Round 17 of the Triumph powered Moto2 championship got underway this weekend (18 - 20 October) in Phillip Island. Ai Ogura went into the weekend with a 60 point lead and his first chance to seal the title, however this is a track where he had never finished in the top 10.

Friday’s wet practice sessions saw two title contenders, Celestino Vietti and Joe Roberts, crash out with injuries that saw them declared unfit to race. Q1 was Moto2’s first dry session and it stayed dry for Q2. Fermin Aldeguer qualified in pole position with a new all-time lap record of 1m 30.876, ahead of Aron Canet in second and Alonso Lopez in third. Ogura would line up ninth on the grid.

Sunday’s race took place in dry and sunny conditions and it was Canet who got the holeshot, with Lopez jumping into second ahead of Aldeguer. Ogura got a great launch from ninth into sixth.

The Spanish trio of Aldeguer, Lopez and Canet were trading places for the lead while also setting blistering pace and pulling away from the rest of the pack. Last race winner, Manuel Gonzalez was the only rider sticking with them however he had to serve a long lap penalty, dropping him back behind Ogura and into a 10 rider battle for fourth that included home hero Senna Agius who was making moves from 13th on the grid.

The leading trio battled hard, trading places throughout the race until Lopez made a mistake and crashed out, promoting Agius into the final podium position. The leading duo were pushing hard and Canet set a new all-time lap record of 1m 30. 816 on lap 14. The breath-taking battle for the lead went down to the wire as Aldeguer put an aggressive and decisive last moment move on Canet to take his third victory of the season.

Agius did take third for his first Moto2 podium in front of the cheering home fans. Ogura crossed the line in fourth to extend his championship lead to 65 points, and Diogo Moreira rounded out the top five.

Aldeguer’s win sees him tie with Raul Fernandez as the joint second most successful rider in the Triumph Moto2 era on eight wins. Only Pedro Acosta has won more races with Triumph with 10 wins.

Moto2 will be back in action next weekend at the Grand Prix of Thailand, 25 - 27 October.