Oncu wins sensational Moto3 contest at P.I. – Kelso on podium

MotoGP 2023

Round 16 – Australia Grand Prix

Moto3 Race

There had been some early action during the initial sighting lap out of pit-lane even before Moto3 riders made it to the grid. Holgado was one of four fallers, and the worst of them, sustaining a cut to his head and losing the front fairing from his screen.  Some hasty repairs were made on the grid but he did manage to make it away with the rest of the field.

The action was on thick and fast as the horde battled their way through the mist of the opening turns, coming out the other side in front from was Ayumu Sasaki ahead of Fernandez, Veijer and Kelso. David Alonso was the only rider to crash early on, going down on lap two, which could be costly for his championship hopes.

Adrian Fernandez then hit the lead as Oncu moved up to second ahead of Sasaki, and Kelso moved up to fourth.  Fernandez though managed to build up a lead over the next few laps, his buffer over Oncu out to a full second after six laps. Kelso was at that juncture the fastest man on track and was closing on Oncu, while Sasaki was coming along for that ride, and Veijer wanted to join the party.

Fairoli and Ortola crashed out on lap nine. By this stage of the race the top five had a handy six-second buffer over the rest of the field. The leader still Fernandez from Oncu, Kelso, Sasaki and Veijer, as that group closed up again somewhat.

Munoz went down on lap ten. The race had now reached half-distance and points were now assured.

Mario Aji went down while in sixth place while trying to broach the gap to the leading group with ten laps to run.  Salvadori then went down quite spectacularly.

With two-thirds of the race run Fernandez led Oncu by three-tenths as Sasaki and Kelso battled over third place, the Husqvarna machine of the Japanese rider looking to enjoy a speed advantage over the CFMOTO branded KTM of Kelso.

Oncu had a big rear end slide out of turn four with seven laps to run, and then had another at Hayshed. That allowed both Sasaki and Kelso to get past the Turk but he was not out podium contention yet.

Race leader Adrian Fernandez then went down at turn 11!  Just when he looked safe and in control, he was down… Inheriting the lead was Sasaki and along with it the championship lead if he could bring it home as Masia was running in ninth place… Fernandez did manage to get back up and running in fifth place, such was the lead of the front group, but he was now 20-seconds behind that lead pack.

With five laps to go things hotted up considerably up front. Now with a race win up for grabs Sasaki, Kelso and Oncu stepped up their levels of aggression as the rain had eased and vision improved. Xavier Artigas then went down while running 12th. Vicente Perez then went down while he was in 11th place.

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Sasaki and Oncu managed to break away from Kelso over the final few laps after a scare for the Aussie at turn ten dented his aggression and perhaps settle for a podium finish as he had a handy ten-second gap over fourth placed Veijer.

At the last lap board Oncu was all over the back of Sasaki, but the Turk had a moment across the top of Lukey Heights on the final lap, nonetheless he still had the inside line for turn ten which allowed the KTM man to take the lead, he held on through 11 and 12 to take the victory.

Joel Kelso on the podium to the glee of his home crowd after a well judged ride in the tricky conditions. His future is also secure for 2024 after overnight completing a deal to ride with BOÉ Motorsports for the 2024 Moto3 World Championship.

Second place was not enough to give Sasaki the championship lead, as Masia carded enough points from his eight place finish to maintain an advantage, albeit trimmed to four-points as they head to Thailand.

Moto3 Race Results

Moto3 Championship Points