Teenager Acosta wins third straight Moto3 race

JEREZ FRONTERA, AFP: Spanish 16-year-old Pedro Acosta took his third straight Moto3 win at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez yesterday as three of his closest pursuers crashed on the final corner.

Acosta, on a KTM, started the final lap in third but had jumped into the lead on Turn 6 and held off the swarming pack until the last bend.

Deniz Oncu on a KTM manoeuvred to pass on the inside but as Acosta blocked his line, the Turkish rider lost control. He slid into Spaniard Jaume Masia on another KTM whose bike careened across the track and in turn collected South African Darryn Binder’s Honda.

Italian Romano Fenati on a Husqvarna inherited second place. Spaniard Jeremy Alcoba on a Honda, who had been forced to ride two long-lap penalties for straying off the track, finished third.

Acosta became the first rider to achieve four podium finishes in their first four races of the world championship and extended his lead at the top of the standings to 51 points over Niccolo Antonelli, an Italian KTM rider.

He said he has his eyes on the title. “At the end of the year I want to be important,” he said speaking in English, before dedicating his victory to his mother on Spanish mother’s day. “I want to congrats my mother on mother’s day.” Acosta won in Portugal on April 18, Qatar on April 4 and also finished second in the season-opener on the same Doha track a week earlier.

Fenati said he had been prepared for the chaos on a final bend at Jerez that has a reputation for producing late drama. “That last corner on the last lap is always...” he said with a smile. “If you are unlucky nobody crashes and you can’t overtake.”