Riccardo Rossi

6th November 2022

Guevara Bows Out With a Dominant Win

The World Champion led every lap en route to his seventh win of the Moto3 season.

After taking pole position on Saturday, Moto2-bound Izan Guevara was showing no signs of going quietly into the night. Having won the previous three Spanish rounds, he was the clear favourite to take victory in Valencia.

The polesitter was joined on the front row by KTM Tech3’s Deniz Öncü and Aspar teammate Sergio Garcia, who was battling Dennis Foggia and Ayumu Sasaki for second place in the championship.

As the race began, Guevara led the field down to turn one, immediately trying to breakaway from the swarm of bikes behind him. The Spaniard quickly settled into rhythm with the KTM of Öncü in tow.

The leading pair were evenly matched for pace in the opening laps and Öncü seemed content to tuck in behind Guevara as they pulled away from Garcia in third.

Italian rider Riccardo Rossi ended his season early on lap nine, crashing out at turn six.

With the leading duo two seconds clear of Garcia on lap 10, Öncü appeared to be distracted by something on the bike. He pulled what looked like tape off and discarded it, adding some intrigue to what was an uncharacteristically dull Moto3 race.

On lap 14, turn six claimed another victim as Visiontrack Racing’s Scott Ogden crashed out. A lap later, the Brit was joined by Taiyo Furusato who fell at the same corner. Three laps passed before turn six saw its fourth and final rider fall, as Xavi Artigas lost the front of his CFMOTO machine.

With the race heading towards its conclusion, Foggia lunged from sixth to fourth, passing Sasaki to seal third in the championship standings.

Meanwhile at the front, it was a last-lap showdown between Guevara and Öncü. The Turkish rider showed his hand on turn eight with a stunning move to take the lead for the first time in the race. However the Champion showed his class and composure with a measured pass at the final corner to re-establish his lead and take his seventh win of the 2022 season.

Öncü was second, agonisingly close to his first win in Moto3. Interestingly he managed to finish every race this season, and was the only rider in the class to do so. Garcia came home in third to seal a historic 1-2 in the Championship for Team Aspar.

Foggia held onto fourth to take third in the world standings and Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira was named Rookie of the Year.

Feature Image: MotoGP

23rd October 2022

McPhee Wins a Classic in Malaysia

mcphee and sasaki moto3 malaysian grand prix

John McPhee battled his way through the field from 22nd on the grid to take a well deserved win in his penultimate race in Moto3.

It was a difficult weekend for the Scotsman who admitted that after a disappointing result in qualifying, he felt like giving up there and then.

It’s been a brutal season for the 28-year-old who broke his back in a training session before round two in Indonesia, an injury that could have ended his career.

As the lights went out, polesitter Dennis Foggia got bogged down on the damp side of the track, allowing Izan Guevara to lead the field into turn one. The newly crowned champion was unable to break away and was engulfed by a swarm of riders before the end of the first lap.

On lap two Angeluss MTA rider Stefano Nepa suffered a nasty highside at turn nine. Fortunately everyone managed to avoid the Italian who was helped off the track by the marshals.

With the championship decided, all eyes were on the battle for second. Sergio Garcia bolstered his claim by battling with David Muñoz, Jaume Masia, Diogo Moreira and the aforementioned Foggia for the lead.

Muñoz crashed out on lap four, just behind him Tatsuki Suzuki also fell, but was able to continue. The fastest man on track was Max Racing’s Ayumu Sasaki, who was reeling in the lead group lap by lap.

It was scrappy at the front with several riders exchanging positions, allowing Sasaki to join the party. The Japanese rider made short work of his rivals and was soon behind Guevara at the front of the field.

The drama continued at the start of lap 13 as Riccardo Rossi fell at turn one. Further back Carlos Tatay pulled into the garage, ending his day early. Sasaki made his move for the lead at turn 15, sliding underneath Guevara but a poor exit from the corner caused the Spaniard to shunt the back of his bike. It was a scary moment, but fortunately both riders stayed upright.

The constant battling at the front allowed McPhee to latch onto the lead group and it wasn’t long before he was in a tussle with teammate Sasaki. With just a few laps remaining Garcia led from Masia, Foggia, Sasaki, McPhee and Moreira.

Taiyo Furusato crashed at the start of lap 16 as Foggia moved up to second, hot on Garcia’s tail. With just one lap remaining, victory was there for the taking.

Foggia took the lead at turn 10 but it only lasted for a matter of seconds before Masia muscled his way to the front. Moments later McPhee capitalised on the melee and snatched the top spot.

There were desperate lunges into the final corner, but the Scot held his nerve and the lead to take his fourth win in Moto3, in what is expected to be his penultimate Grand Prix. Sasaki was second to secure a 1-2 for Max Racing with Garcia in third.

The results mean Garcia retains second place in the standings with 241 points, Foggia stays in third with 233 and Sasaki is just behind in fourth with 227. Only one round remains in the 2022 season, the Grand Prix of Valencia in a fortnights’ time.

Feature Image: MotoGP

4th October 2022

Foggia wins in Thailand with faultless performance

Dennis Foggia took a dominant win on the Thai GP making it his third in the past six races, leaving a glimmer of hope that his fight for the championship is still on.

While his championship rivals struggled in qualifying, with Izan Guevara 11^th and Sergio Garcia further down in 20^th, Foggia lined up on Sunday’s grid with clear track ahead on pole position.

The start couldn’t have gone any better for the Italian, holding his lead and having a clean getaway as Stefano Nepa moved his way up to second after a good start from fourth.

Meanwhile there was drama almost straight away as the first lap came to a close, when championship contender Garcia found himself on the ground after a collision with Adrian Fernandez.

There was a couple of other crashes as the race unfolded, Kaito Toba and John McPhee fell down in separate incidents which brought both of their races to an early close.

Back at the front it was still Foggia out in first as a group of six riders formed in the lead pack. This number slowly began to fall as Jaume Masia, Diogo Moreira and David Muñoz dropped back down the field.

Garcia’s day continued to get worse as he went a lap down at the beginning of lap 12, there was nothing he could do as he let rival Foggia by when the blue flags waved.

Garcia eventually retired to the pits shortly after the halfway point in the race, with the opportunity to score any points well and truly gone.

Credit: Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

There was little standing in Foggia’s way as the race went on, leading quite comfortably throughout the entire race bar one slight mistake at the end of lap 13 which allowed Ayumu Sasaki into the lead, albeit very briefly as the Italian quickly moved back ahead two corners later.

With a few laps to go and with Foggia pulling away, Sasaki and Riccardo Rossi battled it out for second place which went on right until the final corner on the last lap as Rossi made a last effort move up the inside on his Japanese rival, but had to settle for third after running wide.

But out front there was no stopping Foggia, his win putting on stamp on what was a strong performance at Buriram, winning the race by over 1.5s from second placed Sasaki.

A tense fight for fourth place ended with Nepa taking the position at the line, ahead of championship leader Guevara who took a good haul of points despite a tough weekend.

Three rounds remain and there’s 49 points separating the top two in the championship, but anything can happen as Moto3 heads to Australia in less than two weeks’ time.

Image credit: Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool