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Aragon Moto3: Masia wins Aragon thriller from 17th, Arenas extends points lead

Jaume Masia won a thrilling Moto3 Aragon Grand Prix from 17th in the grid for Leopard Honda as Aspar's Albert Arenas extended his championship lead despite finishing seventh

Masia's last victory came last year in Argentina well over a year ago and he carved through from the sixth row at Aragon to claim the win by just 0.091 seconds, becoming Honda's 100th different grand prix winner across all classes.

Championship leader Arenas grabbed the holeshot from third on the grid ahead of Ajo KTM's Raul Fernandez.

Fernandez dived past Arenas up the inside of the Turn 4 left-hander, while Tatsuki Suzuki on the SIC58 Honda demoted Arenas to third later in the lap.

The top five group of Fernandez, Suzuki, Arenas, Romano Fenati on the Max Racing Husqvarna and CIP's Darryn Binder made a quick early breakaway from the chasing Leopard Honda of Masia.

Fernandez held onto the lead until lap seven, when Binder came through at the penultimate corner, while the group headed by Masia began to close down the 2.2-second gap to the leaders.

Petronas Sprinta's John McPhee was forced to serve a long lap penalty on the third tour for irresponsible riding in qualifying, which dropped him out of the points to 17th.

But the Scotsman soon rallied and quickly worked his way into the top 10, before moving to the head of the second group ahead of Masia by lap eight.

By lap 11 the lead group swelled to eight as McPhee, Masia and Gresini's Jeremy Alcoba had latched onto the back of it.

Fernandez reclaimed his lead on lap eight, with Binder coming through again on the 14th tour, opening the door for Arenas, Masia and Fenati to demote the Ajo KTM to fifth.

But Fernandez muscled his way back into third on Fenati and Masia with a daring double raid through Turns 4 and 5 on lap 15, while Arenas hit the front at Turn 12.

Fernandez ensured it would be short-lived and returned to the lead at the start of lap 16.

Masia rocketed by Fernandez on the run along the back straight into the long Turn 16/17 double left, but the Ajo KTM quickly retaliated on the brakes into Turn 1.

Once again, Masia used the power of his Honda to blast past Fernandez into Turn 16 to lead the field onto the final lap.

Masia resisted all pressure exerted on him, narrowly avoiding a penalty for exceeding track limits on the run to Turn 12 to give his title hopes a small boost as he moves to within 36 points of Arenas.

Binder came through to second on the final lap for his second podium of the year, with Fernandez holding onto third for his first Moto3 podium.

Fenati was fourth ahead of McPhee - who ran wide at Turn 1 late on - with Alcoba demoting Arenas to seventh right at the death. Suzuki, Celestino Vietti (VR46) and Leopard's Dennis Foggia completed the top 10.

With nearest title rival Ai Ogura only 14th on the Team Asia Honda, Arenas now leads the championship by 13 points, with Vietti 18 adrift.

Despite being absent owing to COVID-19 protocols, having been sat near someone who tested positive on a plane this week, Snipers Honda's Tony Arbolino has only lost nine points to Arenas and is now 29 adrift.

Gresini's Gabriel Rodrigo was taken to the medical centre after a heavy highside crash on lap one.

Aragon Moto3 result - 19 laps

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Jaume Masia Leopard Racing Honda 37m45.009s
2 Darryn Binder CIP - Green Power KTM 0.091s
3 Raul Fernandez Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 0.196s
4 Romano Fenati Sterilgarda Max Racing Team Husqvarna 0.327s
5 John McPhee Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda 0.368s
6 Jeremy Alcoba Kommerling Gresini Moto3 Honda 0.385s
7 Albert Arenas Solunion Aspar Team Moto3 KTM 0.396s
8 Tatsuki Suzuki SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda 1.933s
9 Celestino Vietti SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM 2.389s
10 Dennis Foggia Leopard Racing Honda 2.461s
11 Kaito Toba Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 2.966s
12 Carlos Tatay Reale Avintia Moto3 KTM 3.020s
13 Ayumu Sasaki Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 4.872s
14 Ai Ogura Honda Team Asia Honda 10.949s
15 Deniz Oncu Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 10.979s
16 Filip Salac Rivacold Snipers Team Honda 11.172s
17 Alonso Lopez Sterilgarda Max Racing Team Husqvarna 13.861s
18 Niccolo Antonelli SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda 19.761s
19 Sergio Garcia Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda 21.284s
20 Yuki Kunii Honda Team Asia Honda 21.339s
21 Riccardo Rossi BOE Skull Rider Facile Energy KTM 21.379s
22 Jason Dupasquier CarXpert PruestelGP KTM 21.440s
23 Stefano Nepa Solunion Aspar Team Moto3 KTM 21.520s
24 Ryusei Yamanaka Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda 36.570s
25 Barry Baltus CarXpert PruestelGP KTM 36.628s
26 Davide Pizzoli BOE Skull Rider Facile Energy KTM 36.676s
27 Khairul Idham Pawi Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda 36.739s
- Maximilian Kofler CIP - Green Power KTM Retirement
- Andrea Migno SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM Retirement
- Gabriel Rodrigo Kommerling Gresini Moto3 Honda Retirement

Riders' standings

Pos Rider Points
1 Albert Arenas 144
2 Ai Ogura 131
3 Celestino Vietti 126
4 Tony Arbolino 115
5 John McPhee 109
6 Jaume Masia 108
7 Raul Fernandez 89
8 Tatsuki Suzuki 83
9 Darryn Binder 82
10 Gabriel Rodrigo 77
11 Romano Fenati 70
12 Dennis Foggia 69
13 Jeremy Alcoba 56
14 Andrea Migno 47
15 Sergio Garcia 37
16 Niccolo Antonelli 33
17 Stefano Nepa 26
18 Kaito Toba 24
19 Ayumu Sasaki 23
20 Deniz Oncu 23
21 Filip Salac 20
22 Alonso Lopez 16
23 Carlos Tatay 14
24 Ryusei Yamanaka 13
25 Riccardo Rossi 5
26 Barry Baltus 0
27 Yuki Kunii 0
28 Jason Dupasquier 0
29 Maximilian Kofler 0
30 Davide Pizzoli 0
31 Khairul Idham Pawi 0
32 Dirk Geiger 0

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