Smokin’ Joe took his golden chance in a hugely-dramatic, red-flagged Moto2™ race that saw eleven riders caught out by the rain
Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts is a Moto2™ winner at last after grabbing his golden opportunity in a red-flagged and hugely dramatic intermediate class encounter at the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal. An isolated rain shower at Turn 2 caught out eleven riders, including the top six at that time, halfway through, which caused the red flags to come out. From the restart, Roberts took full advantage to take a debut win and the first for America in the intermediate class since John Kosinski in 1990. He was joined on the podium by a relived World Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing) and Jorge Navarro (FlexBox HP40)
Chaos in Moto2™ as multi-rider incident sees Red Flag waved 24/04/2022
PART 1: CANET VS BEAUBIER
American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier made a lightning start from second on the grid to take the holeshot ahead of the poleman Aron Canet (FlexBox HP40). The former MotoAmerica Superbike king found a strong early pace as the rain flags began to wave. The light rain didn’t deter Canet though, and he had just a little bit more pace than Beaubier. After a couple of laps of watching the American, he made his move at the opening corner.
Further back, Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was making progress through the field after taking a trip through the Long Lap Penalty loop for his misdemeanor at the Americas Grand Prix. The…