Spanish Moto2: Dominant Lowes eases to Jerez win
Sam Lowes took charge of and won the Moto2 Spanish Grand Prix, round four of the championship.
The Elf Marc VDS rider lead the pack away from pole and benefited from not needing to move through the pack which has hampered his race results so far this season.
The first lap saw Pedro Acosta lead after a poor start from the British rider, but he fought back immediately to be back in front at the start of lap two.
From there the #22 never looked back and vanished, watching his gap and responding to every attack the Spaniard behind made to win with ease, with a gap of 2.841 managed to the chequered flag.
Lowes took his first win since the he was last on the top spot at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and celebrated with a wheelie but missed his chance to set off the race winning fireworks, so the marshals called in the second placed man instead.
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Acosta happy with home podium
From second on the grid Pedro Acosta launched himself to perfection, but could not respond to Lowes.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider pushed to the very end but it was in vain as the #22 was uncatchable.
Back on the podium, but this time not with the win, the #37 celbrated by climbing the trackside fence and celebrating with the home fans, throwing his boots into the crowd.
Alonso Lopez was a distant and lonely third, completing the podium for CAG Speed Up as the top non-Kalex rider on the Boscoscuro.
Many riders were out of contention after qualifying, with the early gaps too much to make up after moving through the field.
Tony Arbolino tried his best to remove his defecit - moving from tenth on the grid to fourth almost immediately thanks to a near perfect start. After that more progress was hard to come by and the podium finishers looked set once Ogura exited into the gravel. Finishing fourth the Italian was over ten seconds behind his race winning teammate.
Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) made up seven positions in the race after only placing twelfth in qualifying but was too far back to have an effect on the front of the race after an electric run through his rivals for fifth.
Jake Dixon put his horror at Austin behind him. Third after Q2, the British rider had been keen not to talk up his chances, not overly happy with his race pace or set up.
Sensibly, and knowing a podium was unlikely, the Autosolar GasGas Aspar rider rode a sensible race to make sure he was back in the points, rivalling Canet in the closing stages on his way to sixth.
Somkiat Chantra enjoyed a late run through the pack to claim seventh for Idemitsu Honda, passing both Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Filip Salac (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) leaving them eighth and ninth respectively.
Fermin Aldeguer was handed a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits too often on his CAG Speed Up machine, but had still done enough work to claim a top ten finish.
Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los40)was the best of the rookies in eleventh, picking up seven places.
Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp) also made forward progress from 16th to claim twelfth.
The remaning points on offer went to Fieten Olie Racing’s Barry Baltus in 13th, Joe Roberts for Italtrans in 14th and Lukas Tulovic, picking up his first score of the season in 15th for Liqui Moly Husqvarna.
After his podium last time out, there was no repeat for Bo Bendsneyder, who ended his race in 17th .
Moto2 graduate Dennis Foggia was 18th ahead of Izan Guevara in 22nd after a long battle with ex-British Suprkies rider Rory Skinner who ended his Sunday in 24th.
Crashes, injuries and replacements
Senna Agius (21st) filled in for the injured Darryn Binder at Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP who has fractures in his hand following his COTA fall.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (25th) had a mechanical issue on the warm-up lap so started from pit lane and didn’t really feature.
Siochiro Minamimoto (26th) replaced Kohta Nozane (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Squad).
Celestino Vietti was the first faller, speeding off at turn ten at the end of lap two.
Sean Dylan Kelly was the next to exit, lasting nine laps.
2022 race winner Ai Ogura was running fourth and had bridged the gap to the riders ahead when he was racing with Tony Arbolino. Contact with his rivals back tyre saw him into the turn one gravel at the start of lap thirteen.
Senna Agius (21st) filled in for the injured Darryn Binder at Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP who has fractures in his hand following his COTA fall.
Alex Escrig returned to get his season underway. The Forward Team rider qualified last on the grid and was withdrawn by his team with shoulder pain still an issue.
Where does that leave the championship?
It is all tied at the top with today’s result leaving both Acosta and Arbolino on a total of 74, with results leaving the Spaniard placed ahead for now.
Aron Canet is third overall, 25 points behind the duo after finishing sixth, with Alonso Lopez four points behind him following his rostrum worthy performance.
