Australian Moto3: Guevara seals championship in style with a win

It was all celebrations on the Guevara side of the garage after the #28 came out on top of a four-way battle for a hard earned win in the Moto3 Australian Grand Prix, round eighteen of the championship.

The Gaviota GasGas rider was in probably the fiercest battle for victory of the season - he wanted a title, his team-mate Sergio Garcia was enjoying a return to form to stop him. Ayumu Sasaki was the form ruder - taking pole and topping warm-up while Deniz Oncu was in the hunt for his elusive first win.

They constantly swapped position for 23 laps before Guevara made his final move stick, pulling out a small gap and leading the battle behind over the line by 0.345s.

• Bagnaia ‘accepted’ Marquez following him, Espargaro 'not as competitive'
• UPDATE: Oliveira penalty - Australian MotoGP, Qualifying Results
• Quartararo: ‘Frustrated but fast’, expects ‘strange, interesting race’

Always under pressure, the Spaniard seemed determined to seal his title in style and early, which they did after he made himself un-passable. He celebrated with a #1 liveried bike and helmet brought onto the track by Nico Terol.

Oncu was in fourth in the quartet and looked like he was going to be dropped, a late rush saw him move into second overall, though a first Moto3 win remains elusive for the Turkish rider.

Sergio Garcia, who lead the championship until four rounds ago had looked out of sorts as he was reeled in by his team-mate, but with the pressure of he looked back to his best as he claimed third and the final rostrum spot.

Pole man Ayumu Saskai showed he had the race day pace to run at the front. Unfortunately for the Sterilgarda Max Raciing rider, Oncu’s determined comeback saw him finish fourth and off the rostrum.

Where does that leave the championship?

Guevara takes the title in style adding the full 25 points available to his tally with his sixth victory of the season, now 290. His third means the winning margin sits at a 65 point deficit to team-mate Garcia.

The group behind was just as busy chopping and changing, which allowed the lead four to pull away. Over the last laps it was Angeluss MTA Team rider Stefano Nepa who pulled ahead leading another smalll train of riders over the line.

John McPhee did his share of attempting to catch up but ended up in sixth in the second Sterilgarda Max entry. Rookie Diogo Moreira helped lead over the early laps, but had to settle seventh  for MT-Helmets MSI.

Joel Kelso bounced back from his 14th place on the grid to give the Australian crowd something to cheer, the home hero finished eighth on his CIP Green Power bike.

With a small delay for a rain shower as the race went to start to allow a dry line to form, Dennis Foggia was too tentative in ninth as he looked uncomfortable in the changeable weather on the Leopard.

Riccardo Rossi completed the top ten best times for SIC 58 Squadra Corse ahead of impressive rookie Davis Munoz (BOE Motorsports) and the eqially inexperienced Izan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team). Carlos Tatay split the pair in 12th for CFMoto Racing PruestelGP.

The remaining points on offer went to Xavier Artigas (BOE Motorsports) fighting with red Bull KYM’s Jaume Masia in 14th and 15th respectively.

Crashes and penalties

Adrian Fernandez double long lap penalty for clearing out Garcia last race meant he was out of the running in 18th.

Ryusei Yamanaka, Mario Aji, Tatsuki Suzuki, Scott Ogden, Daniel Holgado and Taiyo Furusato all failed to go race distance.