MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Although it was a cooler start for the lightweight class show on Sunday, they definitely brought the heat with the fight for victory. Although the list of podium contenders was lengthy throughout the 20 laps, Ivan Ortola and Collin Veijer were persistently one step ahead of their rivals and victory was decided at the final chicane, where Ortola denied Veijer a precious home win by a minuscule hundredth of a second. The Spaniard celebrated his first win of the season, while Veijer settled for a bittersweet (but mostly bitter) second. David Muñoz once again made quick work of a fourth row start to immediately join the podium battle and eventually claim the third place trophy. 

Poleman Angel Piqueras held his nerve at that start to lead the way into the first corner, but Ortola was in an early rush from the second row of the grid and didn’t even wait until the end of the opening lap to take control of proceedings. Piqueras and Taiyo Furusato stayed close behind the Spaniard, while their fellow front row starter Veijer was busy trading 4^th with a fast-starting Joel Esteban. The rookie had launched well from 9^th grid position but soon dropped from the business end to serve a double long lap penalty for indiscretions in qualifying. Esteban wasn’t the only rider to steal the spotlight at the start as Muñoz went from 11^th to 5^th, David Alonso from 13^th to 6^th and Dani Holgado from 15^th to 8^th after less than a handful of laps. Jose Antonio Rueda, Adrian Fernandez and Ryusei Yamanaka competed the early top 10. 

While Ortola was setting a fast pace at the front, the battle hotted up behind him, where Veijer was keen to return to the podium positions, demoting the poleman and chasing Furusato for second. After a handful of laps, a leading group of 10 was starting to edge ahead of a modest pursuit by a second, but despite the strong lineup of contenders, Ortola and Furusato still managed to keep the rest at arm’s length, by around half a second. Veijer eventually bridged that gap by lap 10 and attacked the Japanese rider at turn 2 to claim second, before halting Ortola’s time in the limelight at the halfway point of proceedings. 

Once Veijer took control of his home race, the likes of Furusato, Muñoz and Fernandez rushed to the front to also challenge Ortola, but the Spaniard always regrouped to stay within podium positions. Meanwhile, Alonso had spent most of the race knocking at the doors of the top 5 but not really threatening the podium until 6 laps remaining, when a few sweet moves suddenly brought him up to second. However, if he was planning to go even further, he had seven tenths of a second to find on leader Veijer. Muñoz and Ortola were the main threats to the championship leader, although the group was still sizeable, with Fernandez, Rueda, Piqueras and Yamanaka being joined by Luca Lunetta and Stefano Nepa, while Furusato lost touch with the leaders after a trip through the gravel with 6 laps left. 

Back at the front, Veijer did not show much concern for having Alonso in pursuit, probably helped by the frequent assaults from Ortola and Muñoz. If Ortola calmly reclaimed second, Muñoz was rubbing every side of Alonso’s livery, which soon cost them nearly two seconds on the duo ahead over the next few laps. That allowed Veijer and Ortola to start the final lap with a comfortable advantage, but Veijer was anything but comfortable, with Ortola glued to his rear wheel and then painfully robbing the Dutchman of a home win at the final chicane. Two seconds later, the great paint-swapping for third ended with Muñoz on top, with Rueda also launching a late attack on Alonso to take 4^th. The world championship leader settled for 5^th, with rookie Lunetta an impressive 6^th, followed by teammates Fernadez and Piqueras. Nepa and Yamanaka completed the top 10, while Holgado faded out of podium contention in the closing stages and dropped to 11^th. 

Despite missing out on the podium, Alonso still has a comfortable 39-point lead in the world championship standings over Veijer, while Holgado trails him by 43 points and Ortola by 49. 

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