KTM Ajo rider Jose Antonio Rueda produced a dominant display to take his second Moto3 victory of the season in Austin.
Rueda won the race by over two seconds from Australia’s Joel Kelso as the Spanish rider extended his championship lead.
Maximo Quiles got the best start to the race from the riders on the front row and led into Turn 1 from the KTM Ajo pair of Alvaro Carpe and Rueda.
Rueda looked the fastest of the leading trio on the opening lap, and was able to pass his team-mate late in the closing stages of Lap 1.
The Spanish rider’s momentum continued as he pulled a move on Quiles to take the lead of the race, which allowed polesitter David Munoz to take advantage and get into second.
Quiles lost another position as rookie Carpe also made it through on his former Red Bull Rookies rival into third position.
Moments later at Turn 1, Munoz crashed out of the race while attempting to close the gap to Rueda out front, with the incident causing the group behind the race leader to bunch together.
Kelso, who had started the race on the front row, took advantage of the group moving together after and made a double overtake on Carpe and Quiles to get into second place.
Angel Piqueras and Matteo Bertelle also joined the battle for the podium positions, with Bertelle making a lunge on Quiles ahead to move into the final podium place.
Luca Lunetta had been hoping to play a part in the podium battle, but suffered a crash as he got onto the back of the contending group, which saw him out of the race.
Piqueras was forced to battle the rookies ahead of him but managed to get passed the pair into fourth as the riders headed onto their ninth tour of the circuit.
Further down the order, Valentin Perrone suffered a highside at Turn 6, and his bike ricocheted into the path of Ryusei Yamanaka as both riders exited the race after fighting for 11th.
The battle persisted in the minor points positions as stand-in rider Adrian Cruces overtook David Almansa and Guido Pini for ninth place.
Fourth place was still up for grabs in the final stages of the race, as Quiles appeared to have the pace to challenge Piqueras to the end of the race.
Out front, Rueda was able to manage his lead for the rest of the race as he took the chequered flag 2.323s clear of the next best rider.
Kelso earned a career-best finish of second place as Bertelle rounded out the podium in third.
Piqueras was able to hold off the late challenge from Quiles to take fourth over the line, with Carpe just behind the pair in sixth.
Dennis Foggia was seventh, over 15 seconds behind the leading group, ahead of an impressive performance from Cruces in eighth.
Taiyo Furusato was narrowly beaten to the line in ninth, as rookie Cormac Buchanan completed the top ten.
Pini finished the race in 11th, ahead of the Leopard pair of Adrian Fernandez, who had to take a double long lap penalty, and Almansa in 13th.
Jacob Roulstone took 14th over the line as Nicola Carraro rounded out the points finishers in 15th.
