All happening in Moto 2 ....
At one stage Ogura was leading the race today with title challenger Fernandez in 6th, having a huge fight with Dixon....giving Ogura a healthy lead into the final round at Valencia. The Dixon Fernandez duel got quite physical at one stage. Moreso when Gonzalez got involved in the dice. Dixon cleared Gonzalez leaving Fernandez and Dixon to scrap.
Then Arbolino passed Ogura for the lead.with 0.2 between them on the last lap,
Ogura makes the move, gets past but drops it in the process. Out of the race Nil points. Fernandez by now had passed Gonzalez for 5th and with Ogura crashing out 5 corners from home, Fernandez inherited 4th and with it the Moto2 Championship lead by 8.5 points.
So Arbolino won from Lopez and Jake Dixon in 3rd.
There has to be doubt over the wisdom of Ogura..... he could have settled for 2nd and taken a 12.5 point lead to Valencia, but eager for the win and the extra 5 points he has turned himself from a very healthy title chase leader into the chaser, with Fernandez now the rider with a decent advantage.
The Championship race....
Fernandez 251.5 points
Ogura 243
Gap now 8.5 points in Fernandez favour.
Back leading the title chase he lost the lead of in PI last week..
It sets up a cracking finish to the season in Valencia.
Now we have MotoGP to go through similar, with Bagnaia in a position where he could be the 2022 Moto GP Champion in about 2 hours time. Or a similar to Moto2 scenario could put the championship decider off until Valencia.
All things equal, currently with a 14 point lead Bagnaia has match point, serving for the win, and with every chance of tying it up today. Unless he succumbs to pressure and falls off.
On recent form it has been Fabio who has become the one making the errors with a couple of recent crash DNF's. Fabio is the one under pressure today and the one who must finish well and as far ahead of Bagnaia as possible. With a bike that is lacking the Ducati straight line speed and looking less comfortable on his bike than Bags, the pressure is more on Fabio...
Oh and to increase the pressure, they both qualified out of position, Fabio 12th and Bagnaia 9th. Plenty of opportunity for both to make a mistake.
Oh and Aleix Espargaro is also an outside chance of the title, albeit a very slim chance., He starts 10th.
Did I mention that it looks very overcast.....