilot soon searching for a way around Sasaki to claim a fifth win of the season.
The Colombian waited until the final corner to have a last-gasp dive for supremacy. However, Sasaki ultimately denied any chance as he braked impossibly late into the bend – allowing him to exit the corner in the lead.
He held firm to take the chequered flag just 0.082s over Alonso, while Ortola held off the recovering Veijer to claim his first rostrum result since winning the Spanish GP at Jerez back in April.
Deniz Oncu was well within range to attack the riders ahead on the last lap but could not advance any further than fifth.
The Turkish riders KTM Ajo team-mate Rueda held onto a lonely sixth ahead of Kelso, who managed to hold off the charging pack behind to claim seventh.
Daniel Holgado led the chasing group to secure eighth ahead of David Munoz, while Ryusei Yamanaka rounded off the top ten on the second GasGas entry.
Masia struggled for pace throughout, and after being unable to bridge the gap to the lead pack later fell to 13th in the final classification, just ahead of Leopard team-mate Adrian Fernandez. His final points winning margin over Sasaki was thus reduced to just six after 20 rounds of this year’s championship.
