A Long Lap penalty was no problem for the Boscoscuro pilot at Phillip Island
Alonso Lopez has dominated the Moto2™ race at the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix despite having to serve a Long Lap penalty. The Beta Tools Speed Up rider took the lead four corners into the 25-lap encounter at Phillip Island and, despite the detour he was forced to take at Turn 4 – now Miller Corner – on Lap 4, he remained in front thereafter to claim victory by an official margin of 3.556 seconds. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) finished second and Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) third, while Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) took over the Championship lead by a 3.5-point margin even though he got home only 11th. The Japanese rider looked like incurring a big blow to his title hopes as he struggled in midfield, but then Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) crashed out of third position with less than 10 laps to go and the tables turned completely.
Lopez builds an early buffer
When lights went out for the 25-lapper at a Sunny Phillip Island, Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) jumped from Row 2 to the initial lead but Lopez, who had qualified third, was down his inside at Miller Corner to quickly take over first position. Fermin Aldeguer made it a Beta Tools Speed Up one-two when he passed Arbolino at Doohan Corner (Turn 1) at the start of Lap 2, as Lopez pulled out a big early lead. It was 1.7 seconds at the end of Lap 2 and when the 20-year-old took his penalty on Lap 4, as punishment for causing a crash with Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) in FP1, he still emerged with a margin of more than one second. Meanwhile, Arbolino had reclaimed third place from Fernandez after a brief spell behind the future GASGAS MotoGP™ rider, and then got second spot back from Aldeguer on Lap 5.
Aldeguer lost two more positions, one to each of the KTM Ajo riders on Lap 6, and continued to slide down the order as teammate Lopez built his advantage back to more than two seconds. Then Arbolino crashed out of second position at the Hayshed on Lap 7 and Fernandez inherited that spot, albeit by a margin of three seconds in arrears of Lopez. Aldeguer sat sixth by then, with Ogura running in 14th and set to give up a fistful of precious Championship points.
The Championship gets turn on its head again
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