The also Spanish Arón Canet suffered a fall when he was at the head of the race
Manuel “Manugas” González was absent due to a heavy fall the previous day
The Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex) beat the world leader in the Moto2 Japanese Grand Prix which was played at the “Twin Ring” circuit in Motegi and in which the also Spanish Aron Canet (Kalex), who was the outstanding solo leader, made another mistake in the form of a crash that put him out of the race in the opening laps.
Augusto Fernández, second, continues to lead the championship with just two points ahead of Ai Ogura, while Arón Canet continues in third position in the championship.
Before departure, it was confirmed absence of Spaniard Manuel “Manugas” González (Kalex)who suffered a heavy fall the previous day of training for which he had to be treated at a medical center in the town of Haga and his condition made it advisable to rest in this Japanese test, with a heavy blow to the right shoulderalthough without appreciable injuries.
Arón Canet (Kalex) did not allow himself to be pressured by his rivals at the time of the start and headed the first corner on the inside and as a leader persecuted by his compatriot Fermín Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) and both carried out a strong pull that in just one lap, the initial turn, led them to get more than a second ahead of their pursuers, among whom the Thai Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) was the one leading the chase.
In that group of Chantra were all the favorites of the categorythe Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex), the Italian Tony Arbolino (Kalex), the British Jake Dixon (Kalex), the American Cameron Beaubier (Kalex) or the Spaniards Alonso López (Boscoscuro), Augusto Fernández (Kalex), the leader of the world, and Jorge Navarro (Kalex), among others.
Two laps were enough for Canet’s advantage to be half a second over Aldeguer, who finished on the floor at the beginning of lap threeat turn five, and more than 1.7 seconds behind the pursuers.
With a firm, constant and unquestionable rhythm, Arón Canet left all his rivals, among whom the group had already been cutwith a quartet behind Sito Pons’s pupil made up of Chantra, Arbolino, Ogura and Alonso López, but luck did not favor him, who in the next lap, at turn nine, went to the ground without the possibility of continuing, which left the fight for victory in the hands of that group.
Thailand’s Somkiat Chantra ran into the race leadfollowed as his shadow by Arbolino, López and Ogura, with a duo formed by Dixon and Fernández two and a half seconds behind.
Alonso López once again saw his opportunity to try to repeat the victory at Misano Adriatico and on the seventh lap he took command of the race to give the first pull, with Ogura half a second behind and Chantra and Arbolino seven tenths behind, while the Italian Celestino Vietti (Kalex), one of the candidates for the title at the beginning of the season, was rolling on the ground again and although he tried to continue, he was already in positions far from the points.
Ai #Ogura was victorious in #Moto2! The Japanese became a strong local and stayed with the victory in the race of #Motegi. ???#MotoGPxESPN pic.twitter.com/JQtxEzleUE
— ESPN MotoGP (@MotoGP_ESPN) September 25, 2022
With the passing of turns Alonso López consolidated himself in first place with the only opposition from Ai Ogura and already a second behind were Arbolino, Fernández and Chantra, although the world leader began to overtake his rivals to try to hunt down his rivals and thus fight for victory, knowing that if he achieved victory the Japanese could snatch him the first place the championship.
In just a couple of laps, on the thirteenth, Augusto Fernández was already behind Alonso López’s slipstreamwhile Ogura had seven tenths of a second ahead of them.
Three laps later, in the sixteenth and after a small scuffle between the two, Augusto Fernández managed to overcome López to try to catch up with Ogurawho already had a 1.8 second lead.
Fernández was not discouraged and a turn later he starred in his first fastest race lap to get to 1.6 of Oguraand both staged fast laps a lap later, to put the Japanese’s lead to 1.5 seconds.
There were only four laps left and at this rate, barring a mistake, victory was guaranteed for Ai Ogura, who thus went from being seven points behind Augusto Fernández in the championship to only twowith Alonso López defending the third step of the podium from the attacks of the British Jake Dixon.
Pedro Acosta (Kalex) finished in seventh position, ahead of Albert Arenas (Kalex), while Jorge Navarro (Kalex), who was behind them, but crashed on the penultimate lap and Jeremy Alcoba (Kalex) in the latter. Marcos Ramírez (MV Agusta) finished twentieth.